Along with a holiday parade, fireworks, and an early appearance of Mr. and Mrs. Claus, the words of local poets are helping to brighten this year’s Winter Lights celebration which begins Friday in downtown Aurora.
Poems written by local artists will be displayed on large posters throughout the Winter Lights event site in downtown Aurora where they will remain throughout the season.
This marks the fifth time Fox Valley poets have been invited to submitted poems for the event.
The project, which is a collaboration between the city of Aurora, Aurora Downtown, and Cultural Creatives Inc., is an outgrowth of A Celebration of Poetry in Public Places.
More Top Picks Best High Lumen Edc Flashlights For Men
Cultural Creatives began in 2008 with a mission to use the arts to revitalize Aurora’s downtown, according to Karen Fullett-Christensen, an art enthusiast and the former downtown Aurora development coordinator.
Collaborations of groups such as Cultural Creatives has led to “a blossoming of the arts” she said.
By throwing ideas like the public display of poems out in the community, other individuals have taken up the cause, Fullett-Christensen said.
Her poem entitled “Some Time in Winter” was chosen for the display as well as other poems including “Cinderella” by Frank Patterson, “Frozen Crystals” by Heather Davis, “To Smile” by Jeremy “Xoandre” Moats, “Lightfall” by Paula Garrett, and “The Warmth” by Michelle Donfrio.
The works will be displayed on the first level of the Stolp Island Parking Deck, the former Assell photo shop on Stolp, Metropolitan Co-Working on Downer next to River Edge Cafe and another site to be determined location.
The buildings selected to display the poems are part of the Vacant Window Project sponsored by Aurora Downtown.
However, according to one city official, thanks to new businesses moving into downtown Aurora, there are fewer vacant buildings to choose for the displays.
Paula Garrett, the library director at Aurora’s Illinois Math and Science Academy, said although she is more an arts and humanities person, she drew inspiration for her poem, “Lightfall,” from the science of light.
Garrett, who worked at Fermilab prior to IMSA, said, “Poetry gives me the opportunity to paint a little short, narrative image through words. It allows me to capture a moment without making it a full-fledged story.”
Aurora’s Michelle Donfrio’s poem entitled “The Warmth” touches on the paradox many of us face in winter.
Donfrio, who commutes from the Aurora train station to downtown Chicago, said her poem described those chilly, early mornings on the train station platform when commuters often have the interesting experience of actually seeing their breath.
“Winter is beautiful in many ways — so still and reverent,” she said.
However, she added, “I’m very sensitive to cold and can be affected by seasonal disorder.”
There is a neat juxtaposition in winter of all the beauty, awe, stillness, and silence that occurs, Donfrio said.
“But at the same time a part of us is just hoping for spring to come,” she said.
Aurora’s annual Winter Lights Parade and Festival will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Friday in downtown Aurora. The event will include the official lighting of the city’s holiday tree in front of the GAR Memorial Hall, 23 E. Downer Place.
Cathy Janek is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News