🌷 Spring cleaning: Garage sales and yard debris pickup

A quality garage sale is like a little treasure hunt. You may come away empty-handed, but you never feel like it was time wasted. Worst case scenario, you catch a brief glimpse into a neighbor’s life — one you otherwise never would’ve been afforded.

Here’s what you should know as spring cleaning/garage sale season quickly approaches:

City-wide garage sales

Batavia: The 30th annual city-wide garage sale is one of the biggest fundraisers for the Batavia Fireworks Fund, which is used to put on Batavia’s 4th of July Sky Concert near Engstrom Park. The sales will take place May 3-4, 8AM-4PM. Must register by April 24 for inclusion on the map.

➡️ Helpful links: Seller registration | Interactive map (2023)

Geneva: The Geneva Chamber runs the garage sale and handles all the advertising, marketing, printing and distributing of material. The sale is April 26-27, 8AM-4PM. Sellers must sign up by April 4 to be included on the print map.

➡️ Helpful links: Seller registration | Print sign-up form

St. Charles: The STC Underground Teen Center puts on the annual Community Garage Sale. Proceeds help them purchase computer and educational materials and upgrade sound equipment used for local teen concerts. The sale is April 19-20, 8AM-4PM.

➡️ Helpful links: Seller registration | Rules and key info

Free yard-waste pickup set to begin

It’s not exactly riveting content, but ask my wife how chapped I was after forgetting about last year’s free yard waste pickup window. The expletives were flying.

Here’s when you’ll need to have all those bags out to the curb (no sticker required). Stickers will be required after these dates.

• Batavia: The weeks of April 1 and April 8. Details here.

• Geneva: The weeks of March 18 and 25. Details here.

• St. Charles: The weeks of March 18, March 25, April 1 and April 8 (STC going hard in the paint this year). Details here.

In addition, the St. Charles Community Clean-Up Day (formerly known as the Spring Clean-Up Program) is planned for late spring 2024, pending City Council approval.

📰 News to use

The 🔒 icon indicates a potential paywall. The *️⃣ icon indicates that an account/login may be needed. 

☑️ Teacher arrested: A suburban schoolteacher is charged with burglary, grooming and the sexual exploitation of a child after a locker room incident at Norris Recreation Center in St. Charles.

☑️ Foaming at the creek: Batavia has hired an environmental consultant as the city and Illinois EPA investigate a strange foam discharge discovered by residents in Mahoney Creek on Friday.

🔒 Outdoor dining: St. Charles officials are considering closing Walnut Avenue this summer to create a public patio space, but residents and businesses are divided over the issue.

☑️ Batavia shooting: A person is in custody after Batavia police responded to gunshots on E. Wilson Street near Kirk Road last weekend. Officials are still investigating what they believe was a targeted shooting.

☑️ Warehouses trending: Geneva City Council approved the Fabyan Parkway Industrial Development, which includes the annexation of over 13 acres for a 150,000-square-foot warehouse.

🏘️ In the community

☑️ Now on display: The “Time And Time Again” exhibit at the St. Charles Public Library showcases four paintings and 18 hand-cut paper collages by a local artist from St. Charles.

🔒 No dam decision: Geneva’s Mayor Burns quashed rumors that a decision about the Fox River dam would be made by April, suggesting that a determination won’t be made until early 2025.

☑️ Neighbors in need: Of the over 2,600 students registered as homeless in Kane County last month, 378 of them lived in the Tri-Cities. The number is increasing despite a drop in enrollment.

☑️ Community art: The Batavia Parks Foundation is launching a new painted rock garden initiative near the Peace Bridge — and they’re seeking folks to help with the actual painting.

☑️ Disaster planning: Kane County just released its 2024 Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan, which helps local governments and residents understand risks and develop strategies for managing them.

🎸 Live music 

Four days, 45 live music performances — including six today, the first of which kicks off at 10AM at Copper Fox in Geneva. Seems that Preservation is starting to weave in more weekday live music after a short winter hiatus as well.

Other than that, a pretty standard music-packed weekend!

🏬 Local biz

☑️ Opening date set: Your first chance to experience the 2024 class of Batavia Boardwalk Shops will be May 10. Get to know the local businesses that will be participating.

☑️ 12 months of treats? Andy’s Frozen Custard in St. Charles will be raffling off free custard for a year and dishing out $2 sundaes during its grand opening celebration tomorrow.

🔒 Back on track: Geneva City Council approved a $290K incentive plan for the former Little Owl building — the new Tapville social location could be open by fall.

🗳️ Election coverage

🔒 Taking positions: The three Republicans running for Illinois’ 11th Congressional District seat recently shared their views on abortion and other key issues.

🔒 Crunch time: It has shaped up to be an interesting GOP primary for Kane County Board Districts 12, 14 and 16 — pitting moderates against more conservative challengers.

🔒 Solid participation: Early voting turnout in Kane County has been about average so far, with nearly 13,000 votes cast as of Monday.

🗓️ Events + things to do

🎟️ The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) | Friday-Sunday, 7PM | Playhouse 38, Geneva | A crew of wacky performers weave through all of Shakespeare’s comedies, histories and tragedies in one wild ride.

☑️ Open House - Renovation Refresh | Saturday, 10AM-12PM | Hickory Knolls Discovery Center, STC | See big new changes to the space while enjoying refreshments and a ribbon-cutting celebration.

🎟️ Easter Bunny Breakfast | Saturday, 10:30AM-1PM | Arcada Theatre, STC | Bring the kiddos for a breakfast buffet, raffles and photo ops with the big bunny himself.

☑️ St. Patrick’s Day Party | Saturday, 5:30PM | Batavia VFW | A festive shindig with Irish food, live bagpipers, drink specials, raffles and more.

🎟️ Interfaith Community Iftar | Saturday, 6:30PM | Congregational Church of Batavia | Open to people of all faiths, the event will begin with prayers, followed by an Indian meal buffet.

🌖 Weather snapshot

🌧️ Today: High 55F | Low 38F | Wet + stormy

🌤️ Friday: High 52F | Low 33F | Brisk + breezy

🌤️ Saturday: High 56F | Low 32F | Nice Saturday

🌥️ Sunday: High 41F | Low 25F | Front blows in

📖 Thanks for reading

Not signed up yet? Subscribe here. 

About: You can learn more about TCC here.

Please reach out to [email protected] with questions, tips, suggestions, press releases, event submissions or sponsor/ad inquiries.

I respond to all replies — let’s work together.

If you enjoy Tri-Cities Central, please SPREAD THE WORD and/or leave a review! We grow primarily through word of mouth.