Free Summer Concerts in Aurora, IL (near Montgomery, Oswego, Batavia, North Aurora, and Naperville)

Aurora - Want free music in Aurora this summer? Everyone is talking about new venues like RiverEdge  Park and the big names they will bring, and while that is exciting, you might need to even our your budget with a little free music this summer. Enjoy all the great, local talent in Aurora for FREE!

Free concerts in June:
Friday, June 7 - Town Band (pictured above) plays Millennium Park on Stolp Avenue in downtown Aurora
Saturday, June 8 - Louche Puce Market shows off local talent from 9 to 4
Thursday, June 13 - Cattleprod at North Aurora's Riverfront Park
Thursday, June 27 - Montgomery Park

Free concerts in July:
Thursday, July 11 - St. Malarkey at North Aurora's Riverfront Park
Saturday, July 13 & 27 - Town Band plays Aurora's Farmers Market at 9 a.m. located at the Aurora Transportation Center
Saturday, July 13 - Louche Puce Market shows off local talent from 9 to 4

Free concerts in August:
Thursday, Aug. 8 - Todd Kessler and the New Folk Trio at North Aurora's Riverfront Park
Saturday, Aug. 10 - Louche Puce Market shows off local talent from 9 to 4
Saturday, Aug. 31 from noon to 5 p.m. - Alley Art Festival brings a handful of local musicians to perform all day long at the family-friendly artsy fringe fest.

Free concerts in September:
Saturday, Sept. 14 - Louche Puce Market shows off local talent from 9 to 4

Free shows every Monday - Culture Stock at 43 E. Galena Blvd. invites local musicians to perform from 6 to 7 p.m. as part of M.U.S.I.C. Mondays.

Earth Hour in Aurora, IL

April 25: AU presentation: Why Do Smart People Do Dumb Things?

Aurora University and HRMS, Naperville,
A division of Gallagher Benefit Services,
co-present a Human Resources Institute Seminar

“Why Do Smart People Do Dumb Things? - Emotional Intelligence for Today’s Leaders”

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

7:30–8:00 a.m.
Registration, networking and continental breakfast

8:00–9:00 a.m.
Free Presentation
University Banquet Hall in Alumni Hall

1410 Marseillaise Place in Aurora

Guest Speaker: Lynn Mitchell

Lynn Mitchell is a professional certified coach with a focus on leadership and organizational development. She believes a leader’s work begins with self-awareness. Mitchell helps leaders be more successful by getting out of their own way. She facilitates performance enhancing behavioral change within the workplace.

Mitchell brings to her coaching practice 25 years of business experience, including corporate leadership positions at IBM, creating a successful small-business management consulting company, and graduate-level teaching as an adjunct faculty member at the Aurora University's Dunham School of Business. She can be reached atlynn@lynnmitchellcoaching.com or 815-236-3204 .

What’s the No. 1 reason people fail in their work and personal life? Mitchell says it's not because they lack intelligence or technical competence, but emotional intelligence. Emotions have the potential to get in the way of most important business and personal relationships. Emotional intelligence (EI), ability to manage personal behaviors and the emotions of others, is the single greatest contributor to personal excellence and leadership.

RSVP
This is a free presentation. For more information or to register, call 630-844-4917 or 630-844-5493 .

March 17: MapleFest at Red Oak Nature Center

NORTH AURORA – Red Oak Nature Center will be offering an early, sweet taste of spring on Saturday, March 17, when the annual MapleFest takes place.

The event is free to the public, with no registration required.

Tours will run every half hour beginning at 9 a.m. (final tour at 1 p.m.), with naturalists from Red Oak leading visitors to various stations in the woods to view demonstrations of how maple sap is harvested and turned into delicious maple syrup. Each group will tap a maple tree, then witness the process of how sap is boiled and converted into syrup. Group taste-tests will follow.

“Early spring is the perfect time to collect maple sap because the days are getting warmer but the nights are still cold,” said Margaret Gazdacka, facility supervisor at Red Oak. “Visitors will get to witness this age-old practice of taking sap from a tree and turning it into the syrup you use on your pancakes.”

Maple-themed treats and hot beverages will be available for a small fee. A new feature this year will include items for sale from Vermont – the maple syrup-producing capital of the world – that include small bottles of maple syrup, maple-flavored cotton candy and maple lollipops.

Red Oak Nature Center is located on Route 25 in North Aurora, one mile north of Route 56. For more information, contact Red Oak at 630-897-1808 or visit the District’s website at www.foxvalleyparkdistrict.org.

March 1: Downtown Auroran Magazine party!

What: Downtown Auroran Magazine release party

Why: Because it's awesome and free, and brings the community together

When & Where: River's Edge Cafe from 4 to 6 p.m., then Chef Amaury at 33 West from 7 to 9 p.m.

Who: Everyone!

Come pick up a copy of the Spring Issue 2012 of Downtown Auroran Magazine, a free, independent publication focusing on arts and culture, and the downtown scene.

March 2: Free Birthday Events for Aurora!

Two free events will celebrate the 175th birthday of the city of Aurora on March 2, 2012.
A postal cancellation ceremony will take place at 2:00pm at the downtown post office, commemorating the establishment, on March 2, 1837, of the Aurora Post Office. Within a setting of postal memorabilia jointly curated by the Post Office and the Aurora Historical Society, postal employees will offer a commemorative postmark saluting Aurora’s 175-year history. Entertainment will include a reading of the 1837 letter announcing the establishment of the office, as well as original music written about Aurora. Postmaster Jackie Sanchez will speak.

The commemorative postmark is free, however it can only be placed on First-Class Mail postage. Collectors and souvenir hunters may bring their own envelopes with first class stamp affixed, or they may choose from a set of four pictorial envelopes featuring famous images of Aurora which the historical society will offer at a nominal price. The cancellation may also be obtained for a period of 30 days following the ceremonies by submitting a request to the post office. After thirty days the equipment is destroyed, ensuring the integrity of the cancellation. Cancelled pictorial envelopes will be for sale at the Aurora Historical Society gift shop throughout the year. Seewww.aurorahistory.net for details.

The post office is located at 525 North Broadway, 60505. The cancellation activities will be conducted from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.

A birthday party to celebrate the 175th anniversary will be held from 5:00 to 8:00pm at the Aurora Transportation Center. Sponsored jointly by the City of Aurora and the Aurora Historical Society, the event will include refreshments, music, historic characters and the Goddess Aurora, making her first appearance of the year. The historical society is seeking Aurora’s oldest citizens, pioneer families, and residents who have significant length of residence to be honored by the mayor. Please visit www.aurorahistory.net to learn more about the criteria and how to submit a nomination.

The Aurora Transportation Center is at 233 North Broadway, 60505. Parking will be free that evening.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Wintertime Fun in Aurora - 2011

Check out these cold month possibilities for outdoor fun and more:

From Chicago Tribune: "When it comes to outdoor winter recreation in the Fox Valley Park District, spokesman Jeff Long says, children and teenagers do most of the sledding and skating, while adults focus on cross-country skiing.

Sledding in Aurora takes place at Lincoln Park, with gentle slopes suitable for children; McCullough Park, offering Fox River views; and Waubonsie Park, which has intermediate slopes. According to the district's Web site, the fastest and steepest slope in the area is a big hill on Fifth Avenue, just west of Kautz Road, in the Oakhurst Forest Preserve, managed by the Forest Preserve District of Kane County.

The Fox Valley Park District maintains two outdoor skating areas: Wheatlands Park pond on the east side of Aurora and Splash Country Water Park pond on the west.

The most popular cross-country trails are the Fox River Trail and the Gilman Trail, which have the fewest number of road crossings, Long said. The Gilman Trail goes through wooded areas and past a golf course; the Fox River Frail north of Aurora can be more challenging."

Check out New Haven Community Park near Highland Avenue in central Aurora for free ice skating. Phillips Park on the East Side is a great place for sledding. Visit Paddle and Trail in downtown Aurora (Spruce and River) for other outdoor adventures, like snowshoeing and more.

If indoor fun is more your style, then don't forget to take the kids to the Vaughn Center for indoor swimming and other recreational opportunities. A hot chocolate at River's Edge Cafe is also a nice wintertime treat. Or how about some soup at Tecalitlan Restaurant on the corner of Downer and Broadway?

There are a ton of fun ways to stay active, and enjoy the cold months. Happy Winter!

Time Inc. deputy general counsel, best-selling author to speak at Aurora University

AURORA, Ill. - Aurora University will host presentations by a best-selling author and an Aurora pastor to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Both events are free to the public.

Rhonda Joy McLean, deputy general counsel of Time Inc. and co-author of "The Little Black Book of Success: Laws of Leadership for Black Women," will discuss "Leadership in a Multicultural Society" at 7 p.m. on Jan. 12 in Crimi Auditorium, 407 S. Calumet Ave. McLean, a 1972 Aurora College graduate, will address what she considers the building blocks of true leadership: self-confidence, effective communication, collaboration and courage.

McLean's book has been consistently ranked in the top three on Amazon's best-seller list for leadership and management. She will sign copies of the book after her presentation.

Based in New York, McLean manages one-third of the Time Inc.'s law department and conducts regulatory compliance efforts for consumer marketing materials for the publishing company's 21 magazines in the United States and Canada. Prior to joining Time in October 1999, McLean was the assistant regional director of the Northeast Region of the Federal Trade Commission for nine years. She holds a bachelor's degree in criminology and social work from Aurora College, master's degree in adult education and leadership development from North Carolina A&T State University, and law degree from Yale.

On Jan. 13 at noon, the Rev. Julian E. Spencer, pastor at Main Baptist Church in Aurora, will bring a message in Lowry Chapel in Eckhart Hall, 347 S. Gladstone Ave. An Oswego resident, Spencer became the 20th senior pastor in Main Baptist's 140-year history in 2007. Spencer also serves with the Fox Valley Christian Ministerial Alliance, Love Fox Valley, North Woodriver Missionary Baptist District Association and Illinois Missionary Baptist State Convention; and chairman of the Good Samaritan Network, a not-for-profit organization that provides holistic services to those in need.

Call 630-844-4924 for more information on the presentations, or visit aurora.edu/calendar.