I left one question unanswered when I wrote recently that the Horace Mann Educators Corp. building in downtown Springfield was one of four in the capital city designed by a world-famous architecture firm. (“Architectural dreams,” Aug. 4, 2011.) Why did a growing but still small insurance company in a not-growing and small Midwestern city hire […]
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Posted inArts & Culture
Bowling for hoots & hollers
Dixie’s Tupperware Party is a hilarious Drama Desk Award-nominated show written by Kris Andersson, who also stars as Dixie Longate, a fiery cross between Minnie Pearl and Dolly Parton with RuPaul. The production arrives in Springfield as the last stop on a 40-city national tour. Filled with outrageously funny tales, heartfelt accounts, product giveaways, audience […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Fab flicks
Watch 62 of the best independent films from 11 countries and 16 states, as well as Illinois, during this three-day film festival held at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. About 30 filmmakers, along with some of their cast and crew, are expected to attend including some from Hollywood: writer/director/actor Michael Worth and Springfield native […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Top-notch visuals
For almost a quarter century the Springfield Art Association has hosted a fine art fair the third weekend in September on the Edwards Place Historic Home lawn. This year it promises to be just as enchanting as in previous years. Meet 75 artists from Illinois and the nation. See and buy their work. Listen to […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Historical fiction
Theatre in the Park Executive Director Kari Catton won a national award in the Jackie White Children’s Playwriting Contest for her original play, Healin’ Home. This Theatre in the Park production runs five nights under the direction of Springfield’s Deborah Whitson. The play involves three orphaned siblings in 1910 desperate to stay together. They run […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Majestic metal
The Sangamon Brass Quintet has an upcoming performance on Aug. 24 from 7:30-8:30 p.m. at the Washington Park gazebo. Bring your chairs and enjoy classical and contemporary music in a casual outdoor setting. Members are Byrd Davis on trumpet, Aaron Duncan on trumpet, Jan Dungey on French horn, Matt Traeger on trombone, and Stuart Farris […]
Posted inNews
Study recommends 10th Street rail
Springfield’s long-awaited railroad consolidation study calls 10th Street the best option, but the project’s fate remains murky as the federal government examines a new alternative and the availability of funding. Prepared by Hanson Professional Services of Springfield with a summary released by the City of Springfield on its website last week, the consolidation study analyzed […]
Posted inNews
Springfield charity ends work in Haiti
Dr. H. Brent DeLand of Springfield recalls doing minor surgery while on a humanitarian trip to Haiti in 2002, as his friend and later charity co-founder Greg Richmond of Chicago held a single light bulb aloft for light inside a one-room clinic in the Cité Soleil slum of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. “I said, ‘Greg, can you […]
Posted inOpinion
Modern minstrels
Poets, we are reliably told, once were creatures of the street and the court, not the study, and poetry was sung, or at least recited. That past lives again every year when Springfield area schoolkids take the stage during the Poetry Out Loud recitation competition, whose winners have a chance to go on, if not […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Walk to heal
Saturday, Aug. 20, the American Cancer Society wants to honor service and family dogs that provide love and companionship for cancer patients and their families, while raising money for local efforts. Some of the fun activities at this walk event include an extreme K-9 dog training demo, musical sit competition, doggy costume contest, dog and […]
Posted inNews
City seeking minority police recruits
The Springfield Police Department hopes to hire new patrol officers in the coming months, with minorities to comprise a quarter of the new hires. On Aug. 4, Mayor Michael Houston announced the city would begin in September the recruitment process for new police hires for the first time in two years. Houston also took a […]
Posted inNews
Minorities disproportionately stopped and searched
A study of traffic stop data released by the Illinois Department of Transportation shows minority drivers in Illinois and in Springfield are more likely than white drivers to be stopped and searched by police. Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union is pushing the federal government to investigate racial bias in traffic stop searches. The IDOT […]
