Aurora Memorial Day Parade – Downtown Aurora
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.
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.
Like a interesting flower springing up along the Fox River, the new Fox Valley Park District’s Cole Center took me by surprise a couple weeks ago. I don’t know if I just haven’t taken the Illinois bridge over the river in a while or if I just didn’t notice the construciton but whatever the case, I had some time today to stop by and check out the new building. Located just west of River street and the Fox River itself along Illinos on the 
In a press conference following a meeting between Cat CEO Doug Oberhelman and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, Oberhelman seemed to indicate that the large equipment manufacturer will be staying in Illinois, at least for the time being. There was a virtual uproar after it was revealed that Oberhelman sent letter to Quinn expressing disappointment with the corporate income tax increase passed several months ago that nearly doubled business taxes. After an hour-long meeting today, both Oberhelman and Quinn seemed to come out strong with positive attitudes – Quinn about creating more jobs and fostering a better business environment and image in Illinois and Oberhelman about the company’s plans to remain in Illinois. You may wonder what this has to do with Fox Valley real estate. Well, Caterpillar is a Fortune 500 company with headquarters in Peoria, Illinois and a large manufacturing plant in