Sept 24: Civil War Encampment

AURORA - The Illinois Humanities Council Board of Directors has awarded
a $5,000 grant to the Aurora Public Library for the Fox Valley Reads
2011 program, which is offering programs and activities related to the
150th anniversary of the American Civil War.

Among programs planned for the month-long Fox Valley Reads is a free
Civil War Encampment scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept.
24, at the corner of River and Benton streets in Aurora. The encampment
will feature a military dress parade, cooking demonstrations at the
commissary tent, a rifle fire demonstration, period music and children's
activities.

Fox Valley Reads, a partnership among six libraries located in the Fox
River Valley, has chosen the book "All Other Nights" by Dara Horn as its
centerpiece book for the 2011 commemoration of the Civil War
anniversary. Horn will speak at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 2, at the Illinois
Mathematics and Science Academy in a program sponsored by Fox Valley
Reads. She will discuss her research into the Civil War and how she used
it to write "All Other Nights." A book signing will follow the
presentation.

Fox Valley reads includes a number of other programs, including a
presentation where actors who portray the Lincolns discuss the Civil War
(2 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy); a
lecture by Aurora Historical Society Executive Director John Jaros on
the role Aurora and its citizens played in the Civil War (2 p.m. Oct. 29
at the West Branch of the Aurora Public Library); and Civil War
Storytime at the David L. Pierce Art and History Center. (4 p.m. Oct.
25).

For a listing of all Fox Valley Reads programs, go to
foxvalleyreads.org.