Aurora Memorial Day Parade
Yesterday I attended the Memorial Day Parade in Downtown Aurora with my family and the day could not have been nicer! This is my first year attending this event and I can honestly say I will be back next year. The parade started at noon and made a box down Benton, over on 25 then back on Downer Place. The judges booth was located on Downer right across from the GAR Memorial Hall. My family and I arrived downtown early – right around 11AM and parked west of Rt. 31 and walked down New York into the downtown area. We walked over to the new Waubonsie Community College Downtown Campus to check out the building and landscaping around the river. Everything looks superb – check back for my insider’s report on the open house on June 3rd.
We walked over to the Aurora Sci-tech Museum to look at the recently repaired Swimming Stones kinetic water sculpture by Chris Tobin right across the street. There were lots of children enjoying the spraying water in the 90-degree heat. I thought that the grassy area near there would be an ideal place to watch the parade, but the lack of shade was an issue so we moved on looking for a better spot. I wanted to walk over to the GAR Hall to take a look at it and we passed by the Fox River – it’s definately at flood stage – so much so that the walkway under at least the Galena Blvd bridge was completely under water. We arrived at the GAR Memorial Hall and realized that was where the judges stand was. We joined a group of people on the grass in front of the hall and listened to the pre-parade program that included vocal performances by the Waubonsie Valley High School Varsity Choir as well as speeches by several veterans. Continue reading
This weekend my family and I attended one of our favorite spring festivals – The Flavors of Greece Festival at the Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles. This annual festival is hosted by St. Athanasios Greek Orthodox Church located in Aurora, IL. My family and I have been visiting for the past 5 years although the festival itself was created in 1979. A good friend of ours, Gretchen, has been attending this festival for decades and is also a favorite of hers. For the past couple years, this festival has moved to the new large exhibition building in the Kane County Fairgrounds and has expanded every year.
This year, the old standbys that we love including the greek market, food tent, dancing and Ouzo were there again. This year we were especially excited to see a HUGE addition to the festival – cooking demonstrations throughout the day on how to cook Greek food sponsored by KitchenAid. Now, truth be told, I like to re-live the Flavors of Greece Festival throughout the year at my home. That usually involves a huge plate of Souvlaki (marinated, grilled pork medallions) with homemade Tzatziki Sauce (cucumber, garlic and yogurt) so I’ve generally been making these items for years. But I did learn some great tips at this year’s demostration on cooking Souvlaki. We did miss a later demonstration on working with Phyllo but the chef doing the demonstration (who I regrettably didn’t catch the name of) was engaging and informative and the crowd listening was packed. 
This week’s featured home, 119 Saugatuck comes from the Boulder Hill Subdivision in unincorporated Montgomery and is truly worry-free. Almost everything has been replaced and remodeled over the last 3 years. This includes: all flooring, kitchen, 90% efficiency furnace, A/C, architecturally shingled roof, six-panel doors and white colonist trim, front door, garage door, brushed nickel lighting, crown molding, cedar fence, large stained deck, double sheds, new insulation and more. Yes, all of this is 3 years old or less! Almost a brand new home and nearly 1600 square feet of living space. This ranch-style home has a large addition on back that added a family room with wood-burning fireplace, dining room, walk-in pantry and master bedroom. The fully-fenced back yard is very spacious even with a large stained deck and double storage sheds. If you love to cook, the kitchen is the place to be. Although the appliances are not included with this sale, the new cabinets and a large center island with breakfast bar offers plenty of storage and lots of space. Here are some additional details about the home:
In perhaps one of the biggest real estate news stories of the spring, Two Brothers Brewing Company announced Tuesday evening that it had purchsed the former America’s Roundhouse in Aurora. Two Brothers Brewing Company is owned by co-founders Jason and Jim Ebel and currently operates a microbrewery and tap house in Warrenville. Two Brothers has been in operation since 1996 and has been constantly expanding – adding additional capacity and additional types of beer seemingly every year. Two Brothers beers have been distributed all over the midwest and have a cult-like following both at home and abroad for championing rare brewing styles and ingredient combinations.
