Meijer employees come through for grateful mom
Sue Melton felt her heart beating faster. A feeling of panic was becoming quite real.
A typical shopping day at the Meijer store on Randall Road turned into a scary moment when the St. Charles mother recently "lost" her 3-year-old son Garrett for a few minutes.
"We were near the toys and my son didn't want to leave, so I played the cat-and-mouse game with him, turning my back and pretending to leave," Sue said. "All of the sudden, he was gone."
When she started walking around and calling her son's name, a couple of Meijer employees joined in the hunt. Before long, Sue said, all of the employees in the store stopped working and started searching.
"I was getting really panicked now, and they could tell," Sue said. "But I was so impressed with their reaction and the system they had in place for when something like this occurs.
"I asked if they could lock the doors, and they said employees were already posted at the doors and on the lookout."
It seemed like a half-hour, she said, but it was only about four minutes later when Garrett was found by employees near the book section - "about a half a store away" from where she had last seen him.
"It was scary because I was thinking he just walked out, or maybe someone took him," Sue said. "The more I thought about it, I just had to share the story and let people know how great the employees were at the store."
At the Riverwalk: Observations at Batavia's beautiful Riverwalk: Here's to hoping the construction of the band shell progresses as planned for completion for the Windmill City Festival in July. Currently, it's a lot of busted up concrete and gravel.
The water was roaring over the Batavia dam after the heavy rains last week, creating a mini Niagara Falls near Riverrain.
The busiest business nearby was one of the city's oldest (since 1927). Patrons were welcoming owner Bob Pepper and the historic Batavia Popcorn Depot back for a new season in its location at 20 N. Water St. between Houston and Wilson streets.
Gardens to tables: With people looking to trim food costs, a title "From Garden to Table" for a cookbook is quite relevant.
It might have something to do with why the Geneva Garden Club's new cookbook by that name is being well-received in the area.
That, and the fact that the book features 250 recipes submitted by club members and 13 restaurants, local chefs and other popular "food" places.
Area residents will recognize some of the contributors in this book: Fiora's, Movable Feast, Grahams, Hyatt executive chef Alain Roby, Little Traveler, Niche, The Herrington Inn, Cocoa Bean, Mill Race Inn, The Little Owl, Geneva Spice House, The Olive Mill and Urban Grill.
"It's a really pretty book, in addition to having wonderful recipes," said Laura Olson, publicist for the garden club.
Olson said the cookbook has the added attraction of tips for gardens and tablescapes. The $20 book is available at the club website at genevagardenclub.com and various retailers.
dheun@sbcglobal.net