McHenry County News FRE
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11512 N. 2nd ST. • MACHESNEY PARK, IL 61115 • (815) 654-4850 • www.McHenrycountynewspaper.com Display Advertising & Classifieds: 815-654-4850 • Circulation: 815-654-4854 • E-mail:McHenrynews@rvpublishing.com
Volume 6 Issue 30
WOODSTOCK CAR WASH N O W O P E N
• 3 Heated Bays • Brand New Vacuums • Automatic Wash Now Open • 7’ High and Large Enough for Dually Pickup Trucks
218 Fair Street, Woodstock, IL (Behind McDonalds)
239731
JULY 21, 2016
31st Annual Heritage Fair By Anne Eickstadt CORRESPONDENT
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here’s something for everyone at the Heritage Fair at the McHenry County Historical Museum on Sunday, July 10. “What color yellow dog do you want?” balloon artist John ‘Doc’ Morrissy asks. Doc is with Freddy Fredericks & Friends who are doing balloon creations and magic for this event. A new Pioneer Discovery area for children has been prepared. Bales of hay are being utilized as staging areas for a number of tasks and crafts that children in the early 1900s would doing on a daily basis. Kids get hands-on with a hand-crank egg beater and flour sifter, they practice doing laundry with a washboard and a wringer then hang the clothes on a drying rack. They can make rag dolls, corn husk brooms and wooden name tags. The Heritage Fair is hosting its third Car Show this year with TJ’s Klassics organizing over 100 entrants. It is the largest car show at the Heritage Fair to date. Twenty top prizes are being awarded including ‘Best of Show’ and ‘Survivor’ – a vehicle that has never been restored and is ‘fresh from the factory’ or as close to it as the years allow. Best of Show goes to Karin & Darryl McIntosh of Marengo for their 1969 AMC model AMX Javelin. The Clef Hangers Barbershop Quartet is entertaining the crowd as they wander around the area. AWS Certified Quilt Appraiser Sandy Schweitzer of Crystal Lake is sharing her knowledge of antique quilts to an appreciative group inside the McHenry County Historical Museum. The museum has a very impressive collection of antique quilts and guilt tops which are displayed on a rotating basis for all to see. Close by the quilt demonstration
is a display of antique bicycles in keeping with this year’s fair theme of “Wheeling Through History”. Outside, a clear area on Washington Street beside the museum is drawing groups throughout the afternoon as the Illinois Wheelmen discuss and ride high wheel bikes. Visitors have the opportunity to ride the high wheels if they are brave enough. There are things to see and do everywhere you look. Boy Scouts are selling burgers and brats for lunch. The White Elephant Sale featuring vintage clothing, household items, furniture and an enormous quantity of books is packed with items and people buying them. The Garden Glitz Plant Sale offers flowers and greenery supplied by the McHenry County Master Gardeners. The James Mobile Museum holds the “McHenry County Enlists: The Great War” exhibit. The 1895 West Harmony one room school house houses the traditional Home Baked Pie Contest. The room is packed with spectators as the judges taste and score the pies. This year, the cherry pie baked by Jean Turner of Woodstock is the top winner. The pie is sold at the ongoing live auction the Fair hosts each year. Slices from the rest of the contest pies are sold at the Bake Sale tent next to the 1843 log cabin. The McHenry County Historical Society volunteers have done a bang up job again this year in organizing and running this event. Their next large event will be the MCHS’ 39th Annual Cider Festival on October 2, 2016. MCHS has a number of other presentation, displays and programs scheduled between now and then, so be sure to check them out online at www.mchenrycountyhistory.org or visit their Facebook page at McHenry County Historical Society. ANNE EICKSTADT PHOTO McHenry County News
(Right) Brooklyn Banaszak, age 3, of Hampshire learns to make a cornhusk broom, the same way it would have been built in the early 1900s. See more photos from The Heritage Fair on page 7.
Heading Up The Garden Path By Anne Eickstadt CORRESPONDENT
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lossoms and ornamental grasses sway in an intermittent breeze on Saturday, July 9. The edges of roads and streets are filled with parked cars as visitors arrive to enjoy local gardens. Eight gardens have been chosen for the McHenry County Master Gardeners 2016 Garden Walk. “Every year we try to have a nice variety of gardens for our visitors to view,” says Bonnie Altenburg, cochair of this event. “Besides the Demo Garden, we have a Beginner Garden, an Expert Garden, Suburban Walks – we have a nice variety.” “Our guests are looking for ideas that they can apply to their own yards,” co-chair Marianne Zito tells me. “We consider gardens that will offer our guests an opportunity to learn about flowers, trees and shrubs.” The Demonstration Garden is located at McHenry County College and is the start point of this year’s Garden Walk. It is cared for by Master Gardener volunteers and offers a bit of whimsy, a bit of practical and a constantly changing source of inspiration and ideas. In Huntley, the garden of Sharlene and Stan Stellmach has been included in the 2016 Garden Walk. “It’s ANNE EICKSTADT PHOTO McHenry County News been fun,” Sharlene says. “It’s like a party. You have Sharlene Stellmach and her dog Star relax in the shade for a moment to prepare and get everything ready. We had a section during the Master Gardeners Garden Walk.
that needed to be finished. This pushed us in the right direction. They [the Master Gardeners] helped a lot.” Marengo is home to a good half of this year’s Garden Walk sites. One of these is the garden of Howard and Sandra McCarthy. “I’m the idiot who does all this,” Howard confesses when we meet. “I’ve been in this house for 23 years. We moved out here and I started gardening. At first, it was just around the edges and around the house. “When I remarried, she [Sandra] said, ‘Maybe we can take the railing off the back porch. We’ll expand the view, then we need a water feature…’ “ Sandra tells me, “He said, ‘If I buy into this, we’re going to work it together.’ And we have. We have.” The McCarthy gardens have been recognized by the Conservation @ Home Program for its environmentally friendly landscape. “Native plants create a home for wildlife, improve the health of the soil, clean stormwater, attract birds and butterflies and can reduce the costs of yard maintenance,” states the sign placed on their yard by the Land Conservancy of McHenry County. “Gardening is a work of the heart,” says Jan Jetel, third co-chair of the Master Gardeners Garden Walk. “Being in this group, you learn something every time
See GARDEN PATH, Page 2