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Galesburg
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343-7181
140 S. Prairie St.
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344-3800
140 S. Prairie St.
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The Zephyr
342-2010
251 E Main St
The Zephyr
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WAAG-FM 95
Business Office......342-5131
Concert Hotline......342-2614
Studio Line.............342-9595
154 E. Simmons St.
WAAG-FM 95
WAIK-1590
Business Office......342-3161
51 N. Prairie St.
1590 WAIK
WGIL-1400
Studio Line............342-9194
154 E. Simmons St.
WGIL-1400
WKAY
Business Line........345-1053
154 E. Simmons St.
WKAY-105.3
WLSR - The Laser
Business Line........342-5131
Studio Line............342-9270
154 E. Simmons St.
WLSR-The Laser
& Cable
Stations
KWQC-TV6
563-383-7000
805 Brady St.
Davenport Ia
KWQC TV6
WHBF -TV4
309-786-5441
231 18th St.
Rock Island Il
WHBF TV4
WQAD-TV8
309-764-5763
3003 Park 16th St.
Moline IL.
WQAD TV8
WQPT Public Television
309-796-2424
6600 34th Ave.
Moline IL.
WQPT Quad Cities PBS
Home Based Party Extravaganza Smash!
by Carin Franey
Galesburg, IL. Over 30 home based businesses were in one place on October 31st for your enjoyment and convenience. There were businesses selling Avon, Mary Kay, The Pampered Chef, Discovery Toys, Tupperware along with several different candle sellers, home decorating ideas, healthy food and spices, vitamins, scrap booking and handbag maker sales.
A scumptious bake sale by Emanuel UM Church Youths was there to quinch your appetite as you browse the pituresque Pavillion at Lake Storey Park.
A scumptious bake sale by Emanuel UM Church Youths was there to quinch your appetite as you browse the pituresque Pavillion at Lake Storey Park.
Many visitors used this party as a christmas shopping spree! The turn out was great for all the vendors and with the help of some much needed sunshine, it seemed to bring out many people with different interests.
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2009 Scarecrow Festival
The above picture is the Best of Show - Galesburg Fire Department
The winners of the 2009 Scarecrow Festival are:
Children's
1st Place - Bright Futures Preschool
2nd Place - Community Preschool
3rd Place - Drew Breslin & Walter Kelly
Youth Clubs & Organizations
1st Place - Galesburg High School Artte Clubbe
2nd Place - American Legion Auxiliary Unit 285 Juniors
3rd Place - Galesburg Public Library Teen Advisory Board
Whimsical/Traditional
1st Place - Galesburg Fire Department
2nd Place - Galesburg Community Chorus
3rd Place - Dorothy Lamm & Family
Knox County Business
1st Place - Happy Joe's
2nd Place - Sally Beauty Supply
3rd Place - Knox County Farm Bureau Women's Committee
Best of Show
Galesburg Fire Department
Voting on Benches which were auctioned to benefit Big Brothers/Big Sisters & Children's Advocacy Center
Best Bench - Brighter Life Bookstore
Most Creative - Landmark Cafe & Creperie
Comical - Alcorn & Karlen
Reported by Jerry Wood from the Galesburg CVB/Welcome Center
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Local Girl Scout Receives Silver Award
Jesika Markin of troop 3019 in Galesburg, daughter of Sherry and Shawn Markin, , has completed the requirements to earn the Girl Scout Silver Award. The GS Silver Award is the highest award that can be earned by a Cadette Girl Scout. Cadette Scouts are in grades 6-8.
To be eligible for this award you must complete certain requirements:
• You must complete at least three interest projects, or patches.
• You must learn about career opportunities
• You must develop and demonstrate your leadership skills, both inside and outside of Girl Scouting.
• You must complete the Cadette Girl Scout Challenge.
• And, after you have done all this, you must plan and execute a Silver Award project of your own choosing.
Jesika’s project was the planning of Fear Factor Day Camp for younger Girl Scouts in the area. The camp was held at Blackthorn Hill Nature Preserve and attracted over 40 younger girls, 15 adults and 5 program aides (older girls including Jesika who helped the leaders and taught the younger girls outdoor skills.)
The GS Silver Award is a visible sign of Jesika’s commitment to and successful participation in her Cadette Girl Scouting experience. Jesika now joins the ranks of tens of thousands of women and girls who have shown similar dedication to purpose.
Girl Scout Motto: To build girls of courage, confidence and character who will make the world a better place. Call Kathy Schutman at 1-800-798-0833 or Lora Wright at 309-343-4321 for more information.
Jesika Markin of troop 3019 in Galesburg, daughter of Sherry and Shawn Markin, , has completed the requirements to earn the Girl Scout Silver Award. The GS Silver Award is the highest award that can be earned by a Cadette Girl Scout. Cadette Scouts are in grades 6-8. To be eligible for this award you must complete certain requirements: • You must complete at least three interest projects, or patches. • You must learn about career opportunities • You must develop and demonstrate your leadership skills, both inside and outside of Girl Scouting. • You must complete the Cadette Girl Scout Challenge. • And, after you have done all this, you must plan and execute a Silver Award project of your own choosing. Jesika’s project was the planning of Fear Factor Day Camp for younger Girl Scouts in the area. The camp was held at Blackthorn Hill Nature Preserve and attracted over 40 younger girls, 15 adults and 5 program aides (older girls including Jesika who helped the leaders and taught the younger girls outdoor skills.)The GS Silver Award is a visible sign of Jesika’s commitment to and successful participation in her Cadette Girl Scouting experience. Jesika now joins the ranks of tens of thousands of women and girls who have shown similar dedication to purpose.
Girl Scout Motto: To build girls of courage, confidence and character who will make the world a better place. Call Kathy Schutman at 1-800-798-0833 or Lora Wright at 309-343-4321 for more information.
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Heritage Days 20009 was a huge success!
Story and pictures by Carin Franey
Heritage Days was a huge success despite what the local paper seemed to indicate. I realize their intent was to let the public know that the rain on Sunday made us shut down many things, but they made it sound as if the event was totally cancelled because of the weather- and this was quite the contrary. Also, not once did I see a picture or anything written about the mayor of Galesburg shooting a cannon or all the activity that went on at the Rendezvous side on Saturday. So I decided to write my on article to share with our visitors.
First, I would like to apologize for my tardiness on this article. Normally I would have published this shortly after an event. But in my recent involvement with the “cash for clunker” program while working for a Peoria Dealership to frantically submit invoices to the government website before their website crashed distracted me for a while. This could be another story in itself, so I will move on to the success of Heritage Days 2009!
Although the rain prevented the civil war battle from taking place on Sunday, it was extremely nice to have Mayor Garza out on Saturday to shoot a cannon. He was given safety instructions and guidelines before the battle. It was also great to hear Mark Twain and Robert E Lee speak at the ladies tea. The military ball which was held in the street under torches took off smashingly while the night firing began during a break.
Let us not forget the Rendezvous side and how successful they were with their horse and buggy rides, 
Fair Wind Circus, a fashion show, pic and play Friday and Saturday night, fishing contest, plus much more. The candy cannon was a big hit with all the children since we added softer candy that all ages could enjoy instead of just hard candy.
Both time periods held a pie and cake auction with the sweet treats either homemade by volunteers or donated from Perkins and Sirloin Stockade. The money raised for this event goes to next year’s event. As a whole, the amount of re-enactors grew this year, with scouting re-enactors reporting to more re-enactors to be sure to make this event next year. The picturesque Lake Storey Park makes an ideal location for both re-enactors and visitors alike. There is plenty of shade, breeze and room for everyone to have a great time.
Please check out www.heritagedays.com for upcoming photos from the 2009 Heritage Days Festival or history on the event itself.
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by Carin Franey
As we do every year, we headed out to Lake Storey to enjoy the Big Bang Boom firework display. We always enjoy the music that simultaneously goes with the fireworks.
I am truly glad that our community did have fireworks, as I understand that many communities across the country did not have the funds and choose not to have any 4th of July fireworks.
Luckily my children are older, in fact they are lifeguards and were at Lake Storey to help make sure everyone else stayed safe and no one drowned. The whole staff works very hard on the 4th (in this case the 5th) with no holiday pay or compensation for the hectic day that goes on from sunrise to well past sunset. Some have to work through their breaks and others have to hear irate people complaining of all sorts of problems from 'why are you out of food' to 'I don't want to wear my life jacket'.
I guess what I am trying to get at is we all need to stop complaining and moaning about small things that do not harm or hurt anyone, but feel privileged that we were able to have fireworks. It is a sign that our community is trying to make ends work, no matter what --- and if we can keep a positive attitude about our future and our childrens future, we will make it through these tough times together.
So, to be absolutely truthful, I wasn't really that impressed by the fireworks this year, but I was grateful that it happened. So, instead of nit-picking on all the things that didn't happen last night, I am going to say I am grateful for all the things that did happen instead!
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New Mayor brings hope to Galesburg!
By Carin Franey
As our economy tries to build itself back up again, Galesburg was fortunate to find and elect Sal Garza for our mayor. I have to admit, with all the candidates we had running this year, I didn’t know that much about Sal Garza. It was shortly before the election that I did some research and found his personal website at SalGarza.com. It was then I saw promise for an economically deprived community. As many others have quoted him, he says he hopes to be a “community pin cushion”. In other words “my hope in becoming mayor is to be a troubleshooter who puts our community in a coherent direction while still remembering to maintain a sensitive and respectful manner.” He wants to make himself approachable to others while he takes on a very progressive approach in what the future can bring for our community.
Recently, I sat down with Sal Garza at his office at the IDES building in Galesburg. As I sat down I noticed a clock on the wall set to 8:30am, yet it was 9:00am. Mayor Garza told me he would explain the clock to me before I left. He went on to say that even though he has an office here, he travels quite extensively through the state. He feels fortunate when he can spend half a day in his Galesburg office. Right off the bat I had the feeling this man was extremely dedicated and hardworking.
When asked what he sees for this community, his response is “The only option this community really has is to be successful. And that success will comprise of solid vision which will be implemented by a comprehensive economical development plan with all the valued partners at the table in terms of formation and successful implementation, as well as the responsible level of accountability.”
I did ask Mayor Garza what kind of businesses he thought we can attract. He said, “In the coming years we can look for an increase in service related jobs plus green technologies and manufacturing sectors.” There are plans already being worked on to help these visions succeed. Businesses that come to our community to manufacture green technologies are where the current trend is right now - not just locally, but globally as well. This is exciting news and I only hope that this happens as soon as possible for our community.
Then I asked him what we as a community can do to bring new business to town. He suggested ‘refining our job skills, venture to hope again and believe in a sense of wanting something different’. If we think about our community as a positive, upbeat, charming town and whose residents are willing to expand in education and knowledge, then we become enticing to outside businesses looking to relocate.
Since I have two teenagers, I had to ask Mayor Garza if there are any plans to bring businesses that can cater to our youth. Right now, there seems to be a lack of things to do for teenagers in our community. He said there is discussion to bring a youth center or dance club to Galesburg. He said they are in the process of strengthening their youth commission group to include Knox College Students. This will bring an outside view of young adults and an idea of what we could do to keep teenagers entertained.
When I asked Mayor Garza if there are any guidance programs or assistance either financially or through education for existing local businesses who may be struggling, he said there are two resources available right now; the Entrepreneurship Center and the Small Business Development Center. These groups can guide new business owners with their marketing plan, competitive business plans and give advice to help businesses receive loans from a bank or financial institution.
I asked Mayor Garza if he felt he had the majority of support from our city council and he responded, “Many of the city council members I have already met in my current position at the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. I feel confident that we will be able to work through any issues by capitalizing on each other’s strengths, clearing the table to start anew, not agonizing on small aspects but embracing larger concepts and work through the details together, and then we can create solutions for our community.”
I asked Mayor Garza why he and his family decided to stay in Galesburg. He told me his family, including his wife Eva and three children, agreed that they wanted to stay in Galesburg because this was their home and they want to stay grounded. Where better a place to have this ‘quality of life' than Galesburg? They have struggled through other tough situations, so they would rather struggle and stay where their home is than go elsewhere like St Louis or Chicago. In fact, every decision he has made, including running for Mayor, has always been a group decision with his family.
It was interesting to find out that Sal Garza was born in Mexico and his parents moved to Galesburg when he was only three years old. His father became a ‘gandy dancer’ as they called them back then for the railroad. It was the term for workers who maintained railroads. His mother worked for OMC on the production lines. So you can see where his hard work and dedication come from with this background. No wonder he has accomplished so much in his life, yet he is so young.
I am very pleased to see someone with his current expertise and knowledge in economical growth both locally and across the state of Illinois as our newly elected mayor. As part of his ongoing position as Economic Development Specialist with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Sal has been able to see how other communities within our state have lifted themselves back up and are now beginning to rebuild. He has also been there when a town has not succeeded in a plan or project they had hoped would work.
This gives our mayor an advantage. He can learn by others mistakes, see promise in others projects; then reflect this in his newly appointed position. I really believe if there was anyone who could lead us in a direction that would help our community flourish both economically and emotionally, Sal Garza is the one that can do that! His background paints a similar picture of what our many local residents have experienced. After Maytag left Galesburg, countless ex-employees struggled and Sal Garza was one of the many casualties that lost his job to the plant moving overseas.
As our interview was about to end, Mayor Garza brought to my attention the Admiral clock hanging on the wall behind his desk. The time was still set to 8:30am, yet I had been there for over an hour. He said this clock reminds him of the day that Maytag management called in all of their employees at 8:30am to announce the closing of the plant in Galesburg. Since this took many by surprise they let their people go for the day. Sal Garza happened to wander into a store; looked up and saw this Admiral clock stuck on 8:30am. [ For any of you too young to remember, Admiral was the original plant that Maytag took over.] Sal said it is a constant reminder that it is ‘time to get to work’. It reminds him of all the faces of Galesburg, the recovery for our community and keeps him grounded on the needed tasks for this community.
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