•August 7, 2024•

Soyland Access to Independent Living, SAIL, will hold a Personal Assistant Training for people interested in working as a Personal Assistant on Thursday, August 15, beginning at 1 pm at the Elizabeth Titus Memorial Library, 2 Water Street, Sullivan.  Personal Assistants are employed by people with disabilities to perform household chores and personal care tasks in their homes and are paid by the State of Illinois through the Department of Rehabilitation Program. A reservation is needed to attend the Personal Assistant Training. For more information about the Personal Assistant Training or to reserve your seat, contact Emily Dobson at 217-876-8888 or 800-358-8080 or email edobson@decatursail.com 

•August 7, 2024•

The Lovington Park board threw a children’s Park Rec week from Monday, July 22nd to Friday, July 26th. Each day celebrated a different fun thing for the children to do. Filled with multiple food venders from none other than the locally popular Pauly’s BBQ, Lovington Casey’s General, Lovington Dollar General and Kona Ice. The park board helping hand and child supervision team consisted of Jennifer, Aleena, Chilton Ingram, Krista Hale, Gabby Hutchercraft, Zeb Peck, Maddix, Owen Crum and Logan Mitchell. Donyell Morgan, provided the material and budget for the park board to produce this community event Monday, the first day of Park Rec, was simple games and crafts at the park. Offering giant bowling, building blocks, side walk chalk and new friends. Tuesday, was a wild day. The kids attending got to meet the creatures and their care takers from Aikman Wildlife. The crafts for the day included a painting Tom the Snake, friendship bracelets and a surprise snack of spaghetti. Wednesday was a massive hit for the heating up summer, water day filled with games and splashing fun with blow up water slides. There was never a dry moment. Thursday was community day, taking children on a trip around Lovington to see what the grown ups do all day. Stopping by the Library and the Fire House, seeing and even getting to stand on a fire truck and ambulance. Friday, the Lovington Park Board went above and beyond, hosting a Carnival Day for the children. Offering hotdogs, popcorn and nachos as snack options, the kids showed up in their tie-dye shirts that they made as a craft on the first day of the week. Complete with a carnival snack stand, ring toss mock games and inflatable prizes.

•July 31, 2024•

Arthur’s beloved atmosphere for all things homemade and baked goods really makes an appearance during the fall season with the annual opening of The Great Pumpkin Patch. Opening dates were posted by the Facebook group Illinois Foodies, stating plans were to open on September 18th. Offering guests a traditional bakery, pumpkin patches, mazes, live music, animals food and beautiful art displays all with the luxury of being dog friendly. The bakery being open year around offers many different types of sweet treats, peach cobblers, apple pies, pumpkin bread and many different types of cakes. The patch opened to the public in 1989, however the family business has been growing pumpkins since the 70s, with a photo being posted to the patch’s Facebook page of their first homegrown pumpkin carved in 1978. This year the patch has gained a few new farm animals, a donkey and some goats to add to the ever growing cast at the patch. Though the patch is still young, this year marks the 35th anniversary.