By Anne Eickstadt Editor John Edwin Smith (whose nom de plume is Jedwin Smith) started his award-winning journalism career at the Belvidere Daily Republican and went on to write for the Chicago Tribune, Kansas City Times, Racine Journal Times, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Gwinnett Daily News and others. After a long […]
By Bob Balgemann Reporter First of three parts The city for a number of years has provided funding to help owners of historic buildings downtown make needed improvements to those structures. This year $19,290 was set aside for the Downtown Facade Improvement Grant Program, with that money coming from video […]
By Anne Eickstadt Editor Not long ago, a citizen of Belvidere asked me what I knew about a mural of the “Bride of Frankenstein” that she had helped paint about a dozen years ago. I promptly began reaching out to my contacts at the Boone County Arts Council and was […]
By Anne Eickstadt Editor The Fire Explorer program was created to give high school age kids the opportunity to train as firefighters before they are eligible to become firefighters. It is intended to let them see if firefighting is a field that they would be happy in. The program is […]
By Anne Eickstadt Editor In 2017 the Boone County Fair made history by holding an alpaca show. That was the first time alpacas had been seen at a county fair in Illinois. That first show was an Open Show–it included both male and female alpaca as well as both breeds […]
By Anne Eickstadt Editor The Boone County Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction (COAR program supports the development of comprehensive, locally driven responses to the opioid epidemic,” said Jessica Perillo, MS, CADC, Boone County COAR program manager. “We work to expand access to recovery support services across the community. We support law […]
One of the nation’s fastest growing equine sports. The Northern Illinois Outlaws is affiliated with the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association. They will conduct a four-stage mounted shooting competition in the Pony Arena of the Boone County Fairgrounds. This family friendly sport is fun and exciting as a competitor or as […]
Beginning at dusk on Saturday, June 26—in the middle of Belvidere’s Heritage Days and taking at least a week to complete—a dozen of the nation’s most talented designers and painters began projecting a re-imagined version of a mural that no longer exists. Flashback to 1997 and a chance meeting on […]
By Anne Eickstadt EDITOR Recently, Belvidere firefighters put their lives on the line to rescue residents of a flame-engulfed, smoke-filled, house. After racing into the blazing residence on a search-and-rescue mission, the firefighters brought two residents out of danger to be taken to the hospital by Lifeline Ambulance Crews while […]
By Bob Balgemann Reporter Resident Richard Wainright appeared before the Committee of the Whole during the public comments portion of its June 14 meeting. His subject was maintenance of property along the S-curve on Chrysler Drive, which he alone had been doing for the past four years. After making his […]