Pride of the Fox RiverFest remains in good hands
The St. Charles Chamber of Commerce created the original Pride of the Fox RiverFest 27 years ago, but it was Tom Anderson of Colonial restaurants who stepped forward as a planner when the festival was struggling for an identity and someone to champion its cause 20 years ago.
Before all of that, I met Joy Meirehans when she was organizing a Mid-American Horse Festival at the Kane County Fairgrounds in the spring of 1980.
When Anderson asked her to help him keep the Pride of the Fox RiverFest in St. Charles from fading away in 1989, she accepted the challenge - and I knew the event would be in good hands with those two in charge.
The festival has grown in popularity as one of the area's first summer events, but apparently had reached another time to turn it over to other planners.
The news last week that Anderson and Meirehans were stepping back for the St. Charles Downtown Partnership to take over the festival just made sense.
The partnership, under the past direction of Neil Smith and current executive director David Richards, has grown in stature and influence. The organization has been involved in the festival anyway and should do an excellent job in guiding its future.
In its infancy, the festival was a nice showcase for Pottawatomie Park, but eventually grew to include much of the downtown venues and Mount St. Mary Park for music and food. We'll be anxious to see its next phase.
They go up quickly: When driving under area pedestrian bridges in the past, I wondered the same thing each time: How did that go up so fast? Some, in fact, seemed to come up out of nowhere. But it usually meant I just hadn't been down that particular road in a long time.
It was interesting to drive north on Randall Road into South Elgin a couple of times in the past week. It allowed me to actually see construction work on a bicycle/pedestrian bridge on Silver Glen Road that is being built over Randall.
Workers were piecing together the wood framing before concrete and metal becoming the key ingredients for the structure. The construction project in St. Charles Township will include minor improvements to the existing trail on each side of Randall at that intersection. It is scheduled to be finished in the late fall.
At least this one won't seem as if it mysteriously appeared out of nowhere.
The correct date: As he's been preparing for another conference with area church leaders about domestic violence, former St. Charles police officer Jim Kintz has worked hard to get the word out.
He confessed to a boo-boo recently, saying he gave me the wrong date to publicize the 16th Judicial Family Violence Coordinating Council event.
It gives us another chance to note that anyone who would be willing to sponsor the fifth annual "The Faith Community Response to Domestic Abuse Within Its Congregation" should contact Kintz at (630) 232-7620.
The correct time and date is 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 28 at the Batavia VFW on Route 25.
dheun@sbcglobal.net