Roots Aurora festival names three Cultural Champions for 2016
Three Aurorans who have made significant contributions to preserving and promoting the ethnic diversity of Aurora will be honored Friday, Sept. 2, at the Roots Aurora cultural festival.
Marilyn Katz, a leader in the Jewish community; Ricky Rodgers, founder of African American Men of Unity; and Michael Fichtel, a researcher and genealogist, will receive awards at 6 p.m. during the festival which will be held on Water Street Mall this year.
• Marilyn Katz is, in many ways, synonymous with the Jewish community in Aurora. Born at the old Copley Hospital on Lincoln Avenue and a 1974 graduate of West Aurora High School, she traces her roots in Aurora to 1906, when her grandfather, Harry Katz, first arrived from Lithuania and shortly founded the Aurora Fruit Company. Her mother, Edith Katz, was the first woman president of Temple B'nai Israel and its first archivist. Her involvement with the temple has included service on its executive board of directors, as well as the adult education and religious education committees and the Sunday school. She helped to create and now helps to lead a Reform Saturday morning service every month. She directed the 2016 Holocaust Memorial Service. She represents the temple at Interfaith Aurora, a faith dialog group. For these and other efforts she was named the Temple B'nai Israel 2016 Volunteer of the Year.
She has a particular interest in making sure young people stay in touch with Jewish history and traditions. A graduate of Haifa University and fluent in Hebrew, Katz lived in Israel for 9 years and now shares her love of the country and its language with young temple students. Her fundraising efforts send children to Camp Young Judaea in Wisconsin, and she recently reactivated the Rabbi Hyman Agress Scholarship Fund which enables young people to travel to Israel. In addition, she is a registered Boy Scout leader and a member of the Jewish Committee on Scouting. She encourages her boys to receive their Jewish Scout religious awards and coordinates the Shabbat Service to honor them. She recently received the prestigious Boy Scout Shofar Award, which recognizes outstanding service by adults in the promotion of Scouting among Jewish youth. This year, Katz curated, to great acclaim, a museum exhibit on Jewish history and culture for the Aurora Historical Society, an exhibit which was extended three times due to its popularity. Katz has contributed greatly to the life of the Jewish community and to the cultural diversity of the city, and Roots Aurora is proud to name her a Cultural Champion for 2016.
• Ricky Rodgers is a founder and currently the executive director of African American Men of Unity, a nonprofit mentoring agency for at-risk youth. Through Kwanzaa, Juneteenth and Rites of Passage manhood ceremonies, he imparts to young people the order within African culture, the greatness of their forefathers, and the richness of their heritage as African Americans. He is a former educator in East Aurora Unit District 131 schools.
• Michael Fichtel's family first arrived in Aurora in 1860. His interest in his own genealogy has grown into a passion that has led him to assist countless individuals of all ethnicities who are searching for their own roots and histories. A founder of the Fox Valley Genealogical Society, he became something of an Illinois legend for his massive index of 55,000 historical items in books, journals and newspapers. In addition he edited the society's research journal for 30 years. A native of Aurora, he is a graduate of East Aurora High School.
The Roots Aurora Cultural Festival will take place from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2, on Water Street Mall in downtown Aurora. Cultural Champion awards will be presented at 6 p.m., following the youth talent show. Other elements of the festival are a klezmer ensemble, ethnic dance troupes, a poet/drummer, ethnic musical groups, children's activities, mehndi artists, food booths and displays.
More information is available at rootsaurora.org.