Above / The featured photo by Jo Lundeen taken in August 2001 depicts Jaycees and Jaycees Roosters, some of whom have been members of the service organization since 1955. Back then, the Jaycees Gazebo was a new amenity along the Riverwalk extension near the Washington Street Bridge. That photo became the first-ever cover photo for Positively Naperville to help promote Last Fling. Thanks, Jaycees!
Vivid memories of the dog days of August 2001 bring back images of an exciting time as we prepared to launch the first edition of Positively Naperville during Last Fling.
Thanks to the cooperation of the Naperville Jaycees and its aged-out Roosters (For some reason, it rhymes with Boosters!), members gathered for our first cover photo taken by Jo Lundeen to help promote their four-day family festival on Labor Day weekend.
That group photo by the Jaycees Gazebo along the then-new Riverwalk extension from the Washington Street Bridge to the Hillside Road Bridge is a constant reminder of the can-do community spirit that has been passed along from one generation to the next since the days Caption Joe Naper arrived along the banks of the DuPage River with his family in 1831.
Back in 2001, the Moser Tower with the 72-bell Millennium Carillon was barely a year old. Plans were in place to build the new Community Concert Center in Central Park. Naper Settlement looked forward to restoring Martin Mitchell Mansion to its original grandeur. The DuPage Children’s Museum was opening its doors. Visions for Fredenhagen Park, Main Street Promenade and Moser Plaza were yet to be architectural renderings.
Open spaces near 95th Street offered plenty of room for plans and development.
North Central College envisioned stages, stages and more stages for performing arts. And there was more!
Promoting shopping locally and the cultural arts to the growing population became our sales pitch.
Our city was developing to stand alone among many vibrant suburbs near Chicago, providing a plethora of reasons for Positively Naperville to become a preview of upcoming activities.
After a year of planning, we began laying out that first issue, one page at a time. We worked with a newspaper web press in Aurora (No web press operates in Naperville) that still accepted “cut and paste” pages. Every page of that first 8-page edition quickly filled up with news items and photos representing this remarkable city. And our enthusiasm for our work in progress kept us up at night.
Long story short, that fervor for publishing still is growing right now, today.
We thank our advertising sponsors, contributors, designers and readers that keep us moving forward. When we begin our 15th year in September, we’ll demonstrate that we still have issues as we offer a limited trial of additional news with more local sports coverage.
We aim to help folks pay attention to other issues, too.
Meanwhile, we know we failed to mention a number of other challenges that united us back in 2001 when we were high on plans for this independently-owned publication.
For sure, we don’t recall all the smacking, slapping and clapping to keep away the pesky mosquitoes that in recent weeks have bugged us every time we’ve walk our dog.
Finally, be prepared as students head back to school on Aug. 19 (District 203) and Aug. 20 (District 204).
See you in September at the 50th Naperville Jaycees Last Fling! Clap. Clap.
