downtown auroran summer 2011

Downtown AuroranFREE

L O C A L C U L T U R E

The OutsidersJaime Torraco, Greta Bell,

Leif Rodgers and others

look to Aurora for art

and inspiration

artcomicpoetryrecipephotographycalendar

summer 2011

Art

Downtown Auroran

www.downtownauroran.com

Marissa AmoniPublisher and Editor

Dave Sobotka at Kelmscott CommunicationsGraphic Design

Max BaldingProofreading

Advertising and Submissions:E-mail [email protected] issue deadline is August 19.

On the Cover:Jaime TorracoPhotograph by Marissa Amoni.

Downtown Auroran (DTA) is a local independent operation. We are focused on the downtown and its success – especially the burgeoning arts and culture movement. Opinions are encouraged and expressed, but they are not necessarily those of DTA.

Downtown Auroran is published quarterly, and 2,000 copies are distributed free of charge throughout downtown and select locations in the Aurora area. One copy of DTA per person, please. Share it and recycle it.

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Please support the businesses that support us. Keep it local!

Copyrighted 2011

When I was jogging recently around the trail at Lin-coln Park on Aurora’s West Side in preparation for the Second to None 5K in downtown Aurora this May, I overheard a man complain to a couple walking the trail about the new park signs that were just installed and cemented around the park.

“Aren’t we supposed to be watching what we spend?” he griped. As I ran, I pondered that question. With the economy balancing out, most institutions continue to

make cuts and keep an eye on spending, but the park district, along with the library, has always been pretty smart with their dollars, so maybe he was just confused.

Some people just like to complain, I thought. Then I started getting mad. Why shouldn’t we be able to enjoy a nice park with upgraded signage? We live in the second largest city in the state and should reap the benefits.

I’m not sure why people like to bark about money being spent to improve and beautify a city. I enjoy sidewalks, streetlights, attractive parks and other amenities that make it a pleasurable place to live, work and play.

While some whine about new park signage, installation of streetlights in downtown Au-rora or the building of RiverEdge Park along Broadway, others are enjoying a city with a lot to offer and contributing to the offerings while the city is on a limited budget.

Two events this summer, Louche Puce Market and Alley (ART) Festival, take advantage of a small allowance available through the city’s neighborhood festival funding, but they are largely grassroots volunteer efforts. The most recent June 3 ArtWalk in downtown Aurora operated on a very slim budget and was a complete success thanks to many dedi-cated volunteers.

Often times, funding a desirable project isn’t the city’s burden alone. Dollars come from a variety of sources, like federal and state grants so it’s not just the city footing the bill. For example, RiverEdge Park received $8 million from a state grant funded through Gov. Pat Quinn’s “Illinois Jobs Now!” capital program. The downtown streetlights are also the product of grants that were awarded to the city.

It is true that tough times call for scaling back financially and the city has had to tighten their wallet considerably, but it is still important to have Aurora shine not only to its resi-dents, but also to those traveling through our city.

Pride in our city is well worth the money, or effort, if that happens to be the case.

See you downtown!

2 Downtown Auroran Summer 2011

Fall 2009 Downtown Auroran 13

Artist Profile DTA profile: Maureen Gasek

Maureen Gasek uses color like it’s her best friend. She knows what makes red work, blue shine and orange light up. And Gasek, 46, can become so intimate with color that a canvas might blush.

“Color is my thing,” she says. “You have to know color theory to know how color works.”

So orange is never just straight orange – it’s a mixture of yellow and red. “You get vibrancy when you mix colors,” said Gasek in her unique half-round house on Aurora’s northeast side.

“I really want to get people to look at my art. Everybody looks and nobody sees anymore. I want people to really look at things. It is such a hectic world. We are inundated with so much stuff. People can relate to color, shape, movement – that is my goal – to have them use their imagination,” she said.

Gasek says she has always had her “hand in art.” She sold her first piece – a collage of her hands – for a quarter when she was in first grade. When she was only 13 years old, Gasek taught plaster classes to adults at the plaster studio that her brother and uncle owned in Wisconsin, where she grew up. She taught them how to paint; stain and varnish the miniature plaster statues that were popular at the time.

Gasek has worked with clay and metals in the past and now focuses on mostly acrylics. She teaches acrylic painting as well as a jewelry-making class at Water Street Studios in Batavia.

She’s involved in the local art scene, is a member of the Aurora Art League and serves on the Cultural Creatives committee in downtown Aurora. She assisted in the selection of artists for the Aurora ArtWalk this fall.

Gasek paints her stunning, expressive pieces in a converted back room of the home she shares with her handy husband – carpenter and sculptor, Scott Robertson. She dove into painting full time about three years ago and still runs her graphic design business, Epsilon Design and Consulting. She says that balancing both professions gives both the left and right side of her brain a workout.

She paints her canvases on a spinning easel, a gift from her husband. And she signs each piece on the back so it can be turned on the wall to suit the viewer.

“I have a real organic style,” Gasek says of her paintings. Some people see planetary or landscape themes in her work; others see dragons, fish, monsters and faces. Whether the viewer feels they are in space or under water when staring at Gasek’s imaginative paintings, they are transported to a different reality.

Sea Illuminations

Cavernous Exploration Planetary Sunset Reef Fire

Don

Pic

ton

OUR SERVICESDesign

E-BusinessData Management

PrintTargeted Mail

Promotional ProductsA group of friends gather at the 5th annual Aurora ArtWalk held in June. The next ArtWalk is planned for October 14. Credit: Benjamin Bibriesca

Summer 2011 Downtown Auroran 3

T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s

Auroran Words

f e a t u r e s

ind

ex

The OutsidersBy Marissa Amoni

cover story

DTA profile: Jaime Torraco

Southwest corner of Downer & Broadway –

Limestone Artifacts, 1926

page 4

Artist Prof i lepage 11

Historical Notes page 15

4 auroran words5 locust report6 cover story 9 citizen voices10 downtown voices

11 artist profile12 recipe13 culture shock14 submissions15 historical notes

page 6

Güera en Aurora, ILBy Nikki Rice

Piece by PieceBy Clark Allen

TulipBy Cinnamon Reiter

Art

wor

k by

Gre

ta B

ell

Matt

hew

Jung

Mar

issa

Am

oni


A u r o r a n W o r d s

TulipBy Cinnamon Reiter

Nikki Rice lived on the east side of Aurora before beginning her studies at NIU in DeKalb, where she now resides. A printmaking major and art history minor, Rice spends most of her time creating art and music, blogging, and combing antique and thrift stores for unique finds.

• Are you ready to watch great films in downtown Aurora? Free up your second Tuesday evenings starting in October. Copley Cinémathèque is a new film venue that will show critically acclaimed, mostly independent movies with the as-sistance of City Cineastes, a film society headed by Jeanne Norris. Paramount Theatre under director Tim Rater is opening up Copley Theatre at North Island Center for the movies; doors open at 6:30 p.m. Join City Cineastes on Face-book or e-mail [email protected] for more information.

• Is our songstress Andrea Dawn going to leave downtown for the “big city?” Say it isn’t so! Dawn is considering a move to Chicago, which will place her closer to the venues she fre-quently plays. We’ll miss her if she bids adieu, but we’re ex-cited to say we knew her when. She assured DTA that she loves Aurora and it’s a hard decision for her and her husband, fellow musician Zach Goforth.

• Oh, gosh. Downtown gripe? Think hard. Parking, of course. The city hears you and promises (wait, did they promise?) to remove the parking meters in downtown hopefully this summer on a possibly temporary basis. It’ll be a trial run to determine its effectiveness; so if people stop complain-ing about parking, then it’s a success. The city’s official state-ment, “We will be removing meters this summer on a pilot basis.” But don’t get too excited. Rewind some years back to when the city removed the meters along Broadway at the urging of businesses. It ended up being a parking nightmare and businesses begged to have the meters return. Repeat? We’ll see.

• RiverEdge Park, part of the 2006 Seize the Future grand plan for downtown, will soon be a happening place. In only two short years, the new park needs to be finished in accordance with funding fine print. Crews will get started at Blues Is-land with burns and shoreline restoration later this summer and will plant the grassy areas where people will stand and listen to music soon.

• Restaurant Row update: Continuation of “the row” with Billy Goat Tavern and possibly others is still in the plans, albeit delayed. The city says that all of the players are still on board even though things got contentious over the last year when the landlords and the developer ended up battling in court. “The first hurdle is getting ownership resolved,” the city says. The current restaurants appreciate all of the local support, so keep it up!

• Paramount. Broadway. Paramount. Broadway. Kudos to Tim Rater, the new executive director, and Jim Corti, the new artistic director, for building up a tremendous amount of excitement for the Paramount Theatre’s 80th year. My Fair Lady, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, A Chorus Line and Hair – wow, wow, wow and wow. Buy your tickets now.


The Locust ReportReporting the News and Gossip in Downtown Aurora

• Two Brothers, oh how we love thee. Let us count the hops and yeast and amber pints of beer. The popular brewing company hidden out in an industrial park in Warrenville announced in early May that they are buying America’s Historic Round-house (formerly known as Payton’s). Brothers Jim and Jason Ebel plan to move right in and do a little renovating as soon as the sale is finalized.

• Alley (ART) Festival and Louche Puce Market are taking over the mall this summer. Whether you need art, treasures or just a fun family-friendly time, Water Street Mall is the place to be. Louche Puce is a funky flea market on second Saturdays through Sept. that boasts all things cool and vintage. Alley Art Fest on Saturday, Aug. 27 is going on its second year of bring-ing art, music and spectacle to downtown.

• Waubonsee Community College’s new campus is open for schooling. If you spot young whippersnappers donning back-packs, then heckle them from across the street to stop in and support the many fine businesses in downtown Aurora.

• Where you will not be seeing students is in the old ARTWorks location along Galena at Water Street Mall. The program, which allowed high school students to earn college credit for fine arts classes, was killed due to city budget cuts. The program was Rena Church’s baby and it’s sad to see it gone. We hope it can be resurrected in the future. Our opinion: see-ing young people with paints and brushes standing at easels placed by the river = priceless.

• Lisa Gloria is moving her art studio and artist gallery two doors down to 13 W. Downer Pl. Gloria, of Aurora, opened 7 West Studio last winter on a limited hours schedule. At the new location, she doubles her size and possibilities; she’ll offer workshops and additional hours.

• Downer bridge construction update: status quo. It will happen. It could happen starting in December. We need new bridges and we’re happy to see them go, whenever that might be.

• The city went a year without a down-town coordinator and they couldn’t do it any longer. With Karen Chris-tensen, former downtown develop-ment director, thriving in a new role, the city looked to Gina Moga, who was over at the now defunct Office of Special Events. Moga is known for her keen ear and ability to bring top-notch performers to Downtown

Alive! Her new role as downtown liaison brings a learning curve, but we’re confident that as an Auroran, Moga has down-town close to her heart. • P.S. A bookstore is opening in downtown Aurora? Good thing

this is the gossip page. You never know what could pop up, though. Keep your hopes up.

Jenn

ifer T

rudo

Repurposed necklace by Gail Chrisse. One of the many handmade, clever and artful pieces available at Lisa Gloria Studio, now at 13 W. Downer. About a dozen local artists sell their wares at the studio.


Cover StoryAurora is inspiration.

It’s historic architecture,

urban edge, flowing river

and diverse spirit calls

to artists of brush, word

and lens. Downtown

Auroran Magazine requires

submissions of art, poetry

and photography to relate to

Aurora through the material

or the artist’s locale. In this

issue, we welcome artists not

in Aurora to share their poems

(Auroran Words pg. 4) and art

(Artist Profile pg. 11). On these

pages, non-Aurorans show

Aurora through their artistic

hand or eye.

By Marissa Amoni

Outs

iders

The

Ang

ela S

piteri

Angela Spiteri lives in St. Charles and is a graphic design student. Spiteri lived in Aurora for most of her life and has always loved taking photos in downtown Aurora.

Welcome outsiders!


Leif

Rog

ers

Gret

a Bell

Leif Rogers was born in Aurora and graduated from Aurora University before being trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His working method carries him through many media, including paint, pastels, ink, wood, plaster and glass. Location and memory are important features to his work and though Rogers and his wife now live in Plainfield, Aurora still features prominently in his work.

Greta Bell lives in Batavia where she is a full-time oil painter at Water Street Studios in studio 21. Bell’s youngest son was born in Aurora. When Bell participated in last year’s Aurora ArtWalk, she found out from Mayor Weisner that she lives one block away from his childhood home.

Grand Army of the Republic Memorial

House on Ashland Avenue

Aurora Regional Fire Museum

Chef AmAury At 33 West

Live Right. Eat Well.in Downtown AurorA

33 w. new York St.630.375.0426

www.chefamaury.com

Chef AmAurY At 33 weSt


14 W. Downer Pl., Suite A (upstairs)Aurora, Illinois 60506

630-234-4928

www.aurora.lib.il.us

Read more.

Play more.

Smile more.

54 E. Galena Blvd.Aurora, IL 60505aurorafastprint.com

P: 630.896.5980F: 630.896.5989

[email protected]

Kim Granholm

Lisa Gloria Studiol i s a g l o r i a . c o m

m o r e a r t • m o r e c r a f t • m o r e s h o w s

tues - sat 10-6

now located at 13 w downer place in downtown aurora


Cit izen VoicesOne-way or two-way, which direction should downtown go?

Compiled by Josh and Madeline Black

Shawn Ratliff, AuroraDesktop support at Waubonsee Community College, downtown campus “One-way streets aren’t too bad but some should be converted to make it easier to get around. Ga-lena should be a two-way street.”

Maria Deltoro, AuroraAccountant at Hollywood Casino“The one-way streets are not that confusing once you get used to them, plus they help keep the traffic moving.”

Bobby Phillips, AuroraRetired“One-way streets don’t bother me,” said Phillips, who has lived down-town for over 20 years. “I walk everywhere!”

Mavis Bates, AuroraAcupuncturist at Inner Harmony on Lake Street“I don’t like the one-way streets because they destroy the neighborhood feel. They make Aurora a place to drive through instead of a place to stop and stay. “

Mira Peterson, AuroraAccountant at Hollywood Casino“Parking is already limited downtown, if the city converted to two-way streets, a lot of metered parking would be lost. It seems that the way the streets are now is best for traffic flow and parking.”

Jessica Wagner, AuroraStudent at Waubonsee Community College“One-way streets are annoying for people that aren’t familiar with them, but if you live here it is nice and not confusing...they help keep traffic moving.”


Downtown VoicesDocumenting TogetherGuest column by Laura Mast

Our CaféGuest column by Deena Sherman ~ [email protected]

“We wanted to serve Aurora, but Aurora has really served us,” said Bailey Standish, whose family runs River’s Edge Café in downtown Aurora. She told me that they were com-mitted to keeping the place open after Jeff and Cathy Jones, who had operated the place for two years, moved on to other adventures.

The Standish family couldn’t bear to see the downtown café close when so many people use it to meet, relax and build a sense of community, so they jumped in.

Bailey said her mom, Beth Standish, approached this the same way she approaches life in general, with the attitude of “Hey, that sounds like fun, let’s try it!” Bailey assured me that her mother doesn’t follow many traditional paths and over the eight years they’ve lived in Aurora, Bailey has realized there’s a wonderful part of this city that is just like her mom - creative, energetic and positive - always thinking outside the box and trying new things. She explained, “There’s a whole incredible world going on here that we didn’t know about be-fore. We’re so blessed to be involved with this community.”

Congresswoman Charlotte Reid, mother to State Representa-tive Patricia Reid Linder, was one of the inspirations for the Standish family. Charlotte, who died in 2007, was a neighbor. Bailey told me how, when she was younger, Reid sparked her imagination with stories of “Old Aurora” when the down-town was booming and Aurora felt like the center of the uni-verse.

The Standish Family is working with other citizens and downtown businesses to bring that Aurora back. They en-vision a future where the café hosts even more live music, local artists and authors, and interesting community events. “There is so much untapped potential here,” said Bailey. “We want to be part of that.”

River’s Edge recently started hosting ukulele nights each month. In June, they hosted local authors Patricia Rockwell, Diane Morlan and Karen Gallahue at “A Cozy Afternoon for Mystery.” Check their website at www.riversedgecafe.com for details about more upcoming events or visit them on Facebook.

But even on an average afternoon, River’s Edge Café is a great place to find that sense of community Bailey talks about. Peo-ple read, talk and work on laptops, enjoying the sunshine on the back deck and free wireless Internet. You can hear discus-sions about politics, business and daily life while smells of the excellent coffee and foods being prepared fill the air. It is the smell of a bright future for downtown Aurora.

Juana (pictured here with child) and Pedro live with their four young children on the near east side of Aurora. The family is extremely low income; stuck in a battle for work-man’s compensation and disability after being severely in-jured at work, Pedro and his wife spent their entire savings purchasing the home for their growing family.

Rebuilding Together Aurora (RTA), a local non-profit that provides free home repairs to low-income families residing in Aurora, selected this home as one of 35 projects in the annual April Rebuilding Event. The work crew, consisting of volunteers from Midwestern University’s Occupational Therapist graduate program and local contractors, provid-ed extensive repairs to the home in just two weeks, includ-ing roofing repairs, electrical upgrades, carpet install, fresh paint throughout, kitchen cabinets and flooring and adding insulation.

This spring, almost two-dozen students from West Aurora High School partnered with seven local professional pho-tographers to document RTA volunteers in action. The photo team, called RTA Doc.Crew, worked together to document the spring rebuilding event.

Juan Molina, a West Aurora High School student, caught this moment on camera while participating in the RTA Doc.Crew under Jimi and Kate Allen’s mentorship. Molina’s photo was chosen as one of the top five photos at an end of program competition.

Other photo finalists were Mia Sanders, Brandon Zierer and Hyvan De Leon.

Last year, Rebuilding Together Aurora provided assistance to 129 individuals, repaired 51 homes and engaged over 700 local volun-teers. Laura Mast is an AmeriCorps Program Outreach Coordina-tor working for Rebuilding Together Aurora.


Artist Profi le

Jaime Torraco puts pen to paper and draws. She draws mostly cute things, sometimes of the dark variety. She might em-barrass you in a game of exquisite corpse; she can easily fill a sheet with the creativ-ity that flows from her imagination.

“I like to experiment and not do the same thing all the time,” she says. “I let the pen start making shapes.” Draw first, ask questions later is her motto.

Torraco is an illustrator by trade; she’s a doodler naturally. She fills her sketchbook with fantastical bunnies, whimsical horned creatures and a girl astronaut in a jet propelled TV suit.

“My goal is to be as productive as possible,” says Torraco, who sketches, paints and designs all in her spare time when she’s not riding her cool orange Schwinn Stingray or going to see local bands play.

Recently, Torraco started to pick up playing the banjo when she got distracted with other projects like illustrating a friend’s book, screen printing art for last April’s Molded Heroes show in downtown Aurora and growing Kittens of Industry, her newly formed artistic business entity.

“I wanted to be something real-ly adventurous like a sea cap-tain or an ice cream man,” says Torraco, who is always finding new things to keep her busy. She ponders spend-ing her time in a more struc-tured fashion, but inspiration and art are al-ways leading her in various directions.

DTA profile: Jaime Torraco

Torraco grew up in Carol Stream figure skating into her teen years and obsessing over the girl pop art of Lisa Frank. Her artistic ability evolved throughout the years, she says. She re-ceived her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Northern Illinois Uni-versity where she majored in illustration. “I think my art has gotten a lot better,” she says. She added that she pays more attention to colors and she purposely notices things visually.

She recently illustrated local author and vegan Tambra Rid-dle’s book My Teenage Rejection of Death Products due out this fall. Riddle, a nutritionist in Wheaton, maintains the blog Veggie Edge at www.veggieedge.com.

Inspired by American cartoonist Tony Millionaire’s Sock Mon-key comic, French artists Miss Van and Fafi and illustrator Fawn Gehweiler, Torraco maintains a cute edge to her work. She often adds text to her illustrations if something from cur-rent or past pop culture sticks in her mind.

“I like to put goofy characters in funny situations and make statements,” she said. “I have to embrace my strangeness.”

Jaime Torraco does not live in Aurora although she can be found at every art show and festival within the city limits, including the most recent ArtWalk in early June. She works at a call center in DeKalb and is happy to spend her free time painting imaginative murals for paying customers. Watch for her work to show up in her beloved Hi-Fructose Magazine and you can say you saw her in Downtown Auroran Magazine first. Torraco will be part of Al-ley (ART) Festival on Saturday, Aug. 27 on Water Street Mall in downtown Aurora. Find Kittens of Industry on Facebook. You can reach Torraco at [email protected].


Two Brothers Ale VinaigretteContributed by Kate Purl – west of downtown

Let’s celebrate the arrival of the Two Brothers Brewing Co. near downtown and the return of the Aurora Farmers Market by combining fresh greens with a dressing that highlights one of Two Brothers’ popular ales. Throw in a few ripe berries and you’ll have a terrific summer salad.

Ingredients:1/4 cup Cane & Ebel beer1 tablespoon local honey1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar1 teaspoon Dijon mustard1/4 teaspoon crushed garlic1/8 teaspoon grated orange zest

Directions:Whisk ingredients together in a bowl or blend in a food processor. Slowly add four tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a steady stream, whisking constantly.

Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Makes enough for two entrée salads or four dinner salads. If you make it in advance, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator, then bring back to room temperature and whisk before serving.

Aurora Farmers Market runs 7:30 a.m. to noon on Saturdays through October 22 at the Aurora Transportation Center.

Downtown Auroran Magazine

It’scollectible!

Joan

na G

oss


Culture ShockJULY4TH OF JULY PARADEMon July 4 at 10 American Legion Post 84 and the city worked together to save the parade. Step off at River and Benton streets. aurora-il.org

DOWNTOWN ALIVE! FAN FAVORITESFri July 15 from 6 to 10 Live music from American English and Dbl-Shot. $3. New York and River Street at the old YWCA park-ing lot. downtownaliveaurora.com

AURORA PUERTO RICAN FESTIVAL AND PARADESat July 30 from 11 to 10 & Sun July 31 from 11 to 9 Celebrate 40 years of Puerto Rican pride! Parade is Sunday at noon. North River Street Park, north of New York Street. (630) 859-3593. aurora-prcc.org

AUGUSTTHE MUSIC SHOWFri Aug 5 from 5 to 10 Feel the vibe from local artists who will display artwork in-spired by music at Lisa Gloria’s art digs, formerly 7 West Studio, now two doors down. Lisa Gloria Studio, 13 W. Downer Pl. lisagloria.com

DOWNTOWN ALIVE! ROCK ON THE FOXFri Aug 12 from 6 to 10 Live music from 7th Heaven and 28 Days. $3. New York and River Street at the old YWCA parking lot. downtownaliveaurora.com

TEEN TALENT SHOW COMPETITIONSat Aug 13 at 2 3rd annual teen talent show sponsored by Aurora Public Li-brary. FREE. Copley Theatre, 8 E. Galena Blvd. aurora.lib.il.us

AUTO ROW CAR SHOWSun Aug 21 from 11 to 3 3rd annual auto show on historic LaSalle Street open to cars 1975 and older. Spectators FREE! La-Salle St. between Benton St. and Downer Pl. 630.251.3533. [email protected].

ALLEY (ART) FESTIVALSat Aug 27 from noon to 5 Amazing summer art spectacular. Local art, music, performances and more. Open to every-one. FREE! Water St. between Downer Pl. and Galena Blvd. next to City Hall. “Alley Art Festival” on Facebook.

SEPTEMBERTHREE GENERATIONS OF ARTISTS ART OPENINGFri Sept 9 from 5 to 7 p.m. Anton Wi-tek, Priscilla Humay and Helen Balun Humay on display. Free. Aurora Public Art Commission at the David L. Pierce Center, 20 E. Downer Place. (630) 256-3340. aurora-il.org

FIESTAS PATRIASFri Sept 16, Sat 17, Sun 18. Parade at 10 a.m. on Sunday A 3-Day music festival recognizing our local Hispanic heritage and culture. Free. North River Street Park along River and Vine Streets in downtown Aurora. “Fiestas Patrias” on Facebook.

COMING SOONCOPLEY CINEMATHEQUETue Oct 11 at 6:30 Local film society City Cineastes hosts extraordinary movies that you should see. $8. Copley Theatre in North Island Center, 8 E. Galena Blvd. [email protected].

LIMITED RUNS & SHOWINGSWARM LIGHT/COOL SHADOWS: WORKS BY RUTH VAN SICKLE FORDThru Aug 12 A beloved painter and teacher, Ford paved the way for many watercolorists. Open Wed-Fri, noon to 4. Free. Aurora Public Art Commission at the David L. Pierce Center, 20 E. Downer Place. (630) 256-3340. aurora-il.org

LUXEMBOURG – USA: A MIGRATION STORYThru July 31 The Aurora Historical So-ciety hosts the exhibit courtesy of the Luxembourg American Cultural Society. Open Wed-Fri, noon to 4. Free. David L. Pierce Art & History Center, 20 E.Downer. (630) 906-0650. www.aurorahistory.net.

AURORA FARMERS MARKET Saturdays from 7:30 to noon 99 years of eating fresh and buying local. Local farm produce, food demos, music, knife sharp-ening and more. Aurora Transportation Center, 233 N. Broadway Ave. (630) 256-3370.

ART AT CITY HALL: THE COMMON THREADThru Feb 3 Two-dimensional pieces from a group of suburban artists. Open Mon-Fri, 8-5. City Hall, 44 E. Downer Place. aurora-il.org

RIVERFRONT PLAYHOUSECall for current schedule. Riverfront Playhouse, 11-13 Water Street Mall, is a 90 seat, not-for-profit theatre located next to City Hall on the Water Street Mall in downtown Aurora. $12-$15. 630-897-9496. www.riverfrontplayhouse.com. Reser-vations recommended for most shows.

MONTHLY EVENTSDAAM!First Thursday evenings at 7:30 Join art-ists of all kinds at informal Downtown Aurora Arts Mixers. Chef Amaury at 33 West, 33 W. New York St. Everyone is welcome. Find Downtown Auroran on Facebook for more information.

LOUCHE PUCE MARKETSecond Saturdays thru Sept. from 9 to 3 Find vintage treasures as vendors set up along Water Street Mall ala flea market style. FREE. Water St. between Downer Pl. and Galena Blvd. next to City Hall. “Louche Puce Market” on Facebook.

Mask by Ruth Van Sickle Ford. Ford’s work is on exhibit at Aurora Public Art Commission’s third floor gallery in the D.L.P. Art and History Center in downtown Aurora.

´ ´


A Whitewater Park in Downtown Aurora Guest column by Charlie Zine

It has been almost three years since a group of local kayakers brought former Olympic kayaker Scott Shipley to Aurora to seek his help in re-designing the Aurora canoe chute so that it actually works as intended.

The initial goal was just to fix the canoe chute, but Shipley was struck by the opportunity to modify both of downtown Aurora’s dams into world-class whitewater parks. During the same visit, Shipley saw that bypass channels around the North Aurora and Montgomery dams could also be created. These projects, plus the state of the art by-pass channel currently being constructed in Yorkville, could create the world’s first ‚Whitewater Park Water Trail!‛

Any whitewater park is a regional attraction. But these four whitewater features in a 15-mile stretch of the Fox River (so close to O’Hare & Chicago) would create a world-class attraction, and downtown Aurora could be the center of it all. Aurora’s two dams could be modified into two levels of whitewater parks. In the east channel, an international level competitive kayak venue could host major events. The west channel would be a safe ‚play course‛ where whitewater kayakers could do tricks, such as, flips, jumps, Eskimo rolls and ‚surf‛ the stationary waves made by the drop structures. Families in rafts and swimmers in tubes could, with the proper protective gear, join in on the fun. And even spectators would find it a fascinating show.

To help promote these projects, gather support and seek funding, we have created a non-profit organization called Fox River Water Sports (FRWS). FRWS will work with local governments and state agencies to coordinate efforts to apply for grants and build the venues. Our vision is to turn the Fox River into a true public park that is safe and accessible to the general public, and provides real economic and cultural benefits in addition to recreation.

Last fall, FRWS hired Gary Mechanic as executive director to develop the funding and support for these projects. Mechanic has a 20-year track record of developing paddling infrastructure and successful on-the-water events in Northern Illinois. Mechanic moved to Aurora last summer and has already obtained our first grant from the National Park Service (NPS).

The NPS grant will bring two NPS staffers to Aurora to conduct a number of public meetings between the city of Aurora, Scott Shipley and the local stakeholders to redesign the canoe chute. The product of these meetings will be a ‚locally preferred‛ plan for the redesign of the canoe chute along with a grant request, which will be submitted to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to fund the reconstruction.

Reconstruction of the current dysfunctional canoe chute into a safe by-pass channel will bring an immediate benefit to downtown Aurora businesses as it will allow paddlers to not just pass through, but for the first time, enter the downtown area and enjoy the local food and cultural attractions. Events like the Mid-America Canoe and Kayak Race could pass through, or even end in the downtown area.

The Aurora City Council recently approved construction plans for the riverfront at Waubonsee Community College (WCC) which include a loading zone where boaters can load and unload boats form cars and trailers, a boat launch where canoes and kayaks can access and exit the river and places to lock boats so paddlers can visit downtown.

Once the Aurora By-Pass Channel and the WCC improvements are in place, perhaps other businesses will be able to put piers and docks in the river so boaters can exit directly to their businesses.

Aurora can be unique in the Fox River Valley, and once again a leader in innovative urban design, by creating the infrastructure that both encourages and invites river users, even in large numbers, to paddle, raft, tube and float the Fox River to downtown Aurora to enjoy the variety of restaurants, bars, coffeehouses, museums and free festivals - and some day soon, a world-class Whitewater Park.


Downtown Voices

1026 Prairie Aurora, IL 60506

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Vintage • Antique • Collectible • RetroWater Street Mall (between Downer & Galena)








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HISTORIC AUTO ROW CAR SHOWSunday, Aug. 2111 a.m. - 3 p.m.

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BikeBy Teresa Fiehn

River’s Edge Café

Decorated stone blocks in downtown Aurora have an intriguing and wet story.

ArchitectureThe limestone pieces originally formed a central monumental arched entry to the Aurora National Bank building (now Ban-co Popular), but were removed in 1957 when the building was modernized. They feature decorative bas-relief carvings of urns spouting foliage, and individual stylized floral motifs.

HistorySeveral years ago, Auroran Charlie Zine spotted hand carved limestone blocks along the banks of the Fox River while using a new portion of the trail along the east bank. Zine, an outdoor enthusiast, said the stones seemed to be built into the riverbank and used as landfill for Veterans Island.


Historical Notes

Limestone Artifacts, 1926Southwest corner of Downer & Broadway

As a former preservation commissioner with the city, Zine brought them to the attention of the commission, who notified the Fox Valley Park District, who then pulled the stones from the river to use as a sculptural feature on the trail.

When they were first discovered, it was unclear where the carved limestones originated. A feature article in the Beacon-News requesting information from the public brought no re-sponse. When preservation volunteer and East Aurora High School teacher Julie DeNood, of Aurora, was researching the Aurora National Bank building in 2000, she obtained photos from the bank, built in 1926, and discovered that the carvings exactly matched those along the trail.

Later, the preservation division staff became concerned re-garding incidences of graffiti on the stones, and with concur-rence from the park district, began plans to relocate the stones as a sculptural element in a more visible location downtown.

In an effort to reconstruct the limestone pieces as a sculptural element downtown, the city’s preservation staff first wanted to be sure that all possible pieces were unearthed. They re-quested that a diving team search underwater adjacent to the bank where the previous pieces were discovered.

In April 2004, the Aurora Fire Department succeeded in find-ing additional decoratively carved limestone pieces from the bank building underwater in the Fox River during routine div-ing training; about three more pieces were found.

The city then placed them in the corner lot at Downer Place and Broadway Avenue after city staff negotiated a long-term agreement with ComEd, who owns the land. An intern de-signed plans for a park incorporating the stones, but it never came to fruition.

Editor’s note: Jan Mangers headed up this project when she worked as director of the preservation commission. Mangers was previously featured in Downtown Auroran Magazine as one of the “Downtown Dozen.” Mangers left the position in early 2011 when she, along with 30 other employees, took a voluntary buyout from the city after the city released the year’s budget, which included massive historic preservation and public art cuts. Rena Church, public art director, took over many of Mangers’ duties.

1926 - used as bank arch

1957 - tossed in river 2004 - more stones discovered

1990s - discoveredTimeline of stones

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