Geneva Community Gardens set to open April 21
The Geneva Community Gardens at Prairie Green plots will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony April 21, and you may see me there.
Not as a reporter, but as one of the inaugural gardeners. Yes, I forked over $60, the nonresident fee, for a 20-by-30-foot plot. I’ve grown vegetables at my house, but don’t really have a good space, other than the front yard, for a large fenced plot. (Fence needed because of wily rabbits, who decimated my green-bean plants last year. Nothing deters them — not hot-pepper wax, not deer repellent, not toy windmill spinny-things, not me yelling at them like a modern-day Farmer McGregor.)
If you find yourself near Plot 50, say “hi.”
The ribbon-cutting is at 10 a.m. It is followed by an 11 a.m. Earth Day celebration down Peck Road at Peck Farm Park.
More outdoors stuff
A warm spring evening, a cool drink in your hand, and tasty treats from Batavia’s restaurants.
That’s the recipe for the “Cocktails on Clark” fundraiser for the Batavia MainStreet organization.
The May 19 event will be held in Clark Island Park, the mid-river facility south of the Wilson Street bridge.
“‘Cocktails on Clark’ is a spin on the traditional gala fundraiser. It is a new community fundraiser, raising funds for community events and community business at an amazing community location,” event Chairman Jamie Saam said in a prepared statement. “This exciting outdoor evening will showcase Clark Island as well as the hard work and efforts that Batavia MainStreet contributes to make our downtown a place where we want to live, shop and play.”
There will be music, food and an auction.
Tickets cost $25 in advance; if you buy five, a sixth is thrown in for free. Day-of tickets are $30. Tickets can be bought online at downtownbatavia.com/store/tickets.
Batavia MainStreet, a nonprofit group, is dedicated to improving the vitality of downtown Batavia. Its 2009 annual financial statement, the latest available on the Illinois attorney general’s website, shows that in 2009, the organization raised $133,738 and spent $122,976.
Out to pasture
The Batavia streets division is getting set to replace two dump trucks it purchased in 1995 and 1996. The purchase was recommended by the city council’s city services committee April 3.
Committee Chairman Jim Volk noted that he and Alderman Eldon Frydendall, another committee member, were both on the council when the original trucks were bought. That they are worn out and need replacing made him feel old, Volk said. The old trucks will be declared as surplus and sold or otherwise disposed of.
“Maybe Eldon and I ought to be declared surplus,” Volk said.
“I second that motion,” piped a quick-witted Alderman Dawn Tenuta.