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Naperville’s Century Walk will unveil ‘Best Friends’ on Aug. 17

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Century Walk will unveil its latest sculpture, “Best Friends,” created by award-winning artist Dale Rogers, beginning at 1PM Sun., Aug. 17, near the Naperville Park District Administration Building located at 320 W. Jackson Ave.

The dedication will include remarks by Brand Bobosky, President, Century Walk Corporation; Mayor A. George Pradel, Mayor of the City of Naperville; and Mike Reilly, President, Park District Board of Commissioners.

Architect’s Geoff Roehll, Senior VP, Hitchcock Design Group; and Bob Hursthouse, Hursthouse Landscape Architects & Contractors, also will be recognized. The ceremony will include comments from Tom Carroll, President, Naperville Area Humane Society Board; with recognition of Susie Simnick, Cleo Keller, Candy Knippenberg and NAHS Founding Members.

The sculpture will stand as a tribute to the first 35 years of the Naperville Area Humane Society, founded by Ardis McCallion and friends in 1979.

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On Aug. 17, a new Century Walk sculpture, “Best Friends,” was slated to be unveiled on a dog-bone-shaped foundation.

Attendees will see how the “bone” foundation that was poured on the spot to support the sculpture during recent dogs days will become the cat’s meow, just south of the Park District Administration Offices.

Excerpts from ‘NAHS Celebrates 35 Years’ by Gail Deidrichsen

Saving strays and homeless pets since 1979 / A little more than 35 years ago, a handful of citizens responded to a classified ad Ardis McCallion placed in the local newspaper. One such community member who did, Sharon Murphy, recalls that “Ardis’ ad invited fellow animal lovers to her home. Her goal was to organize a group to help abandoned pets in Naperville and I wanted to help.”

As luck would have it, Cleo Keller, who was then working in the advertising department of the Naperville Sun, loved animals and knew many people in town.  Her boss, Harold White, who was the owner, publisher and editor of the paper at that time, prodded her to attend Ardis’ meeting.

Cut from the same South Dakota, farm-girl cloth as Ardis, the duo formed a strong alliance.  Cleo wrote about the Humane Society often in her column, “Sun Spots,” and arranged for available pets to be spotlighted as “Pet of the Week” in the paper.  She also joined the society’s building committee and, to this day, she volunteers at the Shelter’s front desk.

As a paralegal, Ardis herself was knowledgeable about the legal aspects of starting a charitable organization and knew how to run an efficient office.  In 1979, she filed for recognition as an official nonprofit, paying for the registration fee out of her own pocket and giving herself a second fulltime job – without pay.  In time, the all-volunteer group, working from dining room tables, basements and garages, using their own phone lines and depending on foster homes to care for orphaned animals, came to a crossroad.  As the population exploded, it became evident that Naperville needed a shelter.

With the guidance of the late Ward Sterns, then the president of Harris Bank Naperville, and the generous support of several philanthropic community members, Ardis and her volunteers finally moved into the shelter at 1620 W. Diehl Road – and from the very first day it opened in February 1988, it has been constantly full!

Little did the small group that gathered all those years ago know what a long, hard and very ambitious journey it would be.  Their eventual destination surpassed their intended goal to help stray pets in Naperville and the organization has now become an integral part of the community.

The Summer 2014 Issue of West Suburban Dog Magazine

Naperville Loves a Parade

Another Century Walk mural, “Naperville Loves a Parade,” also depicts many best friends in the community. In fact, the dedication of the two parade murals that line both sides Rubins Way, just west of S. Main Street, will take place after the Labor Day Parade on Mon., Sept. 1.

Since the community was first welcomed to join the crowd in the spring of 2011, PN has chronicled “Naperville Loves a Parade.”  To see other parade-related posts with photos, click here.

Meanwhile, below are a few photos featuring a few of the dogs in “Naperville Loves a Parade,” taken on Aug. 16 in downtown Naperville.

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Dogs are part of the crowd in “Naperville Loves a Parade” along Rubins Way.
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Karl-the-girl-dog arrived on the parade scene back in the summer of 2011.
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Marge and John Matsock’s pup rests on Ed Channell’s shoulder, another early dog entry among the spectators in “Naperville Loves a Parade.”
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In between the Rubin-family dog at the beginning and the Dalmatian at the end, take a stroll to find many dogs featured in the Naperville parade-watching scene.
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Local residents donated funds for their portraitures and pets’ images to become part of the local parade scene. All the folks at Century Walk Corporation are pleased with the community’s support of “Naperville Loves a Parade.”

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PN Editor
PN Editor
An editor is someone who prepares content for publishing. It entered English, the American Language, via French. Its modern sense for newspapers has been around since about 1800.

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