Cover story

IN SEASON

DeKalb, Sycamore farmers markets ready for summer

By DAVID PETESCH

dpetesch@shawmedia.com

DeKALB – Julie and Martin Claar wandered between booths of fresh produce, each with a small child under one arm while keeping an eye on two boys who were straggling behind, enjoying flavored honey straws from Willow Creek Honey out of Shabbona.

The Claars were among the first patrons at the season-opening DeKalb Farmers Market on June 2.

The market, hosted by the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, is held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays, June through September, in the Frank Van Buer Plaza at the corner of North Second and East Locust streets in downtown DeKalb. There will be more than 30 vendors throughout the summer, with products ranging from produce and plants to knitted crafts and goat milk soaps.

Veteran vendors like Larson’s Country Market and Theis Farm Market are back, and new vendors like Early Bird Farms and Dirty Bird 815’s food truck will debut.

Larson’s and Theis have had booths at the DeKalb Farmers Market since its beginning in 1995. This year, Larson’s has introduced The Candle Farm, a candle company that Brandon Larson said is run out of their house on the farm.

Rob Pomdelick, a fifth-generation farmer has been working the Theis stand since he was 4 years old when his mother was running it. Pomdelick said they did very well at the market last year and he has high hopes for 2022.

Husband and wife duo Joshua and Elena Hunt are “bringing sustainability to the neighborhood” as they debuted their microgreens business, Early Bird Farms, at the DeKalb market.

The couple is expecting their first child this summer, and recently started the growing operation in their home. The Hunts said their microgreens were selling better than expected, and they were enjoying teaching people about the process.

Kathy Best and Didi Dowling, owners of Live Learn & Lead, a vocational farm organization in Hampshire, sold goat milk soap and lotion to fundraise for their programs at the farm. They offer goat yoga classes and programs for children to come to the farm and learn work ethics.

At the Crafted Corner, local author and artist Sara McAllister sold copies of her children’s book “The Adventures of Frank E. Furtor” and knitted toy characters from the book.

Three food trucks served hot food at the June 2 market: Dirty Bird 815, Slow Smoke BBQ out of Sycamore, and Tinez Tacos out of Malta.

Local musicians will perform from noon to 1:30 p.m. each week during the live lunch music series put on by the Egyptian Theatre.

The DeKalb Farmers Market accepts cash, credit and debit cards and the Illinois Link card. It also offers a Link match program, doubling the money spent on Link cards up to $25 on fresh produce.

Virgina Filicetti, market and events manager with the DeKalb Chamber of

Mark Busch - mbusch@shawmedia.comx Matthew Claar (left), 7, of DeKalb and his sister Melody pick out some flavored honey sticks at the Willow Creek Honey booth Thursday, June 2, during the first DeKalb Farmers Market of the season at Van Buer Plaza in downtown DeKalb.

Commerce, said the market has grown in recent years, and they hope to see that continue this year.

“Since the market is outside, it’s more airy, people feel more comfortable,” said Filicetti.

Sycamore Farmers Market opens June 7

After changing locations in recent years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sycamore Farmers Market will return to downtown for its 17th year.

Shelby Crackel, events and marketing director with the Sycamore Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber is expecting to see more business at the market and all other events in 2022.

This year’s market will run from 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays, June through September, on the lawn of the DeKalb County Courthouse, 133 W. State St.

There will be about 15 vendors each week with pop-up vendors and food trucks throughout the year. Shady Tree Farm Market and Tin Shed Farm are some of the veteran vendors that will be in attendance.

DJ Chris will be the musical guest for the first Tuesday of the season, with different local artists performing weekly.

There will be farms with fresh fruits, vegetables and plants, a cheese vendor, a mushroom vendor, local honey, handmade soaps and granola.

“It’s really important to buy local and eat fresh,” said Crackel. “It really helps these small business owners a lot.”

By SHANE TAYLOR

Staylor@shawmedia.com

GENOA – Genoa city leaders hope to get public support – and funding – to build a 2.8-mile pedestrian walking path from Genoa to neighboring Kingston.

City leaders took to social media recently to encourage residents to support a plan to apply for a grant to conduct one long, pedestrian path between the city of Genoa to the Village of Kingston. The city applied for grants through the Rural Surface Transportation grant program, asking for funds through the federal Infrastructure Bill. Part of that process requires letters of support from residents, business owners, parents, school officials and representatives of local government.

No exact amount has been identified yet for how much construction of a path from Genoa to Kingston would cost, city officials said.

“We’ve just been really keeping an eye on the federal infrastructure bill because there’s been so many grants that have been put out there,” City Administrator Alyssa Seguss said. “This was something we had a project in mind for.”

City officials say they received 119 letters of support from elected officials, residents, school board members and others.

“These letters, they make such a difference, and I’m so thankful that our community stepped up to provide support,” Genoa Mayor Johnathon Brust said.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the grant Genoa leaders are eyeing supports projects to improve and expand surface transportation infrastructure in rural areas. Doing so helps improve safety and reliability of the movement of people and freight, according to the grant proposal.

The 2.8-mile proposed path would run parallel to the south side of Route 72, cross over the Kishwaukee River and include a walkway below the Canadian National Railroad trestle for safe pedestrian passage, according to the City of Genoa.

“There is almost no room for walking at all,” Brust said. “There is a guard rail and so people actually end up walking beyond the white solid line and are walking in the street. People are driving at 35 mph. It’s very dangerous.”

Brust said he hopes that because Genoa already collected almost 120 letters, including from state officials, their application will be stronger. All the more reason to connect two communities, Genoa and Kingston, which Brust called “sister communities” together, because they share so much. Genoa-Kingston School District 424 spans both city and village.

Not being directly connected by any road except one by vehicle is one of the big challenges the two communities face.

“We’ve talked about doing a sidewalk to connect the two communities, not only so it is easier to get to but really from a safety prospective so people aren’t walking along an extremely busy state highway,” Brust said.

Seguss said she agrees with the mayor.

“This has always been something that we have wanted to be able to do and with the federal dollars that are available right now, it made it a little bit more feasible,” Seguss said.

City staff are working to draw up preliminary plans with an engineering firm to help map out and identify the estimated costs for grant applications. If approved, the city of Genoa will move forward with formal engineering design plans to build the path.

Brust said they also are actively looking into working hand-in-hand with Canadian National in effort to gain their support. It’s a process, he said.

“Our goal with this is to give an alternate area for people to walk so they don’t even have to come close to the road,” Brust said.

Mark Black for Shaw Local

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Federated Church in Sycamore will hold its annual book sale June 16-18.

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Federated Church to host annual Book Sale

Shaw Local News Network

SYCAMORE – The Federated Church in Sycamore, 612 W. State St., will host its annual book sale June 16-18.

Hours will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. There will be a $5 early bird admission fee for those who attend the sale between 10 a.m. and noon Thursday.

Hard cover books will cost $1 while paperbacks and children’s books will cost 50 cents. On Saturday, books will be sold for $5 per bag.

Proceeds from the sale will be used to fund general church ministries. Parking is available behind the building, off of Greeley Street, and the building is handicapped accessible.

For more information, call the church office at 815-895-2706.

NIU STEM Café explores inflation causes, mitigation

Shaw Local News Network

Inflation numbers are well above the Federal Reserve target at the highest rate in 39 years. What caused this inflation and what can consumers and investors do to mitigate its negative effects?

Find out from Northern Illinois University professor of finance Lei Zhou at the next NIU STEM Café at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, at Fatty’s Pub and Grille, 1312 W. Lincoln Highway in DeKalb. The event is free and open to the public, with food and drink available for purchase from Fatty’s. Registration is encouraged at go.niu.edu/ stemcafe.

Zhou earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 2002. His research focuses on fixed income securities, credit ratings and mutual funds and has been published in premier finance journals, including Journal of Banking and Finance, Financial Management and Journal of Corporate Finance. Zhou also worked at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an academic visiting scholar from 2017 to 2018.

Zhou will discuss what factors contributed to the recent run-up of inflation, what government policies may help to rein it in, and practical advice on how to live with high inflation.

NIU STEM Cafés are part of NIU STEAM and are designed to increase public awareness of the critical role that STEM fields play in our everyday lives. STEM Cafés are supported by Bayer Fund and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

For more information, visit go.niu. edu/stemcafes or contact Judith Dymond, Ed.D., at 815-753-4751 or jdymond@niu.edu.