St. Charles electric shop has connection to Buckingham Fountain

It qualifies as a great trivia question under the category of "St. Charles history."

Which St. Charles business has a significant, even historic, connection to the Buckingham Fountain in Chicago?

"Connection" was your clue.

It is Rehm Electric Shop, a fixture in downtown St. Charles since 1921 and the company responsible for the electricity connections that first lit up Buckingham Fountain in 1927.

With that bragging right in their pockets, it's not the least bit surprising that Rehm's also did all of the electricity in the Hotel Baker when it became a key part of downtown St. Charles in 1928.

That was back when LeRoy Rehm owned and operated the electric store, which was a block east of its current location at 215 W. Main St., its home since 1923. It remains in the capable hands of his grandson Rob Peterson and Rob's wife, Kathy Peterson.

Many longtime residents remain loyal customers for Rehm Electric, but new customers pop up fairly regularly, Rob Peterson said.

"People check in after seeing the store when driving through town or after visiting our website," Peterson said.

There's been a learning curve over the past several decades for anyone associated with tackling electricity problems for Rehm. But that's the case with any business facing advancing technology.

"Electricity has evolved over the years," Peterson said. "We have had to keep learning about the new technology."

For electricians, that meant advancing onto LED technology and how light bulbs and light fixtures have changed. Not to mention, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and various digital or "smart" devices.

Turns out, those are the types of things that people or business owners are most often asking about when contacting Rehm Electric for advice or help.

"Old technology still works fine, but we're not seeing as many houses with older wiring or four posts on a phone outlet," Peterson added. "That was basically 10 or 20 years ago or more, and most everything is going wireless now."

Customers can still walk into the Rehm store and buy items or seek repairs on things like lamps and other electronics.

Depending on what local subdivision you live in, there's an outside chance Rehm set up the power boxes and provided the electricity for the lampposts.

It won't be long before we're saying they've doing it for 100 years.

Streaming youth baseball:

Like any good grandparents, Sam and Carolyn Hill of Geneva like to attend as many of their grandson's youth baseball games in Darien as possible. But when his team travels to special events in other states, that's not as easy.

Years ago this wouldn't have been possible, but the Hills, from the comfort of their own home, were able to watch Justin Hill play in a tournament last week in upstate New York at the Cooperstown All-Star Village baseball complex.

They did it via livestreaming video on the all-star village website.

"We've never streamed anything," Carolyn Hill said. "But it was fun to watch on the computer."

So they kept close tabs on the Illinois Hitmen team, which also featured Geneva youth Andy Roman. And the team was able to beat a squad from Batavia. Teams from St. Charles, Bartlett and Grayslake were also in the event, which draws teams from all over the country

It was a good experiment for the Hills to take part in current video technology, and a way to enjoy their grandson's baseball exploits without traveling all the way to New York.

Banking on paint:

Fundraising efforts are underway for expanding the Batavia Depot Museum, and it's not bad timing for Batavia's first bank, a structure built in 1856 that has been set up near the museum for decades.

That old bank building may be moved around as part of the expansion near the Batavia Riverwalk and Depot Pond - but it could use a paint job right now.

I bring this up only because, several years ago, I talked to some Boy Scouts who were painting the building at that time as part of their Eagle Scout project. It's looking like it could again use some Scouts looking for a community project.

One might start calling me the "paint whisperer," because not long after I mentioned that the Sholes School in LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve in St. Charles was in dire need of a coat of paint, someone - or a group of someones - responded and spiffed up that historic structure.

Water bowl spot:

If you are inclined to walk, run or bike around the Fox River from Fabyan Forest Preserve, south to Batavia and back, with a pet coming along, it's always a good idea to have some water on warmer days.

The businesses in the Challenge Building along River Street in Batavia must know they are set in what would be one of the warmer stretches of that walk, with little or no shade.

So it's a welcome sight for the dogs when they come across the water dish and hose that Challenge makes available for people to "water" their pets right along the path.

Get the dance on:

When talking to parents who have children on dance teams, one part of the conversation has always been constant - it's a long season with a lot of training.

The Sunset Dance Company at the Geneva Park District is no different, as it begins to prep for another busy year.

It will hold auditions for the 2017-2018 season for those ages 5 and older from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Aug. 6 at the Sunset Community Center.

Those interested should register ahead of time at genevaparks.org.

A meeting about the Sunset Dance Company is set for 5 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the community center.

While this dance company participates in numerous events and competitions, don't forget that it is open to dancers of all skill levels.

dheun@sbcglobal.net