•November 4, 2026•

Submitted

The sights, sounds, and tastes of the season return with the Annual Holiday Market at First Christian Church of Sullivan on Saturday, November 7, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 1357 CR 1200 East (just east of town).

This year’s Market is packed with festive finds and holiday cheer including:

The Christmas Shoppe – Lightly used and gently loved Christmas décor, with a sprinkling of homemade holiday treasures. Perfect for adding a touch of nostalgia or sparkle to your seasonal decorating.

•November 4, 2026•

Local youth interested in agriculture will have the opportunity to experience farm life firsthand through the new Moultrie-Douglas 4-H Junior Farmer SPIN (Special Interest) Club, an educational program designed to introduce participants to the many aspects of modern farming.

Led by Brad Ingram, the club will meet on a working farm and provide hands-on learning opportunities that help youth understand the importance of agriculture in their daily lives. Participants will explore topics such as crop production, livestock care, farm equipment, agricultural technology, and day-to-day farm operations.

The program is open to all youth, and no previous farm experience is necessary. Organizers encourage any young person, ages 8 to 18 years of age, with an interest in agriculture and hands-on learning to enroll.

Prairie Living

•November 4, 2026•

by Janet Roney

Most of the earliest settlers in Moultrie County in the late 1820s and 1830s had never seen a prairie before arriving in Illinois. Their former homes in Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky had nothing like the vast prairie grass lands they found here. Thus, they had no idea about what to do with it and settled in the timber-covered land along the Kaskaskia and West Okaw Rivers first.  

Judge W. G. Cochran described the prairie when he first arrived in the Lovington area in 1849 in an old Lovington Reporter newspaper. “...while the soil was there, it was one vast flower garden, in the springtime, yet uncultivated. Wild grass in great abundance, lakes, ponds, frogs, snakes, wild fowls, green head flies, and Rosin weeds. No roads or trees, just one vast expanse of prairie extending east and west and to the northeast almost as far as Champaign. The land could be bought for $1.25 per acre ($48/acre in today’s money) and some people said it was not worth even that. Alas, how little we know of God’s great wealth. Before the (Civil) war a few venturesome men had occupied a few of the higher locations.”  

•October 28, 2026•

Saturday, October 31, 3:00-6:00 p.m.: Trunk or Treat Family Festival at the city park, featuring more than 20 trunks, three food trucks and several activities.

November

Tuesday, Nov. 17, 6:00 p.m.: Yeast Bread and Rolls Class. $10 admission. Space is limited; call to reserve a spot.

•October 28, 2026•

The Sullivan AMBUCS invite families from all over Central Illinois to the Sullivan Halloween Parade on Saturday, October 31, on the Square in downtown Sullivan. Line-up begins at 5:00 p.m., and the parade steps off at 5:15 p.m.

The Halloween parade has been a Sullivan tradition since 1928, and it has always been a big draw for families from across the area.