Dave Heun shares his top spots for a fall walk in the Tri-Cities

Fall has settled in as peak color season brings all of its splendor, making it time to share some of our favorite walking areas and those touted by others.

You may see a lot of this sort of thing posted on Facebook by prolific walkers, bird watchers and nature lovers. But my wife and I also have some routes that take you through various neighborhoods, generally focusing on walks that include your dog.

For starters, we highly recommend taking advantage of the taxes you pay for our forest preserves and trails by taking a nice walk or bike ride along the Fox River trail if that is your preference.

We generally like starting on the west side of Fabyan Forest Preserve in Geneva, walking south into Batavia, coming back on the east side of the Fox River, and across the footbridge back to our car.

Seasoned hikers know the Kane County Forest Preserve offers free monthly hikes with naturalists, and we recommend checking out the district's calendar for those walks. They are offered in the mornings and early evenings.

We spend a fair amount of time in LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve in St. Charles, Johnson's Mound in Elburn or Delnor Woods in St. Charles. We walk part of the Persimmon Woods subdivision when we take our dog to Delnor Woods.

Mainly, we have created our own jaunts throughout the area. A nice one to walk with your dog is to park on the south end of Wheeler Park in Geneva and head north to the path that takes you to Route 31 to cross over to the path that leads to Mount St. Mary Park in St. Charles. After you loop that park and head back to Wheeler, it has given you a nice step count on your Fitbit or fitness watch. If we start in Mount St. Mary Park, we often head toward downtown St. Charles and loop back to the park.

When we park near the Municipal Center in St. Charles, we head north along the paved path into Pottawatomie Park and then through the nearby neighborhood. Or, we go up the stairs along the path to cross the Fox River footbridge to get to the other side of Route 31. We then head south through the neighborhoods, sometimes going through Lincoln Park in front of St. Patrick's church, other times just walking through more of downtown.

In Batavia, we generally prefer walking along the Riverwalk through the area by Riverrain Point Apartments and the Fox River dam, then back across the footbridge to River Lane and into downtown or the surrounding neighborhood.

Our walks along the Fox River often include Island Park in Geneva or Batavia's Clark Island recreation area. When you walk through Island Park, you can make it part of a loop that starts near Third Street.

Some of our walks now include the grandkids, so any park featuring a playground or learning area fits nicely. The grandkids live in Lisle, so we've ventured into some lovely places like Cantigny Park in Wheaton or the Naperville Riverwalk and the playground areas near Centennial Beach. But here in the Tri-Cities, it has been Peck Farm Park in Geneva or Pottawatomie Park.

No matter your preference, get out and enjoy the colors.

Still rockin' hard

Whenever Jim Freedlund of Batavia and Dave “EZ” Haines of Geneva get together with their bandmates in GNP (Gross National Product) for an annual concert at The Venue in Aurora, it's fairly fitting that one of the last songs of the night is “Last Time” by the Rolling Stones.

The band, many of the original members of the garage band that started in Batavia in 1967 can't say for sure who will be able to come from different parts of the country or whose health will hold up in the coming years to do these yearly shows.

But for now, GNP blew the roof off The Venue with a great show last weekend, raising money for the nonprofit Venue and other charities.

Other original band members include Tim Paskadi and Roy Bailey, both of Batavia, and Tim Hopkins, who lives in Elburn. Mark Voight is from Phoenix, and Jeff Jelly is from Connecticut.

Here's to hoping these guys can continue what they started more than 50 years ago and get together again next year. It has to be a lot of fun for the band members. And they can rest assured that it is for those in the audience.

Art gallery closes

Jan Schmuckal recently closed her Gallery 28 art gallery after 17 years of business at 28 N. Fourth St., just off Hamilton Street.

This might be a case where the gallery never could fully rebound from the COVID pandemic, but it is a place that artists and art lovers alike will miss.

It should also be noted that the art gallery fits the neighborhood perfectly, and it may be hard to replace that look and feel, depending on what type of business eventually takes up that space.

Piling up the marathons

Nicole Wojnarowski of Elgin completed the Berlin Marathon on Sept. 25, the fourth leg of her goal of completing the Abbott World Marathon Majors. She has completed the Boston, New York and Chicago marathons and has only Tokyo and London to achieve all the majors.

For good measure, she'll run again in the Chicago Marathon this Sunday, Oct. 9.

As reported in this column a year ago, Wojnarowski's efforts in marathons are even more impressive when she does it with a scar-tissue-related headache as part of her daily life. She has endured four brain surgeries over the past 25 years, stemming from an arachnoid cyst diagnosis at age 22.

Send thanks to veterans

Gina Robinson has a request for area residents. She'd like to see thank-you cards fill the Silver Glen Senior Living in South Elgin mailbox for the veterans under care at the site.

“We had such a beautiful outpouring of love last year we wanted to do it again,” said Robinson, the concierge at the care center. “Our veterans were in tears looking at all the handwritten notes, cards and letters.”

Even though Veterans Day isn't until Nov. 11, Robinson said the center is already taking cards. You can send those cards to Silver Glen Senior Living, Attn: Gina Robinson, 1901 Silver Glen Road, South Elgin, IL 60177.

Welcoming autumn season

Area residents participating in the fourth annual self-guided Jack-O'-Lantern Walk during Autumn Fest from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7 in Geneva will have some digital assistance.

QR, or quick response, codes are available to guide visitors through the displays at about 60 downtown businesses and also to scan and vote for their favorites, event organizer Kristen Cornelio said.

Businesses and restaurants will have special deals as part of the festivities.

Halloween fun

Over the years, there have been plenty of interesting Halloween events in the Tri-Cities, but one that I did cover for the Daily Herald some years ago remains one of my favorites.

BatFest in Batavia offers all sorts of events for kids downtown and at the Peg Bond Center near the city's band shell, including a parade sponsored by the Batavia Mothers' Club.

The downtown trick-or-treating and everything else unfolds from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29. The Batavia Main Street organization says this year's event will include a “pumpkin bowl” as in past years.

dheun@sbcglobal.net