Boricua Fest coverage @ DNA’s blog

I really wanted to check out Boricua Fest (a Puerto Rican festival in Festival Park) today, but I had already committed to two barbecues. No fear! DNA (Downtown Neighborhood Association) was there in full effect and took great photos. Click here to view.

Tags: Boricua Fest, DNA, Downtown Neighborhood Association, Elgin, Festival Park, fun, IL, Illinois, Puerto Rican
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My Life in Elgin Update

The entire point of this blog is for me to write about my life in Elgin, but I haven’t been doing that lately! Partly because of some bad news I’ve been in denial about: MY CAMERA IS BROKEN. Still, without photos I can give you a quick rundown of what my summer in Elgin has been like so far:

*A fair amount of eating at Al’s Cafe with a couple of trips to In the Neighborhood mixed in for good measure.

*Bike rides up and down the Fox River Trail.

*Quality strolls around Festival Park. How fun it is to see all the kids running through the water! Also, my new favorite past time is to call out to ducks in the Fox River. Some of them talk back!

*To be honest, probably a few too many nights imbibing while listening to bands or playing video bowling at the Gasthaus, mixed in with a few nights of talking over drinks at Elgin Public House and Prairie Rock Brewery.

*Thrift shopping for fun summer clothes at Elgin’s Village Discount and South Elgin’s Goodwill.

*Going to my first Bandits softball game. If you go, do it on a Friday! The fireworks are unbelievable and rival those from the 4th!

I also participated in Elgin’s Amazin’ Race and attended Brewfest and went out of town a couple of times. The summer is just speeding by!

Tags: Al's Cafe, Bandits, bicycles, bike, bikes, Brewfest, camera, Downtown Neighborhood Association, Elgin, Elgin Amazin' Race, Elgin Public House, Festival Park, fireworks, Fox River, Fox River Trail, Gasthaus, goodwill, IL, Illinois, In the Neighborhood, Judson, Prairie Rock Brewery, Shopping, softball, village discount
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Elgin’s Ribfest on Memorial Day

Although I don’t eat ribs, I still checked out Ribfest on Monday. Check out my photos and videos! Also, click here to check out Ape of Wrath’s set of photos from the Fox Trot that went on earlier that morning.

Here are kids playing in the water at Festival Park:

Here’s a quick scan of the crowd:

Here are kids riding on a fun train:

Tags: beer, clown, drinks, Elgin, Festival Park, food, fountain, IL, Illinois, kids, Memorial Day, music, park, Ribfest, ribs, train, video, water, youtube
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Walk & Roll!

The Walk & Roll was a great time! I had never been on an organized bike ride before this (unless you count Critical Mass). I was expecting a lane to be blocked off on some of the roads, but I guess maybe that is only for rides with more participants? Either way, fun time. I’ve participated in fund raisers for cancer research before, but this one was so much more meaningful because one of my family members is dealing with cancer right now.

This is a video I took before the ride, just scoping out the scene when Ronald McDonald showed up. That confused me–doesn’t McDonald’s probably contribute to cancer?

This is a video of people doing karate in Festival Park after the ride.

Pretty bridges on the South Elgin portion of the Fox River Trail.

The Kickstands raised over $2,000–amazing! Feel free to click the link and join us sometime.

Tags: American Cancer Society, bikes, cancer, Elgin, Festival Park, fun, Illinois, karate, martial arts, rollerblade, videos, walk, Walk & Roll, youtube
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Kickstands’ Initiation Ride.

Last Saturday was the Kickstands’ initiation ride. It was awesome. The Kickstands are an Elgin bike gang started by one of my friends–click here for our myspace page. (Click here to support us in raising money for cancer research in Elgin’s Walk & Roll.)

Video of Kickstand members riding bicycles over musical squares at Festival Park.

First we met at my place and began prepping a silk screen for group patches while eating some snacks. Next up, the ride!

We rode for about two hours, but didn’t go too far. First it was North on the bike trail to the Elgin castle where we stopped to take a group photo.

Next was South to Festival Park, where we rode around in circles like maniacs and then played on the equipment.

Next was East to Lords’ Park, where we rode around then stopped to sit on the playground and chat. Last was to another friend’s place, where we finished off with a barbecue.

If you look closely you can see one of the Kickstands’ patches on her bag.

Become friends with us on myspace and join us next time! This is just the beginning!

Tags: bicycles, bikes, castle, Elgin, Festival Park, Illinois, Kickstands, myspace, recreation, youtube
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Fun in Festival Park.

On one of those record-breaking warm days last week I walked around downtown Elgin with my man. We sauntered over to Festival Park, which was smaller than I expected, but so fun that I think the name of it should be FUNstival Park. Okay, that’d just be dumb. BUT, here are videos of me playing with giant instruments in FUNFestival Park. You will like these because they are 20 seconds or shorter each.

Note Ma’Goach is scared of the big drum.

Tags: Elgin, Festival Park, Funstival Park, Illinois, music, park, parks, public art, recreation, videos, vlog, vlogs, youtube
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