The festival opened this year, fittingly enough, on Earth Day Wednesday for the spring flower season. The farm at 909 English Prairie Road is open daily until the flowers begin dropping their petals.

Operators also added 100,000 daffodils last year for the pop of color those early-blooming buds offer, Richardson said.

Fest hours are 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Tuesdays through Sundays for the duration of the fest.

“It is there, but it’s dim,” he said Wednesday as the National Weather Service continued its flood warning for McHenry County and parts of Kane and Lake counties.

The good news, he added, is that Fox Lake on the Chain O’ Lakes has likely crested – meaning the floodwaters have hit their peak on the north end of the system and will slowly start to recede there.

The bad news is the water will continue to head south.

“It means the water is leaving but is making its way down the river” and will continue to leave areas wet for at least another two weeks, Christensen said.

Downriver at the Stratton Lock and Dam near McHenry, the floodwaters were expected to crest at 7.5 feet Wednesday into Thursday, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

The river below the Algonquin dam was at 12 feet Wednesday morning and was expected to crest at 12.2 feet on Thursday, according to the weather service’s Chicago office.

The river there is expected to remain at major flood stage through Saturday, then slowly start to recede, but not until floodwaters hit more neighborhoods, yards and streets as the water heads downriver, the weather service said.

Christensen has been encouraging residents along the river who have seen flooding in past years to sandbag, and to stay vigilant about the barrier they’ve already laid down.

“They need to stay on top of it and monitor their sandbag wall and probably pump out the water the has seeped in behind it,” Christensen said.

As the river heads to a crest, water will move further inland.

“The water cannot go down fast enough because there is nowhere else for it to go. We will see a rise in flooded areas through tomorrow, without a doubt,” Christensen said.

More flooding was seen on Wednesday as volunteers were requested to help - in one case where a previous sandbagging effort had failed – in the Island Lake and Holiday Hills areas.

“The need has been scaled back for sandbagging, but not eliminated yet,” Christensen said.

He also called out motorists who have been driving around – or in some cases moving – the barricades blocking off flooded roads.

“No. 1, you are risking your safety and the safety of yourself and your vehicle. No. 2, you are damaging the sandbag walls at your neighbor’s house” by creating a wake with your vehicle, Christensen said.

The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office also said it would ticket any drivers officers found going around barricades.

With the river now at major flood levels, additional structures are threatened in Algonquin, East Dundee, Carpentersville, and Elgin, according to the flood warning issued mid-morning Wednesday. What areas could see damage based on past flood levels can be found on the Flood Impact charts at the National Water Prediction Service website, water.noaa.gov.

Gloria Jenson took exception to some of the agency’s predictions on which streets will see flooding in Algonquin. She lives on Center Street, and can see the Algonquin dam from her flooded yard.

If Jayne Street, one block south of her, floods as the weather service warned, “we had better be building an ark,” Jenson said.

In the nearly 49 years she’s lived there, her yard, with 165 feet along the river, has flooded many times. Every year it happens “it floods different,” she added. “Whatever happens up and down the river ... it changes how it floods every year.”

They started sandbagging on Sunday, with neighbors jumping in and helping each other get their bags in place.

“That is generally how it works here, people who come and help because it is a community,” Jenson said.

Although they have to sandbag every few years, Jenson said she isn’t going anywhere either.

“It is a great spot to live and it doesn’t happen every year” but then rattled off the years it did happen: 2013, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

“It is not all that bad and it is a lovely place to live,” she said.

Christensen reminded residents they can self-report where floodwaters reach this year, including photos of where floodwaters overtopped banks, at the Fox Waterway Agency website, foxwaterway.com.

If no more heavy rainfalls inundate the watershed, the river “may be within its banks by around the middle of next week,” hydrologist Scott Lincoln said on Tuesday. “It needs to stay dry to make that.”

While there is rain in the forecast, current models don’t indicate heavy rain events, he said.

But he also emphasized the “around” part. Lincoln’s making that forecast based on the current reading at the New Munster, Wisconsin, river gauge and historic data – while also recognizing it can take days for floodwaters to recede as the river heads south.

New Munster crested at 15 feet Sunday “and has been on a slow fall” since then, Lincoln said, adding that location “is the primary flow if water heading into the Chain O’ Lakes.”

It can take three to four days for downstream gauges to see floodwaters crest after New Munster does, he said.

That slow progression – along with mitigation efforts and changes to the riverbanks over time – are why the weather service needs residents to update them with changes on the ground, Lincoln said.

The Flood Impact information they use – what areas are likely to get flooded based on how high the river is – comes from a combination of places, Lincoln said, including county and town emergency managers and residents.

“We put that in the database [to indicate] that area will possibly get flooded” in the future too, Lincoln said.

Things can change over the course of the river, and in the course of a few years. If homes were bought out and replaced with riverside parkland, or if levies were put in place after the last flooding, it will change where water is going and their forecast, he said.

“A lot of things can happen. and there is no way to keep tabs on everything that has changed” unless residents and officials let them know, Lincoln said.

What he does know is what gauges on the river – many connected by satellite to the National Weather Service – tell him about current conditions.

What those readings are telling him now is that parts of the Chain O’ Lakes are in major flood state and are still slowly climbing.

Fox Lake, he said, was at “a fraction of an inch under major flood stage and climbing slowly” in Tuesday.

Water levels on the Chain aren’t necessarily consistent either.

“The lakes are spread out and don’t rise and fall like a bathtub. But generally – the Chain O’ Lakes are near major flood state and are still climbing slowly as of midday Tuesday,” Lincoln said.

To put this year’s flooding into context, the Fox Lake gauge was at 7.5 feet Tuesday.

“That is the highest we have has since July 2017, and that was higher at 8 feet,” Lincoln said. “We are a half-foot below what it was in 2017.”

Elsewhere, heading downriver, the tailwater at the Stratton Lock and Dam climbed to major flood stage overnight, Lincoln said.

On Tuesday afternoon, the McHenry County Division of Transportation closed about a mile of River Road from McHenry Dam Road to West Fernview Lane due to water over the road. The closed road is east of the Stratton Lock.

Rawson Bridge near Cary remains closed from Tuxedo Lane to the Broken Oar in Port Barrington. The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office reminded motorists not to cross the bridge or to drive around any barricades at flooded roads. Additional road closures are expected as the river continues to rise.

Via its Facebook page, Nunda Township announced Tuesday that it was ending its call for volunteers to help fill and place sandbags. That effort started last Thursday.

Below the Algonquin dam, water is expected to continue to climb through Thursday and reach 12.2 feet – major flood stage, Lincoln said.

The weather service does not have a gauge at Elgin, but gets daily updates from the Elgin Water Treatment plant employees. Elgin is expected to stay at or below minor flood stage and remain there even as the water does rise, Lincoln said

The difference in whether flooding is considered major or minor is that stretches of the river have different bank heights, he said, adding that the weather service takes into consideration if homes – life and property – will be affected by floodwaters.

“There are trails and parkland that are flooding in Elgin ... but it s pretty difficult to have flooding in Elgin proper,” Lincoln said.

At the South Elgin dam, the water levels have remained steady over the last few days, rising less than one-tenth of a foot.

The next gauge isn’t until Montgomery, where the water is expected to remain at minor flood stage for the next several days.

People may notice there is a long span of the river that does not have gauge readings, Lincoln said. That is because its up to communities – towns and county boards – to pay for the real-time gauges that report back to the weather service via satellite. If towns don’t regularly see flood damage, they may not want to pay for the gauge.

“That is the general, non community-specific answer,” Lincoln said.

To see flood predictions and the flood impacts, residents can to go water.noaa.gov. Questions and comments can be sent to nwps.webmaster@noaa.gov. The Chicago National Weather Service at Romeoville can be called at 815-834-0600.

That’s just one area within a large stretch of the Fox River where residents, public agencies and volunteers are battling heavy rising waters after several rounds of heavy rain.

The river remains in a flood warning “until further notice,” according to the National Weather Service. The agency said Sunday that the river was at flood stage at the Algonquin tailwater – below the dam – and at Montgomery, affecting Kane and Kendall counties.

“Persons along rivers and streams in the warned area should take immediate precautions to protect life and property,” according to the NWS.

People along the river reported submerged docks; flooded yards, streets and basements; and boats that had gotten loose and floated downstream.

For homes along some portions of the river, it may be too late to start sandbagging, David Christensen, McHenry County Emergency Management director, said Sunday.

But he’s not seeing reports of areas inundated by fast-rising water either.

“It is rising slowly. There is a lot of water moving downstream versus sitting here” in McHenry County, Christensen said.

The portions of the Fox River and Chain O’ Lakes that are controlled by the Fox Waterway Agency remained closed to boating Sunday. In a news release Saturday, the agency reported that the lakes and river are now in a major flood event.

In the lower river – from the Stratton Lock and Dam near McHenry to the Algonquin Dam – the agency said to expect flooding “greater than the 2017 event.”

That year, the river at Algonquin crested at 12.37-foot levels, according to the NWS.

Christensen said Saturday that New Munster, Wisconsin, farther up the Fox, is worrisome because it is at 14.5 feet and heading toward 15 feet. Fourteen feet is major flood stage there. And what happens in New Munster usually happens in McHenry County three to four days later, Christensen said.

For the lower river, the most-current flooding prediction for the lower river is 11.9 feet.

In the past, water at 12 feet and above at Algonquin means structures are threatened along the river in East Dundee, Carpentersville and Elgin, according to National Weather Prediction Service website. That site includes Flood Impact information – what different water levels have caused, historically, in areas of other downriver towns.

Farther downstream, the Fox River at Montgomery is forecast to remain at minor flood stage at 13.5 feet. That level means a few low-lying parts of St. Charles, Batavia and Montgomery on the river are threatened by floodwaters.

Farther north, at the Stratton Lock near McHenry, it takes just 7 feet of water to reach major flood stage, Christensen said. “Flood stage at McHenry is not the same as flood stage at Algonquin.”

Christiansen said McHenry County has received 333% of normal rain totals in April so far, which can feed into the river.

EMA is in “full-blown response,” Christensen said, and is working with townships and municipalities to provide them with additional resources than what they might have.

That includes sandbags, although “sand is never an issue” to find in the county.

In the 2017 floods, the county used 750,000 sandbags, Christensen said. But sandbags only work if they’re wrapped in plastic.

He added people whose wells get covered with floodwater should not use the well water and have the well tested after floodwaters recede. He said the McHenry County Department of Health can help with that.

Private sewage disposal systems also won’t work correctly if flooded, Christensen said.

He also believes actions taken by counties and municipalities since the 2013 and 2017 floods have lessened potential flood impacts in some areas.

“It hasn’t eliminated it. There are still homes that are flooded” with water in basements and coming over the riverbank and threatening homes, Christensen said. “If your house has water lapping at it, [mitigation efforts] don’t mean a whole lot to you.”

But before those efforts, Algonquin had homes and businesses that would flood in the spring.

“Now, it is just the park,” he said.

Houses with water lapping at them are what Nunda Township is seeing, said Rob Parrish, highway commissioner. He had 120 volunteers show up Sunday to help with sandbagging efforts.

He was supposed to spend the weekend celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary.

“My wife had a wonderful weekend planned in Galena,” Parrish said.

In Nunda Township, volunteers were helping to sandbag Sunday in areas around Burtons Bridge. That included volunteers and staff from Island Lake, Village President Richard McLaughlin said.

Calvin Clay, the village’s emergency management director, and others went to go help in Holiday Hills, McLaughlin said. Clay was among the volunteers, including Boy Scouts, who helped sandbag Saturday in the yard of an elderly couple who could not do it themselves.

Those seniors left an emotional message on his voicemail, thanking the village for their help. While listening to it, “I almost started crying, and I am a military man,” McLaughlin said.

Nunda Township Supervisor Mike Shorten said Saturday the sandbags were being trucked from where they were assembled to the riverfront as quickly as possible.

A lot of areas grappling with flooding are those that also dealt with it in 2013 and 2017, Shorten said. He said the road district is leading operations and “they’re doing a great job.”

There’s been trucks from places like Hoffman Estates and Crystal Lake, and the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office also brought inmates from the jail to help, Shorten said.

Parrish said Holiday Hills, Oakhurst subdivision and Bayview Beach were among the hardest hit areas in the township.

“That rain [Friday] night did not help,” Parrish said, adding that people enjoying Saturday’s nicer weather might not realize some people are fighting to save their properties.

Check with municipalities for updates on where sandbags are being provided.

Algonquin

Sandbags available at:

Go to algonquin.org for information.

East Dundee

Village has sand bags available outside the gate of its Public Works Garage at 446 Elgin Avenue. Self-serve.

Go to eastdundee.net for information.

Johnsburg

Sand and sandbags are available:

Go to johnsburg.org/alert_detail.php for information.

McHenry

Sand bags are available to residents from the Street Division at the Public Works Facility located at 1415 Industrial Drive. Residents should call the Street Division at 815-363-2186 or go to cityofmchenry.org to learn the location of available sandbags.

Residents are asked to report flood damage to the McHenry County Emergency Management on its website: mchenrycountyil.gov/departments/emergency-management/report-flood-damage.

Since 2013, the fire district has also been planning a new, sixth station on the south end of McHenry, buying six acres at Shamrock Lane and Route 31 to for a future building.

“When we bought it, with a long-range financial plan, we started saving money to build a fire station there,” Horist said. “We have never borrowed money. We save for a new ambulance or tobuild a new fire station.”

But in the 10 years since Station 5 opened on Ringwood Road, construction prices have skyrocketed. The latest estimate for a new station comes in at $8 million, Horist said.

That is why the district is now looking at other options for its next fire hall, including purchasing the empty Ridgeview Electric, Inc., building inside the McHenry Corporate Center.

Fire board President Allen Miller said buying and rehabbing the building at 1400 Ridgeview Drive is currently estimated at $2 million, versus the $7 million to $8 million to build new.

A new fire station to serve the south end of the 56-square-mile district is not the only construction project officials are looking at.

The district is in the process of purchasing a three-acre strip of land from the city of McHenry, on Dot Street between the Amrise (formally Holcim Lafarge) gravel pit on Route 120 and the school bus barn. Plans are to construct a training facility there for the district’s 140 full- and part-time firefighters, Horist said.

The board of trustees is in the early stages of planing to build the training center. A timeline for either project is still up in the air, Horist said, adding that the district has not contracted with engineers or architects for either building.

Both projects came up at a McHenry planning and zoning commission meeting this week.

There are benefits to being inside the industrial park, Horist said. Emergency vehicles would be able to head north to Bull Valley Road or west to Route 31 to get to scenes.

A new, southern fire station would also help take the pressure off the two other fire stations in McHenry.

Station 1 is downtown, at Routes 120 and 31. Station 4 is at 6300 Dartmoor Drive, west of Curran Road.

If Station 6 opened today, it would answer 18% of the 8,137 calls for service the district responded to last year.

“It would be the second-busiest in our district,” Horist said.

The 7,000-square-foot Ridgeview Electric building already has the high overhead garage doors needed to get fire equipment in and out.

“It has a warehouse area ... that can be converted to an apparatus floor,” Horist said.

Miller said the building became available and would be “a big cost saving to the taxpayer.”

Having a training facility in the district would be a time saver, according to district management.

“Training is a very important part for our employees, to keep them safe. Now we have to send them out of district, and that means a station that is not covered,” while they train, Allen said.

Currently, the district’s firefighters often train in Wauconda or Huntley, as those districts have dedicated training facilities.

“It pulls our firefighters out of our fire district. Our guys are training when they are on duty and while those two departments are great [for training] it is pulling firefighters and resources out of or district” to train there, Allen said.

The district has also used the now-empty First Midwest Bank at 3510 W. Elm St. – across the street from Station 1 – for training.

But crews cannot burn or practice live fires there, and the building is likely to be sold for redevelopment at some point.

Horist envisions a structure where firefighters can do live-fire training, among other skills, while also using the property for storage. The fire district has set aside $1 million for the project, he said, but added the training facility could be built it phases if it helps keep costs down.

As the district has not yet contracted with a company to design the facility, “we don’t know what it is going to cost,” Horist said.

Once constructed, McHenry could offer the facilities to other area fire districts for training for a fee.

That isn’t to take away from the fire science training programs at McHenry County College, Horist said. That facility is geared toward college students getting their initial training on how to be a firefighter.

“We are not looking to compete with MCC, but we will benefit from having the dedicated training site,” Horist said.

The river is expected to crest next week at more than a foot higher than levels recorded as of Wednesday evening, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service issued a flood warning until further notice for the Fox River, stretching from Johnsburg to Red Gate Road in St. Charles, including at the Algonquin Lock & Dam, affecting McHenry, Lake and Kane counties.

Some minor flooding has already occurred along the river, with moderate flooding forecast.

The maximum river stage along that stretch of the Fox was 10 feet – above the flood stage of 9.5 feet – and was expected to rise to 11.3 feet by Tuesday evening, according to the weather service.

If that crest rises to 11.5 feet, areas that could be affected include Oceola Drive, Jayne Street and Beach Drive in Algonquin; McBridge Street and Jerusha Avenue in Elgin; and River Street in East Dundee.

“A Flood Warning means water levels above flood stage are imminent or may already be occurring. Persons along rivers and streams in the warned area should take immediate precautions to protect life and property,” the weather service alert states.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources said inflow is forecast to continue climbing through Sunday, with levels of the Fox Lake and Upper Fox River peaking Wednesday. Between 1.75 and 2 inches of rain were forecast for the watershed over the next seven days, the IDNR said Thursday.

In Nunda Township, Parrish’s staff began working late Wednesday to help protect homes along the river.

“Nunda [Township] has three sandbaggers running and four trucks delivering sandbags,” Parrish said, adding crews from Bull Valley, Prairie Grove, Island Lake, Lakemoor, Dorr Township and inmates from McCounty County Jail are helping.

As of mid-day Thursday, the township had made and delivered 10,000 sandbags, Parrish said.

The river is high across the Fox Valley region after heavy rains the last few days and with more expected.

“Everything is headed to the Fox River,” Parrish said.

McHenry County Emergency Management Director David Christensen agreed. Current water levels upstream, at New Munster, Wis., has him worried because what happens there “magnifies here,” Christensen said.

Parrish said he’s getting the most calls for service from low-lying areas like the Bayview Beach subdivision and Whippoorwill Drive near Prairie Grove.

“They have been placing sandbags all night with pumps running” to direct water back into the river from yards, Parrish said.

He is expecting the flood levels to be similar to those seen during the 2013 and 2017 floods, Parrish said.

In just the last 30 days, the area has seen 8.5 inches of rainfall, with the potential for more precipitation.

It will get worse before it gets better, Christensen said.

Not all areas are reporting flooding yet. McHenry’s Director of Public Works Russ Adams said there is “some standing water in the typical low-lying areas and the creeks are up, but nothing is being overwhelmed.”

McHenry continues to monitor the situation, Adams said.

Algonquin Public Works staff have started preparing to sandbag, Director Nadim Badran said.

The village has closed Cornish Park in the downtown area to the public out of precaution. Once the river hits just over 11 feet, 3 inches, sandbags will be deployed, Badran said.

But he doesn’t think this year will be a repeat of the record-breaking levels seen in 2013 and 2017. Those years, the river crested at 13 to 14 feet high in Algonquin.

“I don’t think it’s going to get to that point, but we still want to be ready,” Badran said.

Among the volunteers at Nunda Township were high school students who live nearby and are helping fill sandbags. The township could use more, Parrish said.

Anyone in the township who needs sandbags or who can volunteer to help fill sandbags should call the Nunda Township Highway Department, 3518 Bay Road in Crystal Lake, at 815-459-4410.

Johnsburg plans to have sandbags and sand available for residents on Friday morning, Assistant Administrator Vinny Lamontagna said.

The materials will be dropped on the 600 block of Bald Knob Road, an area that is prone to flooding. Lamontagna did not have a time for the sand delivery yet, and asked residents to keep an eye out for the village’s e-blast email.

The sandbags will not be filled, he said, adding that those in need of bags should bring shovels and help to fill the bags.

Village staff will continue to monitor the situation, and will switch to emergency response if flood conditions worsen, Lamontagna said.

According to complaints filed in McHenry County Court, Benjamin Ramirez, 18, of Johnsburg, is charged with a Class A misdemeanor count of battery causing bodily harm, accused of stabbing Coltyn Crawford in the torso with a knife. Following a detention hearing Wednesday, Ramirez was released from McHenry County Jail pending trial.

Crawford, 18, of Wonder Lake, is charged with a Class A misdemeanor count of battery, accused of striking Ramirez’s head with his hand during a physical altercation, according to court records.

Both men were charged with well lesser counts of disorderly conduct and assault, court records show. The court complaints allege both were involved in a “telephonic argument ... where threats of bodily harm were exchanged” and later a fight, leading to the additional charges.

The McHenry Township Fire Protection District responded to the incident, and Crawford was flown by air ambulance to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. His mother, Brittney Crawford, told Shaw Local that her son had four inches of small intestine removed following the stabbing and he was released from the hospital on April 2.

She set up a GoFundMe to cover medical and lost work expenses, Standing with Coltyn Through His Healing Journey.

“There is interest in it” from potential buyers, Martin said of the massive campus, adding that the way it’s being marketed, a buyer could purchase the corporate office building with one of the two warehouse facilities or all three together.

Brake Parts Inc. announced it was permanently closing its McHenry operations in early February, days after the owners of its parent company, First Brands, were indicted on fraud charges and months after its bankruptcy filing.

A total of 332 employees were informed they no longer had jobs, and another 57 were retained to wind down operations, according to a notice filed under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

The last 12 remaining employees will be done on April 30, according to Martin. The city received an updated WARN Act notice recently with that information, and “the closing of the facility will be permanent,” according to Martin’s April 6 report to the McHenry City Council.

“Staff has been working with the broker and McHenry County Economic Development Corporation on the site, and there has been a lot of interest in the site, pending its full closure,” Martin said.

According to commercial brokerage website Colliers.com, interested parties can purchase – or lease – the corporate office building at 4400 Prime Parkway and 1380 Corporate Drive together, and 1100 Corporate Drive separately.

The office building has 41,703 square feet of space, and 1380 Corporate Drive is 246,297 square feet and is being offered at $59 per square foot. The building at 1100 Corporate Drive has 376,110 square feet, according to the listing. Both warehouses have 28-foot ceilings.

The Corporate Drive buildings’ ceiling heights and loading docks with room for semi-trailer parking “are appealing” to companies in either warehouse, distribution or manufacturing, Martin said, calling it “a desirable piece of property.”

The Colliers listing also notes that the building is a designated foreign trade zone.

Jose Antonio Escobar-Albarran, 26, was charged with a felony count of aggravated domestic battery as well as misdemeanor domestic battery charges, according to a release Monday from McHenry County State’s Attorney Randi Freese.

At Escobar-Albarran’s initial court appearance Monday, Judge Mary Nader granted the state’s petition to deny pretrial release, Freese said.

According to prosecutors, Escobar-Albarran got into an argument with a female family member Friday that escalated into a physical assault.

“He allegedly placed his hands around the victim’s neck and applied pressure, restricting her ability to breathe and causing her to lose consciousness,” according to a news release.

When the victim later regained consciousness, Escobar-Albarran had fled the scene and the woman’s phone was missing, according to the release.

According to the complaint filed in McHenry County Court, the woman sustained bruising to her neck and had to receive medical treatment.

Freese emphasized the seriousness with which her office approaches domestic violence crimes, particularly those involving acts of strangulation.

“This was a deeply disturbing and dangerous attack,” Freese said. “We are committed to holding offenders accountable and protecting victims. I am relieved that the Court recognized the severity of these allegations and ordered that the defendant remain in custody pending further proceedings.”

Escobar-Albarran’s next court appearance set for May 7.

Crews encountered “significant interior storage conditions” inside the home, hindering their fire attack, Public Information Officer Alex Vucha said.

Firefighters were called about 4:38 p.m. to South Benbrook Avenue in an unincorporated area outside McHenry for reports of a house fire, Vucha said in a news release.

Smoke was showing from all sides of the single-story house located on a short, dead-end stretch of roadway with no hydrants. Firefighters established a rural water supply operation, bringing in water tanks, Vucha said.

The amount of items stored inside the home limited firefighters’ ability to access a back bedroom where the fire was believed to have started, according to the release.

Because of the home’s interior conditions and the fire’s location, crews were forced to open up a rear wall to access the fire’s source and check for extension into other areas.

The fire was primarily contained to the bedroom, but heavy smoke and water damage was present throughout the home and left it uninhabitable. The homeowner is receiving assistance from the American Red Cross, Vucha said.

Due to the home’s interior conditions, other areas of it were also inaccessible for investigators, Vucha said, adding it was unknown if any pets died from the fire. Numerous pets, including two or three cats, several small birds and other animals, were missing after the fire.

Crews remained on scene for about three hours for the investigation and ensuring the fire was out, Vucha said, adding the fire’s cause remains under investigation by the Nunda Rural Fire Protection District.

Now, 102 acres of the club at 820 N. John St. is being annexed into McHenry, at the owner’s request.

Formerly the McHenry Country Club, the golf course celebrated its 100th birthday in 2022. In early 2025, McHenry businessman Edward Hinz, as McHenry Golf Club Properties LLC, bought the club for $1.98 million.

With its annexation into McHenry from unincorporated McHenry County, the golf club also received a conditional use permit to continue operating as a golf course.

There was some discussion among city leaders prior to the annexation vote over whether the conditional use permit vote or the annexation vote should come first.

“How do you grant a conditional use permit for property that is not in the city?” 2nd Ward Alderman Andy Glab asked.

The golf course management wanted to ensure it could continue to operated as it has been before it was annexed, McHenry Planner Cody Sheriff said.

The club “doesn’t want to annex unless it’s guaranteed they can continue the golf that has gone on there for years,” Sheriff said.

Glab was the sole vote against the conditional use permit, but joined with the Council – including Mayor Wayne Jett – to approved the annexation on a 8-0 vote.

With the annexation, the city assumes maintenance responsibility for an approximate 900-foot section of North Country Club Road. It will be placed “near the end of the city’s pavement management schedule,” according to the planning and zoning staff report.

According to a news release from the Sun Prairie Police Department, officers there were alerted by the Harvard Police Department to a missing child.

That investigation, according to the release, determined Chase Schroeder, 27, made contact with the child via social media and arranged for a rideshare service to bring the child to Sun Prairie.

He assaulted the child, according to the authorities, and sent the child home via rideshare.

Schroeder was arrested March 25 and was initially being held on a federal warrant, according to the release. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections Sex Offender Registry lists his current address as the Marquette County Jail in Montello, Wisconsin, and says he was convicted in 2019 in Texas of “possession of visual depictions of sexual activities by minors.”

In the new case, he was referred for charges of sexual assault of a child under 12, sexual exploitation of a child, using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, child enticement and possession of child sexual assault materials, according to authorities.

Sun Prairie police received assisted during the investigation from Harvard police, the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI.

In the release, Sun Prairie police reminded parents and guardians “to have regular conversations with their children about online communication, including who they are talking to and what platforms they use.”

Resources on internet safety for families are available through the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program at icactaskforce.org and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s NetSmartz program at missingkids.org/netsmartz.

A licensing agreement gives the foundation – operated by Mayor Wayne Jett and his wife Amber Jett – control over any advertising placed on the rink’s boards, recognizing those who helped pay to purchase it and fund putting it up each season. The agreement was approved recently on a 6-1 vote.

Alderwoman Chris Bassi, 4th Ward, was the lone no vote. The agreement was brought to the council due to a previous concern Bassi raised about the rink’s advertising.

In a letter sent to Jett in November, Bassi voiced concern about having advertisements on the rink. At a Council meeting a few days later, Jett dismissed the idea of putting an ordinance regarding donations and signage for city parks on a future agenda.

McHenry City Attorney David McArdle said he wrote the new licensing agreement “after Chris [Bassi] brought it up.” Having the agreement is “dotting I’s and crossing T’s,” McArdle said.

The ice rink has been put up each winter season since late 2023. That November, Jett had posted on his Facebook page, seeking donors to put a small ice rink in at the recently completed Miller Point Park.

Jett ran those donations through the RISE Up Foundation, the nonprofit created to operate the McHenry Music Festival. The $85,000 ice rink, including a freezing system and boards, was installed a few weeks after that first post. The rink is taken down before the annual ShamROCKS the Fox St. Patrick’s Day festival.

The new license gives the RISE Up Foundation rights to install the rink at Miller Point Park for the winter season and recognizes there is a cost for installation, maintenance and taking down the rink. Those costs, and who pays for what, “shall be established annual by a separate ... agreement between Licensee and the City Administrator,” according to its text.

The agreement also recognizes that donors help pay for its purchase and ongoing operations.

“Licensee shall have the right to place the names, logos or other identifying marks of its donors or sponsors on the perimeter boards of the Ice rink installed on the Premises,” according to the agreement. “The City shall have no editorial control over the content of donor recognition displayed on the Ice Rink boards.”

In her vote against the agreement, Bassi said she was concerned about the clause that put final decisions between the city administrator and the licensee, Jett.

“The administrator reports to the mayor on a daily basis,“ Bassi said, causing what she called a ”power issue” between the two. She would be more comfortable if costs and who is responsible were spelled out in the agreement, Bassi said.

City Administrator Suzanne Ostrovsky said her authority to approve expenditures goes up to $20,000. By keeping those spending decisions between her office and the licensee, it prevents things from having to come back to the council for routine approvals, she added.

The city did pay an emergency repair bill, for $1,900, after a pump failed in March 2025. The foundation will be repaying the city for that expenditure, Jett said.

At some point, he will sign the rink over the the city – probably when RISE Up discontinues the concerts.

“We do not know if we will do a show in 2027,” Jett said.

Their families – including their husbands and two children each – were on vacation together, and the two longtime friends were talking about their dream of running a bookstore together.

On that day last June, mobile bookstore Here for the Plot was born. They bought a trailer and outfitted it with books and book-related products, taking it from event to event starting in September.

When they pull their trailer into an event – craft sales, famers markets, and even straight to area businesses for a pop-up event for readers – there are some oohs and aahs from women, the duo said.

“We get heartwarming feedback from the community when we open up the trailer,” McLeod said. Comments include that it is ”like the bookmobile” that libraries send into neighborhoods with books, she added.

“Every time, it feels so good,” because of the positive feedback, Hunn, of Crystal Lake, said.

It was books and reading that bonded the two way back in middle school.

“We both had a passion for reading,” said McLeod of Cary.

Both said they are e-book readers who also buy physical copies of the books the love.

“I have trophies: three or four editions of the same book,” because each edition has a different feature, Hunn said.

While romance is a favorite, they are selling a little of everything, include thrillers, fantasy and historical fiction while staying up on what’s trending.

“We try to cater to the masses and what is trending and popular on TikTok,” McLeod said.

They are also working to build a community of readers by hosting pop-up events with local authors and other book-related get-togethers.

“It is such a blessing that has paid off with the relationships we have made. It has been really a tight-knit community,” Hunn said.

Those pop-ups have included a New Chapter, New Year event at Lake Villa’s Harbor Brewing Co. Via their Facebook and Instagram pages, they found and invited independent, women authors from around the region to connect with potential readers at the event.

A Book Club social at Crystal Lake’s The Ellery event venue offered cocktails, food and book-bedazzling and, again, an independent author signing.

“We are building this community, working with local authors and indy authors,” McLeod said.

A shelf in the “Plotmobile” is set aside for those local authors, and many of the books are also signed.

As they ramp up for the summer festival and farmers market season, lessons learned during their first months of operation include having a selection of children’s titles too.

They are still working on their spring and summer schedule, finding new locations via social media and word of mouth. Because they’re both working moms, most of the event are over the weekend, and they’re trying to stay within an hour or so’s drive. Because the books cannot travel on the shelves, there is set up time when they arrive.

The end goal is a brick-and-mortar store, McLeod said: “For now, we can bring the books to them.”

Developer Mike Oliver “needs to convince me ... whatever the dollar amounts are ... to approve it. What I care about tonight is to understand the TIF and justifying the money for the TIF. He is asking us and the next generations to invest in Hidden Harbor,” Trustee Keith Von Allmen said.

A TIF district is a tax subsidy that allows the new, higher property taxes generated by redevelopment within the district to be channeled back into the property rather than distributed to property tax-collecting bodies like school districts for up to 23 years. Excess monies in the TIF can be used for public improvements, including demolition of existing structures. TIFs can also be renewed once for an additional 11 years, according to state law.

Oliver first brought the Hidden Harbor concept to the village a year ago. Proposed for Chapel Hill Road at the Fox River, the development calls for motor condos and drive-up boat storage with an expanded marina. A restaurant, riverwalk and a water feature would also be open to the public on the 22-acre site.

For the past several months, Oliver has been working with both the McHenry County Division of Transportation on access to the site and with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources on the development’s seawall on the Fox River.

The seawall, he said, has violated state regulations for the past 36 years. Oliver has since come to an agreement with the IDNR to solve the issue and with McDOT on access to Chapel Hill.

Until those issues were worked through, it made no sense to come to the village with his TIF ask, he said.

“I wanted to do this a year ago, but I didn’t know what McDOT or IDNR was going to say,” Oliver said.

According to data provided by his consultants, Oliver believes the development would create $21.4 million in TIF increment money over a 23-year time span – and is asking for 100% of the TIF to go back into the project.

Some Village Board members expressed skepticism about that ask and whether Johnsburg would get enough public benefit to make it worthwhile.

According to a term sheet presented to the village before Tuesday’s meeting, those public benefits would include realigning Charnbrook Drive at Hidden Harbor’s main entrance, drainage improvements for Salem Avenue and repairing and patching Linden Avenue where the new sanitary sewer will go through.

Other touted public benefits would be a publicly accessible riverwalk and shared-use paths, shoreline stabilization, expansion of the harbor and the extension of the city’s sanitary sewer from the Village’s lift station to the northeast corner of the property.

The overall project cost is $43.2 million, according to Oliver’s documentation.

Tim Hartnett, the village engineer, reminded the board that if Oliver’s project does not create the increment, he does not get the money.

“It was a great idea for him to come tonight,” Hartnett added, to make sure the board agreed with the concept of TIF funding. But it is still very early in the process.

“This is the first couple of baby steps,” Hartnett said. “This is a long lead item to get done.”

As Oliver’s presentation was only listed as an update on the meeting agenda, no formal vote was taken. Village President Ed Hettermann asked for a consensus on whether Oliver should return with both the TIF and a redevelopment proposal that would need votes.

Oliver said he’d be ready to come back at the next meeting, set for April 21, with a breakout of the public benefit portions of the project and the estimated costs associated with them.

Firefighters were called about 1:30 p.m. Friday to the intersection of Nish and Barreville roads for a reported crash, according to a news release from Alex Vucha, district public information officer.

Crews arriving on the scene found a black sedan “well engulfed in flames,” according to Vucha’s release.

Both of the adult drivers – the only occupants in either vehicle – had exited their cars before firefighters arrived, according to the release. While firefighters put a hose line on the car, paramedics evaluated the drivers on scene.

The driver of the vehicle that caught fire declined medical attention, he said. The the driver of a red sedan was taken to a local hospital with moderate injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

Crews were on scene for about an hour and assisted with traffic control while the roadway was closed and the vehicles removed.

The Cary Fire Protection District assisted on scene for the fire and patient care, Vucha said.

The Prairie Grove Police Department is investigating the crash.

A $120,000 state grant the city received this week should help move that plan along, said Doug Martin, director of economic development.

McHenry was notified this week that it was awarded the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s Regional Site Readiness-Planning Grant.

The grant will be used for the environmental, wetlands, geotechnical, archeological and other studies needed before any development could happen there, Martin said. When that work is done, developers may be more interested in moving to McHenry.

“The whole purpose is to make it as shovel-ready as possible to have a developed site as quickly as possible,” Martin said.

The McHenry City Council approved a deal with the landowner at its Nov. 17 meeting, in which McHenry would apply for the grant, and the landowner, Parkway Bank Trust Company, is responsible for the required $30,000 local match.

According to Martin’s report to the Council in November, McHenry had shown the property for “a potential relocation of a large manufacturing employer that would have brought approximately 700 jobs and $10 million in capital investment to the area.”

The company chose not to pursue the McHenry site because of the geotechnical and environmental concerns there, Martin said.

He worked with Mark Piekos, executive director of the McHenry County Economic Development Council, and the state to apply for a site readiness grant so that wouldn’t happen again.

With the grant approval, McHenry now serves as the fiscal agent, administering the grant, overseeing expenditure and handling reporting requirements.

Once a developer is found for the site, it will be annexed into McHenry, Martin said.

Now the arterial road’s businesses, restaurants and shopping centers are an economic driver for Kane and McHenry counties.

That, City Administrator Derik Morefield said, is what Route 23 between Interstate 90 and Marengo could look like in another 20 years.

“This is the next opportunity” for growth along the I-90 corridor, Morefield said. “It is pure, available open space.”

Marengo got one mile closer to that future this week. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity approved a $4.6 million grant to continue extending water and sewer infrastructure to the interchange at Interstate 90 and Route 23. It could be finished in late 2028, Morefield said.

“That interchange is super important to the tax base and future growth,” Morefield said.

The latest grant is expected to fund the last of the 3-mile project that gets city water and sewer to the open land along Route 23. Acreage along the road has already been annexed into Marengo, with plans for continued swaths added to the city over time.

This potential future all started when the Illinois Department of Transportation put a full interchange in. Opened in 2019, the I-90/Route 23 interchange is the only interstate access point in McHenry County.

That’s where Marengo comes in – first with $27 million in state grants and a $750,000 loan approved by the McHenry County Board to improve city water and sewer systems and beginning to extend lines toward the interstate. The first section got as far as the Unilock manufacturing building, Morefield said.

The second mile was funded by another $3.5 million state grant and got Marengo to Anthony Road.

The latest grant will fund the last section, about ¾ of a mile, and a new Marengo water tower near the interstate.

Without the state grants or development agreements in hand, Marengo would never have the money to put the lines in, Morefield said.

“We would have to figure out how to run 3 miles to get down to that interchange,” he said.

The state is betting on the idea that if the infrastructure is there, development will follow.

“It is an economic development tool to spur growth along the Route 23 corridor,” Morefield said.

That is what officials from the Regional Site Readiness Program – part of the state’s commerce and opportunity department – said in its news release announcing the grants.

“Economic development happens with thoughtful long-term planning and considerable investment in new roads, water, sewer and other infrastructure, creating shovel-ready sites for industry,” said Michael Dunn, Region 1 Planning Council executive director.

It also means that in another 20 years, Marengo could look like Huntley does now, Morefield said.

“The state saw the potential,” he said. “Marengo is the nearest municipality and [the City Council] had the foresight to annex to the intersection.”

The extension has not been without tension; it’s been a focal point of past Marengo mayoral races.

The project also could benefit the entire county, said Mark Piekos, executive director of McHenry County Economic Development Corporation.

“These investments give us [the] opportunity to build on McHenry County’s strong industrial base and compete for the kind of projects that create lasting jobs,” Piekos said in a news release.

Current residents should also benefit, according to a post on Wednesday on Marengo’s Facebook page.

“We aren’t just moving dirt for the sake of it. This is about the long-term health of our town,” the post said, pointing to tax relief with industries paying more of the bill, additional local jobs and improved infrastructure.

“We’re in the home stretch of a very long project, and for the first time, the finish line is actually in sight. Thank you for your patience with the construction crews. We are building a more stable, affordable future for Marengo,” the post said.