Colonial tradition will continue on Randall
The Colonial Ice Cream truck parked at the shopping strip at Randall Road and Prairie Street in St. Charles last week helped us get used to the name of Colonial in that region.
Colonial president Tom Anderson will be making an official announcement in the near future, but it's no secret that he'll be moving his west side Colonial Café restaurant from 2036 W. Route 38 to the 546 S. Randall Road location previously occupied by Mr. Samurai Steak and Sushi.
In a restaurant shuffle, Mr. Samurai has plans to move to 2762 E. Main St. under the name of House of Tokyo.
I chatted with Anderson and his wife Cris at a fundraiser for my service club and he confirmed the lease for his current site expires in March. The current building could possibly face the wrecking ball, in the same manner as the nearby Burger King restaurant. It's all part of the Shodeen Inc. plan to pave the way for whichever Center of St. Charles proposal is ultimately approved for that region, including the empty grounds that once housed the St. Charles Mall.
Burger King has already broken ground for its new site in front of Lowe's along Randall Road, but Colonial won't have to break ground. The new restaurant will find its home in that corner location of the strip mall area, a few doors down from the Subway, La Huerta grocery store and Real Time sports bar.
This appears to be an excellent location for Colonial, with plenty of parking. Depending on what happens to the neighboring county building - if the county offices move from that location by the end of year, St. Charles could enjoy a revitalization of this shopping area.
Most importantly, St. Charles keeps one of its historic businesses intact on the west side as the Anderson family continues the great Colonial tradition that patriarch Joe Anderson started more than 50 years ago.
A real Geneva project: A lot of work has gone into converting a key Third Street building into a new restaurant, and owner Michael Anastasio is most pleased that it illustrates a true work of Geneva.
When Fiora's, at 317 S. Third St., opens to the public on Nov. 4 it will be the next chapter in the history of the building, which most recently housed the La Maison D'Elodie shops.
"I wanted to let you know that despite the economic downturn, there are people who are still investing in our community and optimistic about the future," said Anastasio, who, along with his wife Ann, virtually saved the building from the wrecking ball by purchasing it in the spring of 2008. Previous owner Joe Stanton was considering various plans for the site, some which did not include keeping the current structure.
Anastasio said the economic meltdown hurt some of his original plans for the building, but many people in the community encouraged him to consider a restaurant at the site. After a lot of planning with city and historic preservation officials, Fiora's was created.
"We took great pleasure in the fact that we utilized local Geneva contractors and consultants for the project, and have also hired many Geneva and other local area residents," he added.
Anastasio said Fiora's will be an upscale restaurant with moderate prices, featuring American and European dishes and fine wines.
Some quicker steps: Weldon Johnson's legacy will surely be his role as "Mr. Viking" from his years of marching in the Swedish Days parade in Viking garb.
But he found out fairly quickly last weekend that his role in the Dancing with the Geneva Stars fundraiser in February will be a little trickier than basically putting one foot in front of another while marching in a parade.
At least Johnson was still smiling last Sunday night after learning that he and his partner Joanne Buckley will be performing the quickstep in the Feb. 6 event.
Five other couples also received their marching, er, dancing orders after an hour session of quick lessons directed by instructor Alex Artega at State Street Dance Studio in Geneva.
David and Shawn Ginsberg will do the cha-cha; Matt and Kimberly Lennert were assigned the tango; Tim and Barb Moran will perform a waltz; Harry and Marcia Smith will cut a rug doing the swing; and Jim and Susan VanderVeen will add some Latin flair in the salsa.
You'll be hearing a lot more about this as the couples begin their quest for votes, which ultimately raise the funds for the Geneva Cultural Arts Commission and the Geneva Academic Foundation.
My advice to competing couples: Don't be spooked by the opening session. That was a lot of information to absorb in one night. Your private lessons will be much better.
Exposure to theater: What better way to encourage a young person who would like to pursue the performing arts, but isn't quite sure how to go about it, than to offer a free workshop?
That's why the Noble Fool Theatricals Performing Arts Academy has a good idea going with its open house and free workshop for ages 3 to 18 from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday in the Studio Theater at Pheasant Run Resort.
This will help kids meet the right people and be able to ask the right questions. The academy apparently gets a lot of requests or questions about how to get a shy young person to be exposed to theater without spending a fortune - and this is a good solution.
More information about the workshop is available at (630) 443-0438.
dheun@sbcglobal.net