The Elgin Heritage Commission will honor outstanding contributors to Elgin's heritage at the Mayor's Awards for Preservation ceremony on Tuesday, May 7. The social hour is at 6 p.m., and the ceremony begins at 7 p.m. The event will be held at the Elgin Armory, 254 Raymond Street. View a live stream of the ceremony Elgin's YouTube channel.

The awards are given annually upon recommendation of the Elgin Heritage Commission, to recognize those who have preserved and promoted Elgin's heritage. Ten award recipients, nominated by their peers, were selected for their dedication to preserving Elgin's historic architecture, neighborhoods and cultural resources.

The Mayor's Awards for Preservation will be presented to the following recipients:

• Elgin History Museum: For their extraordinary fundraising effort to sensitively rehabilitate and adaptively reuse the Nancy Kimball Cobblestone house, 302 W. Chicago Street.
• Elgin History Museum: For creating and providing a local history workbook "The Story of Our Towns" for elementary school children in School District U-46. The workbook is accessible on laptops for more than 10,000 3rd through 5th grade students.
• Elgin Math and Science Academy: For their impressive and sympathetic rehabilitation of the John S. Van Bergen designed Administration Building on the Elgin Math and Science Academy campus.
• Elgin Public Museum: For the museum's effort in renovating the "Endangered Species" exhibit created by artist Heather Dorsch while including drawings and reports from Elgin area children.
• Heidi Schroeder: For the restoration of her home, 802 Douglas Avenue. Work included rehabilitation of the porches and repainting the home in an appropriate paint scheme.
• Judy Van Dusen: For her tireless and devoted volunteerism as a genealogical researcher helping people find and research their families.
• Manuel Roa: For his sympathetic carpentry work restoring many historically significant structures in Elgin.
• Peggy Hernandez: For her universal impact as the Director of the U-46 Elgin Planetarium for the last 14 years.
• Rafael and Rigo Villagomez: For their impactful assistance in the 2023 Historic Elgin House Tour. They organized and fully staffed 722 Douglas Avenue with more than 25 bilingual docents as used bilingual advertising to make the event more accessible to the Hispanic and Latino community.
• Sharry Blazier: For promoting Elgin history by creating the popular "Elgin Nostalgia & History" Facebook page; "My Elgin," a podcast and videos of songs about Elgin; and for writing "Elgin's White Elephant," a detailed history of the Elgin Public Museum.

One certificate for the creation of interpretive signage will be presented to:

• New Hope Baptist Church of Elgin, 1405 Wing Street

Nine heritage building plaques will also be presented to Elgin homeowners who have researched the history and architecture of their historic homes this year. Since the program's establishment in 1986, more than 500 plaques have been presented.

This year's recipients are:

• Tim and Debra Vruble, 527 Arlington Avenue
• Nazneen and Mehtab Husain, 814 Brook Street
• Lisa McIntyre and Guy C. Merker II, 415 Fulton Street
• Marc Thayer and Moh Ghraiz, 856 W. Highland Avenue
• Eric and Jenny Henricksen, 910 W. Highland Avenue
• Lucio and Melissa Patiño, 124 Hinsdell Place
• Gigi York and Caitlin Heide, 302 McClure Avenue
• Dennis and Barbara Del Carlo, 909 Prospect Boulevard
• Josh Lung and Justin Lung, 463-465 St. Charles Street

For more information contact Historic Preservation Planner Christen Sundquist at 847-931-6004.

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