El Jacalito’s owner has found her happy place: At her new location
Shop’s custom creations are music to donut-lovers’ ears
Group invites bags fans to come on board and join the fun
Sterling toy store owners want to help kids unplug and play
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4 Happy to putter around
At 90 years young, Bill Simester is still in the swing of things, playing the game he loves on the same course he caddied at as a boy — and he’s still filling out a pretty good scorecard too.
14 Are you ready to Rock?
If you’re hungry for donuts that look as good as they taste, head to downtown Sterling and aim for the Star.
22 Come on board!
A group of bags players invites you to join them and throw yourself into a game that’s gone from the backyard to the big time.
30 “This is me!”
If you see a smile on Maria Rocha’s face, that’s because the owner of El Jacalito has found her happy places — in the kitchen and in her restaurant’s new home.
36 Toying with ideas
The owners of a Sterling toy store are giving kids off all ages a place to tap into their imagination instead of tapping screens.
Mud
The first time he walked on a golf course, Bill Simester was in the springtime of his life; more than 75 years later, he’s in the swing time of his life, still playing the game he loves on that same course — and still filling out a pretty good scorecard too
Bill Simester keeps his eye on a putt at Rock River GAP, just like he’s done countless times before — but that’s not the only shot he has his eye on: The 90-year-old golfer from Rock Falls still wants to sink his 10th hole-in-one.
CODY CUTTER/ CCUTTER@SHAWMEDIA.COM
golf, shooting your age can be a tough task, one that’ll earn you some well-deserved bragging rights.
For Bill Simester, however, carding an 18-hole round equal to his 90 years young wouldn’t be one of his better days, especially at the par 70 Rock River GAP in Rock Falls, where he first walked around as a teenage caddie in the late 1940s.
Simester has shot rounds equal to his age, or better, thousands of times since the first time he did it at age 69, and is still actively seeking his tenth hole-in-one, not letting age be a detriment to his desire to keep physically active. He turned 90 on Oct. 9.
“I have a lot of faith,” Simester said. “I got to keep going. If I don’t keep going, I’ll slow down. I see people who sit
around and can’t hardly walk, so I want to keep going as long as I can. I have a sister who’s 101, and one who’s 94, and my doctor says, chances are, I’ll make 100. I have faith, and God gave me good health.” Amassing all of those rounds better than his age in the past two decades keeps him excited to tee off regularly at Rock River GAP (formerly Rock River Country Club), or at Deer Valley Golf Club in Deer Grove, the home course of the Rock Falls High School girls golf program, coached by his daughter Deena.
Rock River, which opened in 1913, holds a special place in Simester’s heart, even after its many changes: the course expanded to 18 holes in 1968 and opened to the public in 2010.
Several of his foursome friends over the decades have either passed away or are no longer actively playing, but Simester continues to make new friends and help those who are still playing after all these years, and he enjoys telling tales of the course’s heyday to younger generations.
After all, golf is what Simester has excelled at, alongside a teaching career that lasted 34 years at schools in Galt, Rock Falls and Prophetstown, and then for another 20 as a substitute.
“You’re in the healthy air all of the time, and you’re getting exercise,” Simester said. “You’re doing something, not sitting around and watch-
ing TV. We had two kids who were really athletic, and I coached all of the time when I taught. I’ll tell my grandkids to help push me to get out to the golf course as long as I can get out here.”
Simester graduated from Rock Falls High School in 1953, where he was a multisport student athlete, and later played golf for Illinois State University, where he was captain of the squad during his junior year. The Redbirds had a rivalry with then-NAIA national power Western Illinois during his college years, with future local golf legend Rollie Heaton on the Leathernecks. Heaton, who also taught school in Prophetstown, “was the best player around here for years,” Simester said. They competed against each other several times at local tournaments, notably at the Lincoln Highway, where he was one of the event’s longest active competitors for 46 years — his first coming in 1954 at the former Clinton Country Club.
SIMESTER cont’d to page 8
In November 1966, Simester married the former Patty Maxey, and she took up the game alongside her husband, having played in about just as many Lincoln Highways as he did, all with Deena and their son Donnie cheering them on.
These days, Simester’s appearances at the Lincoln Highway are to cheer on Deena, who’s played in it for nearly 25 years, and for a couple of years, his granddaughter Madison, who played golf for Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was also inducted into the event’s hall of fame and racked up several top finishes in his competition flight; his best finish at the event was in 1972 at the former Lake View Country Club in Sterling, where he finished runner-up in best-against-bogey play.
Then there are the accomplishments at events such as the Rock River Classic, Twin City Open and club championship play at Rock River — but all of those take a back seat to the thing that’s most special to him: his family. Simester loves playing rounds with his family at Rock River or Deer Valley, and he’s proud that his children and
grandchildren have earned more than 40 varsity high school athletic letters. His youngest grandchild, Katie, is a sophomore at the University of Louisville, where she plays outfield for the Cardinals’ softball team.
“When we golf, there’s me, Deena, [grandson] Nick, and Madison, and we have a heck of a battle,” Simester said. “I’m on the front tees with my daughter, and she hits it further than I do, but a lot of times I’ll win. We have a lot of fun, we really laugh at one another when we hit a bad shot. We could get on a scramble team and play real good.”
More than 75 years after hauling golf clubs around Rock River as a child, there’s no doubt he knows his way around, even as the trees grow much taller.
Simester was 12 years old when he first became a caddie at Rock River, working alongside his future brother-in-law Dick Houston and a few others. The country club days were filled with opulence, when Sterling and Rock Falls’ elite residents and businessmen left the office grind behind for a round of golf and hobnobbing at the clubhouse. He caddied for six years, getting to know many club members, and even killing problematic gophers on the course — a task that paid him 10 cents per dead gopher when a local attorney requested it of him, he said.
“When we were caddies, we caddied for the rich people in the community: leaders at the Mill and RB&W, plus all of the big doctors and lawyers,” Simester said. “Houston and all of us guys would be back in the caddie shack, and we could see the cars driving in and we knew who they were. We’d wait for the call: ‘Get up here!’ We used to walk ahead of them and had places where we’d sit so that we could spot their ball, in case one went in the water.”
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Downtown Sterling Christmas Walk
To golfers, a ball’s trip to the water hazard was a penalty, but to Simester and his fellow caddies, it meant money.
“We wouldn’t find it then, but we knew where it was and find it later; we would give them back to them, and they loved that,” Simester said. “We used to put some marks out on the water, and had some signs out there to tell how far they were. We’d go out and find it. We’d get 10 cents for one. Ten cents was a lot back then, like two bucks today.”
While golf balls and dimes don’t exchange hands any more these days, Simester still gets a kick out of finding them. Need some used golf balls? He’s the guy to go to: Some days he’ll find a buckets’ worth of golf balls, and he gives many away to people he sees every day.
Living just a couple of miles down the road from the golf course, Simester spends many days driving around Rock River with a golf cart, keeping his eyes peeled for wayward golf balls. Some are easy pickings, but some require a little extra effort, and an extendable retriever to scoop up balls that land in tall vegetation, at the edge of ponds, or along the bank of the river or Howland Creek, which runs through the course.
“If they can’t find it, they go on,” Simester said. “When I caddied here, I learned every nook and cranny, so I know where to look for them.”
Golf balls aren’t the only things Simester finds — sometimes he finds the clubs that hit them, a tell-tale sign of a player’s frustration at putts
gone bad. One of them was a Scotty Cameron brand putter, one of the best ones manufactured in recent decades, Simester said. “It belonged to one of my friends,” he said. “He got mad while missing a putt and threw it out in the field. I picked it up, took it back to him, and told him, ‘Look what I found.’”
Even after all these years on the green, Simester still hasn’t lost his competitive edge. Getting that elusive tenth hole-in-one also motivates him to keep golfing. His most recent one was at a Florida course a few years ago. He’s hit aces at Rock River on holes 3, 7, 9 and 13 – all par 3s – but the par 3 No. 17 continues to elude him; he came a foot close to the hole during a round in mid-August.
The scene of his first hole-in-one — at the former Morrison Country Club — is a memory Simester won’t forget; the year, not so much, he said.
SIMESTER cont’d to page 13
ROOTS BRANCHES ROOTS BRANCHES
‘“My first hole in one was just a lucky one in Morrison, I hit a bad shot short of the green but the ground was hard and it bounced and rolled in the hole,” Simester said. “The next hole was a par five and I hit the longest drive I ever hit in my life because I was so wound up. Back then, they didn’t have watering systems, and when the ground got hard, the ball would roll forever.”
Simester’s favorite holes at Rock River are No. 7 along the river and the par 4 No. 8 near a large pond. No. 9 is right up there, too, where he’s aced three times. No. 8 is where one of his longtime golfing partners, Sterling businessman Earl Prince of Prince Castle, once aced during a round in June 1976, netting a rare doubleeagle with the shot — one of many course tales Simester likes to tell. He has been witness to countless other holes-in-one as well, including what is believed to be the earliest ace in a calendar year in the Sauk Valley — again accomplished by Prince — on March 3, 1988, at Lost Nation in Dixon.
Simester’s love of the sport stands out among others who take to the tees, a passion for the game that hasn’t diminished over the decades, and though he plays more for fun these days, he hasn’t lost that spark that keeps him fired up over the game. Even after all these years, there are still some things he’d like to take a swing at.
Like that tenth hole-in-one.
“I’m hoping for it soon,” he said. n
Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
f you were looking for a song about Paz and Roberta Martinez’s journey to becoming business owners, it might be that classic rock anthem, “Donut Stop Believing.”
That’s because they didn’t let doubts derail their dream. They reached for the stars and they grabbed them. Now they’re reaching for the sweet treats in their donut case at Rock Star Donuts in downtown Sterling.
“I love this community,” Paz said. “The whole thought of ‘You can do it,’ and having that willpower and support for it, you can’t always think of the negativity and the ‘No, no, no,’ Sometimes you just got to go forward and push for your idea, and try to live that segment of your life to realize that dream. It’s been a pretty cool road that we’ve drove.”
It was that drive to create their own niche in a world full of run-of-the-mill rings that turned their dream into a reality, and in their world, there’s a lot more than just glazed, vanilla and chocolate.
ROCK-STAR cont’d to page 18
They look too good to eat — but eat ‘em anyway ... The donut designers at Rock Star Donuts put a lot of creativity into their works of cakey culinary art. Pictured here are just a few examples, featuring Cookie Monster and Elmo, a pile of chocolatey emoji goodness, a delicious dinosaur, and other sweet treats.
Roberta and Paz Martinez may have put the band together, but the donuts are the real rock stars of the show. The ideas for their custom creations come from all sorts of place: TV (Sesame Street), movies (Friday the 13th) entertainment (Shark Week), trends and tech (emojis), fun flavor combos (Pop Tart donuts), nature (Sea Turtle donuts), music (Strawberry Fields), even customer suggestions — if it can be squeezed on top of a donut, they’ll give it a shot. “We eat with our eyes, and we’ll see something and go, ‘Wow, that’s pretty, eat it,’” Paz said. CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SHAWMEDIA.COM
There are donuts that look like they could be rolling down “Sesame Street,” ones topped with chunks of snack cakes, ones stuffed with peanut butter filling and those are just tip of the icingberg. The Martinezes’ donut designs have been bringing people through the doors of their shop since April 2023, where they’ve found no shortage of inspired donuts in their case.
Their shop is like a slice of classic rock and roll come to life. There’s a vintage vibe at Rock Star Donuts — blackand-white checkerboard floors, seating that’s a throwback to a 1950s malt shop, retro signs on the brick walls, vintage music pumped through the speakers. Like their donuts, they’ve taken a classic and made it their own.
Speaking of classics, you’ll still find them at Rock Star — traditional cake and yeast donuts and long johns — but there are also specialty donuts that are a treat for the eyes as well as the taste buds. Just don’t
Cherished childhood memories helped inspire Paz to bring a donut shop downtown. He fondly recalls stopping at McCaslin’s bakery for a donut with his dad, Paz Sr. (left), before they’d go fishing.
expect the same lineup every time you stop by. Rock Star’s donut designers like to mix things up, offering different custom-made treats that would have Homer Simpson drooling over their donut case — and in a nod to donut democracy, Rock Star lets customers have a go at coming up with ideas, too. If a customer has an idea for a donut, the Martinezes will let their designers — their son Mateo among them — have a crack at it. Some of them have even become popular enough to become “rock stars” of their own, finding a place in the donut case, such as
the Uncle Steve: a Bismarck with peanut butter filling and topped with chocolate, like a Reese’s peanut butter cup.
“They’re very articulate with their donuts,” Paz said.
“It’s got to have a great aesthetic.”
If you’ve got a sweet tooth, the crew at Rock Star Donuts invites you to sink it into one of their speciality donuts, and if you’re a fan of more traditional donuts — sugar, frosted or glazed — Rock Star has got you, and your donut, covered.
Lauryn Fassler of Rock-Star Donuts shows off some of the shop’s donuts. CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SHAWMEDIA.COM
Rock-Star’s retro vibe brings the ’50s and ’60s together with the vintage flavor of the building’s exposed brick wall — like its donuts, a combination of flavors that work together.
“You can come in and ask for something,” Roberta said. “We’ll give it a try and see how it goes. A lot of customers have come over and thanked us repeatedly for bringing something like this over here. They’ve had to drive hours just to get something like these.”
There’s another twist to the donut eating experience that Paz likes to recommend: “If you want a different sensation, eat your donut upside down. Your taste buds will get the sensation of it as soon as you take the bite.”
Growing up during the 1980s in Sterling, the donuts that a young Paz had to choose from weren’t quite like the ones he has in his shop today, but he still remembers them fondly, recalling when he would peer into the donut case at McCaslin’s bakery, which was then just a short walk from where Rock-Star is now, with his dad, Paz Sr.
It was a Saturday morning routine that holds a special place in his heart. The younger Paz sometimes recalls the memory, trying to hold back a tear or two; his father died in 2013.
“Every Saturday, my Dad and I would go there and get a donut and then go fishing,” Paz said. “That was the memory of a donut for me, and I thought it would be kind of cool to have a place that brings memories.”
Both Paz and Roberta had worked in the food business at various times of their lives, but Rock-Star is their first foray into owning a place of their own. They gave the shop its personality with the decor, assembled a design team and serving staff, and came up with a name, which has a bit of a backstory.
Together We
Wellness
Paz originally wanted to name it Roc-Ster Donuts, which is a nod to part of a series of local high school sports tournaments that once bore the name New-Mor-Roc-Ster (a combination of Newman and Morrison). That idea fizzled after a short time, he said: “It didn’t sound right, so we thought why don’t we just name it Rock-Star?”
Adding to the music theme, the shop also sells fruit-flavored energy drinks named after famous singers, from Frank Sinatra and Janis Joplin to Madonna and Harry Styles — and, of course, there’s a Chuck Berry variety on the menu. Coffees, lattes and espressos also are available, also named after musicians. Among the fall drinks are a pumpkin pie latte called The Smashing Pumpkins, a Caramel Apple Spice drink called Spice Girls, and for all the Swifties out there, the Taylor Swift, a Vanilla Brown Sugar Chai tea latte.
These days, the Martinezes are starting the think outside the donut box when it comes to their business. Among the ideas they’d like to try down the road are serving ice cream and bagels, donut-themed hamburgers and chicken sandwiches (substituting donuts for buns), and showcasing local artists’ work.
“When you have a business, you want to keep your customers happy and have them come back for more,” Paz said.
“It was his dream, and he followed through with it, and here we are,” Roberta said. “It’s something that’s checked off a bucket list. He set out and did it. A lot of thought went into this for him.” n
Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
Rock-Star Donuts, 121 E. Third St. in Sterling, is open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday. Find it on Facebook or call 815-6323110 for bulk orders or for more information.
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NELSON —When it comes to the name of a the game, it’s pretty much a toss-up: People either call it cornhole or call it bags — and whether it’s a game or a sport? That depends on who you ask, too.
Casual backyard baggers are more apt to call it a game. To top-notch tossers though, it’s more like a sport. The object of the game is simple: See how many points can you collect, or prevent the other player from collecting, by lobbing bean bags underhand onto boards 27 feet apart. But the object of the sport takes a little more finesse. There’s an offense — the skill of throwing bean bags onto the right spot on a sloped board, or through the hole — and there’s a defense — the strategy of preventing bags from landing on a particular spot.
to p. 24
There’s also a lot of fun involved. Throw all those things into one bag and what do you get? A group of local cornhole players who get together to keep things loose while they keep their game sharp: 815 Twin City Baggers, a group of some of Sauk Valley’s best bag throwers who get together every Wednesday in Nelson to hone their skills against experts and novices alike, and compete in tournaments
Some club members have sharpened their skills well enough to be recognized throughout the Midwest and nation, and many have even earned cash prizes.
Club director Steve Boelter was part of the original group that formed in 2017, and since becoming in charge of it has expanded its reach from being at smaller gatherings to notable tourism festivals.
“When I started to get my feet wet in helping to run it, we were only doing two tournaments a year,” Boelter said. “The first year I took over, we did 44; now we’re doing 30 to 35.”
The club sets up cornhole tourna-
ments at local and regional events and fields competitors at them, as well as at tournaments run by other clubs. Boelter has set up events as far as the Chicago suburbs, and he and club members have played at Fort Wayne, Indiana, at an annual fundraiser for Hearing the Call, a nonprofit organization devoted to helping the hearing impaired. Boelter, originally from McHenry and now of Dixon, has worn hearing aids since he was in second grade.
BAGS cont’d to page 25
Steve Boelter, director of the 815 Twin City Baggers cornhole club, is a big fan of the benefits of bags. “It’s very addicting, just like any other sport,” he said. “It gives you exercise, and it’s not a lot of heavy activity. It keeps you moving, and I’m not overdoing myself.”
For decades, cornhole was simply a recreational game, but in recent years has grown in popularity, even spawning national associations and tournament coverage on ESPN. There’s a social aspect to the game, too.
“It’s a lot of fun because of all of the different people that you can meet,” Boelter said. “I know a lot of the pros that people see on ESPN. It’s about bringing people together. The competition is very strong, especially when you’re playing club against club.”
When the club began, it held events at a handful of bars in Sterling and Rock Falls, but moved to a one-stop shop in 2021: at Parties on Pope, an events center in Nelson. Wednesday nights there are “open gym” sessions in the former Nelson Elementary School gymnasium, where club members practice their game, and where those who just enjoy playing the game — or want to start — can play and compete with others. Scores are kept through electronic tablets and winners are recognized. Registration begins at 6:15 p.m., with bags flying at 7; the cost is $10. Most Wednesdays have around 30 people show
up to play.
“It’s considered practice for a majority of us, but anyone is welcome to come: backyard player, first-time thrower or pro,” Boelter said. “You have the leisure of almost four hours of beating each other’s butts in bags.”
The game has several scoring variations, but the club follows the most common. Boards are 27 feet apart, and teams of two throw from opposite sides. During each round, each thrower alternates tossing four bags at the board; those that land on the board score 1 point, and those through a hole get 3 points. If a player’s bag lands on the board and their opponent’s also lands on the board, their point is canceled out; for example, if Player A lands four bags on the board and Player B lands three, Player A finishes with one point. After all bags are thrown, points from each round are tallied into inning points, and the duo that reaches 21 points first wins the match.
A little confused? Don’t fret — those who throw and are in the know are happy to lend an hand to newcomers to help grow the game.
“Every one of us, no matter where we’re at, if it’s a meet here on Wednesday night or at an event on a Saturday or Sunday, our club members are helping the new people,” Boelter said. “Everyone comes in and helps. We do everything by tablet for scoring, and if you don’t know how to work the tablet, we’ll help show you how to do it.”
The object of the game is pretty much like horseshoes, Boelter said: A thrower can be on a great run, but one wrong toss can make it hard to get back on track. A good aim is key to scoring points, and preventing others from scoring points.
BAGS cont’d to page 27
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Players get in some time with the boards and bags at Parties on Pope in Nelson. Clockwise from top left: Jen Winters of Dixon; David Gonzalez of Rock Falls; Parties on Pope owner Dave DeVries of Nelson (left) and Cory DeMay of Prophetstown; Kyle Henson of Sterling (left) and Marvin Pineda of Rochelle; and Daniel Sotelo (left) and Wade Winters, both of Dixon.
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“This game is all mental,” Boelter said. “It becomes muscle memory for your arm, but it’s all mental. You can be dead-on all night long, but if you have one hiccup of a mental issue, you can take yourself out of the game for the rest of the night. A lot of people struggle with that mental part — I do, too. I know that when I shoot crappy, it gets in my head; sometimes I can correct it right away and if I don’t I’m done for the rest of the night.”
Each Wednesday session also has a side challenge, “Airmail,” where throwers try to throw bags into a small metal vase from nearly 30 feet away for a rollover cash prize, which was nearly $2,000 as of late September. Tickets for chances at the challenge are sold at each session, and two drawings are made, one for three throws and one for just a single toss.
Participants on most Wednesdays range from teenagers to retirees. Daniel Sotelo of Dixon is one of the youngest Wednesday night regulars. The 15-year-old doesn’t let his youth bother him when going up against more experienced opponents, he said, and when he one-ups them, it helps give his confidence a boost.
Sotelo hopes to achieve pro status one day, something attained already by club member Isidro Herrera, formerly of Sterling and now of Mendota, and a status that a handful of others are close to achieving.
“I like the competitiveness of it and going all around throwing and having fun,” Sotelo said. “You make a lot of friends, talk a little bit of smack here and there, and have a lot of fun.”
As for Herrera, he’s a professional in the American Cornhole League, and as of mid-September is ranked among the top 50 players nationwide. He ranks fourth-best in the league in points per round, with an average of 10.24 in sanctioned competition, and eighth in four-bagger percentage (landing all four bags through the hole), at 44.40%.
Jen Winters of Dixon looks at playing cornhole as a way to keep in a competitive mindset. She used to engage in Tai Kwan Do as a young adult before the rigors ultimately caught up to her, she said. Throwing bags isn’t as much physical work, but there’s a methodical mentality to it that she enjoys.
“There’s a lot of strategy in it,” Winters said. “People who play in the back yard just throw it in the hole, but when you’re in the professional or competitive part of it, you have strategies to block the hole, go around the hole, trying to knock their bag off the board, and there are other complicated strategies.”
Winters also enjoys meeting new people and making friends.
“The Twin City Baggers are like a family,” she said. “It’s not just a group of people that comes together; it’s kind of like a second family. We spend a lot of time together, we travel to a lot of different tournaments, and enjoy each other’s company. That, and we get to throw bags, which is what we all love, so it’s fantastic.”
BAGS cont’d to page 28
BAGS cont’d from page 27
Having a permanent home at Parties on Pope instead of having to haul boards and equipment from one place to another was a welcome change for Boelter, even if the new home was a little outside the Twin Cities and a short trip across the Whiteside-Lee county line.
“It used to be one week we were in Sterling and
another in Rock Falls, and that became a pain in the butt,” Boelter said. “This place has been a godsend. Having a central location to have anyone come here and play, and that’s awesome.”
Dave DeVries, owner of Parties on Pope and The Classroom Bar and Lounge, was more than happy to have the club make his business the club hub.
BAGS cont’d to page 29
DeVries and his wife Tracy opened Parties on Pope in 2018 and the bar and lounge three years later; the events venue formerly was the gymnasium for the Nelson School, and the bar and lounge was one of its classrooms. Once home to Nelson Blue Raiders sports teams, the dribbles of basketballs and slams of volleyballs have been replaced with the sounds of bean bags plopping on boards.
DeVries also throws on Wednesday nights and enjoys the competition while his bartenders tend to business.
“The people are fantastic and they’re all great,” DeVries said. “It’s been great to have them here once a week. When you grew up you were very competitive, and now there’s not many things you can do anymore to be competitive, but this is one of them.”
Cornhole’s recent rise in popularity has affected the club in different ways: More local people are interested, Boelter said, but that doesn’t necessarily mean more members. Other new clubs offset any significant rise in membership. Boelter knows of a club in DeKalb County that has many teenagers who have traded in their bats and gloves of travel baseball for full-time bag throwing, he said.
Boelter also would like to see a large-scale tournament come to the area in the future, and growing the game and club is a way to make that happen.
“We have a lot of good players and shooters who play here,” Boelter said. “One of the biggest things that I love the most is watching the guys who start out, and six months or a year later they’re killing it. I like watching people grow and get better.” n
Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
aria Rocha has come a long way in the restaurant business.
It’s a career path that started in her family’s kitchen when she was growing up in Mexico, led her to a restaurant in one of the country’s largest cities, on to the kitchen of a Sterling restaurant, and finally, to her own business — and that was all in the just the first 15 years of her journey.
Today, she’s bringing her Mexican menu to diners downtown, at El Jacalito, where she recently relocated her business that had made a home in the town’s West End since 2000.
El Jacalito is Spanish for “the shack,” but don’t let the translation fool you — Rocha’s family restaurant is far from a shack: The bigger and better location is in one of downtown’s more stately storefronts: a former bank with distinctive Greek columns welcoming people through the front doors on East Third Street.
EL JACALITO cont’d to page 32
Maria Rocha (left) and her two sons, Antonio and Octavio Flores, own El Jacalito in downtown Sterling. The restaurant serves Mexican fare, and opened at its current location on Dec. 1, 2023, after more than 20 years on the west end of town.
The new location, which opened this past Dec. 1, is the culmination of more than two decades of Rocha’s hard work carrying on family recipes and coming up with her own, which has kept customers coming back for more. Rocha is enjoying seeing familiar faces and welcoming new ones to the restaurant, which she owns with sons Antonio and Octavio Flores.
“It’s been almost a year here, and we’ve had so many nice experiences with all our customers,” Rocha said. “With our new customers, I’ve seen everyone so happy. A lot of people like to come here to celebrate anything, all of the time, and it makes me so happy. A lot of new customers had never been to our old place, and some have told me, ‘See, you needed a better location.’”
With more than 50 different menu items — from appetizers to dinners to breakfast options and more — there’s a lot to make customers happy. Tacos, burritos, enchiladas, chimichangas, tamales and fajitas make up much of the menu, along with a shrimp and fish seafood selection and breakfast favorites such as huevos rancheros (eggs over easy with hot sauce) and chilaquiles (tortilla chips mixed with egg, salsa and cheese).
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Maria (above, right) says that El Jacalito’s new location has been a “dream come true” — more space, a prime location downtown, and a full-size bar, something she’s always wanted. There’s also plenty of space for her to welcome customers and chat with them, something she enjoys doing. “We have really, really nice customers.” she said.
Rocha and her cooks get a lot of orders for carne asada and birria tacos. The carne asada is a grilled steak garnished with green onions and guacamole; the dinner plate also is served with an enchilada. The taco birria is also sold as a dinner option, with its special sauce served in a small cup on the side to dip or pour over the birria meat. There a lot of types of taco birria, Rocha said, but what makes hers special is, well, it’s a secret — recipe, that is. Other special sauces are used to simmer the meats in, such as with the carne guisada (pork) and loma en chile de arbol (beef) dinners.
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Other tacos come with a variety of meats, including ground beef, roasted or marinated pork, chorizo, chitterlings, beef tongue, and an Alabmre combination of steak, bacon, ham, onion and cheese. Can’t decide between having a taco, tostada, burrito, enchilada, quesadilla or tamale? No problem, a combination dinner dish with three of any is available, and all dinner options come with rice, beans and tortillas.
The combo dish is a favorite of Rocha’s niece, Stephanie Abarca, who enjoys stopping by and hanging out with her family while having a meal.
“I like coming here because it’s very homey and comfortable,” Abarca said. “The staff is always friendly and the food is always great.”
Rocha returns to Mexico on occasion and sometimes comes back with a new recipe to add to the menu. She also gets creative with cuisine in her home kitchen, coming up with new ideas, including one she’s currently working on that may find a spot on the menu: a dish with steak, shrimp and melted cheese.
“I like to do newer recipes all of the time,” Rocha said. “We were cooking one day at my
house, and I said that I wanted to invent something,” Rocha said. “I started cooking and I made the steak and put jalapeños and tomatoes in, and decided I wanted to put something else in it, so I added some shrimp. Then I went, ‘Okay, how about a little cheese?’ It came out so good, and I said, ‘This is my new plate!’”
It’s that sort of dedication to dining — making meals, meeting people and making them happy — that’s made cooking a lifetime love for Rocha, who said she can’t imagine doing anything else.
“I love to cook,” Rocha said. “I enjoy it a lot. I remember when I was little, probably seven years old, I always helped my mom to cook. It was something that would always get my attention.”
Rocha began cooking with her mother as a teenager in Llano del Carmen, a small town in the state of San Luis Potosi in central Mexico. She later worked at a restaurant in San Luis Potosi City before coming to Sterling in the 1980s, where she worked in the kitchen at Willy’s Restaurant – which, at the time, had moved into the former Jennie’s grocery store in the Steelton subdivision.
After leaving the restaurant business for a short time, Rocha came upon an opportunity to purchase another Mexican restaurant at a plaza on West Fourth Street in 2000. El Jacalito opened that Oct. 15 and remained there for 23 years. The first three years “were really hard,” she said, “but I was going to be patient and not give up.” That patience paid off and the restaurant found its footing — and then she took another big step. She’d been keeping an eye out for a bigger location when she learned that the owners of Smoked on 3rd would be retiring and the building would be available.
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Once the Smoked cleared, she did some work on the interior, brightening up the walls and bringing her own touch to the decor before opening her doors. She also added more staff. With the new location, Rocha not only had more space for customers, but she was able to have a full bar.
El Jacalito, 14 E. Third St., Sterling, is open 10 a.m.-9 p.m. TuesdayFriday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. Find it on Facebook or call 815625-3404 to place a carryout order or for more information.
“I’d trying to look for a bigger place for 3 or 4 years,” Rocha said. “One day I just drove by and saw the For Sale sign on the window.” When she called the real estate agent and took a tour of the building, she knew she had found what she was looking for. “When I walked in here, I said, ‘Oh my God, this is me!’ This is what I’m looking for. The first thing that blew my mind was the full bar. Then I looked around and had so many ideas, and I got excited.”
More space has also allowed her to have an impact on the community: The restaurant has hosted several music and art performances since relocating downtown; one of its first was a paint party
for Primitive Frills on April 15, where 43 artists gathered to create their visions of Tejano singer Selena, (whose birthday would have been the next day if not for the young singer’s death in 1995).
Rocha also contracts with a Florida company to provide meals to migrant workers it employs in local cornfields, something she’s has been doing for 10 years. Last year, she fed around 240 employees, and another 100 more this year.
The restaurant also caters large orders to businesses, schools and parties, giving Rocha a chance to really roll up her sleeves, which she enjoys, she said. Prior to the move downtown, a Sunday brunch buffet once was offered, and Rocha hopes to bring that back to the fold soon.
Rocha considers the move downtown “a dream come true,” she said, with customers not only enjoying her meals, but the friendly atmosphere, too; some customers wind up staying for two or three hours, she said.
“We were on the West End for 23 years, and soon it will be one year here at this place,” Rocha said. “We’re so happy with the new location and with the customers, too. We want to say ‘Thank you’ to everyone as we bring authentic Mexican food to the Sauk Valley. Now my two sons are with me, and I hope we can keeping doing it for a long time. We would love to do that. We have really, really nice customers.” n Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
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a changing world where children turn to touch screens and tablets for fun, Jackie and Les Payne believe there’s nothing quite like a good old-fashioned toy in your hand — the tangible over the technical that fills a child’s mind with wonder and lets them create worlds where they can tell their own toy stories.
There’s something special about rolling a car or tractor on the floor, tapping tokens on a game board or hugging a plush doll that you don’t get from tapping and swiping, and the Sterling couple is happy to help families find that something special in their shop at the Northland Mall, The Toy Store.
It’s there that kids can come in with eyes wide open, dazzled and delighted by a store stuffed full of keys that will unlock their imagination — toys and games, books and pictures, dinosaurs and dragons, warm fuzzies and cool cars. And behind the counter, a simple suggestion: “Let’s play.”
Jackie and Les want to show kids that they don’t have to see the world through a screen window. CODYCUTTER/CCUTTER@SHAWMEDIA
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Kids don’t need technology to take them to the land of makebelieve, they just need to make up their own toy stories, and Jackie and Les Payne can help them, at their shop, The Toy Store.
“Our main theme with all of our toys is screen-free,” Jackie said. Taking a toy in hand and believing in the make-believe has a unique dynamic that can help with a child’s development, she said.
“We truly believe that kids and their families need to get out and be active and interact with each other — get off the phone, get off the video games — there are other things to do.”
Jackie Payne demonstrates a paper cow at The Toy Store. It’s just one of the many members of the animal kingdom that can be found at the shop. It’s like the fun of having a pet without all the responsibility of raising one.
CODYCUTTER/CCUT
The Paynes, who also own another mall business, Bushel Basket Candle Co., opened The Toy Store in June 2022, with much of its inventory consisting of items not often found at the big box stores, with a selection offering something for kids from toddlers to teens — and even if you’re older, there’s sure to be something there that’ll put a smile on your face and bring out the kid at heart when you see a toy you used to play with when you were a kid.
The classics are there — like Hot Wheels cars — along with food for thought, like the Ramen noodle slime science kit, the kind of toy that encourages kids to use their noodle for a science lesson. While you’re in the kitchen, you can put a Warmie stuffed animal in the microwave so you can feel all warm and fuzzy. There’s pun fun with a mushroom that proclaims “I’m a fungi,”
Flat 2 Fast race cars that zoom with the push of a button, and a “boink” fidget toy that looks like a finger trap, but bounces around each time it’s squeezed.
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TOY STORE cont’d from page 39
Puzzles — which “are very useful in eye-hand coordination, learning and problem solving, and self-confidence when they put them together,” Jackie said — and board games are also on hand, for ages 2 through adult, ranging from simple puzzles to trivia games.
The Payne’s mindful mission has found a welcoming audience with local teachers, who’ve turned to Jackie for help coming up with toys and games that they can use in their classroom.
“We’re all about fun, mental health and making life better for kids and families,” Jackie said.
Among the toys that make learning fun at The Toy Store are the Slime Noodles. According the manufacturer, kids can “witness the mesmerizing transformation as liquids morph into curly, ramen-inspired noodles right before [their] eyes.” The lessons learned about the world of cross-linked polymers are “instant Noodle Magic!” Or, if you prefer sweet over science, try a Slime Licker, sour liquid candy — it rolls right on the tongue!
The store also offers free gift wrapping, layaway, helium balloons and a children’s gift registry — they can come and fill a box of items they would like, and relatives and friends can come in and pick out stuff from that box.
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A Fresh Start for Your Home...
Need something plush for playtime? The Toy Store has plenty (right). If it’s something warm and fuzzy you want, you’ll find those too: Warmies (below), a stuffed animal that can be heated in the microwave, or chilled in the freezer, to provide therapeutic comfort, such as helping a child relax, or giving them a soft friend
The goal is to have something for all ages, Jackie said.
“It’s so fun to watch kids come in for the first time, and their eyes just pop,” Jackie said. “It’s so cool to see that. It’s really cool, too, to see their grandparents come in and they’re overwhelmed and don’t know what to get, but we can walk them through that and find something that’s unique and try to open up the world.”
toy soon to hit the store’s shelves: She won a design contest in February 2023 through Project Open Squish, a contest by plush toy manufacturer Squishable, for a “Mooshroom” plush toy, a hybrid of a cow and mushroom.
The Paynes are mindful of children who may have a difficult time experiencing a trip to the toy store, or playing with certain toys. For those with sensory challenges, the Paynes can arrange special times to open the store to offer a more calming environment to help those children navigate and experience shopping and learning.
“We’ll have a family call us and say they really want to bring their child in, but it needs to be a calmer environment,” Jackie said. “We’ll have them come in after hours, and we turn off the music and some of the lights and make it more soothing for them. Then they can shop and spend time with their family for whenever they need. It’s been really neat for some of these kids.”
In recent years, some manufacturers have made toys from materials that are hypoallergenic, and free of toxins, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and bisphenol A (BPA), which can cause issues in young children. Those toys are also dishwasher safe. Carrying these more health-conscious toys has helped bring more customers in to The Toy Store. TOY STORE cont’d from page 40 TOY STORE cont’d to page 43
Along with a whole store of toys, there’s also wall-to-wall sights that’ll keep kids’ eyes popping. Jessica Payne, Jackie and Les’ daughter, designed a pop-art tree on one of the walls and painted a nighttime cityscape scene at the rear of the store. Jessica also works behind the counter on Saturdays, and has even designed a plush
Local Drinks
The Toy Store is located at Northland Mall, 2900 E. Lincolnway in Sterling; it is open noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, noon to 7 p.m. on Friday, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. Find it on Facebook or call 815622-5996 for more information.
“It’s good because so many kids now have allergies that we didn’t have 5, 10 or 20 years ago,” Jackie said. “I know a grandmother who shops here because her little one is allergic to PVC, and there are PVCs in so many things now that any exposure that we can cut down on is a very good thing.”
As the owners of two shops in the mall, and having seen their share of changes there during the past 15 years, the Paynes have taken a personal interest in the success of the mall, which was a go-to shopping destination during its heyday in the ’70s and ’80s. They opened the Bushel Basket, which sells homemade candles and home decor, in 2009 after making candles in their basement at home since 2001.
When one of the former owners, Brookwood Capital, bought the mall in 2022, it made an offer to the Paynes to rent another store space.
They were hesitant at first, but dove in when the offer was right.
But what to put in there? Les had an idea.
“We made it through Covid, retail was doing good and I was doing a lot of retail coaching that made me feel good about doing something else,” Jackie said. “With everything they offered, I felt like we should take advantage of this opportunity, but what would we do? Jessica wanted a book store, we tossed out clothing and other ideas, and Les said, ‘What about a toy store?’ I could wrap my head around that.”
In the two years since The Toy Store opened, the Paynes have stayed true to their goal of bringing learning, creativity, and growth together with the joy of a toy.
“There’s a lot of interactive toys here,” Jackie said. “We’re trying to bring the fun and wonder back.” n Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
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