/images/devices.png)
/images/newspaper.png)
/images/textalerts.png)
/images/newsletters.png)
ShamRock & Roll to benefit Batavia Depot Museum
![[Curator Chris Winter organizes a new exhibit at the Batavia Depot Museum. The Batavia Woman's Club plans a St. Patrick's Day party to support the museum's expansion project.]
BATAVIA – The first ShamRock and Roll is about to shake up St. Patrick's Day while supporting the drive to expand the Batavia Depot Museum.
The party will feature corned beef and cabbage, dancing and raffle prizes from 6 to 11 p.m. March 17 at Island View Banquets at 645 S. River St., Batavia. Open to all, the lively event is spearheaded by the Batavia Woman's Club. Reservations are required by March 12.
"St. Paddy's is on a Saturday this year, and it all came together," said Cynthia Kieckhefer, a Batavia Woman's Club board member.](36552d6e-a0d8-4363-9173-de0c37503043/image-pv_web.jpg)
[Curator Chris Winter organizes a new exhibit at the Batavia Depot Museum. The Batavia Woman's Club plans a St. Patrick's Day party to support the museum's expansion project.]
BATAVIA – The first ShamRock and Roll is about to shake up St. Patrick's Day while supporting the drive to expand the Batavia Depot Museum.
The party will feature corned beef and cabbage, dancing and raffle prizes from 6 to 11 p.m. March 17 at Island View Banquets at 645 S. River St., Batavia. Open to all, the lively event is spearheaded by the Batavia Woman's Club. Reservations are required by March 12.
"St. Paddy's is on a Saturday this year, and it all came together," said Cynthia Kieckhefer, a Batavia Woman's Club board member.
[Homemade chocolate Guinness cakes will be part of the raffle items at ShamRock and Roll.]
The club invited other nonprofits to team up on the project. What arose is a collaboration between the Woman's Club and Batavia's Kiwanis and Rotary organizations along with the Batavia Historical Society, she said. Assisting them in spreading word of the benefit are the Batavia Mothers' Club Foundation and Batavia MainStreet.
Businesses have reached out to help the raffles, with the donation of an aged whiskey barrel from Whiskey Acres. The DeKalb distillery also is contributing bourbon and rye as well as a tasting for eight.
Kieckhefer will bake a chocolate whiskey cake to add to the raffles. And Batavia's own Energy City Brewing will provide some craft beer. Among the supporting businesses, The Salt Escape is contributing to the raffles as is The Tea Tree, both in Batavia.
[Curator Chris Winter shows tickets to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition as part of a new exhibit on the history of service clubs at the Batavia Depot Museum, newly reopened for the season.]
Kieckhefer, meanwhile, has been perfecting another recipe for chocolate Guinness cake topped with a frothy looking frosting infused with a touch of Bailey's Irish Cream liqueur.
"I'm making three of them we're going to raffle off with a six-pack of Guinness and a bottle of Baileys," Kieckhefer said.
A disc jockey will provide music for dancing, and the festivities will be kicked off by a bagpiper. The menu will feature appetizers and a buffet with a chicken option in addition to traditional corned beef and cabbage. A cash bar will be available.
[A train graphic tracks the progress of the fundraising campaign for expansion of the Batavia Depot Museum.]
"The Woman's Club always does great work supporting community organizations [and we're] fortunate … they decided to throw us a St. Patrick's Day party," Batavia Depot Museum Director Jennifer Putzier said.
The depot was built in 1854 and its Gothic Revival design helped land it on the National Register of Historic Places, Putzier said.
"When the [Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad] took over the line, they wanted to do it in a unique style," Putzier said. "It's a little more ornate than a lot of the depots before then."
[Curator Chris Winter organizes a new exhibit about service clubs at the Batavia Depot Museum.]
She said the fundraising drive to expand the museum has topped $600,000 toward the goal of $2 million. To learn more about the project plans, visit bataviahistoricalsociety.org/expansion-project.
Looking forward to the ShamRock and Roll party, Putzier said the Guinness cake already has been taste-tested and it "is amazing."
If you go
WHAT: ShamRock and Roll
WHEN: 6 to 11 p.m. March 17
WHERE: Island View Banquets, 645 S. River St., Batavia
COST: $50; purchase deadline is March 12
INFO: Tickets at BataviaWomansClub.org or by calling Sue Lusted at 630-306-5638