About

Updated, Feb. 1, 2019 / Thanks for taking the time to visit Positively Naperville online. We enjoy sharing our story and learning about yours. Perhaps we’ll make a connection. Just keep scrolling all the way down this page to the black field at the bottom. That’s where a directory links to a wealth of what we enjoy about this community…

Above / The Exchange Club Memories Fountain in Fredenhagen Park along the Riverwalk provides a place for peaceful reflection about community connections on the site of the former Cock Robin ice cream enterprise.

Above / Find “What We Need” along south side of the Riverwalk, just beyond Moser Tower, the Visitors Center and the footbridge to Centennial Beach.

“About” / Originally Posted, March 4, 2012 / From beginning to end, Positively Naperville could be considered a clearinghouse for traditional and cultural events, but we like to think it’s much more. 

First, however, let us suggest taking a few minutes to find out where this website has been since July 2001. Thanks for reading.

What is POSITIVELY Naperville?

PN is an independent, reader supported, monthly newspaper published in Naperville, Illinois, to preview the upcoming month.

Since July 2001, our print initiative has been supported by a great group of local businesses, organically growing four pages at a time since our first 8-page printed issue was introduced in September 2001. Promoting a preview of community events, the arts and locally-owned independent enterprise is still our primary passion. 

If you’re out of our delivery area, we’d also like to remind you that our stories and columns that appear in print are posted in rotation on this website throughout the month. Then they’re saved in the big cloud. 

We feature updated news you can use everyday on what we call Naperville Latest N.E.W.S., accessible from our Main or Home page.

In June 2007, a PN reader educated the editors of Positively Naperville about blogs. You probably already know a blog is short for “web log,” a little-used term coined by Jorn Barger way back in 1997 that was jokingly morphed into “we blog” and then simply “blog.” The PN reader noted that our Website has been a blog since it was launched in July 2001, but few people called a blog a “blog” back then. At any rate, he suggested we call this Website PN Blogs, so we took the advice to heart. Now our blog has morphed into Latest N.E.W.S. in all directions.

More about blogs…

When you consider our Naperville News page is a series of entries posted to a single page in reverse-chronological order, it is a blog. The most recent news is at the top! According to one definition we found, a blog is a personal online journal, frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. There you go again – Naperville News fits the description, personifying our city with all kinds of information and local lore that enhance the quality of life in Naperville.

All this information reflects the purpose of Positively Naperville; ergo, the blog.  PN also links to other Naperville sites. And we post lots about events, arts performance and meetings our readers won’t want to miss. The importance of the blogging community (and its relationship to larger society) increased rapidly about the same time PN was launched.

Established schools of journalism began researching blogging and noting the differences between journalism and blogging. So there you go.

And when we post our contributing columnists online, we blog some more. Still, we want you to pick up our printed publication. We’ll continue to carry on about most of our community news in print. And we also hope you’ll continue to visit this companion Web site, too, as it’s updated digitally every day. Enough about blogs. We’re moving forward.

Positively Naperville is supported by a group of generous independent corporate citizens committed to spreading a positive message about community service, special events, important fund-raisers and Naperville’s rich history. Perhaps you have a business you’d like the community to recognize and support.

Owners and managers of these pursuits invest time, talents and/or money toward service to the community by staying actively involved on many levels. These citizens join hundreds of others in support of our schools and events such as Ribfest, Last Fling, NWC Witches Night Out, Pancake Festivals, Riverwalk Fine Arts Fair and 5K runs, etc. They embrace empathy and understand that contributing to humanitarian causes, social service agencies and volunteerism helps provide the many quality of life services to fill the community’s unmet needs.

These independent businesses share the responsibility with many other corporate citizens who have caught the spirit of Naperville’s success. As independently-owned-and-operated corporations, this group helps PN promote the many good things happening in Naperville—the arts, special events, fundraisers and more.

Everyone associated with Positively Naperville—advertisers, columnists, designers, web editors—welcomes your comments, support, your inquiries and your business.

Positively Naperville is a marketing campaign on local public access television. Check out Channel 6 or 10 (government access) and Channel 17 (public access).

The Riverwalk Dandelion Fountain, located at Jackson and Webster street, creates a popular gathering place as it leads toward Main Street.

Positively Naperville is a printed preview of community events, volunteer opportunities and local lore. The publication is distributed to the community by the first of every month. Because of the cost of distribution to 55,000 households in Naperville, monthly delivery is rotated.  Every home in Naperville likely will find the publication delivered at least four times a year. The months that it is not delivered, folks can pick it up at more than 25 different Naperville locations.

Positively Naperville hosts two companion Web sites linked together. One website includes what seems like a gazillion pages of information saved in our archive (always check the published date of a story!) and the another hosts sports. They’re linked and can be viewed from any computer and most electronic devices in the world. Here you’ll find a brief history of the corporate citizens who have invested (contributed their advertising/marketing dollars to help pay for print services, buckets of ink, rolls of newsprint, distribution, website action features, etc.) in the project to serve all of Naperville. You’ll also find links to their corporate Web sites, as well as links to hundreds of local web sites.

Positively Naperville promotes informing the electorate about local elections, public meetings, elected officials and the candidates who wish to serve this vibrant community.  Though we don’t endorse candidates, our aim is to provide links for local citizens to do their homework and become educated voters before going to the polls in every election.

The Elected Officials Guide lists folks now serving Naperville and  PN Voter’s Guide pages with candidate “Meet & Greet” opportunities are updated during every election cycle for folks who want to go to the polls with local knowledge of the folks serving in Naperville (City Council, School Boards, Park District Board), Wheaton, Joliet, Springfield and Washington, D.C.

Positively Naperville could be considered a clearinghouse for traditional and cultural events, but we like to think it’s much more. Positively Naperville lists upcoming community events on monthly calendars with input from readers and event planners. This simplified listing easy to view by scrolling down the page will serve to help event planners. Be sure to look at the navigation bars at the top and bottom of the pages for links to many other categories featured on this website.

In addition to the calendar listing on line, organizations can submit press releases (200 of your best words are preferred) about upcoming events that, if appropriate, may be considered for inclusion in Positively Naperville.

This view from Eagle Street where the Riverwalk begins to venture west toward its final destination at the Jefferson Street Bridge is a showcase of attractions, all named in the spirit of generosity from local donors. First, the Farmer’s Plaza dedicated in 1988 features the Farmer’s Monument topped with the “Earl Meisinger Family” plow, celebrating the city’s pioneer and rural beginnings. Since last summer, the Farmer’s Plaza by the fishing pier also has included a tribute to Cliff Preston for his devotion to the Riverwalk Commission. Across the quarry is the Jaycees Marina and Gregory Gazebo. In the distance, Moser Tower with the 72-bell carillon stands at the base of Rotary Hill.

Thanks for reading!

Finally, your Positively Naperville editors like to say “PN is a preview upcoming happenings rather than a review of what’s happened.”  Our aim is to create an innovative, independent publication, always a work in progress, with the flexibility and desire to make a difference by promoting good news, locally relevant and authentic stories as well as community spirit for ALL of Naperville! Celebrate safely.

And, of course, we welcome your inquiries. Perhaps you’d like to support our initiative, too.

—Stephanie Penick, Founder, Editor & Publisher / Tim Penick, Digital Editor & Design

One more thing…

It’s Feb. 1, 2019.  During the deep freeze Naperville experienced the last week in January, folks must have been home on the internet because we received a number of inquiries regarding press releases and other ways to connect and use this website and our publication. Here’s what’s connected in the black field at the bottom of every page under “Send press release.”

Thanks to the archive in the cloud, PN has stored what seems like a gazillion stories about this thriving community that continually strives to fulfill its unmet needs.

Thanks again for reading. 

And especially thanks for spreading joy, laughter, truth, forgiveness and kindness throughout this imperfect world to help make it a better place whenever possible.

RELATED PN POST / Kindness in Naperville

Stay Connected!

Get the latest local headlines delivered to your inbox each morning.
SUBSCRIBE