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Date: 2005-08-31
FOX VALLEY DOLLAR DAY AND ALL THAT JAZZ FROM THE FOX RIVER TROLLEY MUSEUM
Eighty years ago, Chicagoans danced to hot jazz as
the “L” trains rumbled just above the roof of Paddy
Harmon’s Dreamland Ballroom, which was built beneath
the old Metropolitan “L” tracks on Van Buren Street,
and “L” car 4451 was one of the newest on the system.
Harmon and the Dreamland are long gone but car 4451
is still around, at the Fox River Trolley Museum, on
Route 31 in South Elgin, and jazz fans can ride aboard
it Sept. 18 as the West End Jazz Band keynotes the
museum’s Fox Valley Dollar Day celebration on Sunday,
Sept. 18.
Kane County Fox Valley residents can ride 4451 and
the museum’s other historic trolley cars that day for
$1 a ride from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. The West End
Jazz Band begins its performance at 12:30 p.m. and
continues until 4 p.m.
Some of the performance is expected to take place
aboard 4451, a Jazz Age relic built in 1924 that
operated on Chicago’s elevated lines for nearly 50
years.
The West End Jazz Band is based in Chicago and
specializes in the hot and sweet dance and jazz music
made famous 80 years ago by such artists as the
California Ramblers, the Coon-Sanders Nighthawks, Jean
Goldkette, Guy Lombardo, Jan Garber, Isham Jones and
others, along with other rare and obscure jazz tunes
of the 1920s and 1930s. Led by cornetist Mike Bezin,
the six-piece band plays engagements and festivals
across the country.
The museum encourages riders to fill their picnic
baskets with snack food or lunches and to eat at
either end of the line -- the museum’s Castlemuir
depot and gift shop at 361 S. LaFox St., on Route 31
in South Elgin, or the picnic grove of the Jon J.
Duerr Forest Preserve, on Route 31 in St. Charles
Township.
Fox Valley Dollar Day is the museum’s way of saying
“Thank you” to its neighbors, but is by no means the
last event on its calendar in 2005. In fact, the
museum remains open on Sundays through Nov. 6, as well
as Saturdays from Oct. 8 through Halloween weekend.
Other upcoming special events include:
Fall Caboose Train Rides, Oct. 2 and 9. As the
colors begin to change along the scenic Fox River and
in the Jon Duerr Forest Preserve, there’s no better
place to watch than the cupola of the museum’s
Illinois Central R.R. caboose!
On Oct. 8, the museum and the South Elgin Dept. of
Parks and Recreation provide hayrides, food, fun and a
7K “Harvest Hustle” run as part of its Harvest
Festival. Children 3-11 who present the coil ticket
they receive when they purchase a pumpkin from the
village of South Elgin’s County Park patch, just north
of the museum, will ride free. Other riders will pay
regular fares.
The Pumpkin Trolley, Oct. 15, 16, 22 and 23. Get
your pumpkin by riding a Fox River Line trolley to the
Pumpkin Patch at Coleman Yard. Pumpkin tickets are $1
extra.
The Haunted Trolley and the Halloween Hiawatha Ghost
Story Train, Oct. 29-30. The Haunted Trolley thrills
children young and old both days during the day; no
reservations are necessary and regular fares apply.
Both evenings, the reserved-seating, after hours Ghost
Story Trains entertain children, their daddies,
mummies and even grand mummies! Those who dare can
experience a campfire along the shores of the Fox with
ghoulishly delightful ghost stories. Halloween
Hiawatha Ghost Story Train fares are $6 for adults and
seniors, and $5 for children 1-11. Advance
reservations are necessary for the Ghost Story Train
by writing the museum’s Special Events Reservations
Coordinator, Box 315, South Elgin, IL 60177-0315 to
get a reservation form, or by going to the special
events page at the museum’s Web site,
http://www.foxtrolley.org.
The Fox River Trolley Museum is a not-for-profit
organization dedicated to perpetuating the memories of
Chicago’s once-burgeoning electric railroad industry.
Cars in operation or on display represent all three of
the major Chicago interurban (inter-city) electric
railways as well as Chicago’s “L” and streetcar lines.
All museum workers are volunteers dedicated to
recreating a bygone era in mass transportation.
The museum, at 361 S. LaFox St., on Route 31 in South
Elgin, is open on operating days 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.,
except as noted. Regular fares are $3.50 for adults,
$2 both for senior citizens and for children ages
3-11. Children under 3 ride free.
For additional information, or to rent a train, call
(847) 697-4676.
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