A ‘Wild Mile’ in St. Charles? River Corridor Foundation floating a new idea for boardwalks, gardens

Because it’s a bit hard to keep track of, many of us keep the debate about dam removal along the Fox River as an “out of sight, out of mind” situation.

Would the thought of a floating garden among walkways along the Fox River in St. Charles spark a little more interest in the river? What if we said such a concept could unfold regardless of what happens with the St. Charles dam?

Still, the St. Charles dam is there in plain sight, and important decisions about keeping it or removing it are on a time clock. The first important date is April 3, when the city’s dam task force will recommend a consulting group that will help the city answer all of its questions regarding water levels and effect on habitat related to the dam project.

The Army Corps of Engineers and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources would foot the bill for dam removal, but only on its timetable.

Cities have to decide if they want to take that funding incentive, or keep the dam as an aesthetic feature as well as a way to not affect water levels, depending on what consultant studies reveal.

As such, a second future major date is not as clear. That’s when the ACOE would reissue its recommendation letter, along with environmental and historic preservation studies, and other relevant information. Everyone involved in future planning for the river believes the ACOE would also deliver a new decision timeline as well.

All of that aside, the River Corridor Foundation of St. Charles continues to look ahead. More specifically, it continues to educate citizens about its Active River Plan project and how we can get more recreational use and better environmental results along the Fox, regardless of what happens to the dam.

In an interesting move, the foundation is hosting a meeting from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, at the Baker Community Center with the Urban Rivers group discussing its Chicago River project called the “Wild Mile,” a floating garden design intertwined with boardwalk-type trails.

This notion of a floating garden has been on the minds of the foundation for some time, said John Rabchuk, a member of the foundation board.

“Design elements like floating gardens and improved riverfront trails such as those incorporated in the Wild Mile are also components of the Active River Plan,” Rabchuk explained. “Just imagine riverfront boardwalks winding through floating gardens as pedestrians stroll from Pottawatomie Park into downtown St. Charles to visit First Street Plaza and our many restaurants and shops.”

Urban Rivers has worked on the Chicago project for more than six years, completing phase one in 2021 and phase two during the summer of 2024.

Those with a significant interest in improving the Fox River along the St. Charles shorelines view the upcoming meeting as an introductory phase. We learn more about Urban Rivers and they learn more about the potential for a floating garden in St. Charles, presumably near the Pottawatomie Park area.

“The Urban Rivers folks might be looking for another site to build and our RCF group has initiated conversation with them about building a test site in downtown St. Charles,” Rabchuk said.

“A floating ecosystem like the Wild Mile could be built with or without a dam,” Rabchuk noted. “One potential area where this could be built would be along the east side of the river from Pottawatomie Park down to city hall.

“It could create a new park space while also serving as a buffer to the redevelopment of the old police station property,” he added.

In a scenario that would appeal to most residents, the Wild Mile project in Chicago was built primarily from grants and donations — without major city funding.

He loved St. Charles, Ukraine

I remember it as if it were yesterday. I ran into Mike Dixon in downtown St. Charles in the summer of 2010. The city’s prominent architect said he was in the process of joining the Peace Corps and had his sights set on working in Ukraine, a country he felt excited about helping because of his long career and interest in historic preservation.

I was just telling my wife a couple of weeks ago that I had to reach out to Dixon to get his thoughts on the destruction in Ukraine. Because Dixon lived in St. Augustine, Florida, the past several years, we fell out of touch. When I was a member of the Hotel Baker board of directors in the 1990s, I spoke to Dixon often. He, too, was a member, helping to renovate the hotel when it was a Lutheran Social Services senior housing site.

It was a lost opportunity in terms of reaching him, as I heard of his passing at age 75 in Florida last week. He most certainly had to be brokenhearted over what has happened in Ukraine and the many buildings he worked on.

He did Peace Corps service there from 2011 to 2016 and fell in love with that country and its people. He even brought a friend, Maggie Hankamp, back to St. Charles when his stints were complete.

They spent years together giving presentations about the Peace Corps efforts in Ukraine to various service clubs and organizations, including his Kiwanis Club in St. Charles of which he once served as president.

His stories about Ukraine were interesting and his knowledge of architecture, as a Fellow of the Architectural Institute of America, was impeccable. He has his stamp on several buildings throughout the country as well as the Tri-Cities, including his architectural study in 1994 of the new central historic district in St. Charles. His information is still used by the city’s historic preservation commission.

Dixon always talked about the tensions with Russia and Ukraine’s fight for independence and human rights, a struggle that boiled over in the 2014 revolution. When Peace Corps personnel had to relocate, he did not leave the country behind. He continued his work in guiding architecture and historic preservation in and around Kosovo and Armenia.

For that kind of work, the Peace Corps recognized Dixon in 2021 as a nominee for its top national volunteer award. He finished among the top five in the country of 70 nominations.

Tom and Cris Anderson of St. Charles traveled to Ukraine to visit Dixon during his time there, and he showed them his projects near Kyiv.

“Our trip was before the revolution,” Tom said. “When that revolution started, Mike and other Peace Corps volunteers had to be smuggled out (portraying) as a wedding party through Moldova.”

A couple of other things stick out when thinking about Dixon. In a classic wrong-place, wrong-time scenario, he unfortunately drove right up to a man who began firing a gun wildly on Third Street near downtown St. Charles in the late 1980s. Though not injured in the incident, Mike told police and reporters he had to duck down inside of his car to avoid bullets.

On a far less intense note, I remember asking him in 2010 what he considered to be the tallest church steeple in the Tri-Cities and he mentioned the Congregational Church of Batavia.

It was one of those things I was curious about, and he was the expert to turn to. He noted it had been rebuilt in 1974, with the original church steeple being knocked down by a storm nearly 100 years earlier.

Mostly, every town Mike Dixon ever called home was lucky to have him.

A steel band surprise

A news release for an upcoming concert at Norris Theatre in St. Charles tells us, “You might be surprised by the range of music performed by the NIU Steelband.”

One way to eliminate the surprise would be to attend the concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 28.

You can expect to hear music from various genres from this band, which NIU points out was the first steel pan ensemble at a major American university when it was created in 1972.

The NIU Steelband has performed throughout the country as well as internationally. That tells you something about quality and longevity.

General admission is $20, and $5 for those younger than 18. Tickets can be purchased on the Norris Cultural Arts Center website.

Country House not leaving

In the category of “hold the phone on that,” a social media post last week would leave one to believe the Country House restaurant at Fabyan Parkway and Kirk Road in Geneva was possibly closing.

The Instagram post noted the property was for sale, but the truth is it has been on the market for some time. Sort of like a trial balloon.

But the owners have no plans to sell or close anytime soon. Why this person decided to post the Country House site online is somewhat of a mystery to the restaurant owners.

They were too busy last weekend preparing to sell plenty of corned beef and cabbage to worry about it at this point.

Country House has been at the Geneva location since 1996, and has a long history with its Clarendon Hills and Lisle locations.

I was happy to hear the restaurant wasn’t closing. This place caught my attention when it first opened. The fried chicken became a favorite dish. But, over time, I picked up on what a lot of other patrons knew. The cheeseburgers at Country House were top-rate.

I ordered carryout from Country House more than at any other restaurant during the COVID years because this place deserved my business. And I liked those cheeseburgers.

• dheun@sbcglobal.net