Painting the Fox River — and keeping it clean
A painting called “Fox River at Sunset” is striking and beautiful.
It’s an eye-catcher that brought artist Anna Cherkashina of Buffalo Grove a “Best of Show” award for her effort during the St. Charles Art Council’s recent Plein Air event, in which 40 artists painted outdoor scenes throughout Kane County.
The painting reminds us that the Fox River is a sight to behold and has been vital to the beauty of Kane County for years, far beyond what most of us can remember. It could also serve as the vision in the minds of longtime or new volunteers who take the time to help keep the river beautiful.
Keeping it beautiful has always been the hard part. After turbulent years in the 1960s and beyond, during which environmental activist James F. Phillips took on the pseudonym of “The Fox” and worked hard—and covertly—to bring air and river pollution dangers to the forefront, the idea of keeping the river as clean as possible finally took hold.
It continues to this day, especially with the Friends of the Fox River’s Saturday, Sept. 21 annual event called “It’s Our Fox River Day,” in which hundreds of volunteers in communities up and down the Fox take on the task of cleaning the river and its banks of garbage and debris or staging restoration and educational events.
In Geneva, the city’s Natural Resources Committee seeks helpers from 9 a.m. to noon to concentrate on Island Park and Fabyan Forest Preserve along the Fox River. In St. Charles, the River Corridor Foundation is joining with the St. Charles Park District and The Conservation Foundation to gather volunteers to clean the river from 9 to 11 a.m. Last year, more than 170 volunteers answered the call in St. Charles.
The volunteer roll call illustrates how many people and organizations get involved the “It’s Our Fox River Day.”
“We have two volunteers from Woodstock who told us they come to the St. Charles event because it’s very well organized, and we pull a lot of stuff out of the river at our clean up,” said Laurel Moad, president of the River Corridor Foundation.
“Families join us year after year to teach their children the importance of keeping the river clean and giving back to the community,” Moad added. “Plus, it’s fun to see what you can find.”
St. Charles Kiwanis coordinated their annual buckthorn cleanup on the west side of the river during this event and also volunteered to clean the shoreline in those spots.
As it has each year since the first “It’s Our Fox River Day” in 2019, the Fox River and its banks should be a lot cleaner at the end of the month.
Other Illinois communities involved in the cleanup day include Batavia, Algonquin, Antioch, Carpentersville, Dundee, East Dundee, Elgin, Fox Lake, Montgomery and Wonder Lake.
When you see a list like that, it’s good news that hundreds of volunteers are joining this effort with an important commitment to keeping the waterway a source of pride.
The bad news is that some people continue to use the river like a personal dumping ground, and you wouldn’t believe some of the stuff volunteers drag out of the river or off its banks. Moad said it’s not uncommon to see a wide array of discarded materials.
“In years when the river has been very high during the season, we tend to find more debris that’s been washed into the river and floats downstream,” Moad explained. “In low water years, volunteers have been able to walk out into the river bed and pull rebar (steel bars), road signs and other items from the bottom of the river.”
Over the years, Moad said, volunteers have retrieved “lots of tires, road signs, a patio umbrella, metal drums, loads of beverage cans, discarded lumber, piping and construction materials, an oar, wheelbarrow, pool toys and equipment.”
It’s a “treasure” hunt every year, she noted.
Those interested in helping can register for events in their towns on the Friends of the Fox River website under the calendar and events link.
Volunteers interested in the Geneva cleanup at Island Park are asked to meet in one of two groups. Those ready to get wet and muddy in the Fox River should wear the proper clothes and meet at the Fabyan Forest Preserve parking lot just south of the Fabyan Windmill off Route 25. Those preferring to stay dry will meet at Island Park, at 2 E. State St., on the spillway near the playground.
Parking maps are available on the geneva.il.us website.
In St. Charles, volunteers will check in at Ferson Creek, off Route 31. Advanced registration on the St. Charles River Corridor Foundation website is encouraged, but walk-ins are welcome.
Back of former Strawflower
In case you forgot or haven’t noticed, Geneva Design House, the rebrand of the former Strawflower Shop in Geneva, opened last year in the back part of that iconic building at 210 W. State St.
Space-wise, it’s a much smaller operation than what owners Mike and Susan Haas enjoyed at Strawflower since 1978. Still, it was all they needed to continue the retail business in what they were calling a new “design warehouse” now facing James Street.
Geneva Design House is at 207 James St., directly east of the Craft Urban restaurant.
The Haas family recently sold the former Strawflower storefront, which now houses The Lighting Digest. This business works with manufacturers of commercial and residential lighting systems to help those clients develop design plans and marketing strategies for their products through social media channels and podcasts.
Bringing some Asian flair
Are you interested in something different for dinner? How do Lobster, Scallop or Filet Mignon Hibachi sound?
Those are just a few of the options at the new Yatai Japanese Kitchen, located at 17 N. Fourth St. in Geneva.
As past food service operations at that site have offered, Yatai has a nice outdoor seating deck in the parking lot of that retail strip.
It is a different twist to have a Japanese restaurant in downtown Geneva at that location, which has housed pizza, burger and burrito joints, and a Smoothies service.
Yatai has been open for about a month, and the reviews on social media have been quite positive.
So, if you are a fan of Chinese food, would you automatically enjoy Japanese food? It’s sort of like asking if you enjoy Italian food and Mexican food.
The answer depends on how your taste buds react to different seasonings and spices. I’ve always viewed Chinese food as rather filling and heavier on sauces, spices, rice and noodles.
That is only sometimes the case with Japanese food, which some food experts think is more nutritious and generally lighter fare than Chinese food. They come to that conclusion because of the fresh vegetables and seafood often offered in Japanese restaurants and lighter seasonings.
I’m not a food expert, especially when it comes to Asian dishes, so it would probably be best to try Yatai in Geneva and see for yourself.
More than a cleaning
Sometimes just a handful of young people can make a significant difference in the community by doing something that separates your town from others.
That would be the case for Eagle Scout Luke Grimm from Troop 56 and his efforts to organize a cemetery cleanup project at St. Charles North Cemetery.
This wasn’t just cleaning up the cemetery. It was cleaning and straightening more than a dozen Civil War veterans’ headstones.
Grimm had more than 25 volunteers show up for a Saturday of important and meaningful work — the kind that lets us point to something and say, “This is the kind of community we live in.”
Payton a nice fellow
It was nice to meet WGN-TV sportscaster Jarrett Payton at the west-side Starbucks in St. Charles last week and talk sports with him.
The son of Chicago Bears great Walter Payton is often around St. Charles, living in Fox Mill and owning downtown restaurant/bar operations Flagship and Dukes Northwoods.
I didn’t want to bore him with my sports writing background, and I also forgot to mention my son worked with his sister, Brittney, when she was at WFLD Fox 32 a few years ago.
It was more important to talk about the Bears and to let him know my main concern remains how coach Matt Eberflus will perform in the fourth quarter of tight games. That’s where coaches can make a difference. Otherwise, there is no doubt the team has improved.
I think he was happy to hear one of my favorite Chicago teams is the Chicago Sky. We talked about the young talent on the team and his hope that the franchise continues to grow, starting with more money going into the team’s practice facility.
If we had time, we could have contemplated the Sky’s most menacing bugaboo at the moment and the one likely to leave them short of a playoff berth — turnovers. But that would be a long discussion.
dheun@sbcglobal.net