Batavia celebration to bring history to forefront
Britta McKenna has fielded the same question many times regarding this weekend's celebration of Batavia's 175th anniversary.
"People want to know if there will be a carnival and I tell them no," said McKenna, executive director of Batavia MainStreet, the not-for-profit organization dedicated to enhancing Batavia's downtown.
"This is an old-fashioned celebration, which will really focus on our history. And the picnic is a true picnic. There won't be any food for sale, so bring a picnic basket.
"I think the celebration will say that we're proud of our past and the blue collar workers who founded Batavia and filled it with a lot of community spirit," she added.
Batavia was settled in 1833 when Christopher Payne built his cabin and planted potatoes on land east of the Fox River.
The 175th anniversary celebration of the oldest community in Kane County begins today when the Batavia historical exposition opens at noon at the government center, 100 N. Island Ave. It will also be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday.
But for McKenna, the highlight of the weekend will be the two free performances of the pageant, "Little Town in a Big Woods," at 7 p.m. Friday and Sunday at Rotolo Middle School, 1501 S. Raddant Road.
"Marilyn Robinson wrote it for the 150th celebration and it was never performed," McKenna said. "She has been a great historian for Batavia. The pageant really puts Batavia's history into perspective."
There is an interfaith community church service at noon Sunday at the Riverwalk at Houston Street and Island Avenue, followed by the picnic at 1 p.m.
"The celebration, as well as the service, gives us a chance to stop and think about the ideals and values that the people who settled this community brought with them," said the Rev. David Foxgrover, senior pastor of the Congregational Church of Batavia. "They were dedicated not only to literally building homes for themselves, but to creating a community institution.
"I will tell the people at the worship service that the first public building in Batavia was a school, it wasn't a tavern or a church. It was later used for civic gatherings and for church services, but it was built as a school in 1834, just one year after Christopher Payne settled here. It indicates that there was a concern for the common good."
Other activities include the pioneer parade at noon Saturday at Clark Island Park, followed by a performance of the Fox Valley Concert band at the Riverwalk, a Chuck the Duck rubber duck derby at 3 p.m. Saturday (registration begins at noon) and a rededication of the Wilson Street bridge at 6 p.m. Saturday.
A fireworks show at 9 p.m. Sunday brings the bulk of the celebration to a close. Residents can still visit the historical exposition Monday.
Assistant City Administrator Randy Recklaus believes the celebration will have an effect that will last well beyond the weekend.
"It is a reminder to all of us that we are part of a community that reaches not only laterally from neighbor to neighbor, but historically from generation to generation," he wrote in an e-mail. "As a member of the city's leadership team, it's humbling to think that we are stewards of a community that has existed for so long. But we are also reminded that the implications of what we do today will have an impact far into the future."