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WATSEKA — An event on Saturday will benefit a new nonprofit organization, Watseka Community Renewal, with aims to revitalize the Watseka area and save an opera house.
Roff Home, 300 E. Sheridan St., Watseka, will host A Victorian New Year, an event with options of attending from noon to 2 p.m. or 6 to 8 p.m.
The event will include tables with gourmet Italian appetizers and desserts from Chef Valentino, in a restored Victorian home.
The mission of Watseka Community Renewal is to “revitalize growth across the greater Watseka community,” according to a news release.
The founding objectives of Watseka Community Renewal are to help the Iroquois County city save the Stephens Bros Opera House and to take on other projects that bring revitalization and growth to the greater Watseka area.
In December, the nonprofit partnered with the city of Watseka to replace the aging Santa Claus house in downtown Watseka.
The Stephens Bros Opera House was completed in 1884 and served as a focal point of the community and an anchor for the commercial downtown area for more than 100 years.
“A new year symbolizes a chance for revitalization and renewal,” said Juanita Muller, president of Watseka Community Renewal. “… We also invite you to come to just talk and learn more about our mission and other projects.”
In December 2024, Watseka Community Renewal was approved as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It also partnered with the Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley while it was awaiting approval of its 501(c)(3) status.
CHEF VALENTINO’S MENU
Valentino Brito-Whitman, a chef with 25 years of culinary experience from Italy and Spain, will provide appetizers and desserts during each time frame that will include:
- Four styles of Italian salamis
- Aged Italian cheeses with jams
- A wheel of brie with a compote of dates, figs, nuts and syrup
- Dried fruits, fresh fruits, and nuts; candied ginger and amarena cherries
- Bruschetta with fresh heirloom cherry tomatoes with fresh basil and garlic
- Homemade lasagna di Bolognese
- Polpette (Italian meatballs) in a homemade marinara sauce
- Several types of focaccia and Italian breads
- Tiramisu
- A selection of panettoni, (traditional Italian holiday dessert breads)
Roff Home will feature three Christmas trees, a nearly life-size plaster angel from an abandoned Catholic Church, as well as angel and Santa statues and ceramics. It also includes furniture in a French country style, an original painting of the Virgin Mary with Child in the Cusco style from Peru, as well as several Buddha statues from Thailand.
“Watseka Community Renewal and Roff Home have a lot in common,” said John Whitman-Brito, owner of Roff Home. “We both care deeply about Watseka’s history and its historic structures. We are pleased to open our doors to this new organization to help it kick off fundraising for its important projects.”
In 2020, Roff Home won Landmarks Illinois’s annual restoration award, in recognition of the many years of work that went into bringing the home back to life.
Tickets are $40 and can be purchased before the event online at mychefvalentino.com.
https://daily-journal.com/news/victorian-new-year-to-benefit-new-watseka-nonprofit-organization-saturday/article_1f7d5630-cdf0-11ef-90e4-a323c3e6550e.html