From classic trains to ‘Star Wars,’ window art in Aurora looks to brighten holidays
Local artists have come together to offer some unique holiday windows at nearly three dozen businesses in downtown Aurora to help brighten up the season despite the ongoing pandemic.
The Aurora Downtown group helped organize the display called Aurora Express — a downtown-wide holiday window theme featuring trains and other modes of transportation, from yesteryear to the future.
“We’re featuring various modes of transportation and think it has been really cool to see the number of participants and variety of creative ways they are participating in the Aurora Express,” said Marissa Amoni, manager of Aurora Downtown. “We have something like seven local artists that have worked on multiple windows and displays that look back on various eras.”
Amoni said some of the more unique artistic creations include the 1930 Burlington Zephyr train, otherwise known as the “Silver Streak,” at locations on LaSalle (Crystal House) and Galena (Oxie Affordable Optical), and a “Star Wars” window at Payton’s Photography at 14 W. Downer Place.
CeCee Nedrow of Montgomery, owner of Payton’s Photography, said the creator of the “Star Wars” art was a family friend named Josh Schultz, “my husband’s best friend since grade school and our daughter’s godfather.”
“Josh came and outlined the mural the day before Thanksgiving and worked on it altogether four or five days,” Nedrow said. “There are ‘Star Wars’ fans out there, but my husband and I are just huge geeks, and when we heard there was this train theme, we asked if Josh could throw in some things even if they are based far in the future.”
Schultz of Oswego said he used “the winter theme from ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ ” as a backdrop for his scene, “which snowballed into something on its own.”
“We have snow speeders and tauntauns and I was going to sneak a train in there, but things snowballed and it’s very future-oriented,” Schultz said.
Nedrow said her husband loves the mural so much “he doesn’t want to take it down until next summer,” and that people have been flocking to her store once she posted the mural on social media.
“People say they have these ‘Star Wars’ sweaters and costumes and want to know if they can come down and take pictures in front of the window,” she said. “As far as a holiday attraction goes, Aurora is a big hub and this is kind of the end of the line. It’s awesome to see how the shops have all come together.”
Stephen Thompson, whose wife Yvonne oversees The Cotton Seed Creative Exchange downtown, said the store is currently featuring “a train engine that wraps around our southern bay window, and a train station in the north window.”
He said the Aurora Express “is a great effort in the middle of an unstable and unclear future.”
“It’s something that is a little unique and it does give people the opportunity to step out and get away from the isolation that’s right in front of you,” he said.
“You can come down and see the decorations and there is more going on down here than what many people have heard.”
Amoni said the Aurora Downtown website also will be offering some additional materials designed to enhance the Aurora Express experience, including an Aurora train history video, as well as some additions coming next week, courtesy of SciTech.
“There is going to be a video of a LEGO train building that is going to be about 12 minutes long that shows the building process, as well as a train engineering video that shows how train wheels stay on the track,” she said.
“It’s something that will be very interesting even for adults, and I have to say I actually learned a lot.”
Amoni agrees with local merchants and says the Aurora Express “takes a holistic approach and offers lots of options.”
“We want people to be able to enjoy all facets of our vibrant downtown and its history and support local businesses,” she said.
For a guide to shops offering window displays, go to
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