No dragon boats this year as St. Charles cancels Festival of the Fox

Those seeking a festival to kick-start the summer won't be finding it in St. Charles this year, as planners of the Festival of the Fox have decided to put the event on the shelf for a year and contemplate its future.

The festival, in some form or another, has had quite a run in the city since the early 1980s. It was, in fact, right in the middle of some of the craziest weekends in the history of the city — at least in terms of traffic that would make even a New Yorker blush.

How did this happen? Organizers of various events somehow all marked their calendars for the same weekend. It meant the Pride of the Fox festival, the Mid-American Canoe Race, the Kane County Flea Market and St. Charles High School graduation all took place at the same time.

Those planning the Pride of the Fox festival eventually moved that event to the second weekend in June to avoid any conflicts.

There will be no such problem this summer because festival planners have decided to temporarily shelve the event — and determine if it will return in a different form in the future.

It's not the first time this St. Charles summer festival has opened itself up to questions and thoughts of possible revamps.

The festival has undergone various changes — including its name — since the city's chamber of commerce operated it through the 1980s and then turned it over to the newly formed St. Charles Festival Committee in 1990.

That committee hired Joy Meierhans, who oversaw the festival until 2010 or so, when she retired and another group took it over.

“At first, planners tried to make it a citywide festival, but when the committee took it over, we changed the name to Riverfest with the focus on activities near the river,” said Tom Anderson, who helped form the committee and got his Colonial restaurant business to help sponsor it.

The festival never tried to position itself as a massive event, like the city's Scarecrow Festival or Geneva's Swedish Days, but it was a celebration to kick off the summer in town.

“This was always like the second festival in town,” Anderson said. “I think there is still a place for it, so I hope it is able to continue.”

There has been debate in town on a couple of occasions over who should oversee the festival as different groups have sought control.

Mostly, it's been an effort to keep the event alive, and it appears we're in that mode again.

More Charlestowne blues?

The news of another retail legend like Carson's shutting its doors doesn't really come as a shock at this point. Sadly, we're all getting used to seeing our retail landscape change dramatically.

What it will do to plans for housing and retail on the nearly empty Charlestowne Mall site is left to speculation.

It doesn't seem like it should make a difference at this point. Anyone involved in planning that new development would have been making a mistake to think Carson's would be a long-term part of that scenario.

The movie theaters? Yes. Von Maur? Seems like it. Cooper's Hawk restaurant? It's already committed to the area.

What sort of appeal those three businesses would have to an overall housing plan remains to be seen.

In $10 increments:

Ron Erday may not live in Geneva any longer, but he has a soft spot for the town in which his father Victor operated Erday's Clothing Store for so many years.

In being a part of that history, Erday knows the importance of supporting the Geneva History Museum to keep all of the city's stories alive.

Last week, he was encouraging residents and others to donate $10 each to the museum and he would match all of those donations up to April 30.

He's hoping he has to come up with at least $1,500 during this fundraising drive so the museum can add $3,000 to its coffers.

Just a day after Erday revealed his idea on Facebook, museum executive director Terry Emma said as much as $325 had already come in and it was continuing to climb.

“We are getting donations in every way,” Emma said. “People are donating on our website, writing checks or coming in and dropping off money.

“We'll take it anyway that is comfortable for the donor,” she added.

Some people are signing up online to set up recurring $10 donations to the museum.

The Abby's shuffle:

The empty Abby's Breakfast and Lunch site at 11 N. Third St. in downtown St. Charles will soon become The Grandstander, which owner and chef David Reyes will move into that site from Third Street in Geneva.

In what amounts to a sports bar switcheroo, The Grandstander's current location will become Del Barrio Mezcaleria, being promoted as a sports bar offering Mexican fare.

For Reyes, it means he'll have two locations in St. Charles within shouting distance, as he has operated the Finery and Blacksmith Bar on Main Street for about three years now.

His previous French fare venture on State Street in Geneva called Juliette closed after about a year of operation.

The upside for Reyes in this move is that he'll have more room for his upscale sports bar in the Abby's location, which makes it easier for a chef to offer a bigger menu and other features.

Busy with her shows:

It was good to hear former Daily Herald photographer Laura Stoecker has had some recent events to show off her artistic talent.

Her studio, a few blocks from downtown St. Charles on Cedar Avenue, was involved in last week's first Fox River Arts Ramble, but she'll also have some of her fine art abstract pieces on display through June 10 at the 116 Gallery near Hotel Baker. The gallery is connected to the Mixology Salon Spa.

She and her husband John, also a fine-art photographer, have done all of the printing and mounting of the pieces.

The opening reception of the 116 Gallery show on Saturday is also a fundraiser for the nonprofit Alliance for the Great Lakes.

Stoecker said she is looking forward to this particular reception, which will go from 6:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. because it sort of breaks the mold on what one would expect at an art gallery showing.

“During the reception, there is also a fashion show, an artist doing a live painting, and an underground party with a deejay,” she mentioned in an email. “It's something totally different on the art scene around here.”

dheun@sbcglobal.net