According to Goodfellows of DeKalb and Sycamore, the Christmastime initiative was started in 1909 – when a man published an anonymous letter in the Chicago Tribune calling for good fellows (of any gender) to volunteer to deliver presents (of any value) to less advantaged children on Christmas Eve.

The call to action was published on Dec. 10, 1909. Three days later, according to the Chicago Tribune, 1,011 good fellows had signed up to help 7,610 Chicago children. As word of the good tiding spread, some began to emulate the anonymous gift giving elsewhere. The Goodfellows never became a national organization but the tradition of giving Christmas gifts to children on Christmas Eve has taken hold in DeKalb County.

“It’s a way for people to share Christmas magic with kids who may not receive much for Christmas. They’ll get toys from different programs, Toys for Tots or whatever,” said Christel Springmire, of Sycamore, who for the past 20 years has been volunteering and donating with the Goodfellows of DeKalb and Sycamore.

Organization president Sandy Lancaster, 66, said no one is entirely sure when the initiative gained its footing in DeKalb County but she said she knows it predates her.

“Goodfellows isn’t a national organization. We don’t pay in dues, there’s no hierarchy. ... A group of volunteers in an area decide this is something they want to take on. We think it started in DeKalb, Sycamore in the 1950s,” Lancaster said.

On Dec. 13, the DeKalb County Goodfellows met at Blumen Gardens, 403 Edward St. in Sycamore, for a Christmas gift wrapping party.

The numerous gifts wrapped that night were not bought for family members or friends. Instead they will be delivered to 1,111 children by volunteers on Christmas Eve. Lancaster said it’s the second highest number of children in need that Goodfellows of DeKalb and Sycamore have seen since they began.

The volunteers will reconvene at Blumen Gardens Christmas Eve morning before setting out to deliver presents the children. For some, the volunteering has become a family tradition.

Ryan Hannan, 37, has been helping out with the Goodfellows since he was a child.

“My dad has been with the Goodfellows since the ‘80s, so growing up I would always help out with deliveries. And the older I got, and the more I understood the meaning of Goodfellows, made me want to volunteer more. So about 10 years ago I started to really get more involved – I was back from school – and I’ve been on the board now for probably six to seven years,” Hannan said.

Having seen the group grow over the course of this lifetime, Hannan said he think’s the charitable spirit of DeKalb County residents is amazing.

“Every year it grows more. The support from the community is just incredible. Every year we get new people coming, new people shopping, new people wrapping, new people delivering, so the more we can get the word out the better,” Hannan said.

The gifts aren’t the only purchase the volunteers need to make. Boxes, wrapping paper, bows, tape, scissors and gift bags are all needed to give area children proper Christmas gifts. The organization’s leaders also pay for the group’s expenses out of their own pocket if donations fall short, Lancaster said.

Those expenses, however, are something these good fellows are OK paying because they say they understand the impact of their work.

“Goodfellows provides such generous gifts for kids, boots and coats, and mittens and hats, and pajamas and underwear, things that sometimes parents are too stretched to provide,” said Springmire, 65. “And Santa can’t bring all of that stuff.”

Varintorn Bogaert, 22, grew up helping his mother at their family restaurant in South Elgin, and as of Tuesday he’s a co-owner of Thai Town in Sycamore. He said Tuesday, the restaurant’s first day, surpassed his expectations.

“It was actually very, very good,” Bogaert said. “We ended up selling out toward the end of the day. We were concerned because first impressions are everything.”

His mother, Kalayakorn Bogaert, opened their South Elgin location – the original Thai Town – in 2008 with the help of her mother and a family friend. Both locations sell a variety of Thai entrees, curry and noodles, as well as seafood and duck dishes. Most dishes cost about $13, but others cost more than that.

“We have the world famous dish. It’s called Massumun Curry,” Kalayakorn Bogaert said. “And also we do like a Panang Curry dish. It’s so very popular. Pad Thai is the number one seller.”

Thai Town, 630 Plaza Drive, is open daily from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch and from 4 to 8:30 p.m. for dinner.

Kalayakorn Bogaert said she is elated to cook for customers in Sycamore and credited her son with creating the opportunity for the family. She said her son is “the one who made me a success.”

Varintorn Bogaert said when they began discussing expanding the family business he saw a potentially untapped market in Sycamore.

“We really like this town, and we want to introduce Thai,” he said. “Another reason why we wanted to do this is there’s not any other Thai restaurants out here. There’s only one other one that’s in downtown DeKalb, I believe. We figured we can introduce Thai food to Sycamore because right now people in Sycamore and this area, if they want Thai food they have to go into DeKalb.”

The cost of entry to the exhibition game, which will start at 6:30 p.m. inside Sycamore High School, 427 Spartan Trail, is a donation to the Spartan Food Pantry – a food pantry open to families of District 427 students every other Wednesday.

“It’s Sycamore staff – our school district staff – against Sycamore police and fire just to raise donations for a food pantry. So [we’re] keeping it all local,” Sycamore Assistant Superintendent Nick Reineck said. “The police department approached us about this.”

Sycamore Police Chief Jim Winters said his department does community-focused events throughout the year and is happy to see the creation of a new one.

He said Detective Ryan Nicholson, who regularly plays basketball at a local gym, was the man behind the idea.

“I think it’s a great idea because, again, it helps people in the community in need, especially this time of year when it comes to food. But it’s just one of the events that officers do,” Winters said. “You know, the goal is really to support the community. It supports us, and makes sure that we see them as our community as they see us as their police officers, and we just get to know each other better. And the side benefit is that a good charity benefits from it.”

Cash donations will be accepted at the door Tuesday. The fundraiser also will accept a variety of other nonperishable items including:

• Toothbrushes
• Toothpaste
• Deodorant
• Shampoo
• Conditioner
• Baby shampoo
• Bar soap
• Shower gel
• Trash bags
• Dog and cat food/treats

Reineck said during Tuesday’s District 427 board meeting that he hopes the initiative can be turned into another annual Sycamore tradition.

“It should be fun and for a good cause, so anyone’s invited to come out,” Reineck said. “Hopefully over time we turn this into a big community event to help out our local families.”

Nancy Guerra has worked at Wessels’ Family Farm for longer than she can remember, and by her accounts, Christmas tree sales this year are as good as they’ve ever been.

Wessels’ Family Farm does not offer “you-cut” Christmas trees, where customers venture out into the grove and cut down their tree of choice. The business’ selection of precut trees are highly visible to those passing by on Route 23 in DeKalb, however.

“I think we’ve had a good season,” said Guerra, 56. “We always start out busier, and then a lot of people are getting decorated and getting ready, and then here toward the end, closer to Christmas, it’s a little slower. Most people have their house decked out. We have some that are waiting for college kids to get home.”

Christmas tree farmers across northern Illinois said sales this year are booming, despite a dry spring season and continued inflation.

According to the Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Illinois Extension, 19th century Americans chopped down Christmas trees from their local forests. Today, however, most real Christmas trees in the U.S. are grown as sustainable crops on farms.

Generally that’s the case for precut and you-cut trees in Illinois, too.

Robert Richardson of Richardson Christmas Tree Farm at 9407 Richardson Road, Spring Grove, started farming the holiday staple when his dad planted trees in 1981 and they were due for harvest five years later.

“It started out slow, like lots of folks, just selling a couple hundred trees for a while,” Richardson said. “We gradually have expanded that, and we expect to sell 6,000-plus [trees] this year.”

The weekend after Thanksgiving was the busiest of the year, Richardson said. He said he suspects that’s usual for most Christmas tree farms.

Bill Holesinger, co-owner of Timber Lane Tree Farm at 7250 Garden Plain Road in Fulton, said his you-cut tree fields had to be closed for the season when they sold 1,000 trees two days after Thanksgiving.

“We just have precuts left,” he said. “We’re probably about four years out where we can leave our field open longer, but we got hit pretty hard the last few years, and I just can’t keep up. So we’ve had to plant more acres.

“The past three years we sold over 2,000 trees each year. We just can’t quite keep up with our fields, so we’re planting more to try, but that’s a six- to eight-year process.”

It started out slow, like lots of folks, just selling a couple hundred trees for a while. We gradually have expanded that, and we expect to sell 6,000-plus [trees] this year.”

Robert Richardson of Richardson Christmas Tree Farm in Spring Grove

Holesinger said Timber Lane Tree Farm wasn’t particularly affected by the summer drought. However, he knows of a nearby farm that lost a few saplings that had yet to grow their roots.

“This home farm here survived it pretty good so far,” Holesinger said. “We did get some rain here this fall, so hopefully they’ll be OK going through the winter time.”

Wessels’ Family Farm in DeKalb trucks in trees from Wisconsin, so owner Rob Wessels said he isn’t worried about keeping trees around for the next year.

Wessels, 76, said he thinks he saw an uptick in consumer interest in real trees this holiday season. He’s also noticed that over the years, tree-hunting seems to be more of a family affair.

“It seems to go with family,” he said. “A lot of times when a family gets a little baby, they decide they want to get a real tree so they can start some family traditions with a real tree. That’s kind of a fun thing.”

According to the Illinois Christmas Tree Association – a passion project Richardson and his wife, Carol, created to help Christmas tree farms in Illinois – cutting a fresh inch off the bottom of a tree just before securing it to a stand, and subsequently giving it warm water, is the best way to keep the tree looking and smelling fresh.

The organization has 34 Christmas tree farms listed on its website, but Richardson said the number of member farms has grown to more than 50. Annual membership costs $70.

Richardson said he’s seen the Christmas tree farm landscape change over the past four decades. He doesn’t have to watch Christmas movie classics to imagine pop-up tree shops in the parking lots of malls and retail stores. He can remember those days.

Richardson said he thinks there’s fewer tree farmers around.

“The demand is there. It’s just hard to meet,” he said before mentioning the numerous small tree farms he’s seen close.

At Richardson Christmas Tree Farm, however, he said he’s been able to increase growth.

“We had the luxury of having enough land that we could increase our production and try to keep pace with the demand, which was hard to do,” Richardson said. “For a few years we kind of got backwards. We were selling too many trees.

“We were selling next year’s trees this year, and so we kind of go behind on our production. We’ve been trying to catch up.”

The Illinois Extension lists 21 types of tree species that commonly are used as Christmas trees, including types of cedar, fir, pine and spruce trees.

Richardson said he he thinks supply issues might come from consumers wanting one type of tree over another.

“There’s been a lot of talk the last several years particularly about the Christmas tree shortage, and that’s kind of true, I admit,” he said. “Personally, I kind of think part of that is because many of the magazine or media outlets are going to tell people they should plant or they should choose a Fraser fir for their Christmas trees.

“They’re great trees, but in my area [McHenry County] they will grow here, but they won’t thrive here. We do plant some Frasers. They tend to be kind of narrow and a little bit thinner, but there are alternatives to the Fraser. A Canaan fir is a cousin to the Fraser, and it grows better here.”

The 2023-24 DeKalb County property tax levy is expected to bring in about $26,737,114 in revenue, and see the rate decrease by 6.58% from 0.97 in 2022 to 0.91 for 2023 taxes, according to DeKalb County documents.

DeKalb County Administrator Brian Gregory said because that rate decrease is larger than the estimated average increase in local property values, taxpayers likely are to see some relief.

“The county has 19 townships, and each township has a multiplier essentially that goes up or down in value, and the average of all townships is an increase of 6.04%,” Gregory said. “The county’s rate that’s proposed in this ordinance would drop our tax rate by 6.58%. So if your value goes up a little over six, and your rate goes down a little over six and a half percent, on average, you would see a slight reduction on your county portion of your property tax bill.”

Not all townships are below the average, Gregory said, but he reasoned taking the average allows the county to help the most property owners as possible.

The owner of a property valued at $200,000 would have paid $647.19 in property taxes to DeKalb County on their 2022 bill this past spring, according to county documents. Assuming that property’s value went up by the county average, the owner will pay $641.13 on a home now worth $212,000, according to county estimates.

While the property tax levy rate will go down, the county government is expected to increase its revenue collection by 3.78%.

Although the county decreased the property tax rate, the total amount of money collected in the 2023-24 property tax levy extension will increase by 3.78% because of a rise in property values and economic development in the county, officials said. According to county documents, DeKalb County will levy $1.2 million from new properties that are estimated to have a total value of $134 million.

“Our general policy of holding the amount of the levy more or less constant over the last couple of years we’re proposing to continue while still managing to fund the [DeKalb County Rehab and Nursing Center],” said DeKalb County Board member Scott Campbell, a Democrat from District 7.

Gregory said tax revenue from new properties have allowed the county to reduce the property tax rate over the past three years. This year’s tax rate reduction was calculated after the $8.3 million contract to sell the DeKalb County Rehab and Nursing Center to third party buyers was terminated in early October.

“The board took steps, even with some of the financial challenges, to lower the rate,” Gregory said.

DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Sullivan said Thursday he did not have updates on the hospitalized individuals, but said some of them suffered serious injuries.

“Two folks were taken to St. Anthony’s [Hospital] up in Rockford and their injuries were serious, but I have not received an update since then,” Sullivan said.

A silver 2013 Hyundai Elantra struck a blue 2011 Honda CRV when the driver of the Hyundai, Benjamin Viveros, 19, of South Elgin allegedly failed to yield at the intersection of Glidden Road when traveling west on Base Line Road, according to the sheriff’s office.

“So the vehicle that was westbound on Base Line Road, they have a stop sign there,” Sullivan said. “The folks that are on Glidden Road do not have a stop sign, so either the person did not stop at the stop sign or they stopped and then pulled out, which looks like what happened, as they stopped and then failed to yield and pulled out in front of the oncoming car, which caused the crash.”

Authorities from Genoa-Kingston, Sycamore, Kirkland and DeKalb fire departments responded to the crash, and took a driver and passenger from both vehicles to separate hospitals.

The driver of the Honda, Luis Colon, 42, of Wisconsin and passenger Joshua Colon, 23, of DeKalb were taken to St. Anthony’s Hospital in Rockford.

Viveros was cited by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office for failure to yield at a stop intersection. The Hyundai’s passenger, Angel Yante, 19, of Kingston was taken along with Viveros to Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb with injuries.

Sullivan said police believe speed was a factor in the crash.

“Typically out in the rural areas in the county vehicles are traveling at a high rate of speed, so when we do have those crashes, they do seem to be more serious in nature at times,” Sullivan said. “But that’s just due to the speed of the vehicles that are coming, or colliding into each other. Now, this person would have had to stop at the stop sign first but still, the folks that were north bound [on Glidden Road] did not have to stop, so they could been going anywhere near 55 miles per hour in that particular area of the roadway.”

The meetings will be held on the fourth Tuesday of every month inside Sycamore Middle School, under the schedule approved Tuesday night. The only exception for the remainder of the school year is March. That meeting will be held March 12 because of spring break.

Sycamore Superintendent Steve Wilder said he and Board Secretary Kellie Vinz will work to distribute the agenda to board members a full week ahead of the monthly meetings. That’s being done to help give the elected officials time to read the ancillary documents and come prepared to the public meeting, although Wilder acknowledged the new system may not be perfect when it’s rolled out in January.

“For the most part, I think we can make that transition pretty smooth,” he said.

Meetings have been held twice a month in recent years, switching between Sycamore Middle School and a rotation of the district’s other facilities. Board member Eric Jones questioned whether the board should only use the middle school for meetings.

“I’ve just noticed that when we do have our onsite meetings at the elementaries, whether through coercion or just excitement, there’s usually a half dozen to a dozen staff from those buildings sticking around for that meeting,” Jones said. “I’d hate to rob them of that opportunity or make it less convenient for them if that’s something they were looking forward to. But if they just want an excuse to not go, well, then here’s one.”

No one not employed by the Sycamore Community School District attended Tuesday night’s meeting, and board member Michael DeVito said he hopes that changes with the new schedule.

“I hope that we can fill the seats in this room, and I hope we can get the community involved,” DeVito said. “People’s schedules are so busy, so having that advanced notice, people can have the information sooner, and now they really can make this a destination point.”

Taco Bell – the Yum! Brands fast food establishment that once used a Chihuahua as a mascot – is expected to open its first Genoa location in the spring near the intersection of Routes 72 and 23.

Genoa Mayor Jonathon Brust, who’s been involved in city government for eight years, said he thinks the city has increasingly needed dining options with drive-thru services over the past decade.

“Since Genoa is located right along Route 72, which is a major, busy state highway, having drive-thru access is pretty important” Brust said. “So we’ve been looking and trying to find opportunities for either local business or franchises to come in and do business for the traffic that’s driving through Genoa on their way to work.”

Genoa City Manager Alyssa Seguss, 4th Ward Alderman Gary Roca and Brust met with Taco Bell Director of Operations Tim Martens on Nov. 9 for the project’s ground breaking.

Seguss said city officials don’t know when the quick service restaurant will open, however Brust said he’s been told to expect staff to be ready to go as soon as the building is ready for them. New hires are expected to be trained at the Sycamore Taco Bell location ahead of grand opening in Genoa.

Brust said bringing a new restaurant to town has been a priority of his since he was elected to Genoa’s highest office in spring 2021. The ball really got rolling when Ampler Development LLC – a company that has developed numerous Taco Bells, including the Sycamore location – got in contact with him.

The city then worked with Ampler Development and a local landowner to broker a deal that would allow the creation of a Genoa Taco Bell location near McDonald’s, the only other true fast food establishment in the city.

“I think overall it’s a very positive feel right now, because it’s another option for lunch. It’s something that’s convenient for folks when they need something quick, and it’s also bringing in revenue from people that are not in Genoa but may not have time to stop and sit down in one of our great restaurants,” Brust said. “And we really only had McDonald’s as our only drive-thru food option. Subway is a close second, but they don’t have a drive-thru there, so this is filling a need that I think a lot of folks recognize. And so far feedback has been very positive from what I’ve heard.”