Weekender NORTHERN
ILLINOIS
YOUR GUIDE TO ARTS & LEISURE IN NORTHERN ILLINOIS
SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2021 • ShawLocal.com
REVVING UP
Volo Auto Museum readies for reopening / 6
‘JEWEL OF OTTAWA’ Reddick Mansion tours to start March 12 / 3
PLAY TIME
DuPage Children’s Museum welcoming private groups / 5
UNCORKED
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An expert taster shares favorite finds to consider adding to your own wine racks.
Shaw Media / ShawLocal.com • Saturday, March 6, 2021
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By JAMES NOKES
Frescobaldi vineyards tell story of Tuscany
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emories of mischievous childhood behavior arise every time Marchese Lamberto Frescobaldi returns to Castello Nipozzano. When he was a child, the president of Frescobaldi Group, and 30th-generation winemaker, held a notorious reputation among employees in the vineyard. “When I go to Nipozzano, I see myself as a young boy going to vineyards where all the workers are,” Frescobaldi said. “Very few people had cars. It was all motorbikes and mopeds. They all knew me as that small little boy who ran up the vineyards and took their motorbikes and drove around on them and played in the vineyard. “I think that [growing grapes is in my blood] from staying in the vineyards and playing there. And, of course, I moved onto university at UC Davis in California. But, I see myself at 8 or 9 years old with one field manager going to a newly planted vineyard and planting roots after rainfall. I have amazing memories there.” Today, as the president of Frescobaldi, he has cast a wide net over Tuscany and produced some of the finest wines from the renowned Italian region. While his family’s commitment to the wine industry stretched back 30 generations, Frescobaldi remembered a moment in recent history when he made a dramatic turn. Just 20 years ago, grape prices went down and quality began to suffer across Tuscany. Demand had dropped, and an “endless cycle” started where corners were cut in the vineyards and cellars. This is where Frescobaldi took a stand. “It was like when you shave in [the] morning and look in the mirror, I wondered where are we headed and who are we, who do we want to be?” Frescobaldi asked. “These are certain questions one has to ask. The answer was straightforward. We are wine growers. We have our own vineyards. Often, wine is more expensive than vodka or other beverages, so it better be tangibly better. We cannot cut costs. We needed to look at certain consumers and find them to explain what we are doing. To be constantly of pleasurable quality year after year, that’s our requirement.” The result has been wines like Frescobaldi Castiglioni Chianti 2019 ($17), a racy red with cherry and strawberry flavors. It’s mostly sangiovese, but for a dash of merlot that softened the acidity. On the western side of Tuscany in the hills of Val di Pesa, the vineyards are refreshed in the afternoon with a breeze off the Tyrrhenian Sea. Because merlot has thrived in Castiglione’s clay soil, Frescobaldi said the blend is a “perfect combination with sangiovese … and there is the magic.” From Chianti Rufina, Frescobaldi Nipozzano Chianti Riserva is perennially an affordable and delicious wine. Made of 100% sangiovese, its pretty red fruit
Photos provided
Marchese Lamberto Frescobaldi, president of the Frescobaldi Group, grew up in the vineyards of Tuscany. flavors, along with the price tag, usually around $15, make it a candidate to be enjoyed everyday. Both wines highlight the differences in the region and the potential for sangiovese when treated correctly. Often times, Frescobaldi has caught grief from colleagues when he’s suggested there’s too much sangiovese planted in Tuscany. As the most planted grape in Italy as well, that’s not a surprise. But, sangiovese can be just as picky as pinot noir when it comes to location. Frescobaldi said it wants rocky soils with the correct exposure to the sun. “Sangiovese is very demanding,” Frescobaldi said. “It shouldn’t be planted everywhere. When it’s planted in the wrong location, the end result is not so pleasurable, and it downgrades every producer.”
Yet, Frescobaldi has lifted the profile of wines from Tuscany. Its diverse collection of vineyards tells a story of a region. “I am picky when it comes to Chianti, I am one of those people that find some wine too harsh and tannic,” Frescobaldi said. “When I go to a restaurant, I like to see the glass empty and people happy. That means they enjoyed the wine. That’s something, when someone has a second sip and didn’t even think about it. The wine is so pleasant and agreeable and embraces your palate. This is what we want when it comes to balanced sangiovese.”
• James Nokes has been tasting, touring and collecting in the wine world for several years. Email him at jamesnokes25@yahoo.com.
STARVED ROCK COUNTRY
3 SHAW MEDIA Shaw Media / ShawLocal.com • Saturday, March 6, 2021
Dedicated to growing the awareness of everything the Starved Rock area has to offer
During the past year, the Reddick Mansion had an extensive $1.4 million exterior restoration among improvements completed. Photo provided by Reddick Mansion Association
Renovated mansion to reopen for tours soon By RYAN SEARL
rsearl@shawmedia.com Dubbed “The Jewel of Ottawa,” the Reddick Mansion is without a doubt one of the most spectacular historic buildings in Starved Rock Country. This wonderfully unique landmark, which stands at the corners of Columbus and Lafayette streets, overlooking a famed Lincoln-Douglas debate site, is an Italianate-style mansion that’s more than 150 years old and boasts 22 painstakingly recreated rooms. After nearly a year of being closed to the public for extensive historical renovations, this beautiful home once again will open its doors for tours,
starting Friday, March 12. Tours will be offered at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Reservations are not required but are encouraged. Visitors only will be allowed into the building 15 minutes prior to each tour, and there will be a limit of six people per tour group. Face coverings will be required, and temperatures will be taken upon check-in. Social distancing will be encouraged throughout the tour route. “This is a change to our previous tour offerings,” announced Darlene Halm, board member and head docent. “However, in keeping with the CDC and IDPH guidelines, we felt that these
adjustments were necessary for the safety of our visitors and volunteer docents. Eventually, we hope to go back to four tours per each day that we’re open.” Over the past year, the Reddick Mansion has seen an extensive $1.4 million exterior restoration, as well as a thorough cleaning of the interior and the replastering of two bedchambers that soon will be added to the building’s tour. “The past year has been a year like none other in the history of the mansion,” stated board president and docent Lorraine McCallister. “It is so exciting to reopen to the public and once again share the history of the
Reddick family, the Reddick Mansion/ Library, and Ottawa. I hope that local residents will visit us, as well. The board, volunteers all, has worked very hard to bring the luster back to the jewel of Ottawa. I am confident that William and Eliza Reddick would be pleased.” The mansion, at 100 W. Lafayette St. in Ottawa, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing member of the Washington Square historic district, site of the first Lincoln-Douglas debate in 1858. To reserve tours, visitors should call the Reddick Mansion at 815-4336100; for more information, go to www. reddickmansion.org.
Shaw Media / ShawLocal.com • Saturday, March 6, 2021
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Images provided
10 book picks for March have lots to say By BETHANNE PATRICK
Special To The Washington Post
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tart your reading engines early this month, because these book picks have heft – in number of pages and in terms of thought and inquiry. Novelists consider the nature of borders and how substances (including oil and drugs) corrupt; journalists examine health care, feminism, genetics; and a young but already accomplished poet releases her first book.
“The Soul of a Woman,” by Isabel Allende
“When I say I was a feminist in kindergarten, I am not exaggerating,” declares the acclaimed Chilean journalist, novelist and activist in this memoir that reflects on her upbringing – she was raised with her two sisters by a single mother – while pondering women’s nature and women’s needs.
“Infinite Country: A Novel,” by Patricia Engel
A Colombian family splintered by borders tells its five-voiced story, as one daughter tries desperately to escape a correctional facility. Award-winning novelist Engel (“Vida,” “The Veins of the Ocean”), a dual citizen of the United States and Colombia, uses Andean myths to
punctuate a story about heredity, love and safety.
“The Committed: A Novel,” by Viet Thanh Nguyen
In 2015, “The Sympathizer” electrified readers – and won a Pulitzer Prize – with its portrayal of a half-French, half-Vietnamese Army captain running espionage in Los Angeles. Now Nguyen takes his protagonist to Paris, where he turns to drug dealing with his “blood brother” Bon.
“We Begin at the End,” by Chris Whitaker
Self-proclaimed outlaw Duchess Day Radley is 13 and ready to defend her 5-year-old brother and their single mom to the death. Duchess lives on the California coast, where her most important ally is Walk, the town’s police chief. They’ll both be tested – nothing new for a thriller. What is new is the protagonist’s anguished, gorgeous voice, filled with rage and tenderness.
“The Hospital: Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town,” by Brian Alexander (March 9 release)
Alexander investigates Bryan, Ohio’s small-town, small-budget hospital. Bryan’s population of 8,500 might be tiny by corporate standards, but its
main health-care facility nevertheless requires many kinds of skill sets and technology. “The Hospital” shows how fragile our country’s health care was even before the pandemic, and how that fragility affects staff and administration as well as patients.
“The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race,” by Walter Isaacson (March 9)
The author of “Leonardo da Vinci” and “Steve Jobs” sets his sights on another brilliant mind: Jennifer Doudna, whose high school counselor told her women couldn’t become scientists. She wound up sharing the 2020 Nobel Prize for a DNA-editing innovation that may change almost everything about what it means to be human.
“How Beautiful We Were: A Novel,” by Imbolo Mbue (March 9)
Mbue’s 2016 “Behold the Dreamers” contained hard truths about what immigrants face in America but also demonstrated hope for her characters. “How Beautiful We Were” has a harder edge. The author here writes about how a fictional American oil corporation corrupts and chokes the life out of an African village. Protagonist Thula tries to change her country’s fate, to little avail.
“Festival Days,” by Jo Ann Beard (March 16)
In nine pieces, which include essays and two short stories, Beard shows her dazzling skill at finding universal truths in singular situations. Beard is not just a master of the short form – she’s a master of phrase and sentence, too.
“The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country,” by Amanda Gorman (March 30)
Many people around the world were electrified by the voice and words of a 22-year-old Black woman in a bright yellow coat whose poem helped usher in the Biden administration on Jan. 20. Now “The Hill We Climb,” with an introduction by Oprah Winfrey, can be read and savored.
“Libertie: A Novel,” by Kaitlyn Greenidge (March 30)
Greenidge’s second novel is technically Young Adult, but it’s too urgent and too good to be overlooked by adult readers. Libertie, a Black woman born free in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, feels stifled by the expectations of her physician mother. When she marries a Haitian man, he promises that life on his island will be different, more equal. Instead, she starts to question the true meaning of freedom.
DuPage Children’s Museum booking private play time
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SHAW MEDIA
fter nearly a year of closure because of the pandemic, the DuPage Children’s Museum gleefully welcomes children back. Families now can explore, create, build, discover, think and play during their own 90-minute private play time. The museum in Naperville has been divided into two separate play experiences. Each offers exclusive access to select exhibits for a small group of up to 10 children and adults. “After months of planning and preparation for a safe return to in-person play, last [week], the museum team greeted our first guests in almost a year,” museum CEO Andrea Wiles stated in a news release. “They were almost as excited as we are. Seven little boys and their three moms calmed down just long enough to have their temperatures taken; then they were off and running. So amazing to see and hear children laughing, squealing and playing in our exhibits again.” Guests can choose from one of two experiences: Explore and Discover. In the Explore Experience, creativity will shine as children delve into light, shadow and texture in Creativity Connections’ colorful space for collaborative play. In addition to exhibit experiences loaded with opportunities to imagine, design and build, the experience includes a hands-on art activity. Children also can expend a year’s worth of pentup energy in Move & Groove, a newly designed space where everyone can get their wiggles out and make some noise. Vibrant artwork, gross motor play, and unique musical instruments such as the Chimasaur are designed to entertain and delight. In the Discover Experience, guests can revel in the wonder of tinkering. Building options abound in Build It and in Make It Move. The museum provides blocks, tubing, balls, gears, real tools and other items that children can use to test the energy of motion and to build self-confidence and problem-solving skills as they engineer one-of-a-kind structures. Discover Experience guests also can explore the power of energy in AWEsome Electricity and AWEsome Air through circuits, towers, tubes and jungles of fun. In The Studio, a hands-on art activity connects guests with their imagination and creativity. “We went [on a Friday] morning and had a blast in the Discover Experience,” Marissa Kopp, a mother, stated in the release. “It was the first place we’ve taken any of our kiddos in a year. Our kids loved the experience. We greatly appreciated being back in your facility. We cannot wait to come back to ‘Explore’ the other side of the museum.”
Photo provided by Shane Cleminson Photography
Move & Groove is a place to get the wiggles out. Each play experience includes up to 10 people in the private small group, including adults and children. Face masks are required to be worn over the nose and mouth of everyone ages 2 years and older. Each group is assigned a private restroom. “Guest safety is our top priority,” Kimberly Stull, the museum’s chief of building and making, stated. “To help provide the safest play experience possible, we have enhanced our already robust procedures. This includes small capacities in exhibit spaces and deep cleaning after each session.” Tickets for private play time must be purchased in advance. DCM currently is booking Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through March 21. The cost is $250 per 90-minute session. The museum will be open Monday through Sunday beginning March 22. To learn more and reserve a private play time, go to dupagechildrens.org/private-play-time.
In a typical year, the museum serves more than 300,000 visitors annually, representing all 50 states. It is located at 301 N. Washington St. in Naperville. DuPage Children’s Museum has supported children learning about their world through play, creativity and experimentation for over 30 years. With a focus on STEM and arts education essential for learning, it provides an early education experience for children, and serves as a resource for caregivers, educators and social service partners. If in-person play is not right for your family just yet, the museum offers additional accessible programming so families can continue to learn, grow and thrive together. To find early learning resources for parents, children, teachers and community organizations supporting young children, visit dupagechildrens.org. For more information, call 630-637-8000.
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EXPLORE DISCOVER
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Shaw Media / ShawLocal.com • Saturday, March 6, 2021
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Volo Auto Museum readies to roar back SHAW MEDIA VOLO – The Volo Auto Museum is closed, but personnel has not been idle during the pandemic. When the doors reopen at the museum at 27582 Volo Village Road, fans probably will marvel at the transformations. Opening day is set for May 14 as long as the region remains in Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan. Among the upgrades taking place since last March has been an indoor Jurassic Gardens adventure that will feature several dozen lifelike – and many life-size – animatronic dinosaurs, plus a gift shop, arcade, fossil dig and “lab.” There’s also a high-tech admissions system that will cut wait times and allow ticket-holders to come and go at multiple points of entry. One new point of entry should appeal to lovers of muscle cars. The Showroom 5 vintage car collection has given way to Mustangs, Challengers, Corvettes and Vipers. About 28,000 square feet of newly constructed or completely renovated interior space is ready to explore. Museum Director Brian Grams said it’s a multimillion dollar investment. “To pay for all of the improvements we have been making while we have been closed, we are going to be parting with some film-car collector gold,” Grams said. Up for a no-reserve eBay auction April 14 to 21 will be a 1963 Corvette Grand Sport replica of a car used by Paul Walker and Vin Diesel in “Fast 5”; a
Photo provided
This Ferrari replica from the movie “Ford v Ferrari” is among Volo Auto Museum assets that will be sold during an eBay auction April 14 to 21 to offset costs of extensive renovations made while the museum has been closed due to the pandemic. 1966 Ferrari replica that was screen used in “Ford v Ferrari”; a 1965 Econoline van from “Ford v Ferrari”; a 1958 Chevy Nomad featured prominently in the 2020 film “Let Him Go” that starred Kevin Costner and Diane Lane; a 1973 Ferrari Daytona replica used in the TV series “9-1-1,” as well as in an upcoming Bradley Cooper film called “Soggy Bottom”;
a 1966 Chrysler Imperial Black Beauty from “The Green Hornet”; and a 1981 Cadillac hearse ordered by Sony to promote the 2016 “Ghostbusters” movie that featured Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon. Grams said other vehicles and museum assets also will be sold, including a Von Dutch-Ed Roth car and an eight-passenger electric trolley from Disney World. “These are some incredible collector pieces for the right buyers,” Grams said. “The newer Ecto-mobile is a ton of fun. The ‘Fast Five’ Vette is an iconic part of film-franchise history. And you might be surprised at the amount of buzz the van gets.” Referring to the blue van with white lettering that was used to depict a Shelby American shop van in “Ford v Ferrari,” Grams said die-hard car enthusiasts are enamored with both the Carroll Shelby legend and the movie. “That’s easily the best car movie of our generation,” Grams said. Grams noted a Ferrari driven in the 1966 Le Mans – the race on which the movie is based – recently sold for $40 million. “For a fraction of that price, someone will own some really cool pieces of TV and movie car history this spring,” Grams said. “And we’ll use the auction proceeds to offset the cost of the improvements we’ve been working on for the past year.” The museum also features a 1920s carousel and a music machine hall. For information, call 815-385-3644, visit volocars. com or find Volo Auto Museum on Facebook.
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By PAM OTTO
Taking interesting dives into the natural world around us, Pam Otto opens new avenues of exploration.
Biofluorescence reveals colors everywhere
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would imagine that our recent spate of 40-something degree weather has most of us aglow with the prospect of warmer temperatures and, dare I say it, spring. But you know what else is glowing these days? I’ll give you a hint: It’s nothing new. But as scientific discoveries go, it’s fairly recent. Plus, it’s oddly fascinating. And fun. What we’re talking about today is the phenomenon of biofluorescence – that is plants and animals that absorb the energy from a light source, and then re-emit it at a different wavelength and therefore color. I became aware of this most intriguing curiosity last fall when someone shared an article from the New York Times’ Trilobites feature, which focuses on “fascinating morsels of science.” The bulk of the piece covered fluorescing platypuses – animals that, while interesting in their own right, have little chance of intersecting with our daily lives here in northern Illinois. But the article also described how the inspiration for checking out platypuses, or platypi, actually stemmed from a discovery by Jonathan Martin, an associate professor of forestry at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, who noted that flying squirrels fluoresce bright pink under black light. At that bit of news, a light bulb – bright white, not black – went off in my head, and I made a veritable beeline for the chest freezer we have in the basement at our Hickory Knolls Discovery Center. Digging through the layers of nature we’ve amassed over the years – a roadkill screech owl, assorted moles and shrews, a young roadkill fox snake, to name a few – I eventually arrived at the stratum associated with 2012. That year, you might recall, was warm and very, very dry. A number of wild creatures perished and were brought to our door, including Glaucomys volans, a southern flying squirrel. (I tell you, that little animal may have had only a year or two of life but has lived on in nature programs ever since. We’ve used it for teaching about nocturnal animals, non-powered flight and rodents, as well as just showing people that, yes, we do have flying squirrels in our region, and they’re really not that uncommon.) At any rate, I set the squirrel on the floor, turned off the lights and, using a black light borrowed from a program supply bin, scanned the body from top to bottom.
Photo provided
Absorbing light from one part of the spectrum and emitting it as another, this flying squirrel glows bright pink under an ultraviolet beam. Holy volans! No joke, the colors that emitted from that body were some of the richest, deepest, brightest pinks I’ve ever seen. I took a few photos, made a quick video and also made plans to acquire my own black light as soon as possible. Since that day in November, biofluorescence has consumed a disproportionate amount of daily life. (Make that nightly life. It’s easier to achieve the necessary darkness after the sun goes down.) In the office or at home, I play a game – called Will It Glow? – hitting various objects living and dead with the ultraviolet beam. What has added to the fun is inviting friends to play, too. When my friend Valerie came upon a dead opossum, I urged her to look at it under black light, as I’d read that opossum fluoresce a “rainbow” of color. I wasn’t able to be present during her investigation but experienced it the next best way – via cellphone with texted photos. I felt like I was listening
to a fireworks spectator as she oohed and aahed over the pinks and purples in the fur, and I got just as excited as she did when her beam scanned the claws and they emitted a wonderful chartreuse. (I was out walking at the time, and am fairly certain the woman I was standing by (socially distanced) near a stoplight leaned even farther away when I let out a “Yeep!”) These days, fluorescing animals have become a semi-regular feature during our weekly “Good Natured Hour” online program (visit stcparks. ticketleap.com/goodnatured if you’d like to join the fun), and what we’ve learned is that researchers in a number of scientific disciplines are exploring the phenomenon. Rehabilitators at the New England Wildlife Center in Weymouth, Massachusetts, are using black lights to discern the age of owls brought in for care (porphyrins, or pigments, in feathers degrade over time, causing a reduction in fluorescence in older birds). And a team of scientists led by Jennifer Lamb at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota
is looking into the role fluorescence might play in amphibian ecology. As Lamb explained during a recent webinar, the bright colors she’s observed on salamanders, frogs and tadpoles might play a role in intra- and interspecies communication, serving to attract a mate or repel a predator with warning coloration. The biofluorescence might also aid in camouflage, especially when hiding among items like tree leaves or lichens that also fluoresce. But Lamb and others are also the first to admit that all this fun might be just that, a funny quirk that carries no biological or evolutionary significance. That’s not stopping her, and it’s not going to stop me either. As the weather warms, I’ll be out and about with my black light, looking for things that glow in the night. And now, maybe you will, too.
• Pam Otto is the outreach ambassador for the St. Charles Park District. She can be reached at 630513-4346 or potto@stcparks.org.
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GOOD NATURED
Shaw Media / ShawLocal.com • Saturday, March 6, 2021
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WOODHAVEN LAKES Private Recreational Campground
So Much to See. So Much to Do.
Hiking Trails. Woodlands. Nature. Lakes. WiFi. Pools. Crafts. Movies. Fitness Center. Prairie. Deer. Pavilions. Arcade. Mini Golf. Day Camp. Tennis. Basketball. Live Music. Theme Activities. Fireworks. Painting Parties. Open Markets. Social Events. Volleyball. Shuffleboard. Teen Dances. Car Show. Paddleboats. Sledding. Farmers Markets. Night Hikes. Campfires. Fishing. Tournaments. Pickleball. Acoustic Nights. Wine & Cheese Social. Road Rally. Golf Outing. 5K/3K. Haunted House. Canoing. Anything That Floats. Horseshoes. Petting Zoo. Wagon Rides. Aqua Zumba. Playgrounds. Karaoke. Family Fun Night. Coffee Hour. Clubs. DJs. Scavenger Hunts. Kayaking. Tug of War. Food Fairs. Picnics.
Sublette IL | 815-849-5209
www.woodhavenassociation.com
Call us for a tour!