Milestones naturally lend themselves to contemplation and celebration. Family birthdays and personal anniversaries have lead to some of the happiest memories for our family. Businesses often celebrate their longevity and employees who have been with the company for a long time are recognized. Recently this community, your community, celebrated 20 years in existence. What a treasure this community has become to our area!
A good portion of my days are spent driving through your community. During the spring of the 20th year of Sun City, my mind has been daydreaming about how the area has changed over the past two decades. I find myself contemplating how it has evolved from a gardening or plant perspective.
I’m sure we each have our own perspectives of the area and the changes, but I hope we can all agree on how 20 years later the community is so absolutely beautiful!
Growing up, my perspective on Huntley was that it was a very small town that primarily relied on dairy farms, dairy farmers, and a dairy processing plant. Summer memories include squishing my feet in cow pies, going to the Dairy Mart in my pajamas (my grandmother’s idea – not mine), and touring the Dean’s Dairy plant in Kindergarten. Maisy Blott, a newspaper reporter, called many residents each Monday morning to find out they had done over the weekend. It would then be published in the Huntley Farmside newspaper. The first indication that I received that Huntley may be changing was in the mid 1970s. My grandmother told me that Great America was considering purchasing some land north of town. The idea of having an amusement park in Huntley was so incredibly exciting! Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed when they chose the site in Gurnee.
Fast forward 20 years and development started to happen in Huntley. The Huntley Factory Shops opened and construction of Del Webb’s Sun City began. I believe the only national retail chain in Huntley at that time was Ace Hardware. There was one locally owned grocery store and no pharmacy.
Recently, I have been silently thanking those people who designed the layout of Sun City. Each spring, as the community was being constructed, I would print out a new map. The portions that during the previous year had been labeled ‘Future Development’ would be filled with street layouts and names. I praise those who had the foresight to incorporate the beautifully landscaped common areas into the plan. Those areas are filled with such a delightful mix of spring blooming trees, shade trees with gorgeous fall color and majestic evergreens that are covered in snow in the winter.
Sometimes as I drive through other residential communities I get a bit disheartened. Although to me, this feels a bit like ‘Let him that is without sin cast the first stone.’ I know my own yard is far from perfect. I never feel like that as I drive through the community that Del Webb designed and built though. All of the yards together, make the area seem so incredibly beautiful. The care and commitment that you have towards your yards is evident. The past 20 years have lead to a maturation of trees and flowers. Where once the area developed at the pace of new home construction; now it is developing at the pace of nature.
While the Huntley Farmside is no longer published, the Sun Day newspaper recently celebrated its 9th year of publication. Congratulations! Perhaps we can all celebrate by having an ice cream at Dairy Mart this summer.
Kathleen Carr is the owner of The Growing Scene, Inc., a garden center and landscaping company. She can be reached by calling 815-923-7322 or emailing her at Kathleen@thegrowingscene.com. Have a gardening question? Please contact her. She may address it in an upcoming column.
