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Second Fridays aims to draw visitors to downtown Batavia

Second Fridays aims to draw people to downtown Batavia

In the late 1980s, cities across the country established that Friday nights were ideal for artists and musicians to show off their work. It became a national movement called First Fridays and it unfolded in cities large and small.

Batavia took that concept and just pushed it back a week, calling it Second Fridays and getting various businesses to join in as places for art displays, music or food.

This is the second season for Batavia MainStreet's Second Fridays events, as the downtown association promotes it from April through October.

When contemplating the idea of a monthly event that would attract people to downtown Batavia, the organization had a couple of factors to juggle.

First, it was known throughout town that the Water Street Studios held events it called the Second Friday gallery openings. Those attracted hundreds of people into downtown Batavia, so it was just a matter of coming up with ways to "keep them down here to visit other places," said Jamie Saam, executive director of Batavia MainStreet.

The other factor was Aurora was conducting First Friday events, so Batavia didn't want to clash with those.

""We didn't want to do it on the same day as Aurora because we want our artists and musicians to be able to go to those events, and we want our community members to support those as well," Saam said.

"We also enjoy them coming up here on the Second Fridays, because we share a lot of artists up and down the Fox River valley."

In addition to various businesses being open late for the events, the Batavia Depot Museum stays open until 9 p.m., thus drawing visitors who might not normally come during regular hours.

"Even those who have lived in Batavia a long time and have never been to the Depot are now visiting," Saam said. "It has allowed the museum to tap into a whole new market of people."

For the May 11 event, check the MainStreet website to see which businesses are involved. The Depot Museum, Water Street Studios, The Book Shop, Kiss the Sky, Rivers Edge and Beardsgaard Barbers are among those participating.

One interesting twist is that Second Fridays will partner with the group behind the Bulldogs Unleashed program, in which painted bulldogs turn up in various parts of the city each summer.

"This year we'll have 'Foster Puppies,' which are 17-inch bulldogs painted by local artists that will be on display at 10 area businesses," Saam said.

"The artists will be with the dogs and available to talk to people about how the ideas came up," she added.

A taco treat:

We've all heard the lament when most any type of new restaurant opens in the area. How many Chinese, Italian, Mexican or pizza restaurants do we need around here?

Actually, the answer is often quite simple. If it's really good, we'll take as many as they want to build.

So it is I finally stopped in on a new place that falls into that category. I went to Taco Madre, choosing carryout from the site on Randall Road in St. Charles this time over a visit to the downtown Geneva spot. (Hey, I was in sweatpants and hadn't shaved in a couple of days, so this was done out of courtesy for the rest of humanity as well.)

The Mahi-mahi taco and shrimp taco were both delicious. In looking over the menu, these places have quite a bit to choose from. And it was busy inside, and that is generally a good sign.

That running man:

Readers expressed amazement at the feats of Bill Rex of Geneva after reading my column about this 78-year-old fellow completing more than 500 marathons in the past 40 years.

But it's actually more amazing than one might think. So let me clarify.

In going over my notes about Bill, I missed a key point. I wrote that he recently completed his 500th marathon in Arkansas, and a week later notched his 501st in Mississippi.

Not quite. He ran that Arkansas marathon on a Monday and the Mississippi event the very next day.

Can you imagine that? I wake up some mornings with aches and pains with no idea whatsoever where they came from. This guy is out running 26.2 miles and treating it like a daily routine; in the same manner I walk to the end of my driveway to get the newspaper each morning.

More fun at Funway:

Before kids were mesmerized by things like computers, tablets and smartphones to play games or stream video content, they had places that offered mini-golf, bumper cars, Go-Karts, arcade games, batting cages, bowling and roller skating.

Funway in Batavia has been that kind of spot for nearly 60 years, after opening as a small go-kart track in 1959 and, over the years, adding all of those aforementioned features.

Some of those have come and gone, including a BMX bike track owner Bob Hansen added in the back part of the facility in the early 1980s. But he added a bowling alley in 2004 that still operates.

The facility at 1335 S. River St. (Route 25) now prepares to go back to its roots with a new go-kart track, an expansion of the mini-golf course and other improvements.

Not too many longtime residents can say they haven't taken their kids to Funway at some point. That tradition isn't going away any time soon.

For the Bar:

Organizers have been hard at work for the Kane County Bar Association's "Courthouse of Cards" musical comedy production to be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 11, and Saturday, May 12, in the Copley Theatre in Aurora.

This event raises money for all of the charities that the Bar donates to during the course of a year.

Members of the Bar also use the event to promote social and professional relationships among its members - but also to give them a chance to show some other skills, like acting or playing instruments.

Tickets for the shows at Copley are available on the Paramount Theatre website.

dheun@sbcglobal.net

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