DC Magazine - Fall 2025

Whipping Up Happiness

Ken’s Kakes delivers smiles with every bite

TREASURE, EVERYWHERE

Connecting DeKalb antiques to elite buyers worldwide

BREAKING GROUND

New 120-Room Hotel moving forward

STILL GLOWING

Sycamore State Theater celebrates 100 years

The

INSIDE

Photography: Shaw Media

Megann Horstead

Katherine McLaughlin

Project Manager: Lisa Angel

Writers: Johnathan Bilyk, Megann Horstead

Layout & Design: Sophia Gibilisco

Treasure, Everywhere Industrial Artifacts connects antique owners with demanding high-end buyers

By: Jonathan Bilyk

Nathan Rock isn’t going to tell you that those old items and heirlooms collecting dust in your house or barn will make you rich. But Rock, the owner of Industrial Artifacts in DeKalb, said some of those items, or “treasure,” as he calls it, may still be worth far more than you may ever imagine.

“I believe there is literally treasure all around us, in every barn, basement, and backroom,” said Rock. “It’s all around us, hiding in some of the strangest places you can imagine.”

Rock said it’s his job to not only find it, but to help others put their potential treasures in front of the people who can help turn those rare or vintage items from yesteryear into real, cold cash, in the here and now.

“We deal in antiques, but we’re not your grandmother’s antique store,” said Rock. “The service we provide is our expertise in helping people discover their treasure, hiding plain sight, and then giving the pieces the justice they deserve.”

For the past 15 years, Rock, his business (and life) partner, Teresa Allen, and the team at their shop and warehouse have built Industrial Artifacts into an increasingly prominent player in the constantly growing field of dealing in antiques and other valuable ‘found objects.’

Rock said the journey began as a happy accident. This was not what he was expecting to be doing at 44 years old, he said with a laugh. Rock was working for his father, Benjamin Rock, in locating and selling industrial surplus, old commercial machinery, equipment, and other items no longer needed for manufacturing and other operations.

Rock said he was working as a buyer, tracking down pieces with some value, typically at auctions, to sell to wholesalers. At one of those auctions, Rock said he bought an old lathe with a “neat lamp on it.”

Since the lathe was what he was actually after at the auction, Rock removed the lamp and decided to post it to eBay in the hopes of getting a few dollars for it. When the lamp eventually sold for more than $1,200, a different light bulb went off in Rock’s mind, as he got his first real glimpse into a different kind of market potential.

“You could say it definitely caught my attention,” Rock said.

From there, Rock began doing more research and took his first steps into the multi-billion-dollar industry in which his business venture, Industrial Artifacts,

now resides. The business has grown from a small garage in DeKalb to now occupy more than 65,000 square feet of warehouse space across three buildings on 10th Street in DeKalb, not far from the city’s downtown.

Rock said the company recently purchased 40,000 more square feet and continues to add to its warehouse space. That growth has been particularly fueled by a growing network of commercial buyers, dealers, decorators, and designers, coupled with online galleries on its website and online auctions of items themselves through their site, Rock Auction Gallery, to build an audience of “higher-end clientele” that reaches far beyond DeKalb County.

Notable items, along with a dose of humorous and punny quips, gain some closeup exposure on the company’s Instagram page, as well. Industrial Artifacts, for instance, rents out antique furniture and other items for use by film

and television production studios, while also supplying vintage furnishings for high-end and demanding commercial clients, including the offices of a prominent clothing designer, Rock said.

Industrial Artifacts’ marketing strategy, however, does not include a storefront open to the public. While members of the public can physically browse the wares housed in their buildings, those warehouses are open by appointment only.

“We intentionally try to do things a little differently,” Rock said.

Industrial Artifacts will acquire some items directly, while many others, Rock and the team, sell by consignment. All items are professionally photographed in-house by photographer Al Ferris, so they look amazing when they land online.

Rock said Industrial Artifacts centers its business on certain core categories. These include antique tufted leather furniture, and especially vintage Chesterfield couches, which are in particularly high demand from movie and TV studios.

“It doesn’t really matter what period the show is set in, you’re going to see Chesterfield used in TV shows,” Rock said. Industrial Artifacts is also always on the lookout for antique lamps and industrial lighting, vintage cabinets and other storage and showcase pieces, antique toys, and antique advertising signs, “pre1950,” Rock said.

The signs, he said, are becoming increasingly hard to find. “They’re not just something you find anywhere,” Rock said. Though sometimes the items are found purely by chance. He recounted a story in which he traveled to a garage sale at a home near Genoa. While there, he asked for permission to check around inside two barns on the property. To his surprise, he said, he discovered a large section of the floor was made of antique 20-foot porcelain Sinclair gas station signs. “They’d been buried there, out of sight, for 75-100 years.”

On another occasion, he discovered another hot collector’s item while picking up some rain barrels through a deal struck on Facebook Marketplace. While there, he learned the man had some so-called

‘salesman samples’ that were miniature scale models of actual products intended to allow traveling salesman to showcase their products, generations ago. These included antique Bowser gas pumps, the first iteration of the modern gasoline pumps.

“I was in shock,” Rock said. The man consigned four samples to Industrial Artifacts, which eventually sold for more than $10,000.

Other treasures may sell for less than what instincts and research may tell Rock and his team those items are worth. While the final value of any found objects depends entirely on what buyers are ultimately willing to pay, Rock said, at bottom, Industrial Artifacts exists to help people in DeKalb County and beyond discover, value, and perhaps ultimately extract value from their heretofore unseen treasures.

“I want to help people to see what I see when I look at those objects,” Rock said. “That’s at the core of our business. Because we know: There’s treasure everywhere.”

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DeKalb leadership breaks ground on hotel

$23M investment will boost local economy, tourism

By: Megann Horstead

DeKalb community leaders gathered Aug. 26 for a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the construction of Towneplace Suites and Fairfield Inn by Marriott, a new 120-room hotel located at 902 Peace Road. Construction of the hotel is expected to begin in early September.

The event, which featured some public remarks, refreshments, and photo opportunities, saw several elected officials in attendance, including DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes, DeKalb Alderwoman Barb Larson, and State Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore.

In his public remarks, Pramit Patel, who will run and operate the new hotel, said he’s excited to bring the first Marriott-branded hotel to DeKalb.

“DeKalb’s seen an unprecedented amount of growth in the last five to six years,” Patel said. “Directly four miles down on Peace Road is a new home to Meta’s Data Center, Kraft Foods, Ferrara Candy Company, Amazon, and probably more on the

horizon. With this new growth, there’s been a new demand for quality rooms. I can’t think of a better brand to bring to DeKalb than Marriott.”

The 2.5-acre property sits vacant and is situated between the Bumper to Bumper auto parts store and the Fast Stop Express gas station along the east side of Peace Road, north of Pleasant Street, city documents show. Upon completion, the hotel will

become the city’s third. Cortney Strohacker, executive director at the DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said it meant a lot to her organization to see shovels in the ground. “We at the CVB run into (events) all the time that we could bring here, but we can’t because we don’t have enough hotel rooms, even countywide, let alone DeKalb,” she said. “The more hotels that we have, the more things that we can bring in. And to have it right here by the airport is fantastic. It’s a great location.”

Project leaders said they are investing about $23 million into the build. Patel said he is committed to plans for constructing the hotel in DeKalb. “I went to school here,” Patel said. “I’m an NIU alumni. To be able to come back to where I had the best times of my life and give back to the community, it means a lot.”

A potential tax-sharing agreement between project leaders and the city remains in the works. City leaders have expressed initial support

for a deal. An ordinance will be brought before the City Council for consideration at a later date.

Melissa Amedeo, executive director at the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation, said seeing the development of the hotel move closer to reality is a big deal.

come knowing that this is their home away from home. And they get to enjoy what DeKalb has to offer.”

Strohacker said the DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau knows the community has been dealt a “huge economic loss” because of a lack of hotel room availability in the past.

Still, Strohacker expressed optimism for the community’s future. “I know that is a big investment, but I think that they’re going to see that it was well worth it.”

“It’s huge what they’ll bring for growth,” Amedeo said. “It will also help some of the growth that we’ve already seen.”

Patel said he has long embraced the importance of hospitality, going back to his days at Northern Illinois University. “I strive to bring that type of hospitality to all of my hotels in DeKalb,” Patel said. “When visitors come to stay here, they

Whipping Up Happiness

Ken’s Kakes delivers smiles one wedding cake, cupcake, or cookie at a time

By: Jonathan Bilyk

Kennedy Davis loves her tiramisu cupcakes. But what the owner of Ken’s Kakes loves even more is the chance to help happy couples give life to the wedding cakes of their dreams.

“I always have a smile on my face when I’m making them,” Davis said. “They’re so much fun. “Being such a small part of such a big day, yet at the same time being able to make their dreams come true? It really makes me so happy.”

It was in 2017 that Davis first began mixing together the ingredients that would convert her home kitchen in Malta into the rising baked treats business, Ken’s Kakes.

“I’ve been baking ever since I can remember,” Davis said. As a child, she said, in the kitchen with her mother is where people would usually find her, whipping up some delicious homemade cookies, brownies, and other baked goodies.

Typically, though, it would be cupcakes or birthday cakes for family and friends, Davis said. Even as a youngster, Davis would quickly step outside the box, gaining the skill and confidence to bake everything from scratch, as she taught herself what she calls “the science of how the ingredients interact” to produce exactly the outcome desired.

Davis, however, did not set out to become a professional baker. After college, she began working full-time as a first-grade teacher in DeKalb Community School District 428, a job she continues to hold and enjoy. Spurred on by her husband and others, Davis decided to try her hand at baking up a second career, one she said would enable her to translate her smile at sampling her baked goods to others taking that first delectable bite.

From the start, Ken’s Kakes has focused on a few primary baked goods, including sugar cookies and drop cookies, which are chocolate chip or “other cookies that are ‘dropped’ onto pans in balls of dough,” Davis said.

Davis specializes in her business’ namesake cakes and cupcakes or “Kakes,” in this case. The name of the business comes from her longstanding nickname. “My name is Kennedy, of course, but for some reason, people have always called me Ken,” she said.

Noting that the first name is usually the short form of the typical male name Kenneth, Davis said with a laugh that some customers are caught by surprise when the “Ken” they are looking for turns out to be a 30-year-old blonde woman.

And the “Kakes?” Davis said that was just a creative misspelling of “cakes” to create some alliteration and make the name of her business both fun and unforgettable. In the years since she launched her business, Davis said Ken’s Kakes has grown in tiers and batches, a little here and there, but especially since the end of 2021, as people returned in earnest to gathering to celebrate life events together once more.

Davis said the business has particularly seen growth in the number of weddings for which she has been asked to bake. While she had designed, baked, and decorated a wedding cake for a friend from college, it was not until late 2021 that the first true order arrived from a customer with whom she had no prior relationship.

“I was terrified,” Davis said with a laugh, recalling the dawning of that wedding day and the moment arrived for her to assemble the cake on site. “I knew I had created what I could to the best of my ability, to get it as close to the customer’s vision as I could.”

And when the bride saw it?

“The customer loved it. She said it was everything she had hoped for. It all felt so amazing.”

In the months and years since, Davis has fielded more and more requests for such specialty cakes, as happy customers have

passed on her contact information or tagged Ken’s Kakes on Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms, telling their family and friends about their experiences.

“It’s so very humbling to see how so many people recommend me,” Davis said.

In addition to wedding cakes, Davis continues to knead together magical treats for birthdays, anniversaries, bachelorette parties, and just about any other special occasion that calls for sweet treats. Davis can provide cupcakes in batches of any size in as many as 20 different flavors. And all of her cupcake flavors can also be turned into full sized cakes, she said.

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Davis’ favorite remains her tiramisu cupcakes, which are a vanilla cake filled with mascarpone espresso cream and topped with a mocha buttercream. However, she is also partial to the pina colada pineapple cake with a coconut buttercream, shredded coconut, pineapple, and a cherry, and strawberries ‘n’ cream varieties, which are vanilla cake filled with chopped strawberries and jam with whipped buttercream frosting and topped with more strawberries.

Most recently, Davis said her biggest hits have included decorated sugar cookies. “People are always most amazed at how I can get the cookies themselves to taste so good,” Davis said. “And they are always beautifully iced and decorated.”

Davis said her busiest season is typically the fall, as that is when weddings put her in high demand. The holidays are also busy times for her. Davis recommended customers give her at least two weeks to complete orders, but more time may be needed if an order is particularly large or complex.

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Davis said she continues to do all of the baking herself, from her home kitchen, to maintain quality, including the taste and freshness her customers hired her to provide. She is typically able to work with all customers to help them bring their visions and desires to a delicious and beautiful life.

“I do like it when people come with specific ideas in mind,” she said. Though she also loves those rare occasions when customers allow her to unleash her creativity a bit more and “play around with different techniques.”

Either way, though, Davis said the customers’ smiles that so often greet her completed projects come as but the icing on the cake. “Making people happy through food is just a really cool thing,” she said.

Still Glowing

By: Jonathan Bilyk

The Sycamore State Theater may never again be what it once was. It may never again seat more than 800 people for a single show, host church services, and almost certainly will never again show silent films with a score performed live on a pipe organ.

According to Makie Maratos, whose family owns Sycamore’s downtown cinema, they believe they can help the historic place reclaim a share of its past glory as the community’s top in-town entertainment destination.

“This place could’ve easily been bought out and torn down many times over the past decades,” Maratos said. “But it just speaks to how special this place is, that it’s still here, serving out its purpose again, 100 years later.”

This fall, Maratos and his family are leaning into the theater’s legacy, inviting the community to join them in celebrating a 100th birthday, a monthslong party that will take guests through some of cinema’s most iconic moments, beginning with the 50th anniversary of the most famous cinematic shark attack

in history and capping it off with the 100th anniversary of the faux haunting of the Paris Opera House at the hands of a disfigured musical genius.

“We’re playing classic movies from the past century,” Maratos said. “And we can’t wait to welcome in the community for a special fall.”

Maratos’ connection to the theater dates back to 2021, when he and his family purchased the historic building that houses the Sycamore State Theater. The building on West State Street between Sacramento and California streets will mark 100 years since it welcomed patrons for the first time.

Opened on Nov. 28, 1925, as the Fargo Theater, it grandly began its life, staking a claim to the central spot on the hub of the town’s entertainment and social calendar. The theater was built by Geneva businessman and local politician Henry Fargo for $115,000, or about $2.2 million today. For its first three years, the Fargo offered a mixture of silent films and live entertainment, including traveling vaudeville acts, accompanied by a live Geneva pipe organ.

In 1928, the theater installed a sound system, allowing it to expand its entertainment repertoire. And in 1939, the theater made local history again, becoming one of the first buildings of any kind in DeKalb County to have air conditioning. In comparison, DeKalb’s historic Egyptian Theatre did not become air-conditioned until it completed its major renovation and expansion project in 2020.

The Fargo Theater changed its name to the Sycamore State Theater (or, State Street Theater, as some call it) in 1940, and became exclusively a movie theater. Over the next three decades, attendance lagged until the movie theater closed in 1972 and the building was converted into a church for 17 years. In the late 1980s, new owners sought to resurrect the building as a venue for live country music shows.

Then in 1990, ownership instead divided the large auditorium into three smaller theater spaces with movie screens, a small cineplex configuration that the theater maintains to this day. After another three decades, Maratos and

his family, including his wife, Kari, and his mother and father, Jean and Pete Maratos, stepped in, taking ownership of the building. Pete Maratos died in 2022.

The purchase deal included a stipulation from the prior owners: The family must continue to operate the State as a theater. For Maratos, the condition was easily agreed to. “The building needs a lot of maintenance work, for sure,” he said. “But this theater, and this whole building, it’s so important to the history of this community, and to the community now. It’s always been a place for people to escape the everyday, to feel a sense of belonging, a connection, to be a part of the community in a shared experience. Of course, it’s a beautiful building, right downtown. We definitely never want to shut this down.”

Maratos noted the family has also continued many downtown traditions, including joining in Sycamore’s annual Walk With Santa, including a free Christmas movie for kids and their families.

“It’s just what you’re supposed to do if you have a special place like this,” Maratos said.

Maratos did not come to the project with any history of his own in running theaters. He said his wife, Kari, has a particular passion for theater and the arts.

The Maratos family’s trade is in the restaurant business, a business they still maintain, running the Village Restaurant, a Greek-themed restaurant located in the old Fargo building, nestled next door to the State’s glowing marquee.

According to Maratos, running a theater has forced him to learn a new industry on the fly, such as the ins and outs of landing big-name new film titles to place on that glowing marquee. He said he loves welcoming people into the theater and hearing the stories from people who knew the place in the past.

However, he said his favorite moments have proven to be those busy Friday nights, when a big hit movie for the kids pops into the State. “We’re popping the popcorn, serving the drinks, to all of these smiling, happy people, who can’t wait to see this new movie,” he said. “And then when the movie ends, you hear the clapping and cheering. There’s just so much electricity, and nothing beats it.”

To this point, Maratos said the State Theater’s charts have remained topped by the attendance generated by Disney Pixar’s Inside Out 2. Other big titles for generating attendance at the State, though, have included Super Mario Brothers and Top Gun: Maverick.

This fall, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Fargo building that houses the theater, the State Theater is also including a run of some very special classic movies, which are also celebrating special anniversaries of their own. These will include the 50th Anniversary showing of Jaws; the 60th Anniversary presentation of The Sound of Music; the 90th Anniversary presentation of Bride of Frankenstein; and the 100th Anniversary presentation of The Phantom of the Opera on November 28. The celebration will also include other special events, including raffles.

Maratos said he is working with contractors and Sycamore city officials on a new feature the Maratos clan hopes to unveil yet this year: The return of live entertainment to the State.

While Maratos said he has no plans to take down the walls in the theater, or attempt to restore the State to its full past condition, with one large auditorium, he does hope at least one of the current movie theaters could also add a stage, with space to host some comedy acts, musical acts and perhaps some live theatre, particularly during those times of the year when the big hit movies are harder to come by.

Maratos hopes the community will join his family in not only celebrating the past, but in securing the future of the State Theater for decades more to come. “We want to make this a hub for anyone who wants a stage at some point, here in downtown Sycamore.”

He added, “We can’t say it enough: Go out and support movies and theaters. Theaters are becoming a dying breed, but it’s so important to keep them going. The response from the community has been great. And it’s just so exciting to see places like this still existing, still doing what they were made to do.”