BLUFF CITY CEMETERY WALK TICKETS NOW ON SALE
Tickets are on sale for the Elgin Historical Society and Elgin History Museum’s 39th annual Bluff City Cemetery Walk, with presentations at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, and 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27.
Guests will take a 70-minute guided tour with stops at the gravesites of seven prominent Elginites, each of whom will be portrayed by locals wearing period costumes, according to the museum’s website.
Among those being portrayed are Clarence W. “C.W.” Helm, Charles H. Burnidge and Alice “Byrd” Potter.
The cemetery is at 945 Bluff City Blvd., Elgin. Tickets are $20 for museum members, $25 for nonmembers and $15 for middle and high school students. For tickets and more information, go to elginhistory.org/event/cemetery-walk-sept26-2026.
NONPROFITS RECEIVE STATE FUNDING FOR LITERACY WORK
A recent round of funding through the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office provided more than $28 million in grants for library services and literacy programs, including $151,840 to The Literacy Connection in Elgin and $157,100 to YWCA Elgin.
The grants support programs that promote reading, math, writing and English language skills through adult, family and workplace initiatives, according to a news release from state Sen. Cristina Castro, D-Elgin.
“These grants will help improve access to literacy programs in the area, providing individuals with the resources they need to be successful,” Castro said in the release.
A list of organizations receiving funding is available at ilsos.gov/news/2026/august-13-2026-giannoulias-awards-nearly–29-million-in-library-and-literacy-grants.html.
SIX PICKLEBALL COURTS BEING BUILT AT HUFFMAN PARK
Dundee Township Park District is converting two tennis courts in Huffman Park in West Dundee into six dedicated pickleball courts.
One tennis court will remain and will be separated by a fence from the pickleball courts, according to the park district’s website.
Chicagoland Paving will be paid $250,000 as the project’s contractor under a contract approved in July by the park board. District Executive Director Dave Peterson said there will be some additional costs for the purchase of netting and poles.
The park district will use $100,000 in impact fees from West Dundee to help fund the project, he said. Construction is expected to be done by late fall.
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U-46 NAMES NEW DIRECTOR OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
The District U-46 School Board has appointed Barbara Villont as director of professional learning, succeeding Heather Fellows, who is now principal of Otter Creek Elementary School in Elgin, according to a U-46 news release.
Villont comes to U-46 from Belvidere Community Unit School District 100, where she was director of curriculum for the last three years. From 2018 to 2023, she was an assistant principal and a principal in the Kenosha Unified School District in Wisconsin, the release said.
For 10 years prior to that, Villont’s jobs included director of educational technology, assistant principal, principal and regional superintendent for the Diocese of Rockford.
She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Illinois State University, a master’s degree in educational leadership and an MBA from Aurora University, and a doctorate in interdisciplinary leadership from Creighton University.