EMBREY BRINGING NEW EVENTS TO DEKALB CLIMBING FOR A CAUSE VACATION RENTALS: A FAMILY BUSINESS
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INSIDE EMBREY BRINGING NEW EVENTS TO DEKALB Enjoy local festivals and special events........................ 6 ITALIAN TRADITION A Family Affair at Maria’s Little Italy............................ 14 VACATION RENTALS Becomes a Family Business ......................................... 18 DON’T WORRY, BE HOPPY DeKalb’s latest hoppy place, Byers Brewing Co., set for a summer opening...........22 CLIMBING FOR A CAUSE DeKalb County residents are climbing Mount Kilimanjaro..........................................24
est. 1851
Project Manager: Lisa Angel Layout & Design: Allison LaPorta Photography: DM Herra, Stephen Haberkorn, Michael Embrey and Michelle Taylor Writer: Stephen Haberkorn & Rebbecca Moore 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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g n i g n i Br EMBREY
THE WARM WEATHER OF SUMMER PRESENTS DEKALB COUNTY RESIDENTS WITH AMPLE OPPORTUNITIES TO ENJOY LOCAL FESTIVALS AND SPECIAL EVENTS. FROM MALTA DAYS IN JUNE TO CORN FEST AT END OF AUGUST, EVERY COMMUNITY WILL BE INVITING PEOPLE TO COME OUT AND SEE WHAT THEY HAVE TO OFFER. This year, the City of DeKalb has enlisted the services of event planner Michael Embrey, to create a couple new events and build upon some popular existing ones, in order to entice people to return to the Barb City throughout the summer. Their goal is to have a large special
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s t n e v E g NewTO DEKALB BY: STEPHEN HABERKORN
event in the city every month from June to September every year. What spearheaded Mayor Jerry Smith of DeKalb approaching Embrey with this charge was the success of the Kishwaukee Fest Parade and Music at the Mansion, which are both mostly self-funded events. Embrey began Kishwaukee Fest nine years ago as a salute to DeKalb County and the parade now has 90 units marching. Music at the Mansion has become a popular community event in a very short amount of time, with as many as 450 people turning out for the free outdoor concerts in 2018. “I like to call Michael our entertainment guru in DeKalb,” said Mayor Smith. “Nobody has a greater interest, a greater knowledge, a greater understanding of what brings people into town as it relates to entertainment and music and parades, etc. We’re very fortunate to have Mike in our
community and very fortunate he wants to contribute to his hometown in this fashion.” With the help of local businesses and public officials, Embrey has put together two new festivals to bookend DeKalb’s summer line-up. “Balloons, Brews & Blues” will get people tapping their toes and looking up to the sky in on June 22nd at the DeKalb Airport, and “Porktober BBQ” will welcome NIU students back to Downtown DeKalb in September with two old favorites: German beer and barbecued pork. Rounding out DeKalb’s summer schedule will be Kishwaukee Fest in July and Corn Fest in August. In addition, Embrey is once again welcoming a large Drum & Bugle competition to DeKalb in July, putting on free outdoor concerts at the Ellwood House on Wednesdays all summer long, and beginning a new public art & entertainment project called “Painted Pianos.”
“It’s just great to have people get together and have a little bit of fun,” said Mayor Smith. “As a city, we should relish the fact that he have promoters like Mike Embrey to bring these events forward and put them on our calendar of attractions.”
FOLLOWING IS A RUNDOWN OF WHAT EACH OF THESE 2019 SUMMER/FALL EVENTS WILL BRING TO THE TABLE. BALLOONS, BREWS, & BLUES SATURDAY, JUNE 22 DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport, 3:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
This new event kicking off the summer season in DeKalb will feature a variety of hot air balloons, craft beers, and blues music at the airport. First off, there is no better way to draw people’s attention to a new event than filling the sky with hot air balloons.
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“Every time you see a balloon in the sky, people just stop,” points out Embrey. Flight fans attending the event will be able to purchase tickets for either a regular balloon ride or just an upand-down ride. For the regular rides, the starting point will depend on the direction of the wind that day, and there will be shuttles to take people to where the balloons depart. Craft brewers are still being lined up for the festival, but the Forge Brewhouse will be there for sure. DeKalb’s own microbrewery has already built a loyal following from their new Sixth Street taproom. Food vendors will also be on site, and two different blues bands will perform on stage throughout the day. Even though there is a balloon race in early June in Galena and a balloon festival in Lisle in July and another in Harvard later in the summer, this will be the only one that will tie together balloons, craft beer, and live blues music. It will also be the first balloon festival of the summer for the area. Additionally, there will be a tie in at the event to the military, with some exhibits and an appearance by the Freedom Riders motorcycle group. “We are becoming, rapidly, an area where homebrews and craft brews and generally-speaking, spirits, are very prevalent and very popular,” said Mayor Smith. “You put those three components [balloons, brews & blues] together and it promises to be a good time.” Embrey
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Kish Fest Parade of Parades will feature live bands, floats, a large contingent of pageant queens, youth groups and more. The 2018 parade included over 90 units altogether. The parade steps off at 7:00 p.m. Friday night at Founders School on 7th Street and makes its way to Lincoln Highway, before ending at 2nd Street in Downtown DeKalb. Music in the parade includes drum corps, marching bands, steel drum, rock and country bands on flatbed trucks. Many of the music groups park in the downtown
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area after the parade and provide the grooves for an old-fashioned street dance.
BACONPALOOZA: SWINE & WINE FESTIVAL - SATURDAY, JULY 27 Van Buer Plaza, Downtown DeKalb, 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
The BaconPalooza Swine & Wine Festival will feature select wine vendors, unique bacon food vendors, specialty craft vendors, and a Corvette Show. Part of the day’s attraction will be a skateboard contest, with entry levels for all age classes. Bacon, wine, cool cars and skate stunts—does it get any better than that? Apparently, yes, because there will also be special discounts offered by local merchants during this event.
PORKTOBER BBQ - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5TH
an exciting live entertainment format featuring the top groups in the world, giving fans the opportunity to immerse themselves in the drum corps experience.
This new event will be a combination of a barbecue food fest and Oktoberfest, featuring BBQ pork meats and German beers to create the perfect fall activity. You can also browse the downtown merchants “Back Alley Market” for vintage finds.
With his background in military bands and as a hall of fame bugler, Michael Embrey knows a thing or two about drum and bugle competitions and what makes them entertaining. As an event promoter, he also knows their value to the local economy, and Embrey has been bringing major drum & bugle competitions to DeKalb for many years. The event in July brings about 5,000 people to DeKalb, with 90% of them traveling from outside the county.
Van Buer Plaza, Downtown DeKalb 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
OTHER EVENTS IN DEKALB THIS SUMMER:
DRUM CORPS TOUR OF CHAMPIONS - SATURDAY, JULY 13 NIU Huskie Stadium, DeKalb, 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. Huskie Stadium will again host this fantastic night of family entertainment. The Tour of Champions event series is
MUSIC AT THE MANSION
Wednesday Nights, June 12 - August 7 Ellwood Mansion Lawn, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. As a collaboration between FunME
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h t 5 2 • h t 4 2 • d r 3 2 August ADMISSION
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Friday August 23rd
5:30-6:30pm • The Party Doctors 7:00 – 8:15pm John Waite
(The Babys, Bad English, Solo Career with the Song “Missing You”)
SoundStage per day
Saturday August 24th
1:00 – 2:00pm • The Mockingbyrds 2:30pm – 3:30pm • The Beaux Band 4:30pm – 6:00pm • Blind Date 7:00 – 8:30pm • Marshall Charloff & The Purple Xperience (Tribute to Prince) 9:00pm – 11:00pm • Hi Infidelity
9:00 – 11:00pm • 7th Heaven
Sunday August 25th
2:00 – 3:30pm • The Relics 4:30pm – 6:00pm • Slim Jim Phantom from The Stray Cats (Rock This Town, Sexy & 17)
Slim Jim Phantom from The Stray Cats DeKalb, IL • Cornfest.com DC_June 2019.indd 11
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Events, the DeKalb Park District and the Ellwood House, they will be doing eight different free concerts again this summer for the “Music at the Mansion” series on the Ellwood House lawn. In a Ravinia-esque setting, concert goers will be able to purchase a glass of wine or beer and food items like packages of cheese and crackers. Some of the performances already lined up include Mr. Myers and the Rat Pack show. There will also be an opening act starting at 6:00, which will showcase local community groups. “It’s a giveback to the community, since it is a free event,” said Embrey. “And because it starts early, we get a lot of kids out, so it’s very family friendly. It’s fun to see young kids dancing to Frank Sinatra; they have no idea who he but they really like the music.” This year, they will also be honoring a local group every week, such as the firefighters or the American Legion.
DOWNTOWN DEKALB PAINTED PIANOS
Memorial Day through Labor Day Pianos on Parade is co-sponsorsed by the downtown DeKalb merchants and DeKalb County Online. The painted pianos will be both public art and entertainment. The goal is to have four or five pianos in the downtown area, with two already approved (Lincoln Hwy. at 2nd & 3rd streets). The Painted Pianos will become not just a City of DeKalb project, but a DeKalb County project, as Embrey has also received requests from downtown Genoa, Jonamac Orchard and Whiskey Acres. The pianos will be unattended and available for anyone wishing to sit down and play them. Embrey got the idea from Fort Collins, Colorado, where they have about a dozen in their downtown area. It should work well for DeKalb with all of its local musical talent, including the worldclass NIU music program and the strong music programs at the middle and high schools.
OTHER DEKALB COUNTY COMMUNITY EVENTS DURING THE SUMMER For DeKalb county residents this summer, the Municipal Band will perform on Tuesdays at Hopkins Park at the Dee Palmer Bandshell; Music at the Mansion on Wednesdays; and the Sycamore Park District concerts on Thursdays at the Sports Complex Good Tymes Shelter. In addition, there will be free movies shown outside all summer all around the county. DeKalb, Sycamore, Genoa & Sandwich will be showing free movies in the park on weekend nights. Sandwich will also be having “Party in the Park” on Fridays, which will combine a movie and musical entertainment. DeKalb is looking at eventually having movies at the DeKalb Airport.
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WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT SPECIAL EVENTS? Michael Embrey started seeing the potential of special events as a musical performer. As a young man, he toured with the United States Air Force Drum & Bugle Corps. They performed at large events all over the country, like the North Carolina 500 NASCAR race and NFL halftime shows. He saw how football games were much more than just the game itself, but included pregame tailgating activities, the halftime show, the food and vendors--the entire game-day experience. Embrey first came to DeKalb in 1974 to be Marching Band Director for Northern Illinois University. That’s when he began producing halftime shows both for the NIU and the Chicago Bears. He put together halftime shows for the Bears for 25 years. He also did some halftime shows for the Packers and the Colts. “Each show becomes a special event in its own way, involving casting groups and performers, lighting and music,” said Embrey. As Embrey toured the country and world with bands and later began working in the travel and tourism industry, he also noticed how events like the Edinburgh Tattoo, the Kentucky Derby or the Boston Pops Fourth of July celebration would attract travelers and sell trips. He was fortunate to serve for two years with the American Bus Organization, which promotes the top 100 events in North America, and was involved in reviewing 600-700 different events to see what made them successful. “For an event to be successful, you need the event itself, entertainment, food & beverage,” said Embrey. Embrey started getting involved in organizing special events around the country for Budweiser and several Fortune 500 companies. He currently works for ABC Disney to produce the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival Parade in Chicago the Saturday before Thanksgiving every year. Another factor that determines the success of an event is its uniqueness.
You need to make your event totally different, so that people will want to check it out. “You can’t just do another hot dog fest or chili cook-off,” said Embrey. “I get calls all the time asking to help organize another St. Patrick’s Parade. In Northern Illinois alone, there are nine St. Patrick’s Day parades.”
around and see the benefits of what the community offers and spend a little bit of money along the way to help support the local businesses. The hope is that if people come to DeKalb and attend a positive event and see the renovation and growth downtown, they’ll want to come back.
Some unique events that Embrey pointed out include the national Twins Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, where they would have close to 3,000 sets of twins coming to town. East Dublin, Georgia had the National Redneck Games. Sturgis, North Dakota hosts the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally that lasts over a week and draws over 500,000 people. “There are some businesses [in Sturgis] that make enough money off that 10-day period to live for the rest of the year,” said Embrey.
Almost every major town is creating events now to not only showcase their town for the community residents, but also for people outside the community area. And that’s what it’s all about—you have to grow your population. With the declining enrollment of the university and the high percentage of commuter students, Embrey sees special events as the only way to create a branding or identity to make people want to come to the city.
It also helps if your event is tied to your city’s identity or branding in some way. Embrey pointed out that you’re not going to have a palm tree festival in Rockford, Illinois. Some examples of successfully branded events in Illinois are the annual Superman Celebration in the city of Metropolis and Groundhog Days in Woodstock. The “Groundhog Day” movie starring Bill Murray was filmed in Woodstock, so one of their popular events is a walking tour of the filming sites. “You have to find that brand, that uniqueness that you can hang your hat on,” said Embrey. Finally, one other element that is created by special events and draws people is urgency. “If there’s no urgency, I can go there anytime,” said Embrey. “That’s why the Art Institute limits certain exhibits to certain times. If it’s there all year, there’s no urgency.” The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has Christmas Trees Around the World during the holidays, and that brings in their highest attendance all year. Embrey has produced traveling shows, which also create urgency for people, since they are only in town for one or two days. The goal of a special event is to bring folks into town who will hopefully stick
DeKalb County has a population of 105,000 people, but when you go east of Route 47, you’re looking at a possibility of 6 million people. The Fox Valley region alone has about a million people within a 45-minute drive of DeKalb. So the goal of special events is to tap into that market. For example, Ottawa, Illinois only has a population of about 19,000 people, but the Ottawa 2 Rivers Wine Fest that includes wine, jazz and lobsters draws over 5,000 people every day. Embrey noticed that they advertise in the play bills for Chicago theater productions, so the key is finding your niche market and going after it. The bottom line is when you bring a special event to town, it generates an economic impact. A one-day traveler to the community spends about $90. An over-nighter spends about $180, on average. So when you start bringing in numbers like the 4,500 visitors who come to DeKalb for the Drum & Bugle competition in July, you’re looking at over $400,000 of economic impact. And because a dollar moves 4-7 times, that money gets spread around the town.
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TRADITION A FAMILY AFFAIR AT MARIA’S LITTLE ITALY BY: REBECCA MOORE
M
aria Male, owner of a brand new authentic Italian bistro located at 1969 Bethany Road in Sycamore, fondly recollects the years of her youth spent in Italy with her mother, her sisters, and her great grandfather. “Banks and stores would close down in the afternoon and everyone would go home to their families, eat a big meal and take a nap. Who wouldn’t want to take a nap in the middle of the day? In Italy, the big meal of the day is at 1:00 p.m., and then just a snack at night. It’s bad to eat a lot right before bed.” She describes the Italian way of life as simple and loving. And the desire to return to a simpler place and time when family and food were most important is at the heart of everything they do at Maria’s Little Italy.
FAMILY TIES In every generation of Maria’s family, food has always been the tie that binds. Maria’s mother, Anna Rutigliano, remembers her grandfather, Vito Straziota, a bread maker in their town of Carbonara in southern Italy. “My grandfather was the best at making bread. All the people in town wanted to know how he made his bread because it was so fantastic.” Older generations would pass down these recipes, lovingly and patiently, to the little ones; making certain that these precious family mementos would endure. In fact, some of Maria’s earliest memories revolve around cooking with family. “They made us benches when we were little so we could watch them cook at the stove.” Some of her fondest memories, and most valuable cooking lessons as it were, are of her Nonnas (grandmothers in Italian) Maria DeBenedictis and Maria Sagliocca. “This is why my restaurant is
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called Maria’s, because both of my grandmothers names are Maria. I love both of them so much and they taught me and my mom so many things.” While cooking has always been a passion and centerpiece of Maria’s life, owning a restaurant did not always seem possible. Content with her successful career as a certified optician, and wanting to ensure the security of her family, Maria put her dream of sharing her family’s recipes with the public on the back burner. “People would ask why not open something, but I really didn’t have the opportunity. At the time, it was all about taking care of family. That was the priority.” Maria and her family’s lives have been fraught with obstacles and tragedies. She lost her father at a very young age. And her first husband, the father of her daughter Jessica, also tragically passed away when her daughter was small. The challenges and heartache strengthened Maria’s love for her family and her resolve to work hard to provide a good and happy life for those around her.
She eventually remarried to Mark Male, the man Maria says that without, none of this would have been possible. “I could not have done this without him. He really has faith in me.” When Maria talks about her husband and the family and friends who have been on this journey with her, she overflows with humility and intense gratitude. “They are supportive of me every step of the way. I call them my kings. They watch over me and protect me.”
A TASTE OF ITALY When you walk in to Maria’s Little Italy, you immediately notice the collages of family photos on the walls and the sounds of old crooners in the air. It’s a warm and cozy feeling. It is a perfect place to gather with family and friends and enjoy an authentic Italian experience. “In those little bistros in Italy, no matter who came in, they became family. It’s adorable. And that’s exactly what I wanted for this place.” And while a warm and inviting ambience is important for the
Maria’s Little Italy crew, they know that it’s their food that will turn a one-time guest into a lifelong customer. The day starts early, using the best hand-picked ingredients to make everything fresh, from the doughs and the pastas to the sauces and ricotta cheese. “In Italy, you learn how to be frugal, but at the same time you eat well and fresh every day.” The keystone of their menu is the focaccia bread, special tomato bread made the same way since 1820. And since it is best when fresh from the oven, it is made to order daily. Maria suggests calling ahead as the bread takes about 90 minutes to make, but insists it is well worth the wait. No trip to Maria’s would be complete without a taste of their panzerotti. Fresh, housemade dough stuffed with seasoned tomatoes and fresh mozzarella and deep fried to perfection. Another customer favorite is arancini, two rice balls stuffed with cheese, meat, and peas and fried golden brown, served with their
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signature marinara sauce. Comfort food at its best; and for Maria, it’s only the best for her customers. “Whatever you eat here is what we eat at home.” While carrying on old family traditions and clinging to the old world way of doing things is paramount, down to the 19th century authentic Italian cookware in their kitchen, Maria makes a concerted effort each day to ask for feedback from her customers. Since their February opening this year, she has already updated the menu according to their comments. And while everyone loves her fresh, homemade pastas, customers asked for daily pasta specials. And Maria did not let them down. Craving gnocchi with marinara sauce? Visit on Tuesdays! And rich, creamy fettuccine alfredo is available on Fridays, the perfect way to end a busy week. There is a different fresh made pasta for each day.
A variety of sandwiches and burgers are available as well. All the beef used at Maria’s comes from the cattle farm she shares with her husband Mark in Malta. All the lunch meats are sliced fresh daily, including the mortadella, prosciutto, and Genoa salami featured in another favorite, Nonnina’s (little grandmother’s) Sub. For Maria, this bistro is not strictly business. It is the culmination of a journey many decades in the making. It is a celebration of generation after generation of family who loves food almost as fiercely as they love each other. “That’s why these photos on the walls are so important. Without all of them, without my family, we wouldn’t have these recipes.” For a complete menu and restaurant hours, please visit www.mariaslittleitaly. com.
2019-2020 Studio Season September 13-15, 19-21, 2019
Something Like Happiness October 11-13, 17-19, 2019
2019-2020 Mainstage Season September 27-29, 3-5, 2019
The Shipment
October 25-27, 31- November 2, 2019
Troilus and Cressida
November 20-24, 2019
Fall 2019 Dance Concert February 7-9, 13-15, 2020
A Bright New Boise
Walk Across America for Mother Earth November 8-10, 14-16, 2019
Ka�a’s Castle: Scenes From a Novel January 24-26, 30 - February 1, 2020
Queens of Will
February 21-23, 27-29, 2020
The Wolves
March 20-22, 26-28, 2020
Statements
March 27-29, April 2-4, 2020
The Time of Your Life April 22-26, 2020
Spring 2020 Dance Concert
For more information, contact the Annette Johns box o�ce at: 815-753-1600 or visit www.niu.edu/theatre 16 | June 2019 | DEKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE
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Vacation Rentals Becomes a Family Business
By: Stephen Haberkorn Jordan and Morgan Williams manage unique vacation rentals in some of the most desirable getaway destinations in the United States: near the ocean in Hilton Head, South Carolina; high up in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado; and an oasis in the Arizona desert. But their rural estate near Creston, Illinois stands out for several reasons. First of all, it is by far the most spacious of their properties. The 8-bedroom, 5.5 bathroom house sits on 19 acres of land and can sleep up to 26 people. Secondly, the craftsmanship and detailing in the home is of a quality you rarely find these days; it is obvious that the house was lovingly constructed with some of the finest materials
available. But most importantly, the Northern Illinois retreat house holds a special attachment for the Williamses because it is where Jordan grew up, and it is still the primary residence of his parents when it is not being rented out. Nestled among farms near Creston, Illinois, about 13 minutes from Malta, the Buchholz home, as it is still known by people in the area, was built in 1954 by a textile owner who “was definitely a big deal back in the day.” There is also a cabin on the property that was built in 1952 by the Creston Boy Scouts. Many of the rooms in the house once had unique
purposes. There was one room called, “The Gentlemen’s Room,” that was a giant closet and lounge for use as a retreat by the man of the house. Upstairs, there used to be a trophy and gun room, with a lighted cut out where prized firearms and trophies could be displayed. There was also a secret door to the upstairs that was hidden by a paneled wall. The original owner was supposedly good friends with Playboy founder, Hugh Hefner, who is said to have occasionally stayed at the house. One detail lending credence to this story was that there used to be a Playboy bunny logo on a shower door in one of the bathrooms.
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The second owner of the home was a a man from France who never lived on the property, but rented it out to local college students. The home’s longtime and current owners, Mike and Camille Williams, discovered the house when it was featured on the cover of a real estate magazine in 1995. They closed on the home in early 1996 and moved there with their five children to get a little farther out from the western suburbs of Chicago, where they had previously lived. When they moved into the home, their oldest child was eleven and their youngest was an infant. The Williams’ kids are all grown now. In fact, three of them were married on the property. What was once a full and bustling home has now become a quiet and restful retreat—secluded on 19 acres with a winding, half-mile driveway distancing it from the road. Mike and Camille Williams got the idea to rent out their family home as a retreat house from their son, Jordan, and his wife, Morgan, who started a vacation
rental business, MOJOS Management, in 2015. Jordan and Morgan lived in Tempe, Arizona in January of 2015 when the Super Bowl came to Phoenix. They found out that some local homeowners were listing their places on Airbnb for several hundred of dollars a night, so they decided to try to cash in as well. Within a couple hours of posting their condo on Airbnb, they got their first booking—and it wasn’t even for the Super Bowl! Their first renter was just coming to town to work and needed a place to stay. When their guest showed up, they headed to San Diego for a little vacation. Soon, the Williamses were regularly skipping out of town for weekends, staying with friends, or crashing in cheap hotel rooms while their home was being rented. They eventually bought a small studio in Downtown Phoenix to live in while while their primary home was booked. Shortly afterwards, they began listing that property on Airbnb as well, and it was equally successful.
At that point, they decided to quit their jobs and make a living renting out vacation properties and traveling full time. Four years later, they are still traveling from one rental to the next with trips to Mexico in between. They have acquired additional rental properties and also manage properties for clients. It’s not a lifestyle that would work for many people, but they are enjoying being paid to travel. In November of 2018, the Williamses began renting out the spacious home of Jordan’s parents. The first people who rented the house were a Catholic men’s group from Des Plaines, IL who used it for a retreat. The next renters were a group from St. Paul, Minnesota who were attending a conference in Rockford. They have subsequently rented the house out for birthday parties, bridal showers and sports teams competing in local nearby towns. “The appeal for the guests that we are booking with is first and foremost the space to get together a large group of people; there’s a lot of room to spread out
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there,” said Morgan Williams. “Second is definitely the privacy aspect. Not many people have ever been to a property that has a half-mile long driveway. You’re tucked away in just complete silence. It’s a peaceful place to get away and unplug out in the country.” Morgan’s favorite feature of the house is being able to take sunrise walks down the driveway to the cottage and enjoy the scenery. And if you don’t feel like venturing out in the early morning, there are three different bay windows in the house that give great views of the sunrise, including the windows in the master bedroom and the living room. You can also lounge by the pool in the backyard. For both of the Williams couples, the house holds a special place in their hearts, and they have put a lot of care into making it a comfortable and and homey place for their guests. They provide all of the amenities that you would expect at a high-quality lodging, so every need is taken care of and you can focus on being present with your traveling companions, and also being present in the peaceful surroundings. If while staying at the house you want to venture out into the local area, some nearby attractions include Jonamac Orchard in Malta, Chicagoland Skydiving Center in Rochelle, Lake Sule in Rochelle, White Pines State Park in Oregon, and Rock Cut State Park near Loves Park. To inquire about booking the retreat house, contact Jordan & Morgan Williams at: mojosmanagement@gmail.com / (815) 501-5574 or follow them on instagram @mojosmanagement. You can view all of their vacation rental properties at mojosmanagement.com.
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DeKalb’s latest hoppy place, Byers Brewing Co., set for a summer opening BY: Kelsey Rettke teve and Megan Byers gathered in the hallway just outside the first level of 230 E. Lincoln Highway, surrounded by their three kids wearing shirts that said “Don’t Worry, Be Hoppy.” The family – Steve, 31, a science teacher at Huntley Middle School; Megan, 30, a medical lab scientist at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva; and Lily, 6, Kennedy, 4, and Amelia, 6 months – seemed jubilant and couldn’t wait to show off the 2,700-square-foot space that soon will be home to Byers Brewing Co. “This brewery is our dream,” Steve Byers said. “My father also brews. And something we fell in love with is just making beer and talking to people about beer.” The brewery is coming along, with the DeKalb City Council approving a liquor license for the spot May 13. The kegs arrived Wednesday, May 22, and the Byerses hope to have a soft
opening for the brewery by the end of June. Steve and Megan Byers are lifelong residents of DeKalb County, and met while attending Sycamore High School. They both attended Illinois State University, and while earning their bachelor degrees, had their first daughter, Lily, and decided to move back home. With a job change set for this fall where he’ll begin teaching high school biology at DeKalb High School, and little Amelia only 6-months-old, Steve Byers said he’s ready to take on a family project. “I thought, why not change jobs, open a business, and have a new baby all in one year?” he joked. “If we can survive that then we’ll be fine.” The Byerses celebrate their 10-year anniversary this year, and are hoping to do it in style if the brewery buildout goes as planned.
“It’s been a passion for a long time,” Megan Byers said. “It started as a what-if, and we talked about it more, and kind of decided to go for it.” Byers Brewing will showcase smallbatch home-brews in the space just below SunDog IT in downtown DeKalb. When patrons enter through the front door and head directly to the right, they’ll enter the brewery, which Steve Byers said will seat about 134 people. The bar will have six taps: one dark and one light lager, and four ales, including a seasonal rotation. The brewery will offer snack items only, but the couple said they’ll encourage their patrons to bring in food or have it delivered from one of the many restaurants and business neighbors downtown. They hope to offer to-go beer in growlers for those who’d rather enjoy a beer from home, but won’t right away. “It’s something we want to invest in
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pretty quick after we open, but not something we can have right away,” Steve Byers said. “Knock on wood, we’re going to have a busy couple of months. I think with our small batches we’re going to be struggling to keep up with demand.”
In a process he likens to recipe testing while cooking, Steve Byers said home-brewing beer is about tasting a lot of beer, building a palate, Googling recipes, and learning what each ingredient can do to change the flavor.
With bathrooms in the back and more picnic table-style seating on the left side of the brewery, the Byerses expect the atmosphere to be a mix of college students, families and beer connoisseurs.
A batch can take anywhere from four to five hours to create. Each batch will make about 750 beers.
“We got our inspiration from an old German Bier Haus,” Steve Byers said. “So we’re building these picnic tables, the benches will be attached, and they’ll line up and down this exterior wall, and have outlets for people who want to plug their computers in and work.” The Byerses already were both avid beer drinkers, and started home-brewing in 2010 after a favorite, a New Belgian beer called Mothership, disappeared from the shelves. “It was an unfiltered witbier, and they stopped making it,” Steve Byers said. “It wasn’t even a seasonal, it was a one-and-done thing. And we really wanted more of that beer, and the only way to get more of it was to make it ourselves.”
“The first step is to mash,” Steve Byers said. “You put in all the barley and you kind of steep it like tea, and then after the mash, you pour it into a pot and boil it, and that is when you add your hops.” Depending on the recipe, the mash boils for an hour to 90 minutes. Byers said part of the process just involves a lot of cleaning, and making sure the equipment is sanitary. Steve Byers said he hopes to be able to collaborate with other local beer makers, like The Forge Brewhouse, 216 N. Sixth St. “The whole alcohol industry is network economy,” Steve Byers said. “It’s not everybody gets a piece of the pie, it’s the pie gets bigger the more you have. People go to Napa Valley for all the wineries, not just one.”
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Climbing BY: STEPHEN HABERKORN
Several DeKalb County residents are climbing Mount Kilimanjaro this month in order to help lift others out of poverty on the other side of the world.
A group of eleven Americans and five Tanzanians are using the climb to raise money for the DeKalb-based nonprofit organization, Tanzania Development Support (TDS). The money will be used to purchase books and computers for a community library in the Mara Region of Tanzania. The library in the village of Nyegina was built with the help of money raised by previous teams of climbers. Among those making the 2019 climb are NIU Physics professor, Jerry Blazey and his two sons; former City of DeKalb Economic Development Planner, Jason Michnick; DeKalb resident and real estate broker, Denise Weinmann; and Frank Turner, who is a special education teacher at Camelot School in Genoa. “Climbing Kili has been a longstanding item on my bucket list,” said Weinmann. “Being able
For a
to accomplish that and then at the same time help the boys and girls in Tanzania have access to a better education, that’s a win-win in my book.” Weinmann loves the outdoors and has done a lot of backpacking and hiking around the United States, including in the Rocky Mountains, but she has never tackled a mountain as high as Kilimanjaro. In order to prepare herself physically, she’s done weightlifting, spin class and even climbed the 16 floors of stairs at the NIU Holmes Student Center while wearing a 15-pound backpack. Her fundraising goal is $2500, which she has already hit, but she’s still trying to raise more. She’s also collecting other items to bring with her to donate, such as school supplies, medical supplies, and soccer balls.
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r a Cause
Also climbing and fundraising with the team will be Madaraka Nyerere, the youngest son of the first president of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere. Retired DeKalb City Manager, Mark Biernacki, is also traveling to Tanzania to volunteer, but is not climbing with the group. He made the climb in 2016 and wrote a book about his experience called “A House For Books: Volunteering and Adventure in the Shadow of Kilimanjaro,” which recounts his two previous trips to Tanzania, including his Kilimanjaro climb. He is donating 100% of the net proceeds from the sale of the book through the summer of 2019 to TDS. Biernacki and his wife, Mary Kay, have been frequent world travelers, especially now that they’re both retired. They especially like doing long hikes, such as on the Appalachian Trail and the Camino de Santiago in Spain. They have also traveled to such far-flung places as Costa Rica and Nepal. Mark has always documented
their travels via his web blog, “Paint the Map” (https:// paintthemap.blogspot.com). Just like hiking up a 19,000 foot mountain for the first time, Biernacki found writing his first book to be a somewhat daunting task. “It was a challenge to take what were real-time blog entries and put them into a nonfiction narrative and make it flow together,” said Bernacki. “I wanted to capture and communicate the essence of travel to a developing country, in addition to the adventure of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.” Jason Michnick, Executive Director for TDS, said he would highly recommend Biernacki’s book. “It’s a really honest depiction of what it’s like for someone who’s going over to Africa for the first time,” said Michnick. “Things don’t always go like you planned, but I think he had a great spirit and he really captures the essence of what it’s like to volunteer there.”
You can purchase Bernacki’s book in paperback form or for Kindle at Amazon.com, or at books2read.com for other e-readers.
The Mountain
Sometimes referred to as just “Kili,” Mt. Kilimanjaro towers over the African plains at 19,341 feet and is the tallest free standing mountain in the world. Kilimanjaro is not a technical climb, but it’s physically tiring because of the lack of oxygen at high altitude. What made the biggest impression on Biernacki during his 2016 climb was the way the Tanzanian guides led their group cautiously up the mountain. “Their first and utmost concern was for our safety. And their second concern was to make sure we got to the top,” said Biernacki.” He said that the guides instructed them not to go faster, but to go slower. The Swahili word for slowly is “pole” (pronounced “pole-E”), and throughout
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the climb the guides’ mantra of “Pole, pole; pole, pole,” could be heard. They continually impressed on the hikers that their success was not going to be measured by how fast they got to the top, but in reality how long it took them to get there. The climatization necessary for those coming from 900 feet above sea level in Illinois to 15,000+ feet above sea level was very important for their health and safety. When they would start to speed up to get to the next camp, the guides would always hold them back. It was a slow trudge up the mountain, but because of that they were successful. It took the group five-and-a-half days to reach the summit, traveling only 6-8 miles a day. They would climb high over a ridge and then sleep low in a valley, which helped their bodies adjust to each new elevation. According to Biernacki, the group got into camp around noon on day five at about 15,000 feet. Their surroundings were desolate, almost moonscape-like. On the last day, they were woken up by their guides at midnight, had a cup of coffee and some biscuits and then started up to the summit. They wanted to make sure they got to the top of the mountain right after sunrise and then back down before the consistent clouds of storms rolled in around late morning. Much of their climb on the last day was in the dark, with the guides surrounding them. They would stand at the switchbacks so the climbers didn’t accidently walk off into the void. They would also sing and chant to keep the group inspired. “Their attention to us was unbelievable,” said Biernacki. At 5:00 or 6:00 a.m., at about 17,000 feet, the sun started to rise. The temperature was in the low teens at that point, with a strong, biting wind. But when the sun came up over the horizon, the relative warmth was so welcomed and inviting. That’s when they reached Stella Point, where all of the trails converged. There were several ways to go up the mountain, but they had taken the longest route, which has the highest success rate. Some of the shorter routes have only about a 50% success rate, because the chance of getting altitude sickness is greater with a faster climb. At that point, they were about an hour from the summit. They had perfect weather—sunny, without a cloud in the sky. The glaciers around them were a brilliantly bright white. On their way up, they saw individuals from other teams, who’d succumbed to altitude sickness, being assisted by their guides back down the mountain. It made them grateful for their guides leading them up the way they had. The summit of Kilimanjaro is called Uhuru Peak. Uhuru means “freedom.” The view from up there was fantastic, especially since they had perfect weather. “The sky is a different color blue, because you’re so high up,” said Biernacki. At the summit, you’re above the clouds, looking down on the plains of Africa. At the top of the mountain is a hollowed out crater, or caldera, because Kilimanjaro is actually a dormant volcano.
Biernacki had been over 14,000 feet at Longs Peak in the Rocky Mountains and at the base camp of Annapurna in Nepal, which was about 13,500 feet. But Kilimanjaro was the highest mountain peak he had ever climbed (19,341 feet). “It’s a great experience, something you’ll never forget,” said Biernacki. The twelve on the hike were aged 17 to 65, but they all made it to the top as a group, which is unusual. Bernacki was one of the older ones at 58 at the time. After the successful climb, their adventure wasn’t over. They still had to deliver the money they raised to the village where it was going to be used to build a computer lab addition to the library. To get to Nyegina, they had to travel two days and one night across northeast Tanzania, through the Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park. They passed through the Serengeti during the great wildebeest migration and saw thousands of wildebeests and zebras, as well as elephants, lions, rhinos, and giraffes. When they got to Nyegina, they were greeted like heroes coming back from conquering faraway lands. A mass of villagers enveloped their car, so that they had to get out of the vehicle and walk the rest of the way. “It was a very emotional moment for a lot of us,” said Biernacki. “People who climb Kilimanjaro think that the pinnacle is going to be when they get to the top of the mountain,” said Dr. Kurt Thurmaier, Co-Founder and President of TDS. “But when we deliver the money, that whole village comes out to greet us. Thousands of people are literally singing and dancing in the streets to welcome us because of what we’re doing for their kids and the next generation. I can tell you that every single one of the climbers in the end comes to believe that’s the most rewarding part of the trip. And it even tops going to the top of Africa.”
The Mission
Kurt Thurmaier was a graduate student in Public Policy & Administration in the early 1980s at the University of Wisconsin-Madison when he met and became friends with Leo Kazeri, a Catholic priest from Tanzania. They became such good friends that when Thurmaier married his wife, Jeanine, in 1983, Kazeri was part of the wedding. Father Kazeri returned to Tanzania in 1985, though, after completing his studies. In 2007, Kazeri came back to the U.S. for another sabbatical and invited Kurt and Jeanine Thurmaier to spend their 25th wedding anniversary with him the next year in Tanzania. While they were in Tanzania in 2008, they followed him around for two weeks and ended up asking how they could help him in his work. Kazeri suggested helping to build a modern girls dormitory at his parishes’ secondary school, for the senior girls in grades 12-13 (18-20 year olds). Besides being the parish priest, Kazeri is CEO of Nyegina Secondary School, which is literally across the street from his house. When the Thurmaiers got back home, they started Tanzania Development Support with
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some people in the DeKalb County area, and raised enough money to build the dormitory that now houses 160 girls. They started building the dormitory in 2009 by taking volunteers, including NIU students, with them back to Nyegina. The dorm, which had the only flush toilets and showers in the school, was completed in 2012. The Thurmaiers were told that the next thing the village really wanted was a library, not just for the school, but for the whole community.
recently bought another $20,000 worth of books, with most of those being in the Swahili language. Swahili is the second language for most people in Tanzania, after their village’s tribal language. It is also one of Tanzania’s two official languages, in addition to English. Because primary school is taught in Swahili, most of the people in the area, and particularly the women, don’t speak English, as English is not taught until secondary school.
“Here we were in the 21st century and they had no computers, they had no library, and they had virtually no books,” said Thurmaier. “There was a really pathetic library in Musoma that had all old donated books and was very hard to get to.”
Once TDS has finished stocking the Nyegina library, it will have the single largest community library collection of Swahili language books in the country, according to Thurmaier.
They got volunteers from Architecture For HumanityChicago to come to Nyegina and meet with the people from the village to see what was needed, and they designed the library. In 2013, they brought another group of volunteers to start building the library. That was the first trip that Mark Biernacki went on. In 2012, they had climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro the first time and raised $33,000, which they were able to use to start building the floor for the library in 2013. In 2016, they climbed Kilimanjaro again, and that climb raised $60,000. That money was used to build the second phase of the library, which was two computer labs. The goal of the 2019 climb is to raise $75,000 so they can start moving “from bricks to books.” They will use the money to buy books and computers for the library, and to help train teachers in order to get the full use of the facility. They already purchased $40,000 in primary and secondary textbooks in early 2018 and
Besides just improving the quality of life for hundreds of girls at the secondary school who have lived in the new dormitory, the resources TDS has provided to the school has enabled them to begin teaching advanced courses so their students can go on to universities. In fact, Nyegina Secondary students now have some of the highest qualifying exam results in the region and are in the top 25% of the entire country. “I’m very proud of our record, because our focus is on educating children, especially girls,” said Thurmaier. “The reason is because the single best dollar investment in the developing world is educating a girl through high school.” According to Thurmaier, a girl who is educated through high school ends up marrying and having children later, which has many positive outcomes for the health of the entire family, including mother and children not dying in childbirth, a higher household income, and the
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children being more likely to go to school themselves. The impact of educating young girls ends up being multi-generational and greatly increases their chances of lifting their families out of poverty.
Reaching New Heights
The man charged with widening the impact of Tanzania Development Support and taking it to even greater heights is Executive Director, Jason Michnick. He first got involved with TDS as a study abroad student in 2015 while getting his Master’s in Public Administration at NIU. “I had a really great experience and fell in love with Africa,” said Michnick. After completing a semester in Kenya the following year, he came back and took a job with the City of DeKalb as the Economic Development Planner. During that time, he served as a board member for TDS. At the beginning of February 2019, Michnick resigned from his job with the city and took over the role of Executive Director of TDS. He is the first full-time Executive Director; before that point, they had always been completely volunteer-based. “When non-profits get to that 10-year mark, it’s a transition period where they decide if they really want to professionalize the organization in order to be sustainable,” explained Michnick. Having been to Tanzania several times and with his MPA degree and experience in economic development, it was something he was really passionate about. Michnick currently manages their communications, outreach, and fundraising; coordinates and tracks all of their programs; and does the logistics for the volunteer trips. He also checks in on the projects they are currently working on that are being run by their local partners. Besides the purchase of books, the 2019 climb is funding training and new personnel in order to increase the operational hours of the library. They are also hoping to purchase 40 computers for the computer lab wing
that was constructed a couple years ago. The computer lab is going to be for use by students at the school and also for the general public. There are currently about a dozen computers in their teacher resource center that are available to teachers from the Nyegina Secondary School and other schools in the area to do research on the internet and work on their lesson plans. In 2017, they started several 4-H clubs at different primary and secondary schools in the area and there are now about 400 students in seven schools participating. The 4-H students learn basic farming techniques, financial literacy, personal health and hygiene, and business entrepreneurship. They are also going to be starting some library clubs, reading and writing clubs and outreach programs into the other villages in the surrounding area. They are also planning on starting women’s empowerment and business empowerment groups. TDS is hoping to put together teams of current or retired teachers from the United States to help train school teachers, as well as teams of farmers and business leaders. TDS is looking at scaling into other areas of the Mara Region, which is the area in Northern Tanzania that’s located between Serengeti National Park and the eastern shores of Lake Victoria. “You have this stunning scenery, but at the same time it’s one of the poorest regions in a very poor country,” said Michnick. “More than half the people living there are living on less than $2 a day. More than 60% will have food insecurity at some point throughout the year, especially now that drought is becoming more prevalent with climate change.” Their vision for the future is to use the library in Nyegina as a central hub for outreach. “If you look at the role that libraries play in economic development, it’s a very powerful tool,” said Michnick. For example, farmers can come and learn marketing and check the prices of crops
to help them decide what they want to plant. In addition, by using tablets loaded with information for students and teachers, they plan to do mobile classons to teach farming or business in other communities. One example of a way they have already made a difference is that they helped some women start a water filtration business that supplies low-cost ceramic water filters to people.
How you can help
There are a number of ways that DeKalb County residents can get involved with Tanzania Development Support. First of all, you can donate to the Kili climb. If you go to the project website (https://tdsnfp. networkforgood.com/projects/69686-2019-kilimanjaroclimb), you can donate to specific climbers. They will leave the climb donation link open so that you can still donate after the climb is over. One thing that Thurmaier is excited about on this climb is they are also being joined by students and teachers from the Nyegina Secondary School, because not many native Tanzanians have an opportunity to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro or go on Safari at the Serengeti, even though it’s in their backyard. Thurmaier encourages people to donate to the student group (“Nyegina Team”). The donations don’t pay for the costs of the people to climb. All the climbers pay their own way. The Trek2Kili company are partners with TDS and comp the climb for the students and the teachers. The owner of Trek2Kili provides the equipment, food and everything needed for the climb. For the volunteers, the fee is $2000, but that is a special rate because of their large group and because Aziz, the owner, is sympathetic to the fact that they are helping with kids’ education in Tanzania. For comparison, many people pay $5,000-10,000 or more to climb Kilimanjaro.
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3232 Pleasant Street DeKalb, IL 60115 (815) 758-3521 Besides the Kili climbs, TDS’ biggest fundraiser is their yard sales. They have one in April-May and one is early September. Together, they raise around 8-10 thousand dollars a year. They rely on people in the community to donate items, get the word out, and volunteer at the sales.
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“There are people from all around the country who have donated, but we have a very strong group of volunteers and donors here in DeKalb County,� said Michnick. “We have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars within DeKalb County for these projects.�
2040 Aberdeen Court Sycamore, IL 60178 (815) 758-6616
You can also go on one of the Kili climbs yourself and fundraise, or take a trip to Tanzania and volunteer without climbing. Students can do study abroad in Tanzania through NIU. DeKalb County residents can also help in other ways, such as putting together STEM kits for students.
100 S. Latham St., Ste. 104 Sandwich, IL 60548 (815) 570-2555
If you are interested in volunteering or doing study abroad, you should contact TDS via email at info@ tdsnfp.org or go to their website at tdsnfp.org.
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Finally, there is an organization called Mwangaza that is supported by Bethlehem Lutheran Church in DeKalb that does teacher training in Arusha, Tanzania. Michnick said that TDS hopes to implement Mwangaza’s teacher training programs in the Mara Region. So there is yet another connection between Tanzania and DeKalb County. “I think a lot of people are starting to realize how interconnected the world is,� Michnick said. “There is a pretty strong sentiment that I find, especially from people here in DeKalb County, that we’re all global citizens. People are not willing to live in a world where there are still people who struggle to feed themselves and are living in that kind of poverty.�
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Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital............................ 5
First National Bank..................................... 2 Foster & Buick Law Offices.....................29 Fun Me Events.......................................... 27
Oakcrest....................................................30 Pizza Villa.....................................................9 Radiant Dermotology...............................31
Givyldis Vein Clinic ...................................17
Studio One Salon and Spa........................9
Hampton Inn..............................................17
Yaegar’s Farm Market................................8
OAK CREST DeKalb Area Retirement Center www.oakcrestdekalb.org
With a large inventory of lovely apartment homes and a variety of floor plans, there really is something for everyone. Apartments feature spacious rooms, well-appointed kitchens, laundry, garage parking, and access to our onsite dining venues, fitness center and pool. More importantly, we are building friendships and memories. We offer the guarantee of future care and peace of mind. To visit one of these apartments contact Liz Hoppenworth at 815-756-8461 or email lhoppenworth@oakcrestdekalb.org.
2944 Greenwood Acres. Dr. DeKalb • 815-756-8461 • oakcrestdekalb.org SM-CL1663471
30 | June 2019 | DEKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE
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NIU BRINGS WORLD-CLASS ARTS EVENTS HOME
Experience our wealth of talent in theater, dance, art and music.
Be the ďŹ rst to know about upcoming events and interesting stories:
go.niu.edu/artsblog
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