Downtown Elgin Top 10 | March 7 - March 14

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1.

Disney's Beauty & the Beast
Presented by CYT Chicago

Come see area youth perform this classic this weekend. Advanced tickets are $8-$12, $2 more at the door. Discounts are available. For tickets or more info call 847.516.2CYT or http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001UkO3VvYqVoQe_c6QDxcI416hqmFNYVY7HaPe3ywLi2a-AczAwKA8Pug2FVwzOAkiEGHVQXWpw9lKaspoBiMn1g1kFA_bQDS_BAT8mFkiAd-veLMq3Ynenw==.

Friday, March 7, 7pm
Saturday, March 8, 2pm & 6pm
Sunday, March 9, 2pm
Hemmens, 45 Symphony Way

2.
Run for Your Wife
Performed by the Elgin Theatre Company

John Smith is an ordinary London cab driver with his own car, sets his hours, is hard working, punctual, etc. The exception is that he has two wives who don't know about each other! Adult tickets are $15. Students/Seniors $12. Call 847.741.0532 or e-mail tickets@inil.com For more info go to http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001UkO3VvYqVoQyGxncydXiOwhAmqDZAwryo-3ybgFsogxCtxAkG1LAIgUKvzmSspm7GRu0zYGVvwLiHToc_aA7DM0ho9t7q7XzTtveDN_LorzPHISwFWh6Dw==

Fri. & Sat., March 7 - March 15, 8pm
Theatre 355, 355 E. Chicago Street

3.
Two Plays by the Independent Players
Have your pick on two different story lines...

"Hay Fever"
General Admission $15, Seniors $12, Students $10. For tickets and information call 847-697-7374. Leave name and number and IP will call you back.

Fri. & Sat., March 7 - March 15, 8pm
Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division Street

"Story Theatre"
General Admission $15, Seniors $12, 13yrs. and older $10, 12yrs and under $5. For tickets and information call 847-697-7374. Leave name and number and IP will call you back.

Sat. & Sun., March 8 - March 16, 3pm
Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division Street

4.
Chicago Bandits Open House and unveiling of their retail store!

The Chicago Bandits, Elgin's newest sports team, will be hosting an open house this Saturday. The team will provide huge discounts on selected merchandise, raffles, giveaways, and more!Complimentary snacks and refreshments will be on hand. Everyone is welcome to attend! For more info, call our office at 877-7BANDIT or email us at chicagobanditsmedia@gmail.com

Downtown Elgin Businesses & Organizations:
This season, Chicago Bandits are starting their new Bandits Kids Club, which will provide kids the opportunity to become part of their ball club and your business as well. The Kids Club is free to join and will furnish every Kids Club member a variety of complimentary offers. If you would like to add coupons for a complimentary item to help drive new traffic into your location, please contact Gerry Clarke at 630-336-7164 or simply drop by our new office/store. Your business will be highlighted in their Kids Club link on their website, in their 2008 Chicago Bandits Media Guide, as well as $100 of free game tickets! In addition, they will furnish each participating sponsor the email club list to use for future offers you would like to promote.

Saturday, March 8, 10am - 2pm
Chicago Bandits Office, 72 S. Grove Avenue

5.
Liberty's Teeth Playing At the Pub
Rock 'N Roll Past, Present...Future!

This group does a variety of party rock from artists: Led Zepplin, The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Blink 182, Guns and Roses, Green Day, Weezer, Velvet Revolver, Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, and much more! For further info call the pub at 847.468.8810 or go to the band's website.

Saturday, March 8, evening
Elgin Public House, 219 E. Chicago Street

6.
Gail Borden Public Library in a Week
Remembering Abraham Lincoln's Legacy

Celebrate Abraham Lincoln by visiting an authentic 8 by 10 foot log cabin built right in the middle of the library rotunda. And right behind this lil' log cabin are two tables full of "Lincoln logs" to play with! The library will continue to celebrate "all things Lincoln" as part of A Tapestry of Freedom and in anticipation of Lincoln's 200th birthday anniversary in 2009.

Second Sunday Concert Series
A native of Lviv, Ukraine, Mr. Dzhuryn has performed cello with Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma and Sir Georg Solti. He now performs with Russian Pianist Mikhail Yanovitski in the community rooms.Meet the artists and enjoy refreshments after the performance. Free tickets are now available at the Greeter and Second Floor Information Desks.

Sunday, March 9, 2pm - 3pm
Gail Borden Public Library, 270 N. Grove Ave
For further info call 847.742.2411

7.
Kiwanis Club of Elgin - Guest Speaker
A club that meets every Tuesday in Downtown!

Kiwanis Club of Elgin is an International Service Club that raises and donates money to various local charities. They meet every Tuesday at Prairie Rock. All are welcome to attend. This Tuesday, March 11 Gerald Anderson will be speaking. Lunch is $10 payable to the club. For more information call 847.695.1316.
Tuesday, March 11, Noon
Prairie Rock Brewing Company
127 S. Grove Avenue

8.
American Cancer Society Walk & Roll Kick-Off

Come meet this proactive organization March 18, at their after hours, and join them in celebrating the 36th ainniversary of Walk & Roll as they raise over $1.1 million to fight cnater.

On May 10, you can participate in the first annual Walk & Roll Elgin event at Festival Park. Participants can register online at http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001UkO3VvYqVoQ_oe0pB2n5LiB3_7O6H1XVT1_bWJzceBvSy7t8xAQWk7RpE1VCo2iBiCZyIVI_QVsL09LPPVGCOFr-PGoa1O_s2P-4coDDVQV7e9UWBolrfQ== to sign up their team.

To RSVP, get involved, or for more information, contact the American Cancer Society at 630-879-9009 x3 or e-mail ILWalkRoll.Elgin@cancer.org.

Tuesday, March 18, 4pm - 8pm
Grand Victoria Casino, 250 S. Grove Avenue
RSVP by Tuesday, March 11!

9.

Tribal Style Bellydance Show & Class
Time to watch and learn how to bellydance!

Come out to the Martini Room for a night of performances by the Blue Lotus Tribe and Christina's student troupe Lotus Bloom. There will also be a mini workshop and open dancing!
There is a $5 cover charge. Future performances at this venue - April 16, May 21, June 18. For more information call 773.454.6493.

Wednesday, March 12, 8:30pm
Martini Room, 161 E. Chicago Street

10.
YWCA Elgin Leadership Award
H.S. Senior Women: A scholarship to help with advanced education!

In celebration of its 25th Annual Leader Luncheon on May 8, 2008, the YWCA Elgin will honor a graduating high school woman seeking an advanced education. An initial $1,000 scholarship renewable for three additional years will be presented to the recipient at the celebration. Applications and instructions regarding the award are online at http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001UkO3VvYqVoRwPfcXq_7xBLzEgxLzNCxQvMDclnVDJgMLMO514djyoEWY5maLPezPOZE-U28lTr7XeSPaMm2G1IVHo0Giy1PdohkcBwJKYCuhUujgQz01Pw== until the March 14 deadline. Packets are also available at the YWCA Elgin, 220 East Chicago St. Questions? Contact the YWCA, 847-742-7930.

Deadline for this application is March 14!

Next Clue for Lookin' for Lincoln in Downtown Elgin

Abe will be back in town March 10 to 16. Here's the clue to help you find him:

Whether you are coming to this downtown hotspot to run the track, play in the pool, take a dance class or attend a fancy banquet, you’re sure to find Abe hanging out and having fun. Remember to put your name in the drawing to win Abe, and you’ll also get 10 percent off your purchase of pool passes for Wing and Lord’s Park Family Aquatic Center.

Lookin’ for Lincoln is a year-long promotion put on by the Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin. For one week each month, a lifesize cardboard cut-out of Abraham Lincoln appears at a different downtown business or establishment offering a special promotion or discount. When you spot him be sure to enter your name in the drawing to win Cardboard Abe. The drawing will be held at the Window Wonderland event on December 6.

Welcome to the Neighborhood of Downtown Elgin

A few months ago I went to visit my brother in Bucktown, a neighborhood of Chicago, and had an epiphany.

Downtown Elgin is Bucktown.

Okay, we are not literally Bucktown, but we are very much like an up-and-coming neighborhood of Chicago. We are on the uphill climb towards revitalization. We have an urban backdrop of beautiful architecture. Our arts scene is on the verge of exploding. We have a good sampling of restaurants and bars and people are hungry for more. We are attractive to young professionals and real estate developers. And the community that exists among the residents and businesses in a neighborhood is very present here in Downtown Elgin.

Bottom line – we are cool. And unlike any of those neighborhoods of Chicago, we have parking. Booyah!

But the neighborhood of Downtown Elgin is not just for the residents and businesses with a downtown address. Downtown Elgin is “everyone’s neighborhood.”

So, please join me in welcoming two new businesses to our neighborhood – Villa Verone Ristorante Italiano and the Chicago Bandits corporate office and retail store.

Villa Verone, located at 13 Douglas Avenue, is now open for dinner and will open for lunch later in the month. Along with fabulous authentic Italian food, you’ll enjoy a diverse wine list, very knowledgeable and entertaining servers, live jazz music on Thursday nights and Pietro, the owner.

The Chicago Bandits, a professional softball team that will open its season at Judson University this summer, is having an open house Saturday, March 8 at their office at 72 South Grove. Check out the Bandits wear and meet their great staff. As the Bandits tagline says, “They’ll steal your heart.”

So, get out there, be neighborly and enjoy your neighborhood.

Hot times, summer in the city

I don’t know about you, but I am so over this weather.

For those of you who feel you are being consumed by the gloom of a never-ending winter, do not despair. Summer is coming. And it will be a hot one in downtown Elgin.

With the opening of Festival Park last year and a summer full of successful events like Fox Fire Fest, Fiesta Salsa, and Duckapolooza, everyone is clamoring to get those special event applications in to the city to have their event downtown.

Here is what the Downtown Neighborhood Association has in store. Be sure to check the City of Elgin website in the coming months for all the other hot happenings.

Though summer doesn’t officially begin until June, the downtown event season heats up with the Cinco de Mayo Festival, May 1-4 at the former Gail Borden Library site along the Fox River. This year’s festival promises to be a big cultural celebration boiling over with great food, music, dancing, entertainment, children’s activities, and a carnival by Windy City Amusements.

Next in the DNA’s summertime lineup is the Fourth of July Parade, which is quickly becoming one of the best parades in the ‘burbs. This year’s parade will celebrate “the red, white and Blues,” and kicks off with a chase scene that would make Jake and Elwood proud. Honest Abe will also make a special appearance, in Blues Brothers shades and top hat, of course. Parade participant applications will be available in the early spring.

The Elgin Cycling Classic will ride alongside Fox Fire Fest again this year on August 3. More than 200 cyclists come from all over the Midwest to challenge themselves on our downtown course and a chance to win more than $12,000 in cash prizes. Online registration for participants opens in the early spring.

The Downtown Elgin Car and AFV Show on September 6 was a new event last year that has great potential to draw large crowds with the variety of vintage to hybrid vehicles that will be on display. We are pairing this event with a 3-day carnival so there will be lots of fun for the whole family, even if you aren’t a car enthusiast.

The summer event season comes to a close in mid-September so you will have a little break to rest up for the DNA’s 10th Anniversary Party at the Grand Victoria Casino in early October. The event will be a black-tie (optional) affair celebrating 10 years of downtown revitalization.

We wrap up 2008 with our annual Window Wonderland event on December 6, with lots of decorated storefront windows and holiday entertainment in the theme of The Nutcracker Suite.

If your organization or business would like to participate in any of the above events as entertainment, booth exhibitors, sponsors or volunteers, please contact the Downtown Neighborhood Association at (847) 488-1456 or email me at thudson@elginil.org.

Lincoln Spotted at Keeney's Sporting Goods

A few weeks ago I gave you the first clue for our “Lookin’ for Lincoln” promotion – where each month a lifesize cut-out of Abe Lincoln will hang out in a downtown location for a week and offer a special promotion. The clue was:

When this downtown business was established, Grover Cleveland was president. The business started as a drug store but when the current owner’s great-great-grandfather took over in 1946 it became a sporting goods store. If Lincoln were alive today he could get his U-46 gym suit and varsity letterman’s jacket at this store.

Did you find Abe? He was at Keeney’s Sporting Goods at 19 Douglas Ave. He donned an Elgin Maroons cap and scarf during his stay with owner Patricia Keeney. Look for the next Lookin’ for Lincoln clue on March 8.