Community & Lifestyle

It’s just a smidge past mid-January, how are you doing on your New Year’s resolutions? Are you on the cabbage diet, intermittent fasting, riding miles up hilly terrain on your new Peloton, quitting smoking, participating in dry January, taking college classes or vowing to be debt-free this year? Are you on track to reach your […]

Springfield Park District has upped its game and added the Jingle Bells Spectacular to its ever-popular Caroling at the Carillon annual holiday event. The festivities begin at 3 p.m. with doughnuts and apple cider, courtesy of the Apple Barn, and kid-friendly activities, crafts and games. Afterwards you can gather around a roaring bonfire and sing […]

As more people become interested in low-impact landscaping, native pollinator planting has come to the forefront of transforming lawns into functioning ecosystems. American turf lawns have been the ideal yard for decades, but not without consequences. A contributor of greenhouse gases due to exhaust from lawnmowers and decomposing lawn clippings, lawns use more irrigated water […]

Springfield is fortunate to have more than a dozen brick-and-mortar stores that sell primarily handmade and often unique gifts. Some feature works from area artists, others have items by artists around the world, and some have both. You can find jewelry, pottery, hand-painted clothing and much more. While many of these stores are located downtown, […]

If grand displays of lights, old-fashioned Christmas traditions and special holiday performances are your things, then meet in St. Louis for some magic this winter. Plenty of family-friendly festivities await you less than two hours away. The city and nearby spots are bursting with holiday events, according to Catherine Neville, Explore St. Louis’ vice president […]

Whether it is time-honored traditions or new and novel experiences that you seek, Springfield has plenty of holiday programming for you and yours beginning Thanksgiving weekend and lasting until the New Year. Grab your calendars and be sure to schedule some of these wonderful holiday offerings, focused on sustainable shopping, parent-child bonding and family-friendly merriment. […]

The excitement of the holiday season returns to downtown this year during the annual Memorial Holiday Fest and the Old Capitol Holiday Walks. Staff and volunteers with Springfield Memorial Foundation and Downtown Springfield, Inc. have outdone themselves once again to make this holiday season as merry and bright as ever. With so much to do, […]

A true act in patience, lush spring flower beds get their start in autumn when the air is cool and leaves are crisp. Spring-blooming bulbs such tulips, daffodils, hyacinth and more do best when planted in fall because the cool, moist autumn soil allows the bulb to begin rooting before the cold of winter sets […]

If your kitchen is the heart of your home, why not take that favorite indoor space outdoors? An outdoor kitchen expands the living space of your home. Ted Galassi of Artisan Stone Products, 2475 Peerless Mine Road, said that with the area housing market having such low inventory, “Building an outdoor kitchen is a good […]