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What if the Kane County Fairgrounds had moved to a different spot?

How about playing a game of "What If?"

What if the Kane County Fairgrounds had moved to Route 47 north of Lily Lake in the early 1990s, as its board had contemplated? There were site maps already plotted and it seemed like a good move, as the Randall Road location at that time was showing signs of wear and tear.

Plus, if the fairgrounds moved, St. Charles could make some effort to modernize its retail offerings along a road that was destined to become a retail mecca from North Aurora to Elgin, give or take a few church sites and subdivisions in between.

What if the Kane County Cougars took up residency on that property, which was also being talked about in the late 1980s?

That might have been OK, but not likely to produce any more success than what the Cougars have enjoyed at the Geneva location along Kirk Road. In fact, the team more easily draws fans from DuPage County at that spot.

But what if the Charlestowne Mall had located along the fairgrounds property instead of the east side of St. Charles? Would it still be alive and kicking today?

My guess is it would have had a fighting chance. After talking to Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke recently, it made me think even more so about what could have been.

Schielke said when he spoke to Target developers about locating in Batavia years ago, he asked if they were thinking about a Marshall Fields in Charlestowne Mall.

They said they had given it some thought, but backed off when seeing no homes along Kirk Road (mostly Fermilab land and St. Charles industrial areas), and realizing that a good demographic in nearby Wayne also did not have enough homes.

There would have been plenty of homes around a Charlestowne Mall at the fairgrounds site, considering how areas west of Randall exploded with homes.

But here we are, years later, with a large Target in that area on the east side of St. Charles, but a crippled mall.

For me, personally? I kind of like the renovated fairgrounds set up right where it is. And the flea market and other events certainly put the city on the map for a lot of out-of-towners.

But it could be argued, over the long haul, that a strong retail spot there might have worked out better for the city coffers. Still, St. Charles did the best it could with the room it had to work with, landing a Costco Wholesale right next to the fairgrounds.

Goose and hoops

Dave Pichik probably first introduced himself to me at a St. Charles East basketball game nearly 40 years ago because he knew I was a new sports editor in town and had a lot of interest in that sort of thing.

Now that Pichik is retiring from the grocery business after 50 years as a mainstay at Blue Goose in St. Charles, he most certainly will continue to attend Saints' basketball games.

So we had two things in common. We both loved high school basketball and I had previously toiled in the grocery business with Jewel Food Stores. Luckily for shoppers throughout the region, I was a far better writer than a shelf stocker and went that route.

But I have a lot of respect for guys like Dave Pichik and others who spent their entire lives helping a grocery store serve its community.

It's not easy work, and you have to be pleasant to customers at all times. That part, Dave Pichik had down to a science.

Some jail time

If our wonderful Illinois politicians can go to prison for selling a Senate seat, issuing driver's licenses to unqualified truck drivers, or providing hush money to cover up a sex scandal, how about adding "destroying our state" to this list of crimes?

You wouldn't hear me complain if someone handed down an edict that any state politician serving at a time when a state budget is not agreed upon and put in place has to serve a prison term. One month for every day past a budget deadline.

We'd never have a budget crisis again. And what bigger crime has unfolded than the one our current governor and Illinois house speaker have orchestrated?

Who cares whose fault this is? The truth is, we elect these yahoos to govern, and that means you have to compromise sometimes to accomplish things in the best interest of the state's residents. Has anyone seen even a semblance of that in the last year?

A full meal

TriCity Family Services added a new twist to its annual Lobster Fly-In fundraiser by giving participants the option to order what amounts to a complete meal.

That means you can order your lobster or shrimp, but also 8-ounce beef filets from Josef's Meats, seasonings from Geneva Spice House, sweets from Sugar Path or ice cream from Kimmer's Ice Cream.

But here's the catch, the deadline to order is noon Monday to participate in the June 18 pickup at the old Kane County Courthouse parking lot.

Those who want to place an order can do so online at www.tricityfamilyservices.org or by calling (630) 232-1070.

Eye-catching chairs

As usual, the Adirondack chairs decorated by various businesses and organizations for the Chair-ity event to aid Downtown St. Charles Partnership projects featured some interesting and eye-catching designs.

The bidding for the chairs in an online auction started earlier this month, and goes into early August. The chairs, on display along the Fox River between the Municipal Center and the police station, have the bidding number and information for the online auction tagged to them.

One chair that definitely stopped you in your tracks, no pun intended, was the Fox River Harley Davidson motorcycle chair.

Whoever bids on that one and wins, will have a pretty cool chair.

dheun@sbcglobal.net

The Fox River Harley Davidson entrant in the annual the Chair-ity event to aid Downtown St. Charles Partnership. The Adirondack chairs, decorated by various businesses and organizations, will be auctioned off. Courtesy of Dave Heun
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