Latest news with #AuroraDowntown
Chicago Tribune
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Festival in downtown Aurora to feature 36 food trucks
The annual spring Food Truck Festival returns to downtown Aurora beginning at 5 p.m. Friday. The four-hour event will again be held along Benton Street between River and Broadway and will feature three dozen food and drink options offering a wide range of cuisines, event organizers said. Originally launched back in 2016 by the former Aurora Downtown group, the event now organized by the city of Aurora Special Events Division has grown to include a fall version and features a range of vendors from throughout the area. Christina DiCristofano, coordinator for this year's fest, said there will be plenty of food options at the event on Friday. 'We have 36 trucks this year which is one of the biggest totals we've had,' she said. 'The list went out this past Sunday on the city's social media sites. We have a lot of our regular vendors back as we try to stay local but we also try to showcase as many new businesses as we can.' DiCristofano said the event helps give local businesses exposure while getting people out to enjoy the city's downtown. 'We hope we have lots of people trying new food for all of those living here in town, but also visitors from other places,' she said. 'We want to create a sense of community and be in a place where visitors can have fun and be there with each other and celebrate in a way that's positive. We also hope people will enjoy some awesome food and get to know the vendors we have available, and, overall, have a great time.' The fest, DiCristofano said, will probably draw between 4,000 and 5,000 people if the weather is good. 'I'm not sure if that total is typical but last year in the fall we had about that many,' DiCristofano said. 'It's dependent on the weather and the vendors and the availability of people.' Food options among the three dozen vendors will include barbecue, tacos, pizza, pierogis, hamburgers, frozen drinks, funnel cakes, bakery items and much more, organizers said.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New organizers take charge of First Fridays in downtown Aurora
A new group is now organizing the monthly First Fridays event in downtown Aurora. First Fridays, as the name suggests, are events held on the first Friday of nearly every month to encourage foot traffic downtown through specials at multiple local businesses. Last Friday, for example, Society 57 offered cocktails and kabobs along with live music and art, while The Venue offered a free live concert. Last Friday's event, which had over 32 downtown businesses and organizations participating, was also the first time the event was organized by the Aurora Area Economic Alliance. It took First Fridays over from Aurora Downtown, an economic development organization that recently joined with others to create the Alliance. Kelly O'Brien, Alliance president and CEO, told The Beacon-News on Friday that the Alliance would be bringing some changes to the event, such as a renewed focus on the arts and more marketing. Plus, the Alliance will be 'very thoughtful with each month,' she said, such as with the spring egg hunt from last Friday's event. Businesses across downtown Aurora hid plastic eggs throughout their establishments, and each customer that found one got some sort of prize. Prizes included discounts, gift cards, promotional items and other similar things, according to a post on the Aurora Downtown Facebook page about the egg hunt. The Alliance will be taking recommendations about the First Fridays events from property owners and businesses within Special Service Area One, which is downtown Aurora, so that 'whatever we are doing aligns with what they think will help to grow their business,' O'Brien said. Several downtown business owners told The Beacon-News that First Fridays events have, in fact, helped their businesses be successful. 'When I first started, it was really a huge catalyst for the growth of my business,' Shannon Gutierrez, owner of the Wyckwood House boutique and cocktail bar on South River Street, said on Friday. 'Every Friday, our store was full of community members that just wanted to come and experience what was happening in the downtown.' Gutierrez said she has been participating in First Fridays for about seven years and now relies on it to bring in business and more awareness. Last Friday, Wyckwood House had live music as well as several pop-up booths from other local businesses and organizations, which Gutierrez said was typical for First Fridays. One such booth was set up by the founders of Bella Luxe MedSpa, a new business set to open on West Galena Boulevard in Aurora within the next couple months. Brooke Minton, the business' practice manager, said the booth was advertising an introduction event on April 18 also at Wyckwood House that is set to showcase the kinds of services the business would be offering. Minton called Gutierrez and the opportunity she is giving Bella Luxe MedSpa 'incredible.' First Fridays have been 'essential' for small businesses in downtown Aurora, according to Karen Nicholas of Yellow Bird Books. 'The foot traffic is unlike any other night,' she said. Yellow Bird Books' monthly special event centers around artwork. Nicholas said the store puts out a call to artists around a certain theme — for this month, it was 'Make 'em Laugh' — and the artists who submit work can put up original pieces or prints around the store, which are displayed for the rest of the month. The artwork has been 'really successful,' Nicholas said. Not only does the store like to support local artists, she said, but the art also makes the independent bookstore unique because it has things created by local people. First Fridays are just a 'nice, vibrant time' when the store is busy with people hanging out, looking at the art and looking at books, Nicholas said. While the Alliance has not yet finalized a contract with the city to officially do the work previously done by Aurora Downtown, O'Brien said business owners are already embracing Alliance staff. The combined efforts of multiple former organizations, she said, means the Alliance can now offer downtown businesses a 'whole suite' of services. 'That's where the Alliance is so powerful,' O'Brien said. 'It's like the right hand finally knows what the left hand is doing.' Already, the Alliance has helped to bring more awareness to downtown businesses by working with APS Data Technologies to update the Destination Aurora app with a map of downtown businesses, according to O'Brien. She said that, within a week of hearing downtown business owners were disappointed that some businesses were represented on the app while others were not, the Alliance had already worked with the company to add the map, which is still a work in progress. The Alliance also heard in meetings with downtown business owners last week that there are 'always meetings' but 'nobody does anything,' O'Brien said, so getting the map added to the app was also to show people the Alliance is 'really committed to action.' rsmith@
Chicago Tribune
07-04-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
New organizers take charge of First Fridays in downtown Aurora
A new group is now organizing the monthly First Fridays event in downtown Aurora. First Fridays, as the name suggests, are events held on the first Friday of nearly every month to encourage foot traffic downtown through specials at multiple local businesses. Last Friday, for example, Society 57 offered cocktails and kabobs along with live music and art, while The Venue offered a free live concert. Last Friday's event, which had over 32 downtown businesses and organizations participating, was also the first time the event was organized by the Aurora Area Economic Alliance. It took First Fridays over from Aurora Downtown, an economic development organization that recently joined with others to create the Alliance. Kelly O'Brien, Alliance president and CEO, told The Beacon-News on Friday that the Alliance would be bringing some changes to the event, such as a renewed focus on the arts and more marketing. Plus, the Alliance will be 'very thoughtful with each month,' she said, such as with the spring egg hunt from last Friday's event. Businesses across downtown Aurora hid plastic eggs throughout their establishments, and each customer that found one got some sort of prize. Prizes included discounts, gift cards, promotional items and other similar things, according to a post on the Aurora Downtown Facebook page about the egg hunt. The Alliance will be taking recommendations about the First Fridays events from property owners and businesses within Special Service Area One, which is downtown Aurora, so that 'whatever we are doing aligns with what they think will help to grow their business,' O'Brien said. Several downtown business owners told The Beacon-News that First Fridays events have, in fact, helped their businesses be successful. 'When I first started, it was really a huge catalyst for the growth of my business,' Shannon Gutierrez, owner of the Wyckwood House boutique and cocktail bar on South River Street, said on Friday. 'Every Friday, our store was full of community members that just wanted to come and experience what was happening in the downtown.' Gutierrez said she has been participating in First Fridays for about seven years and now relies on it to bring in business and more awareness. Last Friday, Wyckwood House had live music as well as several pop-up booths from other local businesses and organizations, which Gutierrez said was typical for First Fridays. One such booth was set up by the founders of Bella Luxe MedSpa, a new business set to open on West Galena Boulevard in Aurora within the next couple months. Brooke Minton, the business' practice manager, said the booth was advertising an introduction event on April 18 also at Wyckwood House that is set to showcase the kinds of services the business would be offering. Minton called Gutierrez and the opportunity she is giving Bella Luxe MedSpa 'incredible.' First Fridays have been 'essential' for small businesses in downtown Aurora, according to Karen Nicholas of Yellow Bird Books. 'The foot traffic is unlike any other night,' she said. Yellow Bird Books' monthly special event centers around artwork. Nicholas said the store puts out a call to artists around a certain theme — for this month, it was 'Make 'em Laugh' — and the artists who submit work can put up original pieces or prints around the store, which are displayed for the rest of the month. The artwork has been 'really successful,' Nicholas said. Not only does the store like to support local artists, she said, but the art also makes the independent bookstore unique because it has things created by local people. First Fridays are just a 'nice, vibrant time' when the store is busy with people hanging out, looking at the art and looking at books, Nicholas said. While the Alliance has not yet finalized a contract with the city to officially do the work previously done by Aurora Downtown, O'Brien said business owners are already embracing Alliance staff. The combined efforts of multiple former organizations, she said, means the Alliance can now offer downtown businesses a 'whole suite' of services. 'That's where the Alliance is so powerful,' O'Brien said. 'It's like the right hand finally knows what the left hand is doing.' Already, the Alliance has helped to bring more awareness to downtown businesses by working with APS Data Technologies to update the Destination Aurora app with a map of downtown businesses, according to O'Brien. She said that, within a week of hearing downtown business owners were disappointed that some businesses were represented on the app while others were not, the Alliance had already worked with the company to add the map, which is still a work in progress. The Alliance also heard in meetings with downtown business owners last week that there are 'always meetings' but 'nobody does anything,' O'Brien said, so getting the map added to the app was also to show people the Alliance is 'really committed to action.'
Chicago Tribune
10-02-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Aurora indoor market offers warm way to shop for Valentine's Day
Organizers for the city of Aurora's farmers market offered a special Valentine's Art & Market event Saturday at Society 57 at 100 S. River St. in downtown Aurora. Beginning at 9 a.m., the four-hour indoor market featured a number of the popular vendors found at the summer farmers market in the city as well as a few new ones. The market included hand-crafted gifts and items that organizers hoped would help those looking for a Valentine's Day gift. Market manager Felicia Freitag explained that the winter market had previously been organized by the Aurora Downtown group and that the city was following the same schedule of winter markets former organizers had put in place. 'We had a November and December market this past year,' Freitag said, in addition to the one held Saturday. There will be another one in April, she said. Freitag said having the market just before Valentine's Day 'was pretty intentional as a lot of our vendors at this market are artisan vendors that are doing various things that would be great as a Valentine's gift.' 'Many will have Valentine's Day themed products. One of our vendors does custom-engraved wood products,' she said. 'I know there will be heart-shaped things.' A total of 24 vendors were on hand including three or four that have not appeared at Saturday farmers markets in Aurora in the summer. Merchants like Cindy Fonseca, owner of FeedCin, who lives in Oswego and sells original art and jewelry, said she has been part of the market before and admitted shoppers seemed pretty excited about the event. 'It's awesome. It's so nice and convenient for people. The coffee's here, the food's here and the art and everything else. It makes it nice because when the weather is bad you can be indoors,' Fonseca said. 'We now have the regular farmers market group behind us and it seems like they are trying to do a lot more variety this time and push the market and help the smaller businesses.' Andrea Tapia of Aurora came early to the market on Saturday. She said she lives only 'five minutes away' and likes coming to Society 57. 'I'm super happy to see the market back,' Tapia said. 'I'm a line cook and I like to see a lot of things they have – there is a different culture out here. I like crafts and food stuff, especially baked goods. I'm definitely going to have a pastry before I go home and I'm ready to shop. It's going to be exciting.' Mary Lou Ruder of Sugar Grove came with her husband Wayne and said she met one of the vendors Saturday weeks ago at the Vaughan Center in Aurora and found out 'she had a business and wanted to come and check it out.' 'This is our first time here but we love homegrown stuff and small businesses,' Ruder said. House of Ivy owner Chelsie Kliese of Aurora was the vendor Ruder came to see and said she had been a member of the indoor market for a while. 'I started as an online home decor shop and then I sourced these concrete planters and just loved it and decided to figure it out for myself,' she said. 'Now it's all I do.'
