Norris-Collins family synonymous with St. Charles

Let's throw out an understatement to start this "Talk of the Town" item: St. Charles has done pretty well by the Norris-Collins family.

With the family namesake in the city's history books forever, it seems fitting that the St. Charles Park Board decided to name the Pottawatomie Park pavilion tower in honor of the late James and Joann Collins.

Collins Development has left its mark on projects such as Fox Chase, Foxfield Square, and a number of other local developments.

Joann Collins, daughter of Lester and Dellora Norris, was a Charlemagne Award recipient in 1990 and life member of the Delnor-Community Hospital Women's Auxiliary.

The schools, Delnor-Community Hospital and the city have all benefited from the Norris family and in the endless charitable work of Joann Collins.

And in echoing that first understatement, park board President Nancy Cox said: "The Norris-Collins family has been great friends to the St. Charles community and the park district, and we are extremely grateful for their generosity."

More chocolate paradise: When I last mentioned Alain Roby in my column in October of 2006, the Geneva chef was being touted for his work on a 20-foot chocolate skyscraper, a feat that landed him in the Guinness Book of World Records.

As a leftover from my holiday notebook, I should reveal that Roby, the senior executive pastry chef for Hyatt Hotels in Chicago, was at it again last year in forging a spot in the Guinness records.

This time he built a 22-foot-tall chocolate Christmas tree, completed with 1,800 pounds of dark and white chocolate.

Would there be a spot in the record book for how fast someone could eat that? Put me in a room with that concoction and we'd find out soon enough.

Sore knees and feet: Well, only a few more days and my aching knees and feet can take a break. Good luck to all of the dancers in the Dancing with the Geneva Stars event Saturday night at Eagle Brook Country Club.

All of the couples have been working their legs hard since November, and it should be a lot of fun for everyone involved in this great fundraising idea being staged by the Geneva Cultural Arts Commission and State Street Dance Studio.

The event has been sold out for more than a week, but it's not too late to vote for your favorite couple. Online voting at $1 a vote on the genevarts.org Web site is being taken until Friday.

Thanks to everyone who has voted so far. In this tough economy, it is even more meaningful.

A leading effort: Hats off to the Elburn Chamber of Commerce and its "business leads" groups for their work in providing a recent donation of $1,120 to the Elburn and Countryside Food Pantry.

For several years, the chamber has matched the amount that the leads groups come up with, which was $560 this past year.

Organizers are calling this year's effort the most successful in the program's history. Again, in this economy, that says a lot.

Information about the chamber and its leads groups is available at (630) 365-2295.