DC Mag June 2017

DeKalb County Magazine

What’s Inside

Aquaviva Winery

A Taste of Wine Country Close to Home

Corn Fest Celebrates 40 Years Kishwaukee College Horticulture Program Helps Beautify DeKalb 1 | June 2017 | DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

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Table of Contents Aquaviva Winery: A Taste of Wine Country Close to Home.... 6 Friedrichs Eye: Leading the Way in Vision.........................12 Maiden Voyage: The Story of Georgia Townsend Yates ......15 Kishwaukee College Horticulture Program Helps Beautify DeKalb...............................23 Jesus Romero Celebrating: Cinco De Mayo Festival Celebrating Twenty Years of Unity & Giving.................26 Corn Fest Celebrates 40 Years...................32

Publisher: Karen Pletsch Project Manager: Lisa Angel Layout & Design: Allison LaPorta Photography: JPM PHotography • Aquaviva Winery Stephen Haberkorn • Jeff Threewitt • Matt Apgar Writer: Aimee Barrows & Stephen Haberkorn Articles and advertisements are property of Shaw Media.

No portion of DC Magazine may be produced without written consent of the publisher.

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ACQUAVIVA W i n e ry A Taste of Wine Country Close to Home By: Stephen Haberkorn When people make the drive out west down Route 38 to Acquaviva Winery in Maple Park, father and son owners, Vito and Joe Brandonisio, want them to experience the country—the country of Italy, that is.

While corn and soybean fields dominate the terrain west of St. Charles and Geneva, thousands of grape vines cover the 90-acre Acquaviva Estate that spans both sides of the rural stretch of highway.

This spring, Acquaviva Winery, which is in its eighth year of opera on, will open an upscale

6 | June 2017 | DEKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

guest house on the property, as they continue to expand Vito Brandonisio’s dream of bringing Europe to Maple Park.

The guest home, which Joe Brandonisio describes as “a step up in class from your traditional bed and breakfast,” contains six suites that can be booked individually, or all together for an entire bridal party or group gathering.

All of the suites will accommodate two people with a separate bathroom and a shared kitchen area. They will each be named after a different bottle of Acquaviva wine.

Situated next to the winery with a view of farm, land, and the vineyard, the setting will provide a quiet, tranquil environment. “We want to make it so memorable that you go home and think you were in another country,” said Joe Brandonisio.

Along with their award-winning wines, delectable food and beautiful estate winery, the owners of Acquaviva pride themselves on their Italian hospitality. Making people so welcome that they feel like they’re at home is not just a good business practice for the Brandonisio family; it’s their way of life.

“At the end of the day, Italians are very close and they treat everybody like family,” said Joe Brandonisio. “My father will meet someone for the first time and that person will walk out calling him ‘Uncle Vito.’”

The Source of Acquaviva

Vito Brandonisio, the visionary behind Acquaviva Winery, grew up in Bari, Italy—a southern coastal city on the Adriatic Sea. As a boy, he used to visit the small winery that his grandfather, Giuseppe, started in the nearby town of Acquaviva delle Fonti. The name of the town means “living water,” because of the abundant springs fed by its large underground aquifer.

“Living in the old country, you’re surrounded by all the vines. You’re born and groomed within the land,” said Vito Brandonisio. “From diapers on, you’re basically in

the field and know the concept of the outside life. It’s all you had. If you didn’t have vines, you had almonds. If you didn’t have almonds you had olives. Those were the things you were born and nurtured with.”

Vito Brandonisio emigrated from Italy to Windsor, Canada in the late 1950s, and then moved to Chicago after a few years. He and his wife, Dina, who also immigrated from Italy, eventually settled in St. Charles, where they raised their six children. After working at a vegetable market and as a laborer, Vito started his own construction company, which became very successful. But his dream was always in hospitality.

“Even when we were growing up, that’s all he talked about, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have a restaurant?’ said Joe Brandonisio. “His visions were always very large.”

When Joe was a child, the Brandonisio family would get together for dinner every Sunday with about 30 of their relatives. They would begin cooking at nine o’clock in the morning, start eating at two or three in the afternoon and finish around six in the evening. When their family hosted the gathering, his father, Vito, would typically do the cooking.

As is common in Europe, every fall during harvest season Vito would go to the market and buy grapes. All the men in the family would then get together in the garage and make lots of wine. That was a tradition that the Brandonisio boys became accustomed to as they grew up.

In 2001, the family sold their home in St. Charles and bought a 40-acre parcel of land at the intersection of Route 38 and Meredith Road in Maple Park. As they started digging the foundation for their new house they encountered sandy, rocky soil. In fact, there were boulders so large that they had to stop digging and move the site for the house to a different spot.

Vito had a thought: “I wonder how vines would do here?”

So he had someone come out and check the soil and DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE | June 2017 | 7

confirmed that it was indeed great for cultivating grapes.

“With vines, you want that water to drain” explained Joe Brandonisio, who now runs the day-to-day operations of the winery. “Vines like to stress. They like to strive. They want to go deep and grab that water. That’s what makes them survive so long.” (There is a saying in the wine-making business that “struggling vines make better wine.”)

So as they were building the home, they began planting some vines. One acre became two, and then ten, and fifteen, because Vito Brandonisio doesn’t do anything small. They started with hybrid varieties like Frontenac, Prairie Star, Brianna and later Marechal Foch—hearty vines that are able to withstand the brutal Midwestern winters.

It takes grape vines about three years to mature enough to use for wine. By 2007, most of their vineyard was in and they were able to harvest their first grapes. At that point, Vito purchased property across the street and unveiled his plans for a grand winery. The original plans were even bigger than the current 20,000 square-foot facility, and included rooftop dining and another structure.

“It was huge. We actually had to scale it down a little bit,” said Joe Brandonisio.

They broke ground in August of 2007 and completed the building in 2010. It took so long because of all the details they put into it. Structurally, the building is a fortress, with lots of stone and 16-inch concrete walls. The mosaic floor and the 26-foot granite bar as you enter add to the grandeur of the building. From the Venetian plaster on the outside, to the columns in the entranceway, to the ceiling in the atrium, every detail was hand-painted over an eight-month period, with the artist working almost every day.

“By the time we opened up these doors, it was still a learning experience for us,” said Joe Brandonisio.

When they had told people about the idea for the winery, they thought they were crazy— especially given the business’s location in a relatively sparsely-populated area.

“But we looked at it as this,” explained Joe Brandonisio, “you want the most people for your restaurant, then you want a populated area. But then that restaurant is never going to have a vineyard like this. We are offering something fifty miles west of the Loop to come and enjoy and look out the windows and see vines and grapes, from start to finish—where we’re growing it, where we’re harvesting it, where we’re producing it, where we’re bottling it, where you’re drinking it. That was the vision.”

The process of actually producing their wine was a lot different than what they used to do in their garages and their basements.

“What you need to know for sanitation and everything else is completely different than with homemade wine,” said Joe Brandonisio. “You want the best wine. You want that wine to last.

There are steps you need to take. It was a learning process.”

8 | June 2017 | DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

In order to learn how to produce great wine, the owners of Acquaviva connected with the established Wollersheim Winery in Prairie Du Sac, Wisconsin. Starting in 2007 when they produced their first vintage, they used Wollersheim’s production and storage facilities to bottle their early wine, providing all of the manual labor themselves. “Those days were tough,� said Joe Brandonisio.

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They had to harvest everything at one time so they could get it all into refrigerated trucks—all the reds at one time and all the whites at one time. They would have up to eighty people picking at once from 5 in the morning until 5 at night. Joe would then sleep out in the vineyard overnight in his vehicle to make sure the refrigerated trucks didn’t frost up and shut down. “Those were long nights,� said Brandonisio. “Every two hours I was out checking the trailers, just to get the grapes to Wisconsin in the right manner. I didn’t want to take the chance of anything spoiling. It was a lot of fun, though. It was a great experience.�

When they opened their doors in 2010 many people didn’t realize they were a winery. Some thought their building was a church or a funeral home. Even though the vines had been growing across the street since 2001, people didn’t realize what they were despite driving past them all the time.

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The initial response to their wines was skepticism. “They didn’t believe that this was Illinois wine,� said Joe Brandonisio. “Everything we produce is only from our vineyard. They think that we bring in juice or grapes from California and blend them in, but we don’t.�

They also had to overcome some people’s biases against Illinois wines, because they may have had a bad experience with them in the past.

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(815) 758-3521 www.cityofdekalb.com dtma@cityofdekalb.com

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DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE | June 2017 | 9

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    

2670 DEKALB AVENUE • SYCAMORE, IL 60178 •       10 | June 2017 | DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

But they have worked hard to produce the best wine possible. Their winemaker, Sergio Benavides, is from Chile, where he earned a degree in agricultural engineering and specialized in viticulture and oenology at the prestigious University of Chile. Benavides worked in many wineries in Chile, Spain and California while perfecting his techniques for vine care and wine-making, before coming to Acquaviva Winery in 2010. “He knows exactly what he’s doing,” Joe Brandonisio said.

They do signature tours of the winery where Sergio will take you around the entire facility, talk a little bit about the land, walk you through all the production sites and explain the process. And then you do a full wine-tasting with cheese. “It’s supposed to be an hour tour, but when Sergio does it, it turns out to be a two-hour tour,” said Joe Brandonisio.

They are still growing the vineyard and bringing in different types of grapes. This year they are going to plant 4,000 vines of Petite Pearl grapes on 35 acres that have remained untouched until now.

Currently, they are producing fourteen different types of wines. All of their wines have won awards, both internationally and locally, including multiple Governor’s Cups for best Illinois-grown wine at the state fair.

Another point of focus for the winery at this time is expanding their wine club membership. “We’re still starting out from very small, but our wine club is developing to be something great,” said Joe Brandonisio.

While you can do a monthly wine club membership for $20 a month, they are really encouraging people to try a quarterly membership. For quarterly members, on the third Thursday of every quarter when they pick up their three bottles of wine they can eat enjoy a meal of pasta, salad and bread for two. They’ll also be able to taste all of the new wines that are currently being prepared

11 | June 2017 | DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

right out of the oak barrels and the tanks. So for just $54 per quarter you get to eat, taste some new wine, and have a good time while mingling with other wine club members, in addition to picking up your three bottles of wine selected by their winemaker.

They currently have around 300 members in their wine club, but they are envisioning having thousands of members in the future. They have also started selling their wines online and through some retail stores.

Though Acquaviva does not view themselves primarily as a restaurant, they have excellent traditional Italian food—pasta, seafood, brick oven pizza, as well as steaks. Their chef is from Napoli, which is located on the western coast of Italy. “It’s probably the best seafood you’re going to have,” said Joe Brandonisio.

Besides managing the restaurants in Maple Park and downtown Sycamore, and producing and selling their wine, Acquaviva hosts over fifty weddings a year at the Winery, as well as other special events. Basically, from the start of May until the end of November they don’t have any Saturdays available and a lot of Fridays and Sundays are booked as well. It makes it hard on the public, but they still do wine-tastings throughout the day before the events start. “We’re getting a lot of great reviews, from the food to the building to just the atmosphere,” said Joe Brandonisio.

Ultimately, everything they do at Acquaviva Winery, from making wines and serving food to hosting weddings, fits into Vito Brandonisio’s personal vision and goal of bringing people together from all over to experience love, harmony and old world ambiance. “There are things that you love, things that make you feel good,” said Vito Brandonisio.

“But the greatest thing is when you make other people feel good and appreciate the history of what was here and experience something different.”

DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE | June 2017 | 11

Friedrichs Eye: Leading the Way in Vision By: Aimee Barrows

Other than his family, nothing is more important to Dr. Jason Friedrichs than vision. The Sycamore resident’s father is blind, so when it came time to pick a specialty in medical school, the choice was obvious. Dr. Friedrichs, who is an ophthalmologist, opened his Sycamore practice, Friedrichs Eye, in 2015 and has been providing exceptional patient care ever since. Friedrichs Eye offers basic eye exams, as well as contacts and glasses fittings. Dr. Friedrichs can also treat every medical condition related to the eye.

“Sight has always been important to my family. My father lost his sight because of congenital diseases,” he said. “I find joy in helping my patients because they mean something to me. If their problems have anything to do with sight, I care deeply because it’s personal to me.”

Dr. Friedrichs, who grew up in Aurora, always knew he wanted to become a surgeon. He said ophthalmology is a perfect fit for him because not only can he help people improve their sight, but he can also perform eye surgery. “I really like micro-surgery, which is doing small surgeries. I love the meticulous nature of it, so eye surgery was appealing,” he explained.

“I’ve always loved science, and the more research I did about careers in the field, I found that I liked human interaction rather than just a lab experience, so I knew medical school was for me.”

12 | June 2017 | DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

Dr. Friedrichs graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a master’s degree in molecular physiology.

He graduated from the University of Illinois medical school, before completing his residency at the University of Iowa, which he said is a top school for eye surgery.

“I wanted to go to the University of Iowa because it’s one of the top ophthalmology programs in the world. They’re the world-leader in eye care, and it had a lot of research opportunities,” he said.

After finishing his residency, Dr. Friedrichs came to Sycamore to be near his family, and joined the staff at the former DeKalb Clinic, where he worked for five years. When the clinic was sold to Kishwaukee Health System in 2013, he worked for a small hospital system in Dixon, Ill. It was there he realized that he wanted to open his own practice.

“This field is all about patient care. It’s not about profits. I didn’t want anyone telling me how to treat my patients or employees, or telling me what equipment I could use,” he said. “Medicine is all about the bottom line in a hospital system, but I believe patient care should be first and foremost.”

It’s that focus on personal care that led Dr. Friedrichs to open Friedrichs Eye, located in the Hy-Vee plaza in Sycamore, in August 2015. When the practice opened, he was seeing about 10 patients a day, but the practice has grown so much that he now sees about 30 to 40 patients every day. Dr. Friedrichs credits his employees for making his practice such a success. He has three ophthalmic technicians and an office manager on staff.

“We’re providing care here that is needed in this community. This is a very stable environment for our patients. They see the same staff and same doctor every time they come in,” he explained. “They see that our staff has a joy of taking care of them. All of the employees go above and beyond every day. We provide thorough eye exams here with state of the art equipment that’s not often seen in optometry offices.”

Lisa Smits has worked at Friedrichs Eye since it opened, and said she likes working with Dr. Friedrichs.“I’ve worked in eye care for 20 years, and I like working for a small business and not a big corporation,” she said.

“Decisions are made quicker and easier. We’re here to serve patients and it’s not about the bottom line.”

Leslie Jacox has been working as an ophthalmic techinician for 25 years, and said she loves coming to work at Friedrichs Eye every day. She said she loves the small office atmosphere and working with the community.

“I’m a people person, and I love our patients,” she said. “Working for Dr. Friedrichs is awesome, and we do so much for the community.”

Friedrichs Eye offers free state-required school eye screenings for children, and the technicians travel to various senior centers and retirement communities across the area each week to give free glasses adjustments. “We want seniors to know that we’re there and we’re a part of the community. We’re going to take care of the community and

they really appreciate that,” Dr. Friedrichs explained.

The practice is also very philanthropic, supporting numerous local nonprofit organizations and events every year. But perhaps the biggest philanthropic events of the year for Dr. Friedrichs are his eye mission trips to the Caribbean. Twice annually, he visits the small island of Nevus to provide free exams, treatments and surgeries to residents who otherwise wouldn’t have access to medical care.

“Doing projects like this brings me back to my medical school days, and reminds me of why I went into medicine in the first place,” Dr. Friedrichs said. “It was pure patient-doctor relationships with no interference from insurance companies, hospitals or governments.”

Dr. Friedrichs recommends that everyone over age 55 have an annual eye exam, regardless if they wear glasses or contacts. He said prevention is the key to avoiding age-related vision problems, like glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetes-related complications and cataracts. “One out of three people will live to be 100 years old now, and if you don’t start preventative care, you’ll lose vision in the long-run. We can start treatment early before something becomes a bigger problem,” he said.

When Dr. Friedrichs isn’t at his office, you can find him spending time with his sons, Roman, 12 and Thatcher, 10. A passionate snowboarder, Dr. Friedrichs often takes his sons on several snowboarding trips every year. “Snowboarding is bonding time with my sons, we’re the happiest when we’re 1200 feet in the air,” he said. “I also enjoy exercising and being outdoors and doing yardwork, too. I’m a big golfer, and play a lot with my sons. I’m very involved with their activities and love watching them play sports.”

Because Dr. Friedrichs is so active in the community, he prides himself on treating his patients with honesty and integrity, and by offering fair prices on services, contacts and glasses. “One of the things that keep me honest is seeing patients out in the community and having to look them in the eye,” he explained. “I have to know that I’m providing them with honest care. I don’t know if I’d be able to sleep at night if I didn’t. My staff and I have to answer to the community, and that sets us apart from the others. I think owning my own business makes me more accountable to the community, which makes me a better doctor.”

For more information about Friedrichs Eye, call (815) 895-3937 or visit www.friedrichseye.com.

DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE | June 2017 | 13

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Maiden Voyage The Story of Georgia Townsend Yates

By: Stephen Haberkorn The City of Sycamore has been the home of many prominent residents over the years, but both a recently published book and part of a new exhibit at the Sycamore History Museum tell the story of one former resident who is most notable for what she did after leaving town.

The two historical projects converged with the publication of DeKalb writer Clint Cargile’s book In Search of a Fair Wind: The Sea Letters of Georgia Townsend Yates, 1891-1892 and the April 22 opening of the Sycamore History Museum’s exhibit, “Adventures to and from Sycamore.”

“It was really fantastic timing that we were working on our exhibit when I was talking to Clint and he told me about his project,” said Michelle Donahoe, Executive Director of the Sycamore History Museum. “I’d love to say that it was all planned that way, but it all just fell into place very nicely.”

Cargile’s book tells the story of Georgia Townsend Yates, a young woman who grew up as a member of one of Sycamore’s wealthiest families, then married a sea captain from Maine and set off on a 15-month adventure across the ocean. The 24-year-old went on her maiden voyage aboard her husband’s ship to Japan and Singapore while raising her infant daughter. Along the way, she endured storms, a mutiny, the death of a crew member, a teething infant, a mischievous monkey, and endless boredom on the open seas.

“I think it’s a unique local history book, because it goes so far beyond our community,” said Donahoe. “One, that there was a woman who was traveling to Japan in 1891. That was so unusual, even first for Americans to make that trip, let alone a woman with an infant daughter.”

The main section of the book is comprised of the actual letters that Georgia wrote to her mother while she was at sea. But Cargile puts the letters into historical context by introducing the reader to the families of Georgia Townsend Yates and her husband, John Elvin Yates, in the first part of the book. In the last section we learn about their life after the trip—their eight children, their role

DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE | June 2017 | 15

in the development of Boise, Idaho, and then Georgia’s later years in Seattle, Washington.

“They really were so influential,” said Donahoe, “I think what makes this story really intriguing is all of the different directions that the family made an impact and how we can document all of those.”

Even though Cargile is a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, he is quickly becoming an expert in Sycamore history. He had worked for a local history magazine in Tuscaloosa and one of the things he did there was research the history of old buildings. During his first semester in the history graduate program at Northern Illinois University, his advisor suggested him to a non-profit group from Sycamore who were looking for someone to do research on the old train depot they were restoring.

Cargile said that being an outsider, he felt like he could bring a unique perspective to Sycamore local history. “Every town has its myths, the stories that everyone tells over and over again and just assumes that they’re true. I didn’t have any of that, because I didn’t know what any of the myths were,” explained Cargile. “For the railroad book there were a lot of stories that people told me and from what I would learn a lot of them were just completely false. It was easier for me to debunk some stories because I had no connection to them. There were a few people who were a little disappointed by that, when you tell them the story they’ve heard their whole life is not true.”

What came out of his train depot research was Five-Mile Spur Line: A Railroad History of Sycamore, Illinois. In that book, Cargile showed how Sycamore building the five-mile stretch of railway to connect to the line in Cortland ended up saving the town. He was awarded a Certificate of Excellence from the Illinois State Historical Society for the book, which was published in 2014.

As Cargile was finishing Five-Mile Spur Line, he was approached by Doug Roberts from Zea Mays—the group that had funded his train depot research and published the book—about researching some letters that were written by Roberts’ great-grandaunt, Georgia Townsend Yates, back in 1891-92. Roberts had only transcriptions of the letters and presumed the originals to be lost or destroyed.

Cargile had no idea where the research would end up taking him when he began.

“This story is a little different, because no one in Sycamore really knows anything about this woman,” Cargile said. “So to a lot of people it’s like lost history or it’s all brand new. They’ve heard of the family, but they’ve never heard of the story of Georgia Townsend Yates.”

Sue Breese, DeKalb County Historian and Director of the Joiner History Room at the Sycamore Library, helped Cargile with his research. They have a copy of the letters there in the DeKalb County Archives. She also takes care of the Roberts private family archives. “We had read the letters when they first came in and knew it was a great story, so we were just waiting for the right person

16 | June 2017 | DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

to come around to be able to put that into words,” said Breese.

“Clint is really good at being thorough and getting the facts right … He took those letters and just really expanded the story. It’s a great book.”

One thing was obvious from the beginning about Georgia Townsend Yates—her family was extremely important to the development of Sycamore and DeKalb County. Joshua Townsend, Georgia’s paternal grandfather, and his family had arrived in DeKalb County in 1836 from Neversink, New York (a village that, ironically, now lies submerged beneath a reservoir). Daniel Pierce, Georgia’s grandfather on her mother’s side, came to DeKalb County in 1855 from Neversink also, and brought his family, which included sixteen-year-old Eleanor Pierce, Georgia’s mother.

Both families were very successful here in Northern Illinois.

Townsend grew his family farm to hundreds of acres, fueled by a huge increase in wheat prices brought about by the Crimean War in Europe in the 1850s. Daniel Pierce made a fortune in real estate investment and finance, and founded the bank that would become NB&T (now First Midwest). Frederick Townsend, Georgia’s brother, was influential in the founding of the DeKalb County Farm Bureau and served as Mayor of Sycamore.

The Townsends were also outspoken abolitionists and their family farm became a major hub on the Underground Railroad. They had a wagon with a compartment they would hide the runaway slaves in while they transported them to St. Charles; from there they would travel to Chicago and ultimately up to freedom in Canada.

(Cargile suggests that people wanting to learn more about this part of the Townsends’ story should read Nancy Beasley’s book, The Underground Railroad in DeKalb County, Illinois, which was published in 2013.)

Georgia Townsend Yates’ family would become intertwined through marriage with two other prominent names in Sycamore—the Boynton and the Roberts families. Doug Roberts’ grandfather, Tom Roberts, founded DeKalb Ag, which would later become DeKalb Genetics. “They have had an enormous impact on Sycamore and DeKalb County throughout those families,” said Breese. “The idea of ‘You’re doing well; you need to give back’ has been a theme from generation to generation with that family, so DeKalb County has definitely benefited.”

The most noteworthy thing about Georgia Townsend Yates, however, was not her addition to DeKalb County history, but rather what she did after marrying Captain Jack Yates and moving away.

John Elvin Yates, or Captain Jack Yates as he came to be known, had an interesting story of his own. He was born on February 4, 1845 in Round Pond, Maine. His father was a sea captain and was lost at sea in 1849 when Jack was only four years old. At age sixteen, Jack went to sea and eventually became captain of a ship called the A. L. Fitch in 1870 when he was twenty-five. His older brother, Oscar, also became captain of a ship around that same time. They both married young women from prominent local families in 1872 and then went into business together, beginning with two ships of their own.

Jack had no children with his first wife, Rockie, and she died in 1888 at the age of 37. Shortly after that he met Georgia Townsend Yates, most likely while she was summering out East. Georgia was twenty-one years his junior. The details of their meeting and courtship are not recorded anywhere, but Cargile spends a fair amount of time in the book on conjecture. No matter how and why their relationship came about, though, Georgia married Captain Jack Yates in 1889 during a small ceremony at the Townsend home in Sycamore, Illinois. Several months later, she moved with him to Maine. Within two years of their union, they were headed out to sea together on the Willie Reed with a crew of twenty-eight men and their sevenmonth-old daughter in tow.

By far the most thoroughly detailed aspect of Georgia’s time aboard the ship, other than her descriptions of the ship’s progress and the weather, are her struggles as a young mother in raising her mischievous toddler and growing in her domestic skills.

It is these accounts that best show us her relatability and her humor, as well as her deep affection for her daughter and husband. And even though her husband is busy guiding the ship most of the time, Georgia is still able to document a few sweet, intimate moments they are able to share together.

“I’m always surprised when I study history how people are always the same. People don’t really change,” said Cargile. “You take away the technology and the clothes and all that stuff … People you read about in the 1800’s had all the same interests, all the same likes and dislikes … They basically lived life like we do now. They just had to work harder.”

What we also learn from these letters is that even as Georgia is seeing the world and encountering her own trials as a new wife and mother, life went on back home in Illinois. Since Georgia was so close to her family, a heart-wrenching reality of the trip was her not being there for the birth of her three nephews and also the tragic death of her older sister.

Shortly after the Willie Reed finally docked in New York in December of 1892, Eleanor Townsend arrived by train to escort her daughter, her granddaughter and her son-in-law back to Sycamore. Before they could even make it there, however, they had to stop in Chicago, where Georgia gave birth to twins in a hotel room amidst preparations for the famous 1893 World’s Fair.

This event brought up yet another challenging facet of Georgia’s journey. Not only was she a young wife and first-time mother traveling on the open seas for a year and half with her infant daughter—experiencing severe storms, death, and even a mutiny on her first sea voyage—but she was also dealing with the sickness and discomfort that goes along with carrying two developing babies in her womb during the last nine months of the ordeal.

After Georgia’s initial excitement over going to sea, you can tell by her journal entries toward the end of her trip that her enthusiasm for seafaring had waned.

In fact, history shows that upon her return from Japan and Singapore on the Willie Reed she never again embarked upon an extended voyage on a boat. Her husband’s days as a sea captain were over as well. Just four days after his daughters’ birth, he returned to New York and sold his share of the Willie Reed. Despite carrying the honorific title of Captain Jack the rest of his life, there is no record of his ever again guiding a ship over the ocean.

If not for a fortunate series of events, Cargile’s book may have ended there; however, the story of how he located some direct descendants of Georgia Townsend Yates and learned many details about the rest of her and her husband’s lives is an interesting one in itself.

Cargile was aided in his quest for information by a lucky (or providential) internet

DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE | June 2017 | 17

search. He knew that Georgia and Jack Yates had a lot of descendants—well over a hundred scattered all over the country. He searched for them online with the hope that someone out there might have more letters, diaries or other artifacts that would be useful. He did find a few relatives using Ancestry. com and Facebook, but while they were interested in his research none of them had anything that had been passed down to them, which didn’t surprise Cargile.

“I don’t have anything that belonged to my great-grandparents,” Cargile said.

“I might have a picture somewhere, but I don’t have any personal items.”

But then using a Google search he came across a picture of Georgia Townsend Yates someone had posted on Prezi.com. The picture was part of a very small slideshow simply titled “family” with the subheading “Georgia Townsend Yates - grandpa Fred’s mom.” The presentation listed the name of the creator: Wendy Smoke. (Wendy’s daughter, who is an English professor, was trying to teach her how to use Prezi and Wendy had put up the pictures in 2014 while she was just playing around with it.)

Cargile was able to find Smoke’s Pinterest page, which had a link to her Facebook page, and he sent her a message through Facebook.

“She contacted me back immediately. She was like, ‘I have everything. I’ve got pictures. I’ve got journals. I’ve got diaries,’” said Cargile. “I’ve found that in pretty much every family there’s that one person who everything sort of funnels down to, and it just so happens she was that one person.”

Wendy Smoke lives in Wenatchee, Washington, east of Seattle. She had gotten all of the family mementos from her mother, who had passed away a few years before. It so happened that Georgia Townsend Yates, Wendy’s great-grandmother, had lived in a cottage behind her son’s house in Seattle in her later years. When she died, her belongings got handed down to her son, Frederick, and then to Wendy’s mother.

According to Cargile, Smoke was excited because she had all of the artifacts piled into bins and hadn’t done anything with them yet, but had always intended to. She had heard stories about Georgia, and when Cargile mentioned the sea letters, she said that she had those, too. It turns out, she didn’t have the original letters; she had another set of transcriptions of the letters. But her transcriptions were made by a different person than the ones in Sycamore.

When Georgia was on the open sea and couldn’t mail any letters until she reached port, she wrote her entries in a quire (or book). After running out of pages in her first book, she instructed her mother, “Whatever you do, save it for me, as I have not kept any diary, and I shall want it to show to my grandchildren” (February 26, 1892). And her family did, in fact, save all of her correspondence from her trip.

At some point a long time ago, someone in Sycamore had transcribed the letters. Sometime after that, the letters headed West with Georgia. And then somebody out there transcribed them again. Wendy Smoke’s family doesn’t know what happened to the original letters. They might have been destroyed or they might be sitting in somebody’s drawer or in an attic.

Cargile flew out to Wenatchee to meet Wendy Smoke and her family and check out their treasure trove of Townsend Yates artifacts. They let him scan everything they had, which included a diary written by Georgia’ mother in 1867 at their farm outside Malta.

When comparing the two different sets of letters, Cargile discovered that the other set was missing several entries. Wendy and her family were excited, because he actually had letters that they had never seen and they had no idea

18 | June 2017 | DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

that these other letters would have existed anywhere else.

Cargile was hopeful that their transcriptions might clarify some things in the letters he read that didn’t make sense, such as irregular spellings and a few lines that were confusing. So he ended up using the Seattle transcriptions to double-check his information.

While he was in Washington, besides scanning and looking at artifacts, he also had a great week getting to know Georgia’s direct descendants and listening to their stories. They knew bits and pieces of the family history, but they didn’t know any of the history from Sycamore. So one day, they had a big family meal where they invited all of the kids and grandkids over and Cargile gave a presentation about their family history. “Of course, they were excited because somebody else was basically paying me to research their family history. So they’re very excited about this book,” said Cargile.

According to Cargile, the last third of the book, which traces Georgia and her family’s life after the voyage could not have been written without the help of Wendy Smoke and her family.

As Cargile was doing his research for his book, the Sycamore History Museum was putting together their newest exhibit, “Adventures to and from Sycamore.” They ended up benefiting tremendously from his research.

artifacts, she contacted them to see if they would be willing to share them. Not only did they send many great photos for the exhibit, but they also shipped Jack Yates’ steamer trunk that was used on their trip to Japan, monogrammed silverware the couple was given at their wedding and other heirlooms. The Smoke family even flew out for the exhibit opening.

“They were just so excited that people were interested in their family history,” said Donahoe. “One of the challenges of doing an exhibit is it’s not a book on a wall. I needed artifacts to tell the story and they’re really great pieces that they have.” Ultimately, though, it is Georgia’s story that really interests people. “It was a great story and I’m really glad that there is that component to draw people in here through the exhibit and for people to want to get more through the book,” said Donahoe.

Zea Mays is donating all of the proceeds from the sale of In Search of a Fair Wind to the Sycamore History Museum. You can purchase the book at the Sycamore History Museum. It will also be for sale at The Joiner History Room in the Sycamore Library and at Blumen Gardens, Sweet Earth, and Sycamore Antiques. (They sell Cargile’s Five-Mile Spur Line book as well.) In DeKalb, you can buy the book at the Book World, Glidden Homestead and the Ellwood House Museum gift shop. Both of Cargile’s books are also available on Amazon.com.

When Cargile told Michelle Donahoe about the family he had been able to connect with near Seattle and how they had all of these amazing

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22 | June 2017 | DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

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Kishwaukee College Horticulture Program

Helps Beautify

J

By: Aimee Barrows

oel Barczak, co-owner of Blumen Gardens in Sycamore, is confident that when he hires a Kishwaukee College horticulture program graduate that he is getting a knowledgeable, well-trained employee. Barczak himself is a graduate of the program, and knows first-hand the high-quality horticulture education that Kishwaukee provides students from all over Northern Illinois.

“I’m such a supporter of the program. As an employer, many past and current employees have graduated from Kish’s program or at least have taken classes there,” he explained. “They have a very dedicated and caring staff, and the program gives students a very

DeKalb

good base. They do an outstanding job of preparing students for the industry.”

Kishwaukee College’s horticulture program has been educating students for more than 40 years, providing them with a wellrounded education and training that almost guarantees employment after graduation. Horticulture is a fast-growing field and Kishwaukee graduates are always in high demand. Many go on to work at landscape design companies, garden centers, retail or wholesale growers and floral shops.

“This field is expanding. Our students have high-achieving jobs, and some are running their own businesses,” said Richard Alde, DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE | June 2017 | 23

Kishwaukee College horticulture instructor. “There are not enough people to fill these middle-management positions that we prepare our students for. In every area of horticulture, employers are screaming for people. Our job placement rate is nearly 100 percent. I believe this is one of the best horticulture programs in the country.”

Kishwaukee’s program trains students in one of five areas: floral design, greenhouse, turf management, landscape design and nursery management. Students can earn an associate’s degree in horticulture with a concentration in one of those four specializations, or have the option of earning a certificate in one of the areas.

But no matter which area they choose, there are core horticulture classes that each student takes during their first year of the program before moving onto their specialty courses the second year. All students who earn an associate’s degree are required to take their general education requirements, giving them a solid education, which makes them more employable.

hours on the job. It’s like a full-time job,” Alde explained.

Barczak agrees that internships are a critical part of students’ education. Blumen Gardens has had many Kishwaukee students as interns.

“The internship component is a big strength of Kish’s program.

Internships are very important for any profession so students can get practical experience to find out if they like working in the field or not,” he said. “There are so many different jobs and aspects of horticulture, much more than people realize. There are many services and stores out there where the employees don’t know their plants, and that’s why the Kish horticulture program is so important. They get a good start there.”

Students also get plenty of practical experience around town and on campus. Students do most of the landscaping work on Kishwaukee’s campus and prepare many floral planters on the campus of Northern Illinois University and around downtown DeKalb. They also do many community service projects.

Horticulture students also take “field trips” to visit greenhouses, nurseries and arboretums in Northern Illinois to give them a first-hand look at the many job opportunities available after they graduate. One of the most important parts of Kishwaukee’s horticulture program is the internship, which is required for each student. Many students intern at local garden centers, like Blumen Gardens, but some students have done their internships as far away as Massachusetts, California and England.

“Every October, we leave the classroom and do various projects on campus, like pruning, mulching and planting,” Alde said.

“We also have classes on fruit and vegetable production and we donate all of the produce, like tomatoes, peppers and sweet corn, to food pantries in the area. We put in two welcome signs in Shabbona last year, and have done landscaping at area grade schools. We also do floral design at events with the City of DeKalb and here at the college.”

“More than 25 horticulture companies come to campus and students are required to interview with four of them for their internship. They begin in the spring, and they complete 300

And thanks to all of the hands-on experience, Kishwaukee students often do very well at horticulture competitions. At the Illinois State Florist Student Association competition in March,

24 | June 2017 | DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

students Megan Johnston won first place and Dustin Castillo took second place.

The floral design students also compete nationally at the American Institute of Floral Designers competition every July, and Alde said the students are competitive with some of the best in the nation.

The floral program at Kishwaukee is one of only 14 in the country that belongs to this organization, and membership helps students earn the designation as a Certified Floral Designer. This summer, four students are competing with other students from across the country and Canada in Seattle, Washington.

Janet Gallagher, floral design instructor, said the students will also participate in workshops and design programs for several days while there.

“This provides the students with great networking opportunities and learning experiences that they cannot get anywhere else,” she said. “These extra opportunities make the program at Kish a wellrounded, exceptional program. We can provide educational and professional opportunities that they would not have otherwise been able to participate in.”

DeKalb resident Trevor Elliott graduated from Kishwaukee College in 2015 with an associate’s degree in landscape design and an associate’s degree in turf management, and now owns his own business, Elegance Landscaping. All of his clients come from DeKalb and Sycamore, and he tries to buy his supplies locally whenever possible because he loves working with and supporting the community.

Elliott is also the superintendent of the golf course at Chicago Golf and Tiki Tees in DeKalb. He said his education at Kishwaukee taught

him “everything” he needed to know to run his own business.

“It’s a great program and I learned so much about horticulture. It’s a very well-rounded program with a great staff. I still keep in touch with some. They do a great job,” he said. “If you like to be outdoors, this is the perfect line of work. I love landscaping. I love plants. I love golf courses. We get to take something that’s nothing and turn it into something beautiful and elegant. It’s very rewarding, and there’s definitely a need for landscape designers.”

One reason the students are so successful in competitions and in business is because of their passion for the field. Barczak said working in horticulture is very fulfilling, and all of his employees are passionate about their work.

“It’s instant gratification because you can look at your work and see the difference you made. There’s a scientific aspect to it, but there’s also a lot of creativity,” he explained. “Some people look at gardening as work, but if you love it, it’s not work. It’s fun. I haven’t worked too many days in my life.”

The Horticulture program is also innovative and responsive to the latest market trends. A good example is hydroponics. Hydroponics is a growing method by which mineral rich water is used instead of soil as the medium. In Rochelle, two hydroponic firms, Mighty Vine and Bright Farms, are growing tomatoes and varieties of leafy greens for some of the Midwest’s largest grocery chains.

The produce is picked and shipped quickly to ensure garden-totable freshness. This Fall, the Kishwaukee College Horticulture program will offer its first course in hydroponic growing methods, giving students basic skills and knowledge in this state-of-the-art technique to enhance their employability.

DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE | June 2017 | 25

Jesus Romero Celebrating

Celebrating Twenty Years of Unity & Giving By: Stephen Haberkorn Maybe the person most responsible for the 20th Annual Cinco de Mayo Festival that took place in Sycamore on May 6-7, 2017 is Stephanie Romero. If she hadn’t met her husband, Taxco Restaurant owner Jesus Romero, at Elleson’s bakery twenty-five years ago, he might never have settled in Sycamore and become so actively involved in the community.

“When my uncle first invited me to come to Sycamore, he promised me that there was nothing in Chicago that I would miss, that is was kind of like Chicago,” explained Jesus Romero.

When he arrived in December of 1991 to work at the newly-opened Taxco Restaurant, he came expecting a town like Rockford. He remembers the first time he had a break, walking up and down Route 64 and Route 23 looking for downtown Sycamore before realizing he was already there.

“So I was a little disappointed,” said Romero. “I did not like Sycamore much. It was kind of boring to me and I could not wait to go back to Chicago.” That was until he went to the bakery across the street to buy some doughnuts and met his future wife, Stephanie, who worked there.

“She was kind of the reason I stayed in Sycamore,” said Romero. He soon fell in love with the town as well. It has been 15 years since Jesus bought Taxco Restauant from his uncle and the restaurant is celebrating its 25th anniversary in business. Along with running a successful restaurant, Jesus also made sure he was finding a way to give back to the community.

Jesus began the Cinco de Mayo celebration outside of his restaurant in Sycamore in 1998 as a way to raise money for Relay for Life, benefiting the American Cancer Society. Though his first event was a bit disorganized and ran out of food, Romero still ended up raising $600 for the cause. After hearing encouraging responses around town the next day, he decided to make it a yearly event to raise funds for not-for-profit organizations.

A lot of people mistakenly think Cinco de Mayo is

26 26 || June June 2017 2017 || DeKALB DeKALB COUNTY COUNTY MAGAZINE MAGAZINE

Mexican Independence Day, but it is actually a holiday commemorating the Mexican army’s victory over French troops at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. The battle had significance because Napoleon III planned to bring weapons and ammunition to the Confederacy in the United States South through Mexico, but those plans were thwarted at Puebla.

The first Cinco de Mayo celebrations occurred in California in 1863, and it has been continuously celebrated there since. “Cinco de Mayo signifies coming together to fight the common enemy,” said Romero. “In this case, it is a community working together to raise money for local notfor-profit organizations. One way or another, we all benefit.”

This year’s celebration was a two-day event. Saturday featured an adults-only dance with the music of the Party Doctors and food provided by Nina’s Tacos, who donated 50% of their sales. Over 500 people came out for the evening’s festivities. On Sunday, local non-profits and businesses provided an array of entertainment for children and families throughout the day. Conexion Comunidad, along with several other local groups, presented authentic Mexican dancing and mariachi music.

Other activities included piñata making by Universidad para Padres (Parent University), face painting sponsored by American Family Insurance and a climbing wall manned by Boy Scout Troup 40 from Sycamore. Over 1000 adults and children crowded the streets behind and alongside Taxco and also participated in a taco eating contest and a salsa cook-off. Kids also enjoyed balloon animals, bouncy houses,

pony rides, and a petting zoo.

“Besides providing entertainment for all the kids, I feel that Cinco de Mayo becomes a bridge to allow organizations to showcase the services they provide,” said Romero. People attended the event from all around the area, including Genoa, Rochelle and Belvidere. Edward Villalobos from Rochelle came with his two young daughters and enjoyed the family environment.

“We are here to support the Cinco de Mayo festivities here in Sycamore and to help non-profit organizations to raise money,” said Villalobos. He admitted that attending the celebration brought out feelings of pride in his Mexican culture.

Bob Bemister from Sycamore volunteered on Sunday through his wife’s employer, Courtview Dental Center. He was one of many volunteers associated with local businesses. This was his first time volunteering at the event, but his family has attended the festival in past years. “They always do a great job. The kids absolutely love it,” said Bemister. “It’s nice to have one business owner put something like this together and have the whole community come out and support it.”

The festival committee, who do a lot behind the scenes to make the Cinco de Mayo Celebration a success, consists of Kayte Hamel, the Director of Marketing & Public Relations for Kishwaukee College; Sandra Maahs, a paralegal with The Foster & Buick Law Group; and Courtney Walz, Out of School Care Coordinator for Sycamore Community School District 427. “They do all the work and I get all the credit,”

DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE | June 2017 | 27

said Romero.

The event raised about $16,000 over the two-day weekend, with half of the proceeds going to the Kishwaukee College Scholarship Fund and some of the money being used to start a private Cinco de Mayo Celebration 501(c) (3) non-profit. The rest was distributed to various local non-profit organizations, such as Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), Conexion Comunidad and Community Coordinated Child Care (4-C). In total, the Cinco de Mayo festival has raised $156,000 during its 20-year run.

In 2006, the Romeros established the Cinco de Mayo CommunityWorks endowment fund with the DeKalb County Community Foundation. Their $7500 in seed money was matched by the Grand Victoria Foundation to create a beginning balance of $15,000. That fund is now up to around $40,000 and generates $1800-$2000 a year. The fund supports three areas: land use, workforce development and childcare. Jesus also served on the board of the DeKalb County Community Foundation from 2005-2010.

The endowment fund they established for scholarships with Kishwaukee Community College is now up to $60,000 and generates close to $3000 every year. “When I came to the area, my English was worse than what it is now,” said Romero. “I really wanted to go to school and Kishwaukee Community College facilitated that.” He took English as a Second Language and completed his G.E.D. through the local school. “I always felt that when I needed it, Kishwaukee College was there for me and when I had to opportunity I would help other students,” Romero said. “Education is so important in our lives and Kishwaukee College is very close to my heart.”

He has been involved through the years with adult

28 | June 2017 | DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

education and he recently became one of the board members for the Kishwaukee College Foundation.

Romero has also participated in Conexion Comunidad from its beginning. He was a board member and past president of the organization. And he has been involved in a lot of other non-profit organizations over the years, because he saw the need to help the less-fortunate in the community. “Sometimes people need just a little help to get on their feet and have a better future for themselves,” said Romero.

The focus of Conexion Comunidad is to get their youth more involved in the community and to develop leadership skills. In addition to teaching the arts like dance and music, they also teach life skills through English classes, computer classes and cooking classes.

Conexion Communidad’s authentic Mexican dance troupe for kids, Rayitos del Sol Ballet Folklorico, provided entertainment at the festival throughout the day on Sunday. Ballet Folklorico Monarcas, another local dance group, also performed. The dancers wore a variety of costumes representing the different regions of Mexico.

Mariachi Moderdo, a Conexion Comunidad music program, performed on the main stage as well.

Rosa Marquez, current President for Conexion Comunidad, appreciates Jesus Romero taking the lead with the Cinco de Mayo celebration to bring people joy and fulfillment through food, music, dancing and art.

“For me, personally, it’s a great way just to bring the community together,” said Marquez. “I think knowing that it’s the 20th year is a great achievement in anything that you do in life—twenty years of having the celebration where all members, regardless of your race, gender or

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Kristina Garcia, a volunteer executive director with Conexion Comunidad, has lived in Sycamore her entire life and has known Jesus Romero for many years. In fact, Jesus was the one who first got her involved in the organization when he invited her to attend a meeting.

“I thought I was coming by for appetizers and I walked out as a treasurer for Conexion Comunidad,” said Garcia. She believes that Romero is a great role model because he demonstrates that “you don’t move to a great community; you have to make a great community.” She said that in order to do that you have to participate and support those who are leading different ideas or different causes. “I’m really proud of the event, because when I grew up we were one of very few Mexican families in the area,” said Garcia. “I never thought I would see the day when my kids would be dressed up in a Mexican Folkloric costume and sharing a piece of our heritage. We’re very American, but we also don’t forget who we are and where we came from.”

Garcia attended the first Cinco de Mayo Festival and has been supporting it since she had her kids about seventeen years ago.“Rain or shine it turns into a beautiful event,” said Garcia. “I’m just really happy that Sycamore has always been very supportive of everything that Jesus has done with the events and his business. From the volunteers to the sponsors, it’s just really nice to know that we are in such a great giving community.”

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Taxco Celebrates 25 Anniversary th

Beginning in June, Taxco Restaurant in downtown Sycamore will celebrate twenty-five years in business.

Jesus Romero’s uncle opened the restaurant in 1992 and hired Jesus to help him run it. It has been a long road for Romero and Taxco to get to this point.

“I’d never imagined in my wildest dreams the restaurant would become what it is now,” said Romero.

To celebrate, they will have specials throughout the year, such as teacher appreciation discounts of one percent for each year of service. They will also offer similar discounts for veterans, firefighters and police officers. They will be bringing back some dishes from over the years and will once again have mariachi performers in the restaurant.

(They used to have mariachi every Wednesday.)

Romero is from the State of Morelos, Mexico, which is south of Mexico City, between the capital and Acapulco.

His family is originally from Guerrero, which is where the tourist town of Taxco is located. Romero said Taxco is a beautiful town that is known for its silver jewelry and culinary arts.

When he was about three years old, his father immigrated to the United States to try to help out the family, which was living in poverty. He tragically died in an accident in the United States when Jesus was just eleven years old.

As a teenager, Jesus came to the United States with some of his friends (but without his mother’s approval) to seek opportunities. He came to Chicago, because some members of his dad’s side of the family lived there.

He started working in his uncle’s restaurant in Chicago,

30 | June 2017 | DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

which was Taxco #1, as a busboy and dishwasher.

He also worked in several other Chicago restaurants, including the Pump Room and The Berghoff, washing dishes and working with the pastry chefs. He did some construction work during that time, too. Romero said that he learned things from each place he worked that became a stepping stone for his future success.

He didn’t plan on staying in the United States, initially.

He went back to Mexico for a couple years and then went back and forth for a while between the United States and Mexico.

“It was a struggle to go back to Mexico and see how difficult the life was there,” said Romero. “Being poor in the United States is not the same as being poor in another country.”

When he began working for the Taxco Restaurant in Sycamore, he used to drive back to Chicago every day.

Eventually, the small restaurant started to grow. They expanded into the two buildings next to them, and fifteen years ago Jesus and his wife, Stephanie, became the owners.

Romero acknowledges the good fortune that allowed him to be in the position he is in now.

“I’m grateful for my uncle for the trust he placed in me to be able to run the restaurant,” Romero said.

With the menu for Taxco established by his uncles in the original Chicago restaurant, Romero has kept it pretty much the same, only adding a few items here and there.

“Everything was given to me on a silver plate,” concedes Romero.

He also readily recognizes the importance of his entire thirty-two member staff for what they’ve accomplished over the years and makes sure that everyone realizes that the success of the restaurant is a total team effort.

The biggest hurdle that they had to overcome was the absence of a liquor license for the first eleven years the business was in operation.

Once they were able to serve alcohol, their profits took off. Their margaritas and extensive tequila collection are now popular items at the establishment.

Finally, the City of Sycamore itself has given the restaurant a boost when they needed it. They helped them fix up their façade to make it more attractive, and when a truck crashed into the front of the restaurant in 2014, causing about $100,000 in damage, Romero was overwhelmed by all the people willing to help out.

“We’ve been blessed to be in such a great community,” said Romero.

“Sycamore is such a nice, charming town with beautiful people. They have embraced us.”

Romero reflected on the fact that he has now lived in Sycamore longer than he lived in Mexico.

“I love Mexico and it’s always going to be in my heart because I was born and raised there, but Sycamore is my home,” said Romero.

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Corn Fest Celebrates

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By: Aimee Barrows Not many cities can claim to have a three-day festival that offers national, regional and local live music, delicious sweet corn, and family-friendly entertainment all for free. But for 40 years, downtown DeKalb has hosted Corn Fest, one of the Midwest’s premiere annual festivals, that draws around 40,000 people to the city every year.

Corn Fest is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year with three soundstage headliners, Uncle Kracker, who’s best known for the hit singles “Smile” and “Follow Me,” The Swon Brothers, a country duo who appeared on NBC’s “The Voice,” and multi-platinum country duo Thompson Square. And the best part is fans can see these national artists without paying a cent. Lisa Angel, chairperson of Corn Fest, said that it’s an impressive accomplishment to continue to be able to offer

DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE | June 2017 | 33

“one of the biggest things DeKalb does every year.”

“We want to be associated with this. It’s very high profile for us,” he said. “We enjoy working with the Corn Fest board. Everyone goes to see the bands. We make it a corporate event.”

Sycamore’s Banner Up Signs has been partnering with Corn Fest for many years, designing the signage for the event. Owner Jon Kuhn said he looks forward to the event every year.

high-caliber entertainment for so many years.

“This is such a popular community event and NIU alums and former residents come back year after year. There’s literally something for everyone,” she explained. “We’re able to do this with help from our sponsors and vendors. We have such a great community because we all take care of each other. We wouldn’t be here or be successful if it weren’t for the support of local companies.”

Mike Balcom-Vetillo, owner of Balcom-Vetillo design in DeKalb, has been a long-time sponsor of Corn Fest and designs the festival’s website. He said he wants to be involved with Corn Fest because it’s

34 | June 2017 | DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

“Corn Fest is a great family-friendly event that supports local businesses, bands, non-profit organizations and people of the area,” he said. “It is one of the largest events of the area and a great chance to showcase our business and have a little fun at the same time.”

And because the community is so supportive of Corn Fest, the Corn Fest board returns the favor by donating a portion of the proceeds from the weekend to two local nonprofit organizations and one deserving local family.

Alice Schmidt, longtime Corn Fest board member, thinks one of the best parts of the event is the charitable donations the committee makes every year. She said giving back to the community is one of the reasons she’s been involved with the event for more than 30 years.

“We’re giving back to the community by volunteering our time. We’re all unpaid, but we want the community to enjoy a free festival,” she said. “We do this to support local musicians and bands, and this brings a lot of locals and out of towners to DeKalb.

It’s a nice close to the summer.”

In addition to offering financial support to the community, Corn Fest continues to highlight local talent on the Community Stage, which features young “up and comers” in the DeKalb County.

Angel said the community stage has been an important Corn Fest tradition for many years. When it comes to booking the soundstage, the committee looks for a variety of talent, mixing cover bands with

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“Some of the country acts have said that this is one of the best festivals they’ve played,” she said. “We go out of our way to accommodate them, and they’ve said how nice the people in DeKalb are. We try to get a variety of genres and mix is up. But this is a great lineup to celebrate our 40th anniversary.”

Local favorites Hi-Infidelity headline the soundstage on Saturday night, while 7th Heaven, Too White Crew, Tristin Bushman and Catfight are some of the other weekend highlights.

Besides the music, folks always look forward to the wide variety of food available, including the free, freshlypicked 20,000 ears of sweet corn that Del Monte donates every year for the Chuch Siebrasse Corn Boil on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

More than 96 local and regional vendors line the streets of downtown DeKalb, including all the local food

36 | June 2017 | DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE

trucks, Pizza Villa and Cold Stone Creamery. Other vendors will be offering everything from corn dogs to BBQ to Mexican cuisine.

“You name it, we have it,” Angel said. “We hope people will try new things. This event is very popular with our vendors, and they always want to be a part of Corn Fest.

It’s also great for local restaurants because they’re always packed the entire weekend. Corn Fest brings a lot of money into the community.”

Jesus Romero, owner of Taxco restaurant in Sycamore, has been catering the Friday night VIP and backstage areas for several years. His authentic Mexican fare is always very popular, and folks look forward to the variety of food his restaurant brings every year, including freshly-made chips and salsa, guacamole and a taco bar.

“Corn Fest is so much fun. It’s such a great community event,” Romero said. “I was honored that the committee asked me to be a part of it. It’s great to see all the volunteers and community members. It’s nice to see all the hard work that goes into planning Corn Fest pay off. It entertains everyone in the community.”

Of course no festival would be complete without a carnival.

There are a variety of rides for children of all ages, and three-day unlimited ride wristbands are available. Children will also love Kids Fest, which is located on Second Street.

Some of the activities include an interactive booth from Northern Illinois University’s STEM Outreach, face painting and a rock climbing wall. Kids can also get an opportunity to milk a robotic cow and climb on tractors at the “Agtivities Lane,” sponsored by the DeKalb County Corn and Soybean Growers.

For a complete lineup of all the bands and activities, visit the Corn Fest website at www.cornfest.com.

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DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE | June 2017 | 37

Advertising Index Carpetland.................................. 20-21 DeKalb Corn Fest............................. 39 DeKalb Airport................................... 9

Northwestern Medicine/ Kishwaukee Hospital......................... 2 Larry Gregory Photography............... 3

DeKalb Public Library....................... 14

NIU Department of Visual Arts....... 40

DeKalb Park District......................... 32

NIU School of Theatre and Dance....... 5

Delano’s Home Decorating ............. 29

Oak Crest Retirement Center.......... 19

First National Bank............................ 5

Pizza Villa......................................... 29

Foster, Buick, Conklin, Lundgren & Tritt, LLC....................................... 36

Radiant Dermotology...................... 22

Friedrichs Eye.................................. 10 Fun Me Events................................. 35 Gilvydis Vein Clinic........................... 38

State Farm - Darrell Foss.................... 9 Studio One Salon & Spa................... 14 Yaeger’s Farm Market...................... 35

Hampton Inn................................... 31

Yamber Real Estate.......................... 32

Heartland Bank................................ 14

Zeamays Holdings............................ 36

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The Arts at NIU Join us for our internationally-recognized arts events during the upcoming school year!

View our calendar at www.vpa.niu.edu/cvpa/events, and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/theartsatniu.