When Ron Onesti strolled into our service club meeting in 2005, my first reaction was this guy looked like the type who hung around my old neighborhood in Chicago. There was no way to know that 20 years later, it would be clear he was this area’s “Greatest Showman.”

Onesti was making his rounds at Tri-Cities area service clubs that year to introduce himself and explain his role as the new operator of a St. Charles gem — the Arcada Theatre along Main Street in the heart of downtown. It’s been an entertainment venue since 1926, thanks to the vision and generosity of Lester and Dellora Norris.