Welcome to the Illinois Times Get FIT blog!

Getting healthy is not only in vogue, it is vital to the well-being of our nation. If we don’t want to keep paying billions to remedy health problems we could prevent, then each of us must make a commitment to our personal and public health.

Here we would like to open a “healthy” dialogue with the community. We will address personal health issues like quitting smoking and staying active, as well as public health issues like the cost of health insurance and the effects of over-processed foods. We hope to get you excited about health and fitness, and we hope you’ll share your stories. We’ll start the ball rolling by sharing ours.

Thanks for reading Illinois Times!

Hopefully by now you’ve heard about the Capital Area Independent Business Alliance and our holiday campaign KEEP YOUR MONEY HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS. 

The campaign runs from November 1 through December 15 and the message is oh so simple:        

Don’t shop in St. Louis, or Chicago. Don’t make that trip to the mall in Peoria or Bloomington. Don’t go online and spend like a drunken sailor.   Instead, KEEP YOUR MONEY HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS.   That is,  make the commitment to keep all your spending local this holiday season … shop with local businesses, eat at local restaurants, support local non profit organizations.     We encourage every consumer to spend 50 cents of every dollar with local independent businesses ...  and even if the other 50 cents is spent at mega retailers, at least make sure that mega store is in OUR community.          This way every dollar you spend will come back to fix our roads, keep our neighbors employed, fill our tax coffers instead of those in other communities.  

The Capital Area Independent Business Alliance is betting that a lot of folks will hear this message and become believers.  So much so that the the group is going to give one lucky consumer $1000 cash.  Register to win at the CAIBA website (www.iBuySpi.com),  all you have to do is take the local first pledge and you'll be registered in the sweepstakes that will make someone $1000 richer on December 16th.    You must be 18 to enter, there is no purchase necessary and CAIBA board members are not eligible to win.   

While you're there look for the list of local, independent businesses organized by category - www.iBuySpi.com.

Hungry?  From Mariah's to Maldaner's, Augie's to Kiku - local beats chain every time!    Shopping for fresh seafood?  Try Robert's ... Country Market, Humphrey's.     Looking for an interesting gift?  Head to the Prairie Art Alliance or the Illinois State Museum gift shop where you're buying the work of Illinois artisans, not imported items made who knows where.     How about antiques or handicrafts?  There are several fun galleries around downtown including Flea Market to Fabulous, ... choose one of the many local jewelry stores to find that special bauble.   Need some funny holiday cards?  Stop by downtown's Cardologist.   Coffee?  Stop for coffee at Trout Lily Cafe or Grab a Java.   Lunch?   Incredibly Delicious, Maya or Catie Girls,  Dublin Pub or the Mekong Cafe.     Back on the shopping trail don't miss  Bella, LChic, Jim Herron Ltd.    Fairhills Mall  has Imagination Plus, Town and Country has Designer Chic.   I could go on and on.  The point:   shop local first.  Its so much more interesting, rewarding and oh so much better for our community! 

Please share this message with your friends and neighbors.   Send local business tips to capcitybizbuzz@illinoistimes.com.

The Second Annual Central Illinois Foodbank Benefit Concert with The Station

AXA Advisors and Planet Playground Records are proud to present the Second Annual Central Illinois Food Bank Benefit Concert Friday November 27th at the Hoogland Center for the Arts at 420 S. 6th St. in Springfield. This year’s musical lineup includes The Station - most recently voted Best Original Band by the Illinois Times readers for the second year in a row - with special guests Indecision and Avidity. Local internet sports-radio host Eric Pedigo will be emceeing the evening.

Tickets are $10 at the door and all ages are welcome. Doors open at 7:30 and the concert begins at 8pm.

This charitable event is made possible by AXA Advisors, Planet Playground Records, Skeff Distributing Company, ProForma DLC and Associates, The Rock Shop and Resolute Design. For more information, visit www.TheStationMusic.com.

You always have a choice where you spend your money. If you aren't already a believer in the cause of LOCAL FIRST, I urge you to consider what this town is going to look like in 10 years. Will there be anything on Veteran's Parkway that isn't regional / national?  Will there be anything (other than a road sign) that says we're in Springfield vs any city USA?

I’ve been in the weekly newspaper business for more than 30 years. In the course of my everyday work life I talk with dozens of local business owners each week. 2009 has been among the most challenging years ever - especially for local, independent businesses. It costs more to hire people, more to keep the lights on, more to advertise, more to provide health insurance, more to do just about everything … and yet if you have that entrepreneurial spirit there is little that is more satisfying than owning and operating your own business. We know all about that here at Illinois Times - this paper is one of a very small handful of locally owned media firms in central Illinois. It is only with the support of other independent businesses that our newspaper can remain free and available to the community - just as it has been for 35 years. But more than for our own survival, we want to see the community remain vibrant, interesting and local.

Over the years I’ve watched as hundreds of small businesses close their doors – mostly forced out of business because they couldn't compete with the mega stores that have been creeping into our market for the last twenty years. Most of these locals had a solid business plan … many operated a thriving enterprise for many, many years. But as Springfield got big enough to attract the 'mega' stores consumers got short sighted about what they find valuable. Is it more valuable to have 90 different types of bathroom light fixtures from which to choose or more valuable to keep 19 local people employed at the local hardware store? Is it really important to be able to buy a 48 pack of AA batteries, a case of tomato sauce or envelopes by the gross? Will the mega store owner support the local bank? Will they invest in the symphony or sponsor your son's little league team? What is going to happen to Main Street if all we end up with are national and regional mega stores ... and all the locals are gone?

The independent business alliance we've launched here in the capital city is similar to the hundreds of others that have formed around the country. Our mission is simple: we want to teach consumers that their dollar has 3x more spending power when it is spent with local, independent businesses.

Consider this: a local restaurant owner typically buys his food from a local vendor. When he wants to add a fence he hires a local fence company or local architect. He puts his money in a local bank, which makes mortgage loans to the newlyweds down the street, who in turn buy their plant and flowers at a local nursery. The nursery owner hires local folks who shop at the local hardware store, eat at local restaurants, buy tickets to the local theater company, send donations to the food pantry, drop money in the collection plate on Sunday. Forty five cents of the dollar spent with local independent businesses will stay right here at home, re-circulating from one hand to the other, keeping our neighbors employed, our tax money working to repair our streets, pay our cops etc.

Spend that same dollar with the mega retailer up the street ... it is pretty much gone by morning, when the receipts from yesterday are wire transferred to Arkansas or LA. Other than some fairly low wage jobs (although still important) only 13 cents of your dollar spent with that national / regional chain has any impact in our city at all.  

We're not anti anyone

Read More

While I have to admit I've only visited a few times, it is a sad thing to see that Dane's Discount (the local incarnation of a 'Big Lots' on steroids store on Stevenson Drive) is closing its doors. Several years (and thousands of concrete benches and lions) into it's tenure in Springfield's retail scene, Dane's was one of those places you could buy huge quantities of toothpaste at bargain prices, any size screwdriver (or a set of 30), a cabinet for your shotguns or the bargain floor tile for that do-it-yourself project in the basement.

Every aisle in the store is packed from top to bottom with an unusual collection of stuff that undoubtedly was purchased as salvage (that is in large quantity at low prices.)   The national retailer Big Lots has many dedicated followers and Dane's certainly did a good job of competing with them in a much broader array of categories.  (It was especially fun to wander among the cement yard ornaments

Read More

Celebrate the future of biking in Springfield at the re-opening of the Interurban bike trail this Sunday, October 25, 1:00 PM at MacArthur Tunnel.   For those of us involved with the MacArthur Boulevard Business Association there is little better news we could hope for than a completion of this project - and the successful reopening of this bike trail, one of the only progressive things happening in this mostly developmentally backward Capital City.

So please, join your friends from the Springfield Bicycle Club and The Springfield Park District for an informal celebration of the Interurban Trail. Ride your bike or run on down to the new loop along the tree line on the west side of the future Legacy Point. Enjoy the lovely wooded areas along an abandoned railroad, and south to a tunnel under MacArthur extension, up a bike bridge over the railroad and down to the trail under I-72.

From the Bicycle Club: "The guest of honor is Senator Richard Durbin whose efforts secured the continuation of the trail when the construction threatened to close the trail. He was also responsible for funding of the tunnel which was not in the original plan. Lincoln Land Development provided right of way for the trail west of their development and away from the traffic along MacArthur. We wish to thank officials from IDOT, IDNR, the Springfield Park District, the Springfield Sangamon Regional Planning Commission, and Village of Chatham. We also acknowledge the help of all the volunteers of the Springfield Bicycle Club, Springfield Road Runners, Springfield Ski Club and Sierra Club for their support. Ace Bike Shop, Biketek, R & M Cyclery and Wheelfast Bicycle Company have also provided encouragement."

Amen I say!

Please send your biz tips to capcitybizbuzz@illinoistimes.com.

My  friend Karen Conn is hosting the Local Flavors luncheon at the Inn at 835 (835 South Second Street) next Tuesday the 20th ... If you don't know about this culinary event - it was organized by the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, a non profit group that bring lower growers together with restaurant and catering firms to encourage all of us in the food chain to buy fresh, buy local!    This may be the last of the season's luncheon events - which means you don't want to miss it.       The magic begins at 11am and the end won't be near until 1pm. But I guarantee you there won't be a more delicious or stylish lunch served in all of Springfield on that day. To get a seat at the table visit:  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159554376287

Here's the menu:

Salad Nicoise- grilled chicken, fresh green beans, new potatoes, tomatoes, capers, egg, olives, and red onion with local mixed greens drizzled with a creamy champagne dijon vinaigrette.

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette- roasted butternut and cranberries with fresh mixed greens drizzled with a warm apple-cider vinaigrette and topped with toasted walnuts and fresh parmesan.

Potato Onion Soup- creamy potatoes and onions in a luscious cream Main Entrée 835 Burger- 6oz. burger grilled to perfection with lettuce, tomato, and onion. Served with house made shoestring pom frittes.

Piccadilly Sandwich- a triple decker favorite. A classic BLT, sandwiched between a grilled cheese. Served with house made shoestring pom frittes.

BBQ Chicken Quesadilla- grilled BBQ chicken, caramelized onions and peppers, tomatoes, and fresh cilantro in a whole wheat tortilla with melted mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Served with salsa and sour cream.

Sirloin Au Poive- pan seared 5oz. sirloin steak with a peppercorn brandy cream sauce served with dual sweet potato cakes and green beans with toasted chestnuts.

Spaghetti ala Squash- spaghetti squash tossed in herbed brown butter with mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini. Topped with fresh grated asiago.

Sweet Finale Apple Strudel- spiced apples and raisins wrapped in flaky puff pastry and baked to a golden brown. Served in a pool of cider-rum

Creme Anglaise. Crispy Waffle and Caramel- Crispy whole wheat waffles drizzled with a home made caramel sauce and sauté apples.

The biz buzz wants to know what you know.  Send local business tips, announcements and other stuff you want to get around town to capcitybizbuzz@illinoistimes.com.

It’s the Irish in me – but wheat or rye, multigrain or oat, bread would be my food of choice if I had to choose just one thing to sustain me for life. For that reason (as well as the fact that I like seeing small businesses come to town) here’s a hearty welcome to Chris Tarpley and Great Harvest Bread, a ‘freedom franchise’ opening soon at Montvale Plaza on Iles Avenue here in Springfield.   (Watch your IT to find out when those doors swing open for the first time.)    I have prior consumer experience with Great Harvest (when I lived in Scottsdale AZ) – at that location you could always find samples of something delicious on the counter. We’re told that this location will carry “Peet’s Coffee” – will it be brewing or in bean form? Guess you'll have to stop by and smell for yourself.

In recent months the strip center at Montvale Plaza (across from west side Schnuck’s) has had so many businesses coming and going  it was hard to keep track. 

Last month Sunny China House opened in the space next door to Little Caesar’s (which was either the space that used to be the Spaghetti Shop (that moved across Iles to the space that had been occupied by Monical’s Pizza) or maybe it was the space that had housed CocoBon Gourmet– a cute little kitchen/chocolate shop that just didn't tell enough people what they'd find inside.)  Pretty soon we’ll have a Great Harvest Bread store n the space that used to house the popular BrewBaker’s Cafe … may it rest in peace.

But I digress. I wanted to tell you about Sunny China House: It’s a pleasant little family run place with nice tables and chairs for dining in but they’ll wrap up anything to go as well. The hot tea is free and their menu includes everything Chinese from soup to nuts (2 full pages of choices) including my favorite stand by / always reliable General Tso’s Chicken. My only beef with this chicken dish – I have ordered it at 10 different places around town and always ask for it ‘extra hot’ (as in spicy) but either they don't really believe me or we have entirely different concepts of spicy.  (When my eyes water I know I have been understood.)    If you know the story of General Tso and his famous chicken recipe  and / or what I should say to ensure that next time there will be steam coming out of my ears would you please post a comment and fill me in? In the meantime, give Sunny China House a try – just bring your own hot sauce.

Wednesday, watch as Man vs. Food’s Adam Richman eschews “chili” for chilLi the Springfield way.

In the Springfield-based episode, taped in July, Richman visits Springfield favorites D’Arcy’s Pint and Cozy Dog Drive-In, sampling local delicacies such as the horseshoe and hot dog on a stick. The titular premise, however, comes into play when he visits Joe Rogers’ Original Recipe Chili Parlor, and attempts to eat six bowls of their infamous firebrand chili. The current record is five bowls.

Man vs. Food airs Wednesdays at 9pm on Travel Channel (cable channel 62).