St. Charles artist helps honor veterans through gallery exhibit
When St. Charles sculptor Guy Bellaver joined American Legion Post 342 six months ago, it didn't take him long to start thinking in terms of how the St. Charles Arts Council, of which he and wife Elizabeth are key members, could help the community honor its veterans.
"Years ago, everyone knew the men and women in the neighborhood who were in the service, but today, many of us don't even know our neighbors," said Bellaver, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam from 1965 through 1967.
Such a notion planted the seed for the arts council's gallery of "Yes I Served and I'm Your Neighbor" display at 11 E. Main St., St. Charles.
Bellaver spent more than three months collecting photos of local veterans from the Legion and VFW Post 5036, and also the assisted living centers in the area that care for many aging veterans.
The end result is an interesting and educational display about our friends and neighbors who served their country. The gallery, including other art and features from the P-ARTS organization at St. Charles East High School, is on display through Nov. 29.
The concept expanded to the excellent musical and narrative tribute held last week in the Arcada Theatre.
Need the young
Duane Buttell of St. Charles, an Air Force veteran and Silver Star honoree from his time as a fighter pilot in Vietnam, said the arts council's efforts "brought out patriotism, which we really need at this time."
But it also gave younger people a chance to get involved in Veterans Day activities and pique the interest of current veterans to get involved with the VFW or American Legion.
"We see a lot of the senior veterans here," Buttell said at a veterans gathering at The Office in St. Charles prior to the Arcada show. "But we need the young veterans to get involved."
Mostly, St. Charles has done much for its veterans with the arts council tribute and the annual event at St. Charles North High School, Buttell said.
"For those of us who were in Vietnam who didn't get a good reception when we returned, we are really enjoying what is happening now," Buttell said. "St. Charles has done a lot to keep this going."
A nice setting
If the Geneva Library ultimately boasts of a new facility at the site of the recently demolished Sixth Street School building, let's hope its board of directors can reinvent the nice Literary Garden setting outside of its current James Street location.
There are a lot of things to like about the unique building on James Street, but if the library needs more space and more community interaction, one needs only to look at Batavia's new library to see the potential in such a move.
It will be interesting to see how all of this develops over the next year or two. Just because a building gets knocked down, doesn't mean something else is going to automatically take its place.
Case in point: The Manor Restaurant in downtown St. Charles, and that whole next phase of the First Street redevelopment.
New Evergreen life
It was good to hear the former Ray's Evergreen Tavern on the west side of St. Charles will reopen as The Evergreen Pub and Grill under new managers in the coming weeks.
It is especially good because business manager Julie Knebel and her team previously operated River Lane Pub and Eatery in Geneva.
Why do I say especially good? Because I loved the hamburgers and other menu items at River Lane Pub. You have to think Evergreen is in for some of the same.
The first time
There's a first time for everything, and I finally saw it in downtown St. Charles after working and living in the Tri-Cities area since the mid-1970s.
A driver did a U-turn right in the middle of Main Street on a busy Saturday afternoon. And then just stopped in front of the Acquaviva Winery site at 214 W. Main St. - and stayed there.
For anyone not remotely familiar with downtown St. Charles, this means the driver negotiated an illegal move in pretty tight quarters on a busy thoroughfare and parked in front of the store in what is really one of the two lanes on that side of the street.
It didn't take long for others to start honking horns, and this driver finally slowly pulled away.
It serves to remind us that not all drivers are created equal and some very weak ones move around among us much of the time.
Staying warm somehow
The weather in October wasn't bad and so far in November it's been warm more often than not. If I can say the same about December and January, then we've really got something worth shouting about.
dheun@sbcglobal.net