Collaboration improves Fox River Arts Ramble

Business leaders, politicians and coaches could learn a thing or two about collaboration from organizers of the Fox River Arts Ramble. It showcases the mantra that two or more heads are almost always better than one.

The St. Charles Arts Council, Fine Line Creative Arts Center in St. Charles and Water Street Studios in Batavia were the collaborators who made this event happen.

It will take place for the second year April 13-14 with self-guided tours of arts locations from Aurora to Elgin. And it will have a lot more, well, "ramble" this time around.

Just the fact that it will now be two days instead of one to give patrons more time to visit as many as 40 spots is a big change, but the St. Charles Arts Council also plans to get the word out more extensively and visibly.

After all, an arts ramble can't take place if participants aren't quite sure where they are rambling.

"Some of the things we've changed this year include new and better signage and more extensive descriptions of participating artists and venues on the map/brochure," said Alison Bastian, director of the St. Charles Arts Council.

"We found that our signage last year was a little small and not as visible as we would have liked."

The event also was lacking the Ramble "brand" because it "didn't quite come through in the design, so we've replaced these with larger, more legible, and easily identifiable signs that will hopefully make location-finding a lot simpler," Bastian said.

The idea for the Ramble came together about five years ago through a group called the Fox River Arts Coalition, which came up with the mantra that collaboration was the way to make arts awareness grow.

"We have a unique arts destination in the Fox Valley that warrants attention," Bastian said.

With Fine Line board member Ellen Ljung leading the efforts in 2017, a committee was formed with representatives of the councils and studios. And the seeds were planted for the free and self-guided Fox River Arts Ramble.

Because the St. Charles Arts Council has a mission to serve and promote the arts, it was in a good spot to help the new Fox River Arts organization and the Ramble concept take hold.

Landing Fast Color and Cooper-Hong as sponsors also has helped shape this event.

"We felt because we worked within and across the community in our role as an arts council, we were uniquely poised to develop a participant base and build community enthusiasm," Bastian said.

Of course, one really important factor is that most of the event is indoors. Planners don't have to fret too much about fickle weather.

A ton of information about the two-day event, held 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, and each participants' program is available at foxriverarts.com.

He was special:

After 40 years of reporting on, or simply watching, high school boys basketball in the Tri-Cities area, it's never easy to say who is the best player I've seen.

It's a bit of a loaded question, in fact, because over time, your memory starts to fade just a tad as to what the players in the 1970s and 1980s were really like compared to today.

But I am allowing this thought to enter my mind: Point guard Jack McDonald of this year's Geneva Vikings is the most exciting player I've ever seen. That's different from saying he is the best. But it's not far from it.

It may not be quite the same as everyone knowing Larry Bird was the best player they had set eyes on in college when I was covering the Missouri Valley Conference in the late 1970s, but you simply know a terrific player when you see one.

McDonald may not have had the type of scoring game he was hoping for against Rockford, but his tenacity in getting the ball and beating pressure defense will serve him well if plays in college.

Mostly, it just seems fitting to at least say thanks to McDonald and his senior teammates for the thrilling careers they put together for Geneva, securing the school record for wins at 32 and advancing to the supersectional before falling to a talented Rockford East squad.

This team, like any other in any sport that makes a long postseason run and brings back trophies for the school lobby, brought a community together to go along for the ride.

Basketball is the perfect sport for this type of communitywide adrenaline rush and, for this season, the Geneva boys were hitting all of the right hot buttons.

A red-carpet hit:

We've been to a lot of fundraising or citizen of the year banquets in the past 40 years, and we've probably missed just as many.

But from where I was sitting in the Pheasant Run ballroom last weekend for TriCity Family Services' 30th annual gala, the "red carpet and Oscars" theme and decorations were as cool as any I've seen.

How cool was it? This should tell you all you need to know: Master of ceremonies Ron Onesti wore spats.

Onesti was certainly in his element at this sort of event, considering he's been around plenty of the world's top entertainers in his role as frontman for the Arcada Theatre.

But this night also belonged to Bobbi and Jim Alderfer of Geneva, as they were given the agency's Golden Heart Award for individuals or couples in recognition of their support for TriCity Family Services.

Geneva food wholesaler FONA International earned the award for a company or foundation, while St. John Neumann Catholic Church in St. Charles won it for community group or organization.

A Blondie pitch:

We know Jenny McCarthy had to be busy the past several months in taping the popular "The Masked Singer" show. But she does spend time in her hometown of St. Charles.

And the Blue Goose Market is telling us McCarthy will be at the store on Friday, April 5, during a promotion of her "Blondies by Jenny" cans of a fruit cocktail mixed with a premium vodka.

The event takes place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Good plan, but …:

As part of the contracts Geneva and St. Charles signed with Lakeshore Recycling Systems for trash and recycling pickup services, the company is offering free yard waste pickup the final two weeks in March.

That was a great idea at the time of the contract signing. But we sort of yawned when the cities reminded us of the service, considering every leaf and stick in our yard was frozen solid to the turf.

Things were trying to thaw out enough this week for people to actually get out in their yards and clean up any mess the winter and numerous bouts of high winds have left behind.

For the kids:

And we can't forget the little ones when talking about entertainment on our local stages.

We don't often see a playbill that says the event is for ages 2 to 10, but who would a production of "Three Little Pigs" be for?

The Chicago Kids Company continues its presentation of this one-hour musical over the next two weeks. Shows are at 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays through Fridays at the Pheasant Run Mainstage Theatre in St. Charles until March 30.

The pitch? The company says there is "nothing scary in this version; only fun and silliness."

Check the Pheasant Run website at www.pheasantrun.com for tickets and showtimes.

dheun@sbcglobal.net