Another vestige of Naperville’s rural era — staking tomato plants for Wagner Farm’s Farmstead — will be no longer. The land has been sold to a builder and the farmstand on Route 59 will not reopen this summer.

COUNTY

Grants awarded to water improvement projects

The DuPage County Stormwater Management Planning Committee has chosen the 2018 recipients of the county’s Water Quality Improvement Program grants. Five projects were chosen, all of which aim to improve the quality of the DuPage’s streams and rivers.

A total of $334,934 will go to:

• Oak Brook Park District’s Ginger Creek restoration, dam removal and green infrastructure; 
• Village of Carol Stream’s detention basin retrofit;
• Village of Clarendon Hills permeable pavers and rain garden;
• City of Wood Dale’s Squaw Creek stabilization and restoration; and
• Glen Ellyn Park District’s permeable pavers and bioswales.

For more information about the Water Quality Improvement Program and past recipients, visit dupageco.org/EDP/Stormwater_Management/Water_Quality/1312/. 

Roskam honors children’s advocate

U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-6th) recently honored Stephanie Mogensen for her years of service as a case manager with the Jeanine Nicarico Children’s Advocacy Center, where she serves as an advocate for children who have suffered sexual and severe physical abuse. 

Before joining the center, Mogensen worked in the Victim Witness Department of the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office. During that time, she realized she wanted to focus on helping children and making a difference in families’ lives. Mogensen is a champion for many of the 400 to 500 children victimized yearly by sexual and severe physical abuse in DuPage County. She makes it her mission to monitor each child from the first phone call until the end of the criminal proceeding and in most cases, she continues to be a familiar face for the child and the family beyond the court proceedings.

DuPage orchestra to perform 

The DuPage Symphony Orchestra presents Celebrate Now & Then at 3 p.m. March 18, in the Wentz Concert Hall at the Fine Arts Center of North Central College, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville. Tickets are $33 for adults and $15 for students. For more information, call (630) 637-7469 or go to northcentralcollege.edu/showtix.

DOWNERS GROVE

Church’s panel to discuss response to mass shootings

The First Congregational United Church of Christ in Downers Grove is hosting civic and religious leaders who will explore the public’s reaction to violence in society, in an open forum to be held at 4 p.m. March 18, at the church, 1047 Curtiss St.

Pastor Scott Oberle and School District 99 Supt. Henry Thiele are organizing the event that will tackle the issues of violence in the nation and local communities. Some village trustees and police officers are expected to participate.

NAPERVILLE

Family shutting down its farmstand

Another vestige of Naperville’s rural era is gone now that Wagner Farm’s Farmstand on Route 59 in unincorporated Naperville will not reopen this summer.

The owners, Robert and Evelyn Wagner, have announced on their Facebook page that they are selling their property to an undisclosed builder.

Wagner Farm was “in the middle of nowhere in 1961” when the Wagners and their daughters moved their Elk Grove vegetable farm to the unincorporated Naperville location at 9937 S. Route 59. Since then, the family had grown sweet corn, tomatoes, peppers, squash and other vegetables on the land and sold it from their farm stand, typically from mid-July until Oct. 31.

Theater presents ‘The 39 Steps’

Brightside Theatre will perform “The 39 Steps” at 8 p.m. March 16, March 17, March 23, and March 24, and at 3 p.m. March 18, and March 25 at the Theater on the campus of North Central College, at Meiley-Swallow Hall, 31 S. Ellsworth Ave., Naperville. Tickets are $25 and $30.

In the play, a cast of four actors plays more than 150 characters in a fast-paced whodunit tale of an ordinary man on an extraordinarily entertaining adventure.

For more information, go to brightsidetheatre.com.

Vaping lectures for parents, teens

The health risks of vaping will be discussed at two presentations for parents and students, given by Naperville Community Unit School District 203 and Indian Prairie School District 204, in partnership with 360 Youth Services, a support and guidance group for young adults and their families. Two lectures on vaping with electronic cigarettes will be given at 7 p.m. March 15, at Naperville Central High School, 440 Aurora Ave., Naperville, and 7 p.m. March 21 at Metea Valley High School, 1801 N. Eola Road, Aurora.

These presentations are for parents and middle and high school students.

ELMHURST

College to benefit from two anonymous gifts

The education and music departments at Elmhurst College will benefit from two significant donations.

College officials recently announced that an anonymous donor established a $1.5 million bequest to create an endowed Chair in Education. 

The donor and her sister, both alumnae of Elmhurst, devoted their lives to elementary education and also have had a deep love for the college. The sisters, who have supported Elmhurst College scholarships in the past, recognized the continued importance that faculty research has on the development of best practices in education. The endowed chair, once funded, will be awarded to a faculty member in the College’s Department of Education, the school said.

Another anonymous donor committed an estimated $1 million estate gift to create an endowment that will support the choral programs at the college. This gift has been earmarked to support the college’s choral programs, which are growing in both participation and range, ensuring that music will continue to be an integral part of the Elmhurst experience.

The most recent gifts bring the total of fundraising efforts since July 2016 to more than $11 million, with more than $2.5 million going directly to student aid through scholarships.

–DuPage County News Briefs–