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St. Charles History Museum making great strides

Many St. Charles residents might not know it, but the city's history museum is taking on a new look.

For one, it is no longer the St. Charles Heritage Center. These days, it's the St. Charles History Museum.

For new museum director Alison Costanzo, that's a good thing.

After previously working as an educator and site coordinator for the Lombard Historical Society, Costanzo is about seven months into her job at the museum. Already she's been involved with changing the museum's name and logo and starting a facelift on the exhibit hall.

"We set a strategic plan for the museum to reconfigure the exhibit space," Costanzo said. "After the temporary pickle history and an upcoming Scarecrow Festival exhibit, we'll be working to get new exhibit cases and some hands-on exhibits for kids."

For those curious, St. Charles was indeed considered the pickle capital of the world at one time.

The museum recently obtained an $8,000 grant from the Community Foundation of the Fox Valley, and Costanzo is hoping to hear soon that riverboat grant money may also be available.

"We really want to be part of the community and be the place that people think of for things about St. Charles," she said. "We want to tell the story about St. Charles for people who live here to understand and for those visiting to get a nice snapshot of what the community is about."

To that end, the museum had another successful pig roast fundraiser last month even though it rained during the event.

"We raised $27,000, and that's really good," Costanzo said. "We had a great turnout, even with the rain."

As it is with any history museum, Costanzo is finding her biggest challenge is simply getting people to realize "we are here."

But people are going to start to notice, she added. "We are the only place with St. Charles items for sale, and we want people to think about coming here."

Still selling bikes

The Geneva Cycle Shop at the corner of Route 25 and State Street may not have the glimmer and flash of other bicycle shops.

But as owner Ellis Giannini says about his store, which recently celebrated its 50th year in business, you can't tell a book by its cover.

Because a consignment shop rents the other portion of Giannini's building at that southwest corner, one might be fooled into thinking Geneva Cycle Shop sells only used bikes.

Forget that. "I don't know where people get that idea, but my main thrust is selling new bikes," Giannini said. "My niche is that I buy new bikes that are leftovers, like 2013 and 2014 models. You get good deals, and they are of great quality.

"I can sell at a discount, not because they are inferior but because they are leftovers."

The 75-year-old Giannini has been doing it for a long time in Geneva. If you call his store and get the voice greeting, he refers to his shop as "the old Geneva Cycle Shop" and holds nothing back in saying he has "the lowest prices in the whole universe."

But Giannini, who first opened that retail building as a motorcycle shop, said he won't be around forever. He has been listening to overtures from developer Kent Shodeen about his building, as Shodeen has designs on redeveloping the nearby Mill Race Inn property he recently purchased.

Giannini figures he will be ready to cut a deal soon, knowing he would be able to continue to sell bikes at that spot for a few years while Shodeen plots his strategy.

"I'm 75 now, so how many more years do I want to do this?" he said. "I wouldn't mind doing it, as long as I am healthy enough to do it. That could be three years, it could be five years or it could be one year."

His chances of selling bikes for years to come seem pretty good, considering Giannini still pedals 50 to 75 miles a week on his bike.

Blue Goose brigade

Loyal fans of Blue Goose Market in St. Charles recently rallied around the downtown grocery store on Facebook after President Paul Lencioni posted an item about his 6-year-old daughter being told on a playground by another kid that nobody likes Blue Goose.

It was an impressive showing of support and not the least bit surprising, considering many St. Charles area residents treasure this place. Forget for a moment its place in St. Charles history. It's just a great store.

But here's my other thought: Playground comments from kids? Sure, they might be repeating something an adult said and, sure, some adults would say they like a different grocery store better. But "nobody likes Blue Goose" coming from the mouths of babes is silly - plain and simple.

Oh, for those eggs

After spending a few days at the historic Palmer House hotel in Chicago last week covering a conference, I could share plenty of interesting things about the place.

After all, it is a historic landmark in the city, one that has been serving visitors for more than 140 years. And builder Potter Palmer, a department store mogul, had to build this place twice because the first Palmer House was destroyed by the Chicago Fire of 1871.

But that sort of history is readily available to anyone interested.

What do I really want to share? The place had the best scrambled eggs for breakfast that one could imagine. Just thinking about them while writing this makes me want to go back.

Off to fair

It's time to head down to the Geneva Arts Fair if you haven't made it yet. Sunday is the last day for the fair along Third Street.

Based on how the weather this summer has made at least part of most festivals a roll of the dice, we'll have to hope the folks displaying their art at this big event haven't had to run for cover from rain or high winds or wilt away in tropical humidity.

dheun@sbcglobal.net

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