'Escape room' game to open in Batavia

Batavia seems to have this thing about events that originate in Japan.

First, Batavia Public Library director George Scheetz brought an idea to town last year that started in Tokyo in 2003. That's the PechaKucha event in which presenters share information about an interesting topic with 20 slides showing for 20 seconds each. You've probably read some of my past columns on that topic.

Now, we have Catherine Arne of Elgin bringing an interesting interactive entertainment concept to Batavia in opening The Room Fox Valley on Friday at 160 S. Water St., Suite B.

A free grand opening celebration at 7 p.m., where attendees can participate in a “mini” game room, follows a ribbon-cutting at 5:30 p.m.

Arne, who moved to this area less than a year ago from Pennsylvania, participated in an “escape room” before and says she got hooked on the concept.

At the Batavia site, six players spend time in a themed room with various props and furniture, all tied into a game, whether it is a murder mystery or some other type of adventure. Players try to solve the mystery in an allotted time period.

“This is so much fun to do and there is nothing like it out here,” Arne said. “There are so many passive things out there, whether it is a movie or theater, and you are not physically engaged in it.”

Participating in the games at The Room represents an activity that people can do with friends, or join in as an individual or couple to meet other people, Arne said.

The Room Fox Valley will initially have one game room, but Arne is planning on designing two other rooms in the building for future use in the coming months.

“My one concern about this particular site, and we really love it because it is right next to the art studio, but it really is fairly small,” Arne said. Because of that, she is setting it up for six players, as opposed to the eight to 10 one might find in other interactive game settings.

Cost to play is $30 and if a group doesn't have enough players to fill a room, they will be placed with others. “Six players is really the sweet spot,” Arne said.

For details, visit www.theroomfoxvalley.com/.

For peaceful families

The Changing Childrens Worlds Foundation continues to go about its business of preventing child abuse through awareness raising, education, training and advocacy as it seeks to “advance more peaceful families and communities.”

That's a tall order in this world, considering all of the factors working against such a worthy goal.

My friends at the Tri-Cities Exchange Club have been doing the same since the late 1970s, and a club member reminded me that the Changing Childrens Worlds Foundation is holding a key fundraiser from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. April 29 at Geneva Golf Club.

The “Stand Up for Kids” event will feature, of course, stand-up comics from the Green Room Improv Group and music from Rick Temple of the Chi-Town Showstoppers.

Tickets are $65 before March 31 and $75 after that date. They will cost $85 at the door the night of the event. Tickets are available by calling (630) 909-9411.

Foundation board Chairwoman Kim Svevo-Cianci is also a member of the Exchange Club, so she's working hard on a regular basis at preventing child abuse. Hopefully, she'll get a good turnout at the “Stand Up for Kids” night.

More sweets coming

If a business owner is going to commit a livelihood to making sweets, I'm generally a big fan.

So it is that I am passing along my hope that Katie Kritzberg and her mother, Susan, do quite well with the Two Wild Seeds Baking Company bakery they plan to open in downtown St. Charles.

After previously selling their gluten-free desserts and cakes in Geneva, the two came across the empty site at 320 W. Main St. and figured it was a good fit to share their baking expertise with customers craving sweets.

The Bend General Store previously occupied the spot, and when that store left I was wondering out loud what might turn up next to give it a go at a storefront with quite good street exposure.

The Kritzberg ladies answered that bell, and I am sure we'll stop in for a visit before long.

Get used to it

It's happened so much in the last seven years or so, one should be getting used to this. But when a big-box retailer or grocery store closes, it leaves, well, a big empty box behind. And those are not easy to fill.

As such, I'm dreading the Sports Authority site on Randall Road in Geneva eventually going dark. It would join the Dominick's across the street, and the Circuit City site in Batavia as big places that sit with no suitors.

Every town has empty buildings, but the big ones are a pain. I haven't noticed anything happening at the empty Butera site on the east side of St. Charles, or at various other spots, like the long-gone Borders, along strip malls in that area.

dheun@sbcglobal.net