The final week of December offers an opportunity to gear up for the new year, but it also provides a few days to slow down and reflect on the past year.

These are 12 stories featured in the pages of The MidWeek in 2022 for our year in review.

January – Local Flavor: Sycamore’s Eat Week serves up specials

Makie Maratos, the owner of The Village in Sycamore, was excited to share his family’s traditional greek recipes during the annual Sycamore’s Eat Week, an annual weekly event meant to encourage area residents to celebrate local food fare.

“I’ve always wanted to share my family’s traditional Greek recipes with the community,” he said. “Sycamore’s Eat Week is a great opportunity to offer a little taste of Greece.”

Sycamore’s Eat Week was organized by the Sycamore Chamber of Commerce and ran from Jan. 24 through Jan. 31. DeKalb Sycamore Chevrolet Buick GMC sponsored the 7-day event that featured 12 participating restaurants.

February – Sharing the love: G-K students make cards for ‘Valentines for Seniors’ drive

Students in Genoa-Kingston High School’s Impact Club used paper, markers and small decorations to make valentines they then distributed to older Genoa-Kingston adults in Feburary.

The “Valentines for Seniors” card drive was created to benefit people living in local residential care facilities.

Tara Wilkins, the club’s faculty adviser, said projects like the valentine card drive are what the Impact Club is all about.

“We do any type of community service, from raising money to help a family that lost their house in a fire, anti-bullying, Feed My Starving Children and teacher appreciation,” Wilkins said.

Elizabeth Hoppenworth, resident services administrator at Oak Crest-DeKalb Area Retirement Center in DeKalb, said residents greatly appreciate the gesture of being given valentines.

“It reminds them that people are thinking of them,” Hoppenworth said. “It lets them know that others care, they’re being thought of and that they’re not forgotten.”

March – Esports: It’s in the game

Northern Illinois University held a grand opening for it’s new esport arena in Altgeld Hall on March 2.

The esport area has 30 open play computers, 12 varsity-specific computers, a coaching station, eight console gaming stations, two overhead projectors and large screens, a broadcast room, a conference room for coursework and a conference room for coaches, a virtual reality room and offices for coaches.

NIU esports director Connor Vagle described the esport arena as a dedicated space for all things esports and gaming.

“The new esports arena allows students and the community to play and compete together in the same space,” Vagle said. “You can compete and play anywhere, but to be able to have the space on campus to play together makes a huge difference. It provides a dedicated place for esports that’s welcoming and open to all.”

James Westlund, a member of NIU’s varsity esport Overwatch team, said he loves to compete and the friendships he’s made through esports.

“I’ve made friends online and at NIU. The new arena shows that esports is important and what I do matters, it’s not just a hobby. It’s a place I can go to where people enjoy the same things as me. It feels like coming home,” Westlund said.

April – On the Record with Randy Caspersen

Randy Caspersen, an assistant professor of media studies at Northern Illinois University, filmed “Plants, Pollinators & Prayers” at Mayfield Congregational Church in Sycamore over several years. The documentary, which follows the efforts of a gardener, educator and pastor to transform a rural church’s backyard into a pollination sanctuary, played throughout the U.S. on the film festival circuit for two years before April 19, when it played at the Egyptian Theatre in DeKalb.

May – Performing Arts Academy performs upside down all around Sycamore

Erika Ellis and Melissa Lerohl are entertainers with Performing Arts Academy’s Artists in Air, an aerial troupe of about eight performers that travels throughout northern Illinois.

“It’s really easy for me, and I just like learning new tricks,” said Ellis, who is 24 and an instructor. “I’m not a very decent dancer, but I enjoy being up in the air. I started doing it because I was scared of heights. But when I’m up in the air, I’m thinking about tricks. I don’t really think about the height, I just enjoy doing it.”

The Performing Arts Academy has locations in Sycamore and Rochelle, and it’s aerial troupe, Artists in Air, has a performer as young as 7 years old.

Jodi Riley, owner of Performing Arts Academy, said the academy offers a dance studio, aerial troupe and a competition team and instructs about 150 students.

“I grew up dancing, and it’s been a passion I’ve always had,” Riley said. “It’s an outlet for emotion and energy. Dancing teaches you life lessons: strong work ethic, dedication and commitment, technique and how to collaborate and work with others. There are also lifelong friendships made.”

June – Cortland United Methodist Church, the town’s last remaining church, closes after 160 years: ‘It was like a family’

Cortland’s last remaining church, Cortland United Methodist Church, closed its doors after its final service in June 2022. The church was established in 1862, before Cortland was founded.

Judy O’Bryan grew up down the street from the church, her parents involvement goes back to the 1930s. When she was younger, O’Bryan would walk the block to church with her family on Sundays.

“There were only about 250 people in town,” said O’Bryan, who was baptized and confirmed at the Cortland church. “It was like a family.”

Several of the longtime church members meet for breakfast on Tuesdays at Sam’s Family Restaurant in Cortland. In June, that tradition was expected to continue after the church closed.

“Since my wife passed, this has kind of helped me stay in the loop with people,” Bill Abbott, who joined the congregation in 1975 along with his wife and children, said. “Even after it closes, we’re still going to get together on Tuesday mornings.”

July – Historic DeKalb oak tree felled by rot, area residents recall its legacy

A tree estimated to be more than 200 years old was cut down in the city of DeKalb in July after it was found to have succumbed to rot. Local residents said the tree left a lasting impact on their families.

“It’s like losing a best friend, quite honestly,” said Diane DeMers, who has lived in DeKalb for 33 years and said she could see the oak tree through her kitchen window.

“This tree was there when the Ellwoods had horses in the pasture,” DeMers said.

She wasn’t the only person to have grown a strong affinity for the tree. Fifty-four years before DeMers moved into the house nearest the tree, the home was built for Dr. James Ellis and Dorothy Ellis.

Barbara Ellis Bennett, the daughter of the Ellises, grew up in that house and developed fond memories of the old oak tree. Bennett said her father loved the tree, which played a significant factor in her family’s decision to build the home on that land.

After growing up, moving away and starting a family, Bennett said she would still bring her kids to her parents’ place for Christmases and Thanksgivings.

“We came to celebrate with my folks no matter what the holiday was,” Bennett said. “So they all, my five children, all are just so fond and so devastated that that tree is going down.”

August – Community comes to aid of DeKalb Area Women’s Center reeling from flooded building

The DeKalb Area Women’s Center dealt with thousands of dollars worth of expenses after excess stormwater seeped into the center’s historic building’s basement during rainstorms in August.

Anna Marie Coveny, a leader at the women’s center, said the rain came down so hard in such a short period of time that it overwhelmed the storm sewers, even with two rain gardens out front.

“But the groundwater, the ground was saturated, the groundwater needed someplace to go and it seeped up through the cracks in the cement floor in our basement,” Coveny said.

“We really need to have a sump pump pit dug and a sump pump installed with an ejection system that will get the water out before it can spread over the floor again,” Coveny said. “I believe it will take months before that happens and again we have to figure where the money is coming from because I’m not willing to write a check that bounces.”

Coveny said the DeKalb Area Women’s Center expected to receive $1,250 in emergency grant funding from the DeKalb County Community Foundation. As of Aug. 24, the center had also been given two donations from organization members who each contributed $300.

September – Kishwaukee Valley Wanderers and Genoa partner for disc golf course: ‘You do it and they will come’

River Run Disc Golf, a new, nine-hole course is unveiled at David Carroll Memorial Citizens Park in Genoa in late summer thanks to efforts by the Kishwaukee Valley Wanderers and the Genoa Public Works Department.

Kevin Schweitzer, who picked up disc golf less than a year before the Genoa course opened said he was playing the second hole with his son when he managed to get the first unofficial hole-in-one on the course. He claimed no skill was involved: “It was all luck,” he said.

“I threw it with my son, and he threw a perfect throw,” said Schweitzer. “And as any father would try to do, try to outdo your son, and I threw a terrible throw but it hit a tree, banked off and went into the basket, which was super satisfying.”

After the hole-in-one, Schweitzer said he ended up with the worst round he’s ever had at the new course.

October – Life in village of Malta highlighted in vibrant new mural by Dixon artist

A mural by Dixon artist Nora Balayti recently debuted on the side of a Lincoln Highway building owned by Bob Kyler Excavation, offering a vibrant look at life in the village of Malta.

Bob Kyler, who opened his excavation company in 1965 died three years ago, but his wife Shirley Kyler, a lifelong resident of Malta, was there to see the mural installed.

“Oh I think it’s wonderful, I think we’ve got such good people in Malta – I’ve been here all my life. The committee just did a good job,” Shirley Kyler said during the Oct. 19 mural unveiling.

Balayti, a 39-year-old Dixon resident and Northern Illinois University alumna who has painted hundreds of murals, was chosen for the project. Balayti said she normally doesn’t do submission work but decided to send in an application after a member of the committee reached out to her, urging her to put her name in for consideration.

“I took a shot at it, being that I grew up in a similar area, I mean same area really,” Balayti said. “I kind of got where they were coming from as far as what kind of values they were trying to portray and imagery.”

November – It’s been more than 70 years since these Sycamore veterans served in World War II and Korea: ‘We lost some men’

It’s been more than seven decades since Jim Tull, Ken Cooper and Richard Korleski served their country in World Ward II and Korea, respectively.

Now residents of Grand Victorian of Sycamore, an independent senior living facility, they shared their experiences from their time in the U.S. military ahead of Veterans Day.

A medic in the Second Division of the U.S. Army, Tull spent 15 months in Korea after the U.S. draft enlisted him in 1950. After undergoing basic training with four other men, Tull was entered in a drawing to see where they’d be stationed.

“Three went to Europe and two went to Korea, and I was one of the lucky ones that went to Korea,” said Tull, 91.

When asked what made him lucky, Tull smiled, and responded that his fellow servicemen went off to Europe and “had fun.” Meanwhile, he went to Korea and was the target of gunfire.

At times, Tull said, there wasn’t much happening, but other times he and the unit would be frequently shot at. One experience involved a 2-mile road between a couple of U.S. Army camps that wasn’t drivable because of its close range to the Korean army’s artillery fire.

“They could hit that jeep from 2 miles away,” Tull said. “No matter how fast or slow you went, they could hit it.”

The veterans story inspired a Sycamore grandmother and her grandchildren to give the servicemen a Veterans Day parade in November.

December – Holiday classic ‘A Christmas Story’ heads to Stage Coach Theatre in DeKalb

Ralphie, the Old Man, the infamous leg lamp and the long-desired Red Ryder BB gun and all its accompaniments were all present in Stage Coach Players’ holiday season production of “A Christmas Story.”

The DeKalb theater group’s December production, directed by Stewart Ogilvie, brought out a little bit of “cross media” to the classic 1940s Christmas comedy tale that follows schoolboy Ralphie Parker and his quest to get the Christmas gift of his dreams.

Ogilvie said he contacted an old friend and coworker, Bill Daer – from his days working as a producer at a TV station affiliated with the American Broadcasting Company – to produce the cross media component.

“He has his own video production company [Straw Man Productions], so all the stuff with the bad guys and climbing over the fence and trying to hide behind the swing sets and all that, and Ralphie shooting them out the window; we did all that on video,” Ogilvie said. “And it’s going to be a part of the set while Ralphie’s at the window shooting. They’ll be able to see what’s going on outside right next to him.”