Lombard – The Lebanese Food Festival will be taking place September 4 – 6 at Our Lady of Lebanon Church, located at 950 No Grace St. in Lombard (right behind the CVS). 

The three-day outdoor and indoor festival features authentic Lebanese food made from old-world recipes; beverages, including Lebanese beer, wine and coffee; entertainment and dancing performed by Lebanese singers, live bands, DJs; adult games and activities including board games; and flavored hookah smoking. A special performance will be provided by the Saffire Belly Dancers of Chicago and by the Lebanese folklore dance troupe. 

Kids activities include face-painting, a moon jump, dance lessons, games, crafts, carnival games and more. There will also be a raffle held with the grand prize being a three-year lease on a 2015 Buick Verano; or an $8000 cash alternative.

Admission is free and food is reasonably priced with families in mind. Hours are Friday, Sept. 4 from 5-11 p.m.; Saturday, Sept. 5 from 2-11 p.m.; and Sunday, Sept. 6 from 12-9 p.m.  For more information, visit ollchicago.org; send an e-mail to ourladyoflebanonchicago@gmail.com; or call Pierrette Hazkial at 847-533-4248. 

By Dee Longfellow

For The Elmhurst Independent

Most of them had a day job in the working world doing something other than their beloved sport. But after work at weeknight practices and on weekends, they were something more: they were semi-pro football players. Some were former high school, college and even NFL players. They all shared a love of football and a passion to play the competitive, hard-hitting sport.

It was the Elmhurst Travelers semi-pro football team, whose players huddled up once again recently for a reunion held at the Elmhurst Historical Museum.

The Independent got to meet the spawn of its founder. Jim Kulton says he was born in the summer of 1937 and, with no air conditioning and the windows open, it was easy to hear the announcement coming from the loudspeaker at the game throughout the neighborhood, perhaps throughout the town.

“Coach Kulton has a new baby boy!”

George Kulton, Jim’s father, joined his friends Lawton Davis and Mickey Hild right after high school graduation from York in 1927. The three men solicited local businesses for funds and managed to raise $120 – quite a bit in pre-Great Depression-1927 (in fact, $1645.78 in 2015 dollars) – and found 18 players to form the Elmhurst Travelers Football Team.

Wes Perry was the first coach for five years, followed by Al Reed from Elmhurst College who coached for four. At that time, George Kulton decided to retire from playing and take over coaching.

The team played at the lumberyard field, the Lake Street field, East End Park, Fenton High School, York High School, and finally Arlington Heights. It had a freelance schedule up until 1950, when it was finally able to join the Bi-State League, followed y the Tri-State League and eventually, the Central States League – or some might argue, the Big Leagues.

In the regional semi-pro football league, the Travelers faced teams from Chicago, Aurora, and southern Wisconsin. They became known as tough competitors and had an impressive record over the course of 38 playing seasons with 292 wins, 80 losses and 30 ties. Known to “win at all costs,” the team went undefeated for 11 seasons; three seasons they were not only undefeated, but also had no tie games.

They played from 1927 to 1967, except for the years of 1943,’44, and ’45, when they “took a break” for World War II.

George was eventually inducted into the Semipro Football Hall of Fame in Mobile, Ala.

George Kulton also formed a 16-inch softball team in Elmhurst called the Stone Crushers, named for the quarry. That team went to 14 championships in its 20 years.

Son Jim Kulton grew up in Elmhurst, born in 1937, he attended Hawthorne, Sandburg Middle School (called Elmhurst Junior High back then when there was only one). After York High School, he went to Elmhurst College where he finished in 1962 before going into the armed services during the Vietnam War era. Upon return, he started at B. A. Railton in 1965, then took a position at Entenmann’s Bakery located right in Elmhurst. (It has since closed.)

The Independent asked Jim Kulton if any of the players ever went on to play pro football.

“No, this league was at the other end of your career,” he said with a laugh. “We didn’t get players on their way up to the pros, we got them on their way back down!”

By Dan McLeister
For The Elmhurst Independent

In the latest five-year Capital Expenditure Budget (CEB), more than $37 million has been designated for storm water related projects, City Manager Jim Grabowski reported to City Council.

“That is a big piece of the pie,” he said at an August 17th meeting.

Alderman Jim Kennedy (6th Ward), chairman of the Public Works and Buildings (PWB) Committee, spoke up about looking beyond the five-year plan.

“We have to prepare ourselves for a figure that could be somewhere around $100 million,” he said. “We need to come up with a plan on how to proceed over X number of years.”

The latest five-year plan has increased to $130,238,800 from $97,142,100 over the five-year period. Grabowski said reasons for the increase include:

• Significant construction cost increases;

• Additional projects rolling on to the plan;

• Some carryover projects from the current year.

Capital Improvement Fund (CIF) revenues for 2016 through 2020 are projected to increase by 2.5 percent annually in Home Rule Sales Tax and in State Income Tax and by one percent annually in Telecommunications Tax amounts.

The City official noted that the proposed budget does not take into consideration any revenue change as a result of Illinois General Assembly action.

“At this time it is very unclear to what if anything may happen,” Grabowski said.

If the General Assembly were to decrease municipal funding, reconsideration of expenses and/or consideration of new or increased revenue would be necessary, he said. The five-year CEB anticipates issuing long term debt (bonds or loans) in 2016, 2017 and 2018 for financing storm water management projects and improvements in the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

However, Grabowski noted that the revenue in the CIF is not sufficient to support the debt service payments for the bonds necessary to fund the anticipated flood mitigation/storm water management projects.

“Short of an alternate revenue [source] or an increase in a current revenue, the bond debt service payment for the storm water management projects are proposed to be funded by property tax,” he said.

The City Manager said staff is always searching for other funding options to help shoulder the burden away from property tax. One of the City Council’s strategic goals is a review of alternative revenue sources.

“With some time for staff to gather this information, we stand ready to discuss alternatives with the Finance, Council affairs and Administrative Services Committee,” Grabowski assured.

The final CEB will be incorporated with the 2016 two-year operating budget and distributed to the City Council on or before October 26.