Ding! Ding! Ding!

Holiday season traditions such as Christmas concerts may not survive the COVID social distancing test for large gatherings, yet any holiday traditions we can hold onto may give us the feeling of hope this Thanksgiving and Christmas. A small red pot dangling from a pole symbolizes the hope our community can come together and support those in need. However, the Salvation Army of McHenry County won’t have enough of those “small red pots dangling from a pole” manned to meet their goal if volunteers don’t sign up soon to ring bells for the Red Kettle campaign.

Oh, brother!

Just after 8 p.m. on a December night in 2019, Robin Rinaldi-Esta composed a private Facebook message, took a deep breath, and pressed “send.”

“I wrote, ‘I think you are my brother. You look exactly like my Dad,’” remembers Rinaldi-Esta.

Parkside Pub describes the highs and lows of Covid-era restaurant life

“Could I have five more ketchup packets?”

A customer at Parkside Pub in Huntley was just served a burger and fries and caught the server’s attention. The customer figured two ketchup packets on her plate weren’t enough. The number of ketchup packets served to a customer won’t break a restaurant’s budget but it’s part of the complete picture of COVID related costs for restaurants and how restaurants struggle to stay on budget.

Pebbles painted with positivity popping up around Sun City streets

Painted rocks? The idea is simple: get a rock, paint it, hide it, and then leave a hint on Facebook so others can find it. It’s a trend that is popping up all across the country.

In Huntley, Sun City residents post their treasure finds on The Facebook Page Wildflower Lake Neighbors in Huntley. Who is responsible for all those painted rocks hidden all over Sun City?

Sewing hope for the community

Dozens of sewing champions in Sun City have dusted off their sewing machines to make thousands of surgical masks this year. Marilyn McIntyre said, “Even though formal charter club activities have been suspended during the pandemic, members of the Sew ‘n Sews club have been working independently sewing, quilting, and knitting. It is estimated that a number of women made over 5,000 masks during the spring from the fabric they had on hand.

Not your parents’ pumpkin patch

Fall festivals are favorites for many families, but along with the pumpkins and hayrides is a harvest of new restrictions thanks to COVID-19.

“We cannot have our bouncies, like our pumpkin jumper or inflatable train,” said Liz Halat from Tom’s Farm Market in Huntley.

You can’t have your cake and read it, too

Jo Kinyon Geary has fans all over Sun City, her workplace, and among friends and family. Geary creates cakes that are works of art.

For the interview, Geary was prepared with a visual presentation of her creativity. The cake was a replica of the last edition of the Sun Day newspaper. Geary said, “The yellow cake is filled with custard. The Sun Day article was printed with edible ink on rice paper.”

‘Dill’ with it

You might have noticed the announcements by Sun City announcing the Perk-N-Pickle at Pavilion Circle Drive every Friday or seen the Food Truck parked there.

Justin and Alicia, the owners, keep busy. They have been serving up food at a constant rate from 11 to 7 p.m.

Labor Day weekend provides economic checkpoint

With the emergence of the Coronavirus Pandemic, the Labor Day observance may be subdued nationwide, but creativity, adaptability, and resilience in places such as the Village of Huntley will keep the focus on honoring worker contributions. Yet, continued reports of positive cases of COVID-19 in Illinois have given us so many reasons for pessimism for an economic recovery and job picture. That’s why any victories with the economy give us a ray of optimism for a rebounding job market.

The funny bones

Indeed, like most traits, our sense of humor is influenced not only by genetics but also by environmental factors like upbringing, culture, and social circle.

Sun City resident Jacque Stashwick is a woman who loves to get a laugh, loves to tell a story, and loves to have fun talking to you.

Introducing My Huntley News

I’d like to introduce you to our new endeavor My Huntley News (or myhuntleynews.com), a fully digital news publication dedicated to covering the Village of Huntley on a hyper-local level.

Amidst pandemic, local farms open with bumper crop of precautions

Indulging in freshly picked produce from the farm stand is a summer rite of passage. But as with many seasonal traditions during the pandemic, new rules have taken root to keep this summer ritual safe.

‘Nun’ too predictable

You might not know her name, but if you have attended any concerts in Sun City, outdoor or indoor, you might have seen Juliana Krupka encourage residents to get up and dance to the music.

“We have music in our hearts,” Krupka said.

COVID-free…at last

After more than two months of fighting the COVID-19 virus, an Elgin family of four is thankful to be reunited after three of them contracted COVID-19.

Olivia Morales, 22, looks back on March 2020 with bemusement. “When everything was in lockdown and none of us were sick, we thought we were bored,” she said. “But that was nothing compared to this. We would rather be bored than have anyone experience anything like this.”

The butterfly effect

You may know Janet Graf from her stunning performances in the Sun City’s theatre productions. Outside of the theatre, Graf raises Monarchs. This year she has released around 95 butterflies.

“I find the eggs on a milkweed leaf, I break the leaf off and I put them in a glass container on my counter,” Graf said.

Ex-selling at beauty

Darlene Rutledge, a Sun City Resident, has worked at the same job for 47 years and continues to work at that job.

“I joined as a Mary Kay Consultant in Springfield area on April 1, 1973, to get out of the house a couple of times a week as a break from my 1 & 4-year-old with a big goal of making $30 profit a week, and I expected to quit. I was the first consultant and director in my hometown of Springfield, Illinois,” Rutledge said.

The email blast went out to residents. Clubs contacted their members, and neighborhood captains encouraged their neighbors and individuals got their plans together.

Sun City resident’s dream job right on track

When Sun City resident and model railroad aficionado Mike Ptak landed the train engineer role at Goebbert’s farm, he didn’t know he would be immortalized in a children’s book; now he and local author Deb Skog are both living the dream.

The Call of the Wild

“T’ree vair’ good dogs,” Francois told Perrault. “Dat Buck, heem pool lak hell. I tich heem queek as anyt’ing.” Maybe you’ll instantly recognize this dialogue from the classic book, The Call of the Wild, by Jack London. The Call of the Wild is described as a short adventure novel, published in 1903. The book is …

Sun City residents support hospital staff with meal donations

While traditional volunteer opportunities have been canceled, in times of crisis, we all want to help. Sun City Residents have responded by running errands for neighbors, making masks, and providing meals for the busy staff at Northwestern Hospital in Huntley.

Sandy White had an idea.

Park & Watch

Although some might see drive-in movie theaters as a relic from the past, others like Sun City resident, Diane Scott, see them as a family friendly form of entertainment bringing back memories to a time when she and her siblings could enjoy a film outdoors in their family car while wearing their pajamas and enjoying familiar movie snacks.

While popularity in such theaters has dwindled, drive-ins, such as the Golden Age Cinema in McHenry, have seen a recent surge in attendance during the COVID-19 pandemic due to not having the same limitations of mass gatherings like their indoor counterparts.

U.S. Citizenship Application Delayed Even Further by COVID-19 Closures

In April, Jenny Reynoso celebrated her 18th birthday. A senior at St. Edward Central Catholic High School, Reynoso was home in Elgin, much like the rest of students in the U.S, learning remotely in compliance with shelter-in-place orders because of COVID-19.

Sun City ‘Zooms’ through board meetings

For Sun City’s Board of Directors, meetings to discuss important topics within the community will continue on as usual.

The method in which the most current meeting was conducted, however, is an entirely different story.

Mask maker, mask maker, make me a mask

Sandy Oslance, Lifestyle Coordinator said, “Following the ‘Stay at Home’ order, Tom Fitzpatrick, a Sun City Huntley resident and Neighborhood Watch Captain, had an idea to help supply face masks to various organizations such as home health care and hospice organizations, food pantries, Senior Care Volunteer Network, etc. He shared his idea with his neighbor and friend, Marie Frostman who he knew enjoyed sewing, and shortly after, the ‘Huntley Strong Hometown Heroes Project was born made up of approximately 45 women who sew.”

Local college grad helps create MCDH COVID resource guide

You really don’t have to look very far for examples of people helping others amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In the medical field, nurses, doctors, and paramedics are helping on the front lines. Whether it’s on the front lines or behind the lines, the war on COVID-19 has drawn the attention of mostly everyone with medical training. From the field of public health, the McHenry County Department of Health and the health departments in Kane, Lake, DuPage, Will, and Cook Counties, are facing serious challenges every day.

Field day

Marcia Kmet, Sun City resident, grandmother of 11, and great-grandmother of four, was filling up her car at the gas station last week. Something very strange happened next.

“A woman came over and asked me for my autograph,” Kmet said.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of health information

A slow erosion of our liberties is a price we’re paying for coming out the other end on the coronavirus pandemic. Some of our civil liberties may be eroded; it’s just too early to tell for how long. However, the list of what we are not allowed to do seems to be getting longer based on the governor of each state reacting to the numbers of coronavirus cases. Right or wrong, our fundamental belief in medical privacy called HIPAA is the latest target for eroded rights.

Put on a happy face

If you happen to get in your car and drive through Sun City, most likely you may only see a couple of cars, an empty parking lot at the Lodge, and a few people walking.

But you also might see resident Todd Kane, sporting a rainbow top hat to match his Skittle-colored beard, smiling and holding a sign that says, “Don’t Worry Be Happy.”

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