You may know, I do a walking tour around the Rochelle downtown area as part of Second Friday events sponsored by the Downtown Rochelle Association.
The tour involves some history, humor, and a lot of discussion. We walk about one mile, and spend about an hour talking about Rochelle history.
When we get to Fourth Avenue and Lincoln, I can count on the comments that people will make. Paraphrasing them, this is what I hear:
I remember Carp’s Department store.
Remember when men could go to Nink’s, Carney’s or Sullivan’s for clothes?
We loved the Small Fry Shop.
Wasn’t Hayes at the corner before it moved?
That woman’s store with the nice clothes…Personality Shop, remember that?
Don’t forget the Western Auto store.
We loved going to Moore’s. Too bad it closed.
And the comments go on about the vibrant downtown Rochelle once had. It wasn’t that long ago, my friends. My wife and I came to town in 1970 and shopped at many of those stores. But they are long gone, and probably that type of store will not return.
With the architecture and the history, Rochelle should have a vibrant downtown once again.

I think the distillery will bring people downtown and not just Rochelle people, but people from surrounding communities and maybe even from not so near by towns.
A splash pad will attract people with youngsters, and having that as an ice skating rink in the winter would be a double win.
Antique stores, a coffee shop, maybe an ice cream parlor, a couple of antique stores or stores selling unique items, maybe another a restaurant…the possibilities are endless for the types of stores that could locate downtown.
I think it would be great that when someone does a tour in 10 years they will be walking through a vibrant, beautiful, exciting and entertaining area.
In the meantime, enjoy what we do have and remember what we lost.

Every time I go past the ponds by Walmart I think of gondolas. You know, like in Venice, Italy. I imagine an Italian restaurant on one end of the biggest pond with a dock and gondolas, and gondoliers, for hire. Some of them might even sing.

I don’t usually talk about specific people and in truth, I wish I had done this two weeks ago instead of today.
You might have read an obituary this week for Jack Burr.
Maybe you knew him. If you did, you were lucky.
Jack was a driving force behind the free lunch in the park program in Rochelle. This program provides a box lunch to anyone under the age of 18 who wants a lunch. There are no income restrictions and no residency requirement, you just have to be a kid who is hungry.
Jack saw the need in Rochelle, and he especially saw the need at Shangri La. He sometimes took his grill out there and grilled hot dogs on days when lunch wasn’t being served, such as July 4.
I serve at Cooper Park, and he would sometimes drop by, riding his motorcycle or in his pickup truck if he was moving lunches.  
He would sometimes complain about the regulations and requirements the program had to jump through, but he always had one purpose in mind:  Feeding hungry children.
He knew that parents work and kids are often left to fend for themselves, or kids were out playing and didn’t want to go home. He also knew some families struggled financially and a lunch at no expense was one way to help those people.
He did not see colors or religions, he saw kids.
I wish I had the power to roll back time.  
I would have said thank you for being the person you were.
We need more Jack Burrs in our world.

Terry Dickow is a retired teacher with lots of opinions, some you may agree with and others you may not.  He can be contacted at terrydickow@gmail.com