The St. Charles Public Library’s Sunday Concert series will continue at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 5, with a performance by the Alba Quartet playing the music of Mozart and his contemporaries, interspersed with fun facts about the man and his life, library officials said.
The free performance is funded through donations to the St. Charles Public Library Foundation, officials said.
The St. Charles Public Library is at 1 S. Sixth Ave. in St. Charles. For more information, go to www.scpld.org or call 630-584-0076.
Waubonsee students finish second in international competition
Two Waubonsee Community College students, Briana Harris and Kevin Bustamente Fontanel, of Yorkville, achieved a second-place finish at the University of Illinois’ fourth annual Reimagine Our Future sustainability competition earlier this month.
The virtual event took place on Dec. 7 and featured 250 undergraduate students from colleges and universities worldwide. Harris and Bustamente Fontanel stood out as the only community college students competing, Waubonsee officials said in a press release.
Guided by Waubonsee faculty members Steven Zusman, an associate professor of philosophy, and David Voorhees, a professor of Earth science and geology, the Waubonsee team excelled in a rigorous challenge to develop a sustainable solution addressing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, according to the release.
Harris and Bustamente Fontanel proposed a new product named Return, a 100% biodegradable water bottle crafted from waste-derived wax, cellulose acetate and triacetin plasticizer, officials said. Unlike traditional plastic bottles, Return fully decomposes within two years, offering a sustainable solution concerning plastics, according to the release.
Tickets on sale for Groundhog Day event
Tickets are on sale for “Groundhog Day Celebration: Breakfast with Wanda,” a fundraiser for Anderson Humane being held from 9 to 11 am. Sunday, Feb. 2, at Enticing Cuisine Banquets and Catering, 1117 N. Washington Ave., Batavia.
Attendees will get to meet Wanda the Groundhog, learn about her role in the ecosystem and snap photos to commemorate Groundhog Day, according to the South Elgin-based Anderson Humane social media post.
Admission is $35 and includes a breakfast buffet, a Bloody Mary and mimosa bar and photo opportunities with Wanda and other animals.
To purchase tickets, go to bit.ly/3BATPhS. For more information, go to ahconnects.org/events.
Church plans all-you-can-eat dinner
Helmar Lutheran Church at 11935 Lisbon Road in Newark will hold an all-you-can-eat dinner fundraiser from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, at the church.
Proceeds from the event will go to support the HLC Food Pantry which has grown from serving 10 to 120 families twice a month, church officials said.
The upcoming free-will donation dinner will include ham, kumla (a Norwegian potato dumpling), applesauce, dessert and beverage. For those that would prefer, a baked potato will be substituted for kumla.
Carry-outs will be available, event organizers said.
DuPage Forest Preserve District earns environmental award
The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County’s fleet has been given top environmental honors by the NAFA Fleet Management Association.
The district’s fleet maintenance program was named the No. 1 Green Garage for 2024, which tops the list of the 10 most progressive and environmentally-committed fleet maintenance garages in the country, district officials said.
The Green Garage Contest highlights the best practices in sustainable garage operations, the district said.
Rhea Courtney Bozic, an environmental scientist, green fleet consultant and sustainable transportation expert, was the contest’s chief judge, the NAFA Fleet Management Association’s website said.
The association is a global organization of professionals who manage a wide variety of vehicle fleets, such as commercial, public safety, utility, military and off-road equipment.
According to the association, DuPage County was the only Illinois organization in the top 10 although the University of Illinois did receive an honorable mention.
Greene Valley Forest Preserve gets $600,000 state grant
The Forest Preserve District of Will County will use a $600,000 state grant to fund improvements at the Greene Valley Forest Preserve in Naperville, district officials announced.
The Open Space Land Acquisition and Development grant will help pay for relocating the entrance drive, enhancing picnic shelters, adding a canoe and kayak launch, replacing latrines with flush restrooms and realigning trails, officials said in a news release. A new patio will be built near the historic Greene Barn to provide a better visitor experience, the release said.
The improvements were part of the preserve’s master plan that was adopted in 2023.
Earlier this year, the district was awarded a $100,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to put toward the Greene Valley project.
The district plans to break ground on the grant-funded improvements in 2026.
When it comes to buying a new car, traditional wisdom says the best time of year is late December when year-end sales and incentives flood the market, and factories as well as dealers are looking to dump inventory.
That tradition changed during the COVID-19 pandemic as the chip shortage for cars’ computer-controlled functions occurred which also led to lower production and plenty of empty dealership lots.
But today, Aurora area dealers by and large say the good times are back as far as late-year car shopping.
Emir Abinion, CEO of the Fox Valley Auto Group in St. Charles which includes Volkswagen, GMC and Buick dealerships, said he is happy about being able to deliver the color and car people want, in most cases, as compared to a few years ago.
“The nice thing is that the dealers now have inventory which we didn’t have before. At our stores, I’m probably at 75% to 80% of what I used to carry before COVID – before the chips shut down and before logistic transportation issues happened,” Abinion said. “It almost seems like right after COVID, we had those two nightmares. The fact things are back by almost 80% is good … including customers getting what they want instead of settling for what dealers had on the lot.”
Abinion also said that low inventory in the past effected both the manufacturers and dealers by saving them some money, despite having lower sales numbers a few years ago.
“Manufactures and the dealers, for the most part, are so used to what’s happened in the last three years of having minimal inventory,” he said. “It does cost the dealers less money in interest in keeping that kind of inventory, and the factory likes that lower inventory allows them to save money on incentives and manufacturing costs. Today, we’re seeing a lot of incentives back on the vehicles which we didn’t see the last three years, and so those are good things from a consumer perspective.”
The benefits now, Abinion insists, include consumers getting the cars they want, and the incentives to drive a lower price on the vehicle.
He said the week after Christmas “is the busiest week of the year.”
“I don’t like it when one of my customers can’t get exactly what they want, but today, I love telling them, yes, we can get that vehicle and the color they want,” he said. “We’ll sell 50% of our vehicle sales for this month in just one week.”
Meanwhile in North Aurora, Doug Gerald, owner of the Gerald Auto Group which includes Ford, Kia, Hyundai, Nissan and other auto brands, said end-of-the-year car sales this year “are a little bit of the old, a little bit of the new.”
“A lot of models, we are doing great deals on and where we’ve got inventory, it’s strong,” Gerald said. “The week after Christmas is going to be the busiest week of the year. That’s our expectation and while there are still a number of models that are low supply and high demand, there are a number of models that we’re going to need to rely on in order to hit our sales numbers. The manufacturers are sending us cars, but some are in short supply and some are not.”
Gerald said dealers “are motivated to sell cars right now for our own sake, to close out our own year, and also for the manufacturers.”
“It’s hard to predict if we’ll have the model or color you want, so the best thing is to go in and see,” he said. “It’s not just month-end close, it’s year-end close, and the finance companies, the manufacturers and the dealers are all doing everything they can to move inventory.”
The showroom at Hawk Nissan in St. Charles is decked out with holiday-decorated cars. Aurora area dealers expect sales to be strong as the year comes to a close. (David Sharos / For The Beacon-News)
Jake Pezzuto, sales manager at Hawk Nissan in St. Charles, feels that “right now is probably the best time to purchase a vehicle. One of the best in recent years.”
“I think the buyers coming out of COVID are coming into incredible deals and incentives and we have a handful of leftover 2024s. The reason is because Nissan after Black Friday put thousands of dollars off on brand new vehicles above and beyond any dealer discounts,” Pezzuto said. “They also incentivized interest rates lower than anybody has seen at this point in four to five years. If there is a 2024 left on the lot chances are you’re going to get a rate deal. With Nissan, we’ve got more inventory than we’ve seen in years. It is the polar opposite of the last few years.”
Gerald and others including Jim Martinez, general sales manager who works at Hawk Ford in St. Charles, who has been in the car industry for 30 years, noted that end-of-the-year sales campaigns began earlier this year in order to drive more customers to the dealerships.
“If you buy a car now compared to maybe six months ago means saving about $1,500” off the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, Martinez said.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
The Indiana State Board of Accounts reviewed and released the Gary Chicago International Airport Authority’s audit for 2022.
The organization released the audit on Dec. 18 and called special attention to misstatements in the airport authority’s financial statements. It was recommended that the airport establish a secondary review process for its financial reporting.
The Forvis Mazars Group, an international auditing and accounting firm, completed the Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority’s 2022 audit and found that its cash flow for the year was in accordance with U.S. accounting principles.
The audit found that the airport’s receivables and revenue were impacted by about $5.5 million and capital investments were impacted by about $395,000.
“The authority’s internal control environment did not identify these adjustments in a timely manner due to there not being a secondary review process in place for all year end reconciliations,” said audit documents. “In addition, there is not an effective process in place to properly reconcile federal grant and passenger facility charges on a timely basis.”
Dasha Chandler-Thompson, the airport’s finance manager, completed a corrective action plan, which is a guide to help reach compliance in the future. The airport has hired competent staff and has revised its accounting policies and practices to ensure revenues and expenses are recorded properly, the corrective action plan said.
“We will also create a year-end plan and timeline to ensure that all revenue and expenditures related to the current year are posted in a timely manner,” Chandler-Thompson said in the report. “Staff will complete the financials postings while management will be responsible for reviewing transactions and approving adjustments before the year end close is finalized.”
Chandler-Thompson said in her report that many of the errors related to revenue recognition were due to a lack of appropriate staffing in the airport finance department. The department recognizes that changes need to be made, she said.
For 2022, the audit found that the airport had more than $131.8 million in total assets, which include cash, receivable property taxes and charges for the passenger facility. Property tax rates for the airport in 2022 collected about $2 million for operating and $178,093 for cumulative building expenses.
The airport has about $7.2 million in liabilities, which include the organization’s bonds and long-term debt.
Bonds and long-term debt for 2022 added up to more than $22.8 million, according to audit documents.
In July, the airport authority approved an ordinance that called to issue two revenue bonds that total about $35 million, according to Post-Tribune archives. Some of the funding will go towards renovation work at the passenger terminal.
In October, the Gary Common Council didn’t approve the airport’s budget and reverted it to its 2024 numbers. The 2024 budget was about $4.4 million, and the maximum tax levy was about $2.7 million, according to Post-Tribune archives.
The estimated 2025 budget was more than $4.7 million, and the airport’s current tax levy is almost $2.3 million.
“Going forward, all employees and the board will continue working hard to develop the Gary/Chicago International Airport in order to create new jobs and economic opportunities in Gary and Northwest Indiana,” Former U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, airport authority chairman, said in a statement after the council’s original decision.
Kroehler Manufacturing Co., based in Naperville and once was one of the country’s largest furniture producers, employed hundreds of people and sponsored groups, such as the Kroehler Girl’s Bowling League of 1947-1948, seen here in this black-and-white photograph from the Naperville Heritage Society collection. An unidentified man who looks suspiciously like company President Peter Kroehler is seated in the middle. While the company no longer exists, some of its vintage used pieces are sold through websites like www.chairish.com
and www.incollect.com
, where chairs, dressers and tables from the middle of the 20th century go for amounts far in excess of what they would have sold for originally.
In what church leaders hope will be a yearly event, Emmanuel Episcopal Church in La Grange staged a performance last week of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah.”
The oratorio, written in only 24 days by the German-born master, is considered by many to be the most recognizable piece of English language music.
“This is the first year,” Dan Mottl, church junior warden said before the performance. “We hope to do it as an annual event just before Christmas.”
“Messiah” was first performed in Ireland in 1741, and quickly became a favorite of music-lovers of the era. While it originally was considered appropriate for the Easter holiday, over the years Messiah has become a Christmas season staple.
Oratorios are typically large-scale music works for orchestra and voices, focusing on religious themes; the Messiah is no exception, with lyrics taken from Biblical scripture.
The one-and-a-half hour production was conducted by Mary Hopper, emeritus professor of Choral Music at Wheaton College.
During her 43 years at Wheaton, she directed the Women’s Chorale, the Men’s Glee Club, and has toured nationally and internationally.
Since 2018, Hopper has been director of the Hinsdale Chorale, of which several members were dispersed through the crowd at Emmanuel Episcopal for Sunday’s performance, singing along to the choruses.
“I haven’t conducted the Messiah in a while,” Hopper said. “I did it at my church about eight or nine years ago. … They invited me through Hinsdale Chorale because some of my singers are participating today.”
Hopper said “Messiah” has sentimental value, as she possesses scores of the work personalized with her grandfather’s and mother’s names. She has another copy she has saved since graduate school.
Soprano Olivia Doig, right, performs alongside conductor Mary Hopper during a Dec. 22 presentation of Handel’s “Messiah” at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in La Grange. (Hank Beckman/Pioneer Press)
The Kaia String Quartet provided the instrumentation for Sunday’s performance in La Grange.
The group has performed at many Chicago-area venues and events, including the Chicago Jazz Festival, The Studebaker Theatre, the Morton Arboretum, the Chicago Latino Music Festival, and Chamber Music on the Fox.
Vocals were provided by several local artists, including Chicago-based soprano Olivia Doig, who has performed in venues throughout the Midwest, including Chicago Opera Theater, Ohio Light Opera and Haymarket Opera. She is currently a guest lecturer in voice studies at Wheaton College.
Mottl said church musical offerings, such as jazz and Latin music performances, usually draw around 100 people, but “we were looking for something different, something bigger.”
“We wanted something that would really fill the church,” he said “What’s bigger than Handel’s Messiah?”
La Grange resident Nanci Davidson, an Emmanuel Episcopal Choir member, was also part of the effort to bring the “Messiah” to the church.
“Dan and I were just talking about ways to draw in the community through music, to enjoy the beautiful acoustics of this church and the new organ that they have invested in,” she said. “We tossed around ideas and the Messiah seemed to be the most resonant.
“It’s not being done around here. It’s usually in the city or further out.”
Davidson, part of the Hinsdale Chorale, said it also offered an opportunity for local performers.
“We wanted it to be more of a community event,” she said. “Even with the soloists, we were pulling in soloists from around here.”
Those included mezzo soprano Janet Mensen Reynolds, of La Grange Highlands, who retired after 26 years in the chorus of the Chicago Lyric Opera and has a private voice studio of 25 students. Baritone Ryan Cox, a professional member of the Grant Park Chorus and the Chicago Symphony Chorus, is the music director at the First Congregational Church of La Grange.
Davidson said she knew such talent needed excellent direction.
“We knew we needed a really good director to come in here,” she said. “Dr. Mary Hopper got on board right away.”
Audience members came away thrilled with the performance.
“It was incredible, it was very moving, spiritual, joyous. It was amazing,” Darien resident Carol Bacon said. “What a great way to experience this right before the holiday. It’s just very moving.”
La Grange village Trustee Peggy Peterson also loved the performance.
“This is a really beautiful community of this church,” she said.
Brookfield resident Dustin Felix was struck by the intimacy of the afternoon.
“It was phenomenal,” he said. “I would go here over going downtown to the Lyric. This is so much nicer, so much more personal, so much more heartfelt. You could hear all the music and the soloists were phenomenal.”
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
