We are connected in many ways and with many in our communities, to a greater or lesser extent, like it or not like it.
There are events in preparation for the near future and events gaining ground with planning in the distance.
The Aurora Historical Society’s exhibit, “Here Comes the Bride,’ originally scheduled to close August 12, has been extended by popular demand four extra weeks through September 9. The exhibit is at the David L. Pierce Art and History Center, 20 E. Downer Place in downtown Aurora. Open hours are Wednesday through Friday, noon to 4 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with free admission, although donations will be accepted.
Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame Tuesday this week released its list of persons for induction later this year. Next week The Voice will include a photo and information on the five new inductees: Joel Sheesley, Jeff Hunt, Kevin Braheny Fortune, Vincent Chiaramonte, and Patrick Beckman.
TriCity Family Services (Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles) will be host to a 34th annual fundraising gala to benefit its mental health services, at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9 at Q. Center, 1405 N. 5th Avenue in St. Charles. More next week. Another important event for many of us.
We include a diversity of items in The Voice we think are of interest to our community members in a wide range of four counties. We encourage communities, individuals, special interests, to send us information to be included. Readers can absorb, understand, and make up their minds.
State governor JB Prtizker’s signing a bill for military veterans who live in the State. He signed another package of bills Friday, Aug. 4 to extend cultural protections to Native Americans in Illinois and requires the teaching of Native American history in public schools. The signing ceremony was in Schaumburg for a bill to offer assistance to three historic sites, all in southern Illinois where there were many Native American sites: The Buel House along the Cherokee Trail of Tears in Pope County; the Pierre Menard Home in Randolph County; and the Kincaid Mounds, the remains of a Native American city along the Ohio River. Pritzker said that Illinois needs to acknowledge its role in a dark chapter of United State history. House Bill 3413, the Human Remains Protection Act, establishes procedures for handling human remains and grave sites that are uncovered in Illinois. It authorizes the Department of Natural Resources to work with the Illinois State Museum and representatives of tribes to establish a cemetery for reburial of repatriated Native American tribes. Among those signing the bill was Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick, chairman of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation once based in DeKalb County that the U.S. General Land Office seized in 1849 and sold at public auction. The Potawatomi headquarters now is in northeast Kansas. Legislation pending in Congress would return more than 130 acres to the Potawatomi and provide them with approximately $50 million in settlement funds.
Stolp Island Social in Aurora opened just west of the Paramount Theatre in November 2019 under the guidance of restaurateur Amy Morton. The COVID-19 gave no breaks to future of the restaurant and the final bit of permanent closure was a reality Tuesday this week.
The Aurora Noon Lions Club members learned of an Aurora University Summer class in Spain. The two-week immersion class, according to Aurora University Spanish professor and chair person of foreign languages, Denise Hatcher, was for 16 advanced-level students who lived in Salamanca Spain. The 36 hour-instruction was with trained teachers who live in Spain.
The Women’s Weekend: A Nurturing Nature Retreat will be September 2-3 over a weekend, 10 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Freeman-Kame Meagher Forest Preserve (Camp Tomo Chi-Chi Knolls entrance is at 40W095 Freeman Road in Gilberts. The fee is $149. per person. Participants must be at least 18 years of age.
We live in a truly broad world/society. We can choose to focus in narrow situations only, or, seek to encounter widespread cultures, experiences.