A few minutes later, I saw the signs for the exits for the city of Springfield. I took the Clear Lake Avenue exit. A short distance west was a sign that read "Welcome to Springfield", strung across something that looked like a pedestrian or bicycle bridge. Then I reached downtown Springfield, and saw the major buildings and sites. As I wound my way around to reach the entrance to my hotel, I passed by the Old State Capitol, which looked so resplendently lit up in the night.
Once I checked into the Wyndham Springfield City Centre Hotel, and parked my vehicle Avila, I settled into my room on floor 26, which had spectacular views of the city, as did the bar at the top of the hotel, including the current Illinois State Capitol, given that the hotel is one of the taller structures in Springfield. The morning light the next day revealed the tree-lined Lincoln Home historic district. I could also see the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and the Great Western Depot, where Abraham Lincoln bid farewell to Springfield before taking on the task greater than any that had rested upon Washington, D.C.
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| Here's the view from my hotel room at the Wyndham City Centre Springfield, which is in the photo below. The Lincoln Home is nestled in the tree-filled area in the center of the photo. Except where otherwise noted, I took all photos in this blog post. |
While I don't live in Springfield, entering the city felt like a sort of homecoming, because this city is the seat of government for Illinois, for my home state, and so speaks to who I am as a citizen of Illinois.
This was my first visit there in 5 years. I had participated in a lobby day then. Now, it was Sunday, August 19, and I was there to have dandy time at the Illinois State Fair (#151) as I continued in the spirit of celebration for the Illinois Bicentennial.
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| The main gate at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, along Sangamon Avenue |
It was good to go back to the State Fair, as I hadn't been there since 2002.
The main crux of the State Fair is the display of farm animals, and after entering, paying the fees, and parking, that was what I saw first. Since it was the concluding day of the fair, most of the farm animals had left, but there were some pigs remaining--and oh, were they large, as you can see in the photos below.
Later on, I saw the award-winning animals in the Hall of Champions, including a steer bought by Governor Rauner.
I then wandered into the Conservation World. I spent a while at the booth of the American Chemical Society, where someone did scientific demonstrations. (It reminded me of scientific demonstrations I saw there during my last visit.) As I exited, someone was showing the bluegill fish (#152), which is the official Illinois state fish, which you can see in the photo below.
I continued wandering around, getting a lay of the land of the fair's layout, popping into various booths to see what was on display.
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| The display inside Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti's booth |
Then I went for a ride of the Sky Glide, which gave me a higher-up view of the fair for a good amount of distance. Below are photos I took from the ride. The one immediately below looks over the Ethnic Village.
Once I disembarked, I felt it was a good time to get something to eat. I certainly had plenty to eat, starting with a lamb burger, which is in the photo below:
It was in a large pavilion-style set-up featuring products from Illinois farms, but there weren't too many takers for the trailer with the lamb burgers.
Other food items I had were corn on the cob, which I was especially pleased to have since I missed out on the annual Corn Roast at the Oak Park Farmers' Market.
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| I thank the woman selling the corn at this booth for getting my picture posing with corn after I made my purchase. |
After walking around for a while, I stopped at the Department of Agriculture tent to rest a bit and enjoy a quarter of a cantaloupe and an apple cider slushie from the Farmers' Market stand.
I also had a Dole Whip Taco, which had mango flavored ice cream in something akin to a taco shell flavored with cinnamon sugar--as you can see in the photo below:
That was probably the closest I came to eating something deep fried.
It was astounding to see how much deep-fried food was there, like at this booth I passed.
Something I saw at many different booths scattered about was a Shake-up. I stopped for a Lemon-Orange Shake-up, which is basically ice, lemonade, lemons, and oranges all shaken up in a cup.
When I wandered into the area of the carnival rides and games, I got a soft pretzel.
Close to the time I departed, I got a pulled turkey sandwich, which was quite tasty.
While I didn't order anything there, the Ethnic Village booths had many interesting food options, especially the English booth. There was also some since entertainment there.
There was also a lot to look at elsewhere, the indoor exhibition hall. One display that struck me was a collection of beads representing the number of abortions that occur each year, which is in the photo below:
When I passed by the hot tubs in the hall, it brought back memories of when Dad purchased a hot tub from the State Fair when we were there last.
There were also tents of various government officials and agencies with materials inside for various services.
In the structure underneath the race track stands, there was an Illinois State Fair museum with displays of items from years past. Nearby were displays of vehicles like tractors.
Inside the Illinois Building were representatives of various agencies. There was also a display of portraits of soldiers from Illinois killed in action since September 11.
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| Chris Patterson was a student who started at Valparaiso University at the same time I did. |
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| David Hurt was from Oak Park, IL. |
I also got to see the Butter Cow in the Dairy Exhibit Hall.
And I went inside a home carved out of a redwood tree log.
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| Above is on the inside of the house, and below is on the outside. |
It was a great time at the fair, seeing all the sights, and on such a pleasant summer day.
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| I thank those who I stopped to get pictures of me above, underneath the state fair sign, and below, by an Illinois State Fair frame. |
A week later, on August 26, 2018, I was back in Avila, headed south again to Springfield, this time in celebration of the Bicentennial of the first Illinois State Constitution. On my way there, I pulled off I-55 at the US 24 exit and drove a short way east into Chenoa to attend Mass at St. Joseph Church, which I'm pretty certain is my first time attending Mass in the Diocese of Peoria. It also marked the fifth of a string of five Masses I attended over the course of 5 weeks, each in a different diocese.
Chenoa straddles the alignment of Historic US Route 66. When Mass ended, I decided to drive on a short stretch of US 66, at least to the next town, which happened to be Lexington, IL. A large group of motorcyclists were gathered at Kelly's, part of a motorcycle ride Governor Rauner led for the occasion of the Bicentennial of the First Illinois State Constitution.
I turned east at the intersection by Kelly's and drove east on Main Street a few blocks into town. After crossing the railroad tracks, I saw a place called the Shake Shack (featured in the photo below), and thought it would be a good place to stop for lunch.
I enjoyed chicken fried chicken for lunch, with mashed potatoes, white gravy, and green beans. It was a nice opportunity to eat at local place. (While there, I saw the northbound Texas Eagle train barrel through town.)
Once I finished, I drove back west on Main Street and followed the signs back to I-55. The motorcycle group had left Kelly's by then.
In a little over an hour, I had arrived in Springfield, making the same grand-like entrance as I did the weekend before. Since it was a hot day, I felt it would be good to keep it cool and go inside the air-conditioned Illinois State Museum (#153) to see the special Bicentennial exhibit, featuring a variety of objects from the museum's collection.
The photos immediately below show some items on display in the exhibit: They included a piece of tree that had a piece of wood driven into it by a tornado (first photo), a flag sewn by a group of ladies that was flown on the day Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated president (second photo), swag from the two major fairs in Chicago (third photo), and a piano cover sewn by some young ladies that contains a map of the United States and a piece of a dress worn by the first lady of every state (last photo below). That last artifact sounded like quite a project.
By 3:15, I had walked from the State Museum over to the newly constructed Bicentennial Plaza (#154), stretching between the Illinois Realtors Building and 6th Street, right by the Lincoln Home Historic District. (The intention is for it to serve as a way to more seamlessly connect, for visitors, the various sites in Springfield.) The Marching Illini band paraded a couple of blocks toward the plaza playing some festive pieces. Then it was time for the National Anthem, toward the end of which, two military helicopters flew overhead. There were remarks from various individuals, including Springfield's mayor, Illinois First Lady Diana Rauner, and Governor Rauner.
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| Governor Rauner addressing those gathered |
Once the remarks concluded, a band played some live music, while a large Bicentennial Eli's Cheesecake was cut up into pieces and distributed to the crowd, one of several being served across the state at other Bicentennial celebrations.
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| From left to right are Abraham Lincoln, Governor Rauner, and First Lady Diana Rauner, and then I believe the other two people are the chief person of Eli's cheesecake and the president of the Illinois Realtors Association. They are posing by the Bicentennial Cheesecake on the stage, toward the end of the ceremony. |
Then, per Governor Rauner's general invitation to the crowd, I walked over to the Governor's Mansion (#155) for a barbecue. After enjoying some pulled pork and the company of some people there, I went to look inside the newly refurbished mansion--and it had been so spectacularly redone. There's even an exhibit on the ground level that describes, among other things, how the mansion was renovated.
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| The above two photos are from the inside of the Governor's Mansion, and below is the outside. |
As I exited, I saw someone wearing a shirt that read, "City of Lexington." When I spoke to him asking him about being from Lexington, he introduced himself as the mayor. We then got into a conversation about my lunch at the Shake Shack.
When I stepped back outside, I asked Governor and First Lady Rauner for a photo with them, and they kindly obliged, while someone, likely on his or her staff, snapped the photo.
This was actually the first time I can recall having met a state's first lady ever.
With that, I made my way back to where I parked Avila as the band rocked out some upbeat music at the steps of the Governor's Mansion.
All I can say is that it was a great day to be an Illinoisan. This celebration was a great opportunity to take stock of a foundational moment in this state's history, and to behold all that Illinois has become.
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| Thanks to the woman I asked on the plaza, who got this photo of me. The current Illinois State Capitol appears on the far left of this photo. |
