DuPage Boomers launches website
May 20, 2011 2:32PM
Updated: September 24, 2012 6:25AM
DuPage Boomers launches website
If you born between the years 1946 and 1964, the DuPage Boomers invites you to celebrate being a Baby Boomer. In partnership with nine DuPage park districts, including Naperville, the group promotes healthy lifestyles and offers a variety of programs.
Visit www.dupageboomers.com for a full lineup of programs. More than 20 programs will be offered each season.
Visit St. James Farm Homecoming event
Explore St. James Farm Forest Preserve in Warrenville during a Homecoming Celebration from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday
Enjoy horse and riding demonstrations by local horse enthusiasts. Take a guided tour featuring the estate’s commissioned art pieces from contemporary fountains to bronze statues. See the 1920s dairy barn that housed a state-of-the-art dairy operation. Enjoy archery, fishing, children’s activities, pony rides for children ages 12 and younger and hay wagon rides throughout the day.
Admission and parking are free, though some activities have a fee of $5 per family. Food and beverages will be available for purchase.
The 607-acre preserve, owned and operated by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, is open to hikers, bicyclists and horseback riders daily from June through November. Call 630-933-7248
Cavalry flag restoration
within reach at museum
The DuPage County Historical Museum, 102 E. Wesley St., Wheaton, plans to restore a guidon flag carried by a DuPage County regiment during the Civil War. The swallowtail flag was carried by the 8th Illinois Cavalry, which fought with the Army of the Potomac and participated in the battle of Gettysburg. A member of the 8th Cavalry, Marcellus Jones of Wheaton, fired the first shot at Gettysburg.
With an estimated restoration cost of $20,000, the museum has planned manyevents and initiatives to raise the funds. Both Col. James Pritzker and Euclid Beverage donated $2,000 each to the project. Wheaton Bank and Trust pledged support with a $500 donation. An anonymous donor, who had a relative in the 8th Illinois Cavalry, agreed to provide matching funds for all donations received making the restoration effort within reach.
Raffle tickets can be purchased at the museum for $5 each or four tickets for $20.
The fundraiser is in conjunction with a new exhibit, “DuPage County and the Civil War: A Local Perspective,” and the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the war.
Visit www.dupagemuseum.org or call 630-510-4941.
Library of Congress picks settlement website
The United States Library of Congress selected Naper Settlement’s Civil War Days website, at http://bit.ly/jmRWKO, to be part of the historic collection of Internet materials related to the American Civil War sesquicentennial.
The Library of Congress preserves the nation’s cultural artifacts and provides enduring access to them. The library will make this collection available to researchers at library facilities and, by special arrangement, to scholarly research institutions, as well as the library’s public access website.
Naper Settlement has programs planned to commemorate the Civil War sesquicentennial, including “Walking with Soldiers: The Civil War Tour” on June 26, and the Civil War Sesquicentennial Series that includes “Rally ’Round the Flag” on Sept. 25 and “Naperville and the Civil War” on Oct. 16. The series is made possible in part by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly.
