High school dreams: Bright lights and artificial turf

It boils down to the love for high school sports vs. the difficulty of finding spare dollars in this economy.

Residents of the Tri-Cities area love their high school sports teams and it has always shown it through sports booster projects, many of which are unfolding now.

With football front and center, Geneva and West Aurora boosters are undertaking initiatives to cut maintenance costs and install artificial turf on their football fields, while South Elgin is going a step further in trying to orchestrate momentum to construct its own football field. This is not an impossible task, as has been proven recently by Aurora Christian.

St. Charles East is in the middle of a project that indicates these things can take time in this economy as boosters were hoping to unveil a new Jumbotron scoreboard at Norris Stadium during this season but the fundraising will have to carry those hopes into next year.

The politics of sports boosterism is such that there are more teams with pet projects, wants, desires and needs than you're likely to see on a state representative's agenda in Springfield. The phrase “all-sports boosters was created because the politics could manifest itself in no love being lost between boosters of different teams within the same high school, depending on who got what kind of financial support and when.

The enthusiasm of sports boosters remains at a level that will demand and, ultimately, produce the best quality for our student-athletes. They may not all get what they're wishing for, but it doesn't hurt for the community to rally around a cause on a sports program's behalf.

Marquee bright on time: Ron Onesti is calling this week crucial for his Arcada Theater, mainly because of the major shows the owner has on tap with America on Thursday night and the BoDeans on Friday night.By it being #8220;crucial, Onesti was referring to the need to have those major shows promoted in the bright lights of the theater marquee.He was hoping to have the second part of the theater marquee restoration the electronic reader board in place when Scarecrow Festival started last Friday.#8220;They are taking out the underbelly of the marquee and putting in the new posts for support, Onesti said early last week. #8220;My supreme goal was to have it done by Scarecrow Festival, and the sign company felt they could get it done by then.#8220;With the week I have coming up, it would be bad timing to not have the marquee in place, Onesti said.The first part of the project, replacing the Arcada sign pillar, was completed in late June.Arachnid paradise: Is there a student out there interested in arachnology?If so, I've found the mother lode of spider species to study. Take a look under the Prairie Street bridge in St. Charles, along the path that connects Mount St. Mary Park to the Bob Leonard walkway on the west side of the Fox River.It's a scene that would challenge any haunted house to match, in terms of massive spider webs.Of course, anyone studying spiders would likely be interested in different species, and it's possible that the handiwork under this bridge is compliments of just one specific type. Is there such a thing as a Fox River spider?Oldest and continuous: Martin Johnson has been reading my recent column items about the oldest residents in Geneva and St. Charles who have never lived any place other than their hometown.He laid claim to likely being the oldest, continuous resident of Campton Township. At 88 years old, he's convinced that all of the others he has known since he was a youngster have either moved or passed away.He's the father of Jerome Johnson, the executive director of Garfield Farm. I was chatting with Martin during last weekend's Harvest Days at the historic farm property while he was greeting people in the visitor's center.That center is actually the 1847 house of Atwell Burr, who was one of the closest neighbors to the Garfield family in the 1840s. The name should ring a bell with area residents, as Burr Road is named after Atwell Burr. The home was moved to the Garfield Farm in 1991.Garfield Farm is a wonderful trip back through time. If you've never visited, and have any interest at all in how people lived around here in the 1840s, this place is a must-visit.That Mexican fare: By dining at Front Street Cantina last week, I have finally officially eaten at each of the numerous Mexican restaurants in Geneva.I must really enjoy Mexican food, because I have had good things to say about each of those eateries at one time or another.My wife was raving about the chicken tortilla soup at Front Street Cantina, and I was quite pleased with the beef and chicken enchiladas that disappeared off my plate rather quickly.Chocolate kitchen grows: It's taking shape slowly, but surely. Chef Alain Roby of Geneva is determined to build his chocolate kitchen display before the end of the holiday season, when his shop on Third Street in Geneva will finish its four-month stay.Roby, the executive pastry chef for Hyatt Hotels, said he's had some busy weeks at work in downtown Chicago and it has cut into the time he's been able to put into constructing his chocolate kitchen.#8220;I have to find time to mow my lawn, too, Roby said last weekend.The shop has been doing well, selling tasty chocolate items as a fundraising project for the tiny Hearts organization fighting congenital heart disease in children. More than 600 visitors came through the doors of the shop at 507 S. Third St., its first weekend during Geneva's Festival of the Vine.Good, bad for scarecrows: The good news about the St. Charles Scarecrow Festival is that if the weather is good, it is the best possible send-off to our warm weather that you can enjoy. And it is great fun for all ages.The bad news is that it is a send-off to warm weather and the realization that winter is lurking is not pleasant to those of us who dread the colder climes and general gloominess of winter.If the weather is cooperating today, and you haven't been to downtown St. Charles yet this weekend, don't miss it.