Above / The Farmers Plaza at Eagle Street entrance to the Riverwalk is being enhanced with a tribute to Cliff Preston for his 35-plus years of faithful contributions to Naperville’s natural treasure in the heart of the city. (PN Photo April 28, 2017)
UPDATE June 21, 2017 / Happy Summer!
Today the Riverwalk Foundation announced that the Cliff Preston Tribute located in the Farmers Plaza along the Riverwalk will be dedicated with the Preston family and friends at 10AM Sat., July 15. The public is welcome.
Above / The view from the Farmers Plaza toward Moser Tower is a showcase of this city’s rural heritage, memories and community spirit that built the Riverwalk brick by brick, enhancement by enhancement.
UPDATE May 1, 2017 / Happy May Day!
Above /Â Finally a little sunshine on the progress at the Cliff Preston Tribute in the Farmers Plaza along the Riverwalk. (PN Photo 8AM May 1, 2017)
Early Thursday morning a five-man crew from Sebert Landscaping began digging the area recently cleared in order to install five trees, create a rock wall and place the boulder that will be enhanced with a commemorative plaque to identify the Cliff Preston Tribute.
Preston, who died on June 3, 2016, at age 90, is remembered for his can-do spirit and dedication to building the Riverwalk, the city’s gift to its citizens to commemorate its first 150 years in 1981. Though involved since its inception, Preston served officially on the Riverwalk Commission for more than 16 years where he was chairman for a decade until he retired from the commission in 2003. He used his never-ending energy to help with design, development and extension of the winding brick path from the Jefferson Avenue Bridge to Hillside Road as well as at Fredenhagen Park.
The site at Eagle Street was selected because Preston had a special fondness for that location of the Riverwalk. For more than 20 years, he had assumed responsibility  to keep the antique farmer’s plow atop the Farmers Monument varnished and painted. At the time, he was a member of the Wheatland Plowing Match Association, the group along with other farmers that funded the monument in the mid-1980s. Further, when he found the monument was being scratched because some folks got too close to it, he had the idea to place hitching posts connected by chains around it to protect it.
The proximity of the Farmers’ Plaza to the fishing pier overlooking the quarry and the Jaycees Marina suggests other reasons the site is perfect. Preston was an avid fisherman. He also was among the early members of the Naperville Jaycees back in the mid-1950s.
The design for the Cliff Preston Tribute was created by Monica Goshorn-Maroney of Gary R. Weber Associates, Inc. via approval by the 13-member Riverwalk Commission under the leadership of Chairman Geoff Roehll, working with the Preston family and the Riverwalk Foundation. The landscaping and new plantings were funded by the Riverwalk Foundation.
With landscape rendering in hand, Chuck Papanos and park district staff removed the overgrown landscaping and Riverwalk Foundation member Jeff Havel handled the construction coordination for the private nonprofit organization that funded the project.
Next up, weather permitting, Naperville Park District crews will start planting perennials and finish other restoration work.
The Cliff Preston Tribute will be dedicated sometime in the next couple of months during the Riverwalk’s 35th anniversary year and before the city’s natural treasure turns 36 years old on Sept. 7, 2017.
What a joy it’s been in recent weeks to watch the transformation of the entrance to the Riverwalk at Eagle Street as the landscape rendering with lilac trees and sweet gum trees becomes a reality!
—Stephanie Penick, Positively Naperville
For full disclosure, Penick was a founding member of the Riverwalk Foundation in 1998 and she loves the Riverwalk!
RELATED POST / Moser Tower with Millennium Carillon opens for season on April 29, 2017