IT Picks

St. John’s ends its Lemonade in the Lobby series for the summer on Aug. 25 with The Sangamon Brass Quintet. The group features Aaron Duncan, Byrd Davis, Stuart Farris, Gina Coonrod and Jeff Koester. Doors open at 6 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Hear an eclectic repertoire of classical, religious, marching and patriotic music from […]

Bring your lawn chair or reserve a seat for an evening under the night sky as The Muni’s rendition of the popular musical Annie shines bright on the stage and fields near Lake Springfield. Annie, an orphan living in a wretched orphanage, lucks out with a week’s placement in the luxury of hardened Oliver Warbucks’s […]

Henrik Ibsen’s dramatic play about the transformation of a young housewife’s attitude after she is caught handling a financial matter behind her husband’s back. The cast features Aasne Vigesaa as Nora, Kevin Purcell as Torvald, Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson as Christine, Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson as Dr. Rank, James Daniels as Krogstad, Linda Schneider as Anne Marie and Nicole […]

Veterans, scouts and seniors are honored with free days at the fair. Veterans with identification, and their families, gain free admittance on Sunday, Aug. 15. A memorial service takes place at the Grandstand from 9:30-11 a.m. with Governor Pat Quinn and the U.S. Coast Guard Silent Drill Team. Scouts and those 60 and older get […]

The Sangamon Valley Group of the Sierra Club invites others to join them for a guided hike around the Ostermeir Prairie, located south of the Garden’s main entrance. The association will meet under the picnic shelter behind the old barn. The local group is also starting its first nonpartisan political fund that will be used […]

Not only is Dan Guillory a former university English professor with eight books to his credit, including The Lincoln Poems, but he’s truly one of central Illinois’ best contemporary poets, and…a nice guy. Meet the author after he reads from his new book Housepoems, the poetry of life in our neck of the prairie. Seating […]

The Decatur Celebration Rocks the Big One commemorating its 25th anniversary.  There’s music for any taste, games and rides for all ages, arts and crafts galore and food for all palates. This party is like a mini state fair. New this year are crispy cones filled with barbecue chicken, pirogue – a combination of shrimp […]

Costumed actors reenact the funeral service for Lawrence Joergen-Dahl, Susan Lawrence Dana’s second of three husbands, in the Dana-Thomas House gallery at three different times both Saturday and Sunday. Observe the funeral customs from the early 1900s, including several from Mr. Joergen-Dahl’s home country of Denmark. Also included in the ceremony will be several funeral […]

Southern crooner Taylor Hicks entertains with a large X-factor of soul and humility wrapped up in hints of sweet blues and classic rock sounds. This brought all ages aboard to propel him to a first place finish on American Idol in 2006 when most thought the gray-haired twenty-something, who looked older than the part, would […]

Want to hang out with a huge spectacle of a tiny bird that fascinates so many? Join in the Hummingbird Festival where Illinois Audubon Society members will teach you how to welcome these creatures into your backyard. You can also gaze upon the Sangamon River Audubon Society members’ hummingbird feeders and observe the inspection and […]

Something new and lively, happening in cities and towns around the world, starts up in Springfield Aug. 5. Locally coordinated PechaKucha Night will consist of nine creative Springfieldians each giving a six minute and 40 second (20 slides, 20 seconds each) presentation. Pecha Kucha (pronounced pe CHAK cha and based on the sound of chit […]

Filmmaker and Hollywood actor Rick Hall (whose credits include Curb Your Enthusiasm, 24, Without a Trace, Seinfeld, Saving Grace) along with his wife Laura, pianist and band leader on Drew Carey’s Who’s Line Is It Anyway?, make a stop in Petersburg July 30. The evening begins with an indoor 7 p.m. showing of Rick’s critically […]