St. Charles event celebrates arts, honors veterans
The St. Charles Arts Council has completed a lot of interesting projects since its creation five years ago.
Yes, it's been five years since the council was created, basically by many passionate people in the community who felt there was a need to keep the work of various arts organizations in the forefront.
Such a noble goal takes a lot of coordination and effort, but this group also orchestrated many of its own events and has certainly been quick to help promote a worthy venture for other organizations.
Such is the case with the council's involvement with the inaugural "Celebrating Veterans Through Art" event from Nov. 7 through 14.
Like most council events, this means there will be various concerts, art galleries, a public art installation and other events, with the key one being the "Veteran Honor Show" from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 12 at the Arcada Theatre.
As he has done for so many community events, Arcada owner Ron Onesti is donating use of the theater.
The council is joining hands with American Legion Post 342, AMVETS Post 503, VFW Post 5036, and People for the Arts/East High School and Community Unit District 303 for these veteran events. Organizers are asking veterans or those who know veterans to send information to the council. Call (630) 443-3794 to get information.
I think you get the idea. Nothing comes in small packages for the St. Charles Arts Council. And nothing should.
It said it would work hard to keep the arts an important part of the city because St. Charles had such a glorious past in this area when it staged the St. Charles Arts and Music Festival every other year in the 1990s.
Council volunteers have delivered on that promise. Now it's time to enjoy the arts and honor our veteran heroes at the same time.
Pizza as a craft: Tiger Prawn." Believe it or not, that's a type of pizza at Craft Works Pizza in Campton Hills.
The new pizza joint looks to draw customers in with quite creative pizza choices, or craft works, one might say.
Tiger Prawn qualifies as one of the gourmet pizza choices at Craft Works Pizza, located at the corner of Burlington Road and Route 64.
Wouldn't you call it "gourmet" with ingredients like this? It has basil-garlic butter, buffalo mozzarella, artichoke hearts and micro greens.
No one can say we don't have all types of pizza choices in the Tri-Cities area.
More sandwiches: Autumn squash soup. Sounds seasonal, and quite tempting.
It's one of the soups McAlister's Deli is showcasing as it opens its doors as another legitimate lunch and dinner spot at 1492 S. Randall Road.
But a deli makes it or breaks it on its sandwich menu, and McAlister's looks to have a variety of combinations from a southwest turkey melt to a New Yorker. You can guess what that is, and you'd probably be correct - piles of corned beef and pastrami with Swiss cheese and spicy brown mustard on toasted rye bread.
OK, I got hungry just writing that.
A quick six: It's hard to believe the Geneva United Methodist Church will celebrate its sixth anniversary of providing free Third Tuesday community suppers this week.
Time has gone by quickly since these hardworking volunteers came up with the idea to help families facing troubles in the recession, and then morphing it into a way for people to simply visit with others and have a home-cooked meal. In that time span, they have probably served thousands of meals at this monthly event.
I started taking my mother-in-law to these meals six years ago and it became the highlight of her month prior to her passing nearly two years ago.
We figure it's been a highlight for many others as well. After all, what's better than great food and great company?
Waterlogged construction: Townhomes under construction near Wheeler Park and also on Seventh Street in Geneva remind me of a question that pops into my head every time I see the frame of a building or home in place without a roof over it yet.
What happens if it pours rain for a week? That can't be good, right?
Experts say that it takes a long time for the lumber used to build houses to be affected by rain. So apparently it is not a big deal.
Spaghetti celebration: What better way to celebrate the Cubs victory over the Cardinals last week than to quickly run over to the annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser hosted by my friends at the Tri-Cities Exchange Club?
Well, OK, I would imagine quite a few folks found the various sports bars and pubs in the area a pretty good place to savor a terrific victory.
But it was all the more pleasant at the spaghetti dinner, held at the St. Charles Moose Lodge, to hear that Arcada Theatre owner Ron Onesti donated all of the spaghetti, sauce and meatballs for the dinner.
Yes, he's a music and entertainment man all of the way, but this fellow is deeply vested in his Italian roots. That means he spends just as much time on his love and knowledge of good food.
dheun@sbcglobal.net