21.7 F
Naperville
Tuesday, February 11, 2025

September Editor’s Notes: Vol. 24 No.1

-

This edition of Positively Naperville is Vol. 24 No. 1.

As we begin our 24th year, we’re reminded of more than a year of excitement and educational experiences 25 years ago that came with planning and putting together that first issue of this monthly publication early in the new millennium.

I had begun writing a weekly column in the Daily Herald in May 1999. Whenever I covered a charity benefit or worthy cause, folks would send comments to our FAX machine, disappointed that they’d been unaware of the event—they’d say they would have supported it had they known. Other folks sent story ideas. About that time, the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce had discontinued its community calendar. And other local newspapers had broader interest than hyper local Naperville.

About the same time, I began producing “The BIG Naperville Show” for NCTV, the City’s public access station. Back then, many of us residents had taken production, editing and camera workshops at Channel 17 in order to produce shows. If we passed the class with a 10-minute “pilot,” so to speak, we could produce shows as well as help others put on a show. I chose to run the cameras on the set. “The BIG Naperville Show,” with Bill Mitchell as the host who read the words I wrote from the teleprompter, shined the spotlight on service clubs, special events, fundraisers, volunteerism and the ever-evolving community at large.

The value of previewing upcoming events for local community consumption became apparent. The idea of PN was imagined and connections were established with local independent businesses to promote the “shop local” concept, too. We also teamed up with North Central College to help preview its performing arts programs.

Built by Riverwalk Commission Chairman Cliff Preston and the Jaycees, the Jaycees Gazebo near Fredenhagen Park along the extension was thanks to funds raised during the Jaycees Last Fling for the Riverwalk 2000 Campaign. (Photo by Jo Lundeen, 2001)

PN’s first cover featured the Naperville Jaycees at their Riverwalk Gazebo, timed for Sept. 1, 2001, to showcase the service club’s good deeds along with their annual Last Fling. And the Jaycees gave us permission to distribute that first issue along the Labor Day Parade route.

Two youngsters who lived down the block from us passed out that first issue to spectators lined up early all along Mill Street. Little did I imagine the thrill I’d feel when I arrived at Jefferson Avenue ready to head toward Naperville North High School. My wandering eyes observed dozens and dozens of people sitting along the parade route reading PN. And guess what? I didn’t have my camera!

Still, the idea for “Catch someone reading PN” was imagined and taken to heart at the next Mitchell Family Thanksgiving Reunion at Ross Camp in West Lafayette, Indiana. And Mayor George Pradel teased us many times thereafter by keeping a paper handy and reading PN!

We’re pleased to say since our launch, PN has traveled all over the world to many places we’ve never been! We appreciate folks who travel with PN!

Flags were everywhere by October 2001

One thing that happened eleven days after PN’s September 1 launch was unimaginable.

Just as my parents and grandparents remembered where they were when Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, and just as many of us remember where we were when we heard President John Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated in the 1960s, most of us recall where we were on Sept. 11, 2001.

I was attending a breakfast Rotary Club of Naperville board meeting at Egg Harbor in downtown Naperville. Jeanne Johnson was called out of the meeting by her daughter. Jeanne returned with the tragic news that the first of the WTC Twin Towers had been hit by an aircraft. The meeting abruptly ended. I raced home and turned on the TV just in time to watch the second plane hit.

My recollection of that day and more than 20 years of remembrances and photos of visits to the Financial District in New York City and Sept. 11 Memorials in New Jersey are recounted in the archives at www.positivelynaperville.com. Once in a while I visit those stories to remember.

When the October 2001 issue of the new publication hit the streets, many residents who had not seen the first issue thought PN was in response to 9/11. And that’s when I truly dug in my heels, determined to spread good news about enterprising small businesses that create jobs.

On Friday, Sept 14, 2001, folks gathered in downtown Naperville to pause, reflect and mourn the losses and to begin remembering the acts of heroism, bravery and compassion that followed. The lawn outside the Municipal Center where the Cmdr. Dan Shanower Sept 11 Memorial was dedicated in 2003 became a mass of American flags. (PN File Photo)

Napervillians also responded to the tragedies in big and small ways. On Sept. 14, 2001, they went ahead with their United Way benefit auction featuring painted sculptures of “Baby Giraffes to Reach New Heights.” They held candlelight vigils, donated funds, attended carillon bell concerts and flew American flags.

Mayor Pradel was quoted as saying, “Thanks, Naperville, for showing your true colors in recent weeks. Now let’s polka ‘round the festivities at Oktoberfest… and lighten our hearts with a little oomp-pah tuba music as we celebrate our freedom and American spirit.”

Sunday drives vs. long walks

When I was kid in Muncie, Ind., my dad owned a small general construction company where he built homes, small office buildings and warehouses. His business, with an office in the basement of our home on the edge of the growing community not too far from Ball State University, a teacher’s college at the time, grew after he began specializing in roofing. Instead of competing with other homebuilders in Muncie and neighboring communities, he became the roofer of choice. I loved being a roofer’s daughter and riding in the back of Dad’s pickup truck when he checked jobs after dinner.

Back then, Sunday afternoons were known for their “Sunday drives” to explore what was new in town. It took a while for me to catch on that those tours also gave Dad the chance to check jobs in progress so he could plan crews for the upcoming week.

We’d pile into my mother’s Ford sedan and off we’d go with the radio set to a station that broadcast dramas with sound effects that painted pictures and variety shows that featured hit music.

If you’re a longtime reader of this publication or my Daily Herald columns until 2018, you’re likely aware that walking while singing along is a big part of my every day.

More than likely, you’ve discussed with friends, family neighbors or me the challenges this summer during “construction season,” especially when trying to navigate north to south and vice versa.

Washington Street Bridge construction continues in downtown Naperville. Progress is in progress. (PN Photo)

More than a few times, I’ve spent plenty of time watching construction workers this past year, walking here and there, trying to be patient with the progress.

And so many times, I just start singing while I get back to my task at hand.

“Heigh-ho. Heigh-ho!”

And since I can’t whistle, I won’t be whistling while I work.

– Stephanie Penick
PN Publisher

- Advertisement -
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.
spot_img

LATEST NEWS