Cover Story
The Wedding Issue
The pandemic put a pause on weddings, leading to a wedding boom in 2022. Now the annual number of weddings has returned to normal levels, but couples are increasingly likely to ditch tradition in favor of personalizing the venue, the ceremony and even the food. Instead of feeling obligated to invite every coworker and second…
Sam McCann pleads guilty during trial
Former state Sen. Sam McCann pleaded guilty to all nine felony charges related to misuse of campaign funds for personal benefit on Feb. 15, one day before his bench trial was expected to end and as he considered taking the stand in his defense. McCann previously said his prosecution in Springfield’s U.S. District Court was…
City council prepares to vote on new budget
The Springfield City Council is poised to adopt a $196 million corporate fund budget for the next fiscal year – $4.7 million lower than the current year’s budget – that includes increased spending for police salaries and more than $12 million in federally funded infrastructure improvements. “Our revenues have been strong,” Ramona Metzger, director of…
Targeting diversity efforts
A scholarship for medical students on Southern Illinois University School of Medicine’s Springfield campus is the target of an Ivy League law professor’s ire because he says it discriminates against white and straight people. William Jacobson is a Cornell University law professor and the founder of Legal Insurrection Foundation, a nonprofit conservative advocacy organization which…
Sam McCann finally has his day in court
Sam McCann illegally spent political contributions funded by the union dues of those who saw him as a friend of working people on luxury vehicles, a recreational motor home, trips, personal debts, home mortgage payments and to boost his income. Those were the allegations contained in evidence and statements presented on Feb. 13 during the…
Madame Web a mess of a movie, Frankenstein is lifeless
Madame a tangled web of inanity One of the great blunders in recent Hollywood history involves the executives at Sony Pictures, circa 2000, rejecting a deal that would have given them the rights to every superhero in the Marvel Universe. The comic book company had just filed for bankruptcy and was in desperate need of…
Letters to the editor 2/15/24
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. —- OTHER PRIORITIES Just in time for the city’s budget hearing, Prairie Rivers Network has published Reconsidering Hunter Lake, a public brochure highlighting significant flaws in the claimed need for Hunter Lake. CWLP officials have…
Dynamite Poem Part 1
When the spring thaws broke up the huge platters of ice, big and thick as barn floors and sent them down Turtle Creek, they were broken up by dynamite when they approached the railroad bridge over the Stateline Road at the edge of Turtle Township so their weight would not break the bridge. My friend…
Personalizing the food
Of all the choices that must be made when planning a celebration, the food and drink that’s served can provide a unique opportunity to personalize and differentiate the experience. This season couples are more inclined than ever to buck tradition and plan a party that reflects their own style and interests and the food is…
Big benefits for smaller weddings
Thank the pandemic for helping make weddings smaller. The current trend of micro weddings – 50 guests or less – started shortly after COVID began, according to Springfield wedding planner Corrine Mayfield, co-owner of Shawfield Events & Design. “We saw micro weddings really take off after the start of the pandemic, when people were forced…
After the big day
I planned a wedding in Old City, Philadelphia, more than 14 years ago. I fondly remember the hustle and bustle of figuring out a venue, finding the right dress, sampling menus, curating a guest list and interviewing vendors. The vibe was celebratory, light and fun. Because I was to be wed in a Catholic Jesuit…
Wedding venues
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum The ALPLM offers venues for wedding ceremonies and wedding receptions, including the three-story atrium in the library. The museum plaza, the building’s magnificent rotunda, makes a spectacular backdrop for receptions, with a replica White House and a log cabin. Couples can even be introduced from the White House. Couples…
Wedding caterers
Arena Food Service, Inc. Custom menus and service proposals are always available. Unlimited number of guests served. 993 Clocktower Drive, Suite D, 217-698-2944. arenafoodservice.com. info@arenafoodservice.com. Bloom Hospitality & Catering Family owned and operated in central Illinois. Offers modern American cuisine from fine dining to table-top charcuterie platters. Owner-operator Gabi Thompson and her team provide a…
Springfield native back home at the Hoogland
Jacob Seidman, 33, grew up in Springfield where theater and dance were a huge part of his life. He now lives in Los Angeles where he is focused on writing, acting and producing. He was a member of the Springfield Ballet Company (SBC) throughout high school and spent countless hours at the Hoogland Center for the…
Mangia! Mangia! (Eat! Eat!)
I grew up in a family that never went to church. Our next-door neighbors, on the other hand, were devout Catholic Italian-Americans who took their faith seriously. They had a framed photo of the pope in their kitchen and a holy water font with a bust of the Virgin Mary inside their front door. The…
Don’t be wary of music
Things are swinging and singing, hopping and not stopping in the music section this February. I’m not sure what’s happening, but we’re just going to let it and not regret it. Now let’s see if I know what I’m talking about or not. Thursday evenings roll on with another open mic breaking into the scene.…
Black composer’s lost cantata brings Vachel Lindsay poem to life
A four-part festival begins a week from today, inspired by a long-lost cantata set to the poem Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight by Springfield’s own Vachel Lindsay. The cantata, by African-American composer Florence Price, was found in Price’s papers 14 years ago and decades after the Chicagoan’s death in 1953. In four separate events, Abraham…
