Remember Michael Geheren, the 13-year-old reporter from Huntley who once interviewed John McCain and is senior editor of KV Chronicles, a publication and Web site for kids?

Well, now you can follow his adventures on the Web site he's created to chronicle his nascent career.

At www.michaelgeheren.com, you can read the stories he's written as a member of the Scholastic kids press corps for Scholastic news online - he most recently covered the Republican National Convention - read his bio and follow his blogs.

I met his earlier this year in Lake in the Hills while KV Chronicles was wrapping up for the season. His enthusiasm for journalism is absolutely contagious.

I'm pretty sure we'll be reading his stories in the mainstream press one day.

Plug pulled on barn tour: This year, the Barn Preservation Association is putting its tour of Grafton and Dorr townships on ice, due to a lack of volunteers and resources to put on the event, according to a news release.

The tour was arranged with McHenry County College and in years past has been quite popular with residents, students and historians, with the 150 tickets reserved for last year's event selling out in less than a month.

But with dwindling membership and attrition on the board, it's been tough to organize the tour.

If you'd like to get involved with the group to keep this from happening again, visit www.mchenrycountybarns.org.

Has it really been 10 years? The Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin is holding its 10th anniversary gala, an event it's billing as a "classy night on the town."

The festivities begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2 at the Grand Victoria Casino - inside the fox river room.

The open cocktail hour runs through 7 p.m., and the Elgin Symphony Orchestra ensemble will perform.

Evening wear is strongly encouraged, with optional black tie.

Tickets are $55 and sponsored tables of eight people costs $550.

For more information, call (847) 488-1456 or send an e-mail to jbenson@elginil.org.

• Lenore Adkins covers Algonquin, Lake in the Hills, Pingree Grove and McHenry County College. She lives in Elgin.