Downtown East Dundee buzzed with activity Sunday as a group gathered for the village’s first-ever “selfie” at the same time the weekly outdoor market and the Dundee Township Lions Club fall flower sale were being held.
Residents were asked to gather in the open field next to The Depot to pose for the photo, which was to be taken by a drone. About 100 participated.
“Taking part in the selfie is about living a small community, the camaraderie you find here and the socialization,” resident Greg Thornton said.
It was a special occasion for Thornton and his wife, Cindy, who celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary over the weekend. The couple attends all the town’s festivals, they said, and Cindy has lived in the Dundee area for more than 50 years.
The couple know East Dundee Dundee Village Board Trustee Scott Kunze, who came up with the idea for the drone shot. What inspired him, Kunze said, was seeing a similar photo taken in 2020 hanging on a wall of the Senoia Historical Society and Museum in Georgia. (The town is the backdrop for the TV show “The Walking Dead and films that include “Driving Miss Daisy” and “Fried Green Tomatoes.”)
In order to duplicate that effort, village officials reached out to drone videographer Paul Sweigert, a Carpentersville resident, who has documented other local events from the sky, including Dickens in Dundee and the Riverside Parade of Lights.
Sweigert said he’s taken similar group shots, including a photo of the graduating class from Harry D. Jacobs High School in Algonquin every year since 2016.
Katherine Diehl, East Dundee’s special events coordinator, helped Sweigert corral people for photos he took from various drone vantage points. The entire process took less than 15 minutes, and the photo the village deems best will hang inside The Depot, which is the focal point for many village events.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
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