Snowflakes a tradition in Kane courthouse

Despite the absence of snow on the ground right now, snowflakes are always in the air in December at the Third Street Courthouse in Geneva.

Continuing a tradition that began in the 1990s, court employees, bailiffs and security officers worked at lunch or on their own time to hang some 64 handmade paper snowflakes from second, third and fourth floors at the courthouse.

Andrea O'Brien, deputy court administrator for the 16th Judicial Circuit, said the snowflakes are reused each year.

"It takes quite a bit of time to make one, so what we do is package them up at the end of the season and keep them in the basement," said O'Brien, noting that a few staff members work after-hours to repair or remake the large, paper flakes if they get damaged or destroyed. "We've been doing this every year for quite some time. We have such an open rotunda."

O'Brien said the snowflakes go up during the week of Thanksgiving or early December and come down in January.