Illinois businesses recognized as Makers

• Tourism
• Business
• Makers

The Illinois Office of Tourism has announced a list of new additions to the Illinois Made program, which recognizes businesses classified as hidden gems for locals and visitors to discover. The businesses highlighted by this initiative, called Makers, are recognized because they offer unique products and experiences to their customers and passersby.

The Illinois Made program, which now features over 200 Makers from all parts of Illinois, continues to plant people into small businesses around the state by promoting the unique destinations that make the state a one-of-a-kind place. Some of the products offered by Makers include music shops, art galleries, bakeries, farms and more.

The new round of Makers provides visitors with a range of vegan desserts, crafts, candles, general wares and other products that diversify and improve the lives of people across the state. This class of Makers includes 28 small businesses from every region of the state and comes just in time for the holiday shopping season. While the majority of these 28 Makers reside in the Chicago area, a healthy handful are sprinkled in the northwest, central and southern parts of Illinois.

The IOT celebrates Illinois Makers through its road trip itineraries, which run along paths created to endorse these local businesses. The IOT also operates Enjoy Illinois through which travel magazines, events, seasonal campaigns and the annual Illinois Made Holiday Gift Guide can be found. People can nominate businesses for the Illinois Made Program on a year-round basis here. Nominations are open to all businesses, but chosen businesses must adhere to criteria regarding location, visitor experience, manufacture process and history or origin.

The contributions made by Makers shape the state. Because Makers reflect a variety of business types—restaurants, breweries and wineries, farms and orchards, and even international markets that have humble beginnings as small businesses in Illinois—the artisan nature of the state facilitates visitor attraction and boosts tourist activity. Celebrating these contributions is one of many ways to support local businesses. Discover the many available experiences in every region of the state here.

Illinois is officially home to the world's largest corn maze

Illinois is officially home to the world’s largest corn maze. The Richardson Adventure Family Farm’s corn maze in Spring Grove takes the prize with its 10 miles of trails winding through 28 acres of corn stalks. The farm is located about 65 miles away from downtown Chicago. The farm is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and its 2021 theme will be “20 years of a-Maze-ing.”

The maze is actually created out of four smaller mazes. Each one has its own dedicated in-and-out path. There are multiple checkpoints throughout the maze, as well as three bridges that will help people find their bearings while looking at the map.

In order to avoid getting lost in the maze, the traveler must find several key checkpoints on their walk. Finding the checkpoints is the most challenging part of the experience. However, the farm cheers up all its guests by providing fresh donuts and hot chocolate just an easy walk outside the maze. People can typically find their way out in minutes. The challenge is to stay in the maze and make it all the way through. There is a perimeter path surrounding the entire maze, and there are no dead ends in this maze! And participants have the choice to do one maze or all four.

If a difficult challenge is not what someone is feeling up to, there are many other less stressful activities to choose from. The farm has many other attractions, including a 700-foot zip line, a 50-foot observation tower, pedal carts, giant slides, wagon rides and, of course, a pumpkin patch.

The Richardson adventure farm also has a Christmas tree farm during the holiday season. The farm is open Thursday through Sunday through Nov. 7. On Thursdays, the farm is open from 3-9 p.m. then from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

UIC again beats record for largest enrollment in its history

• Collage
• UIC

Unlike many colleges and universities across the country that are seeing increased absences and decreased enrollment, the University of Illinois Chicago has set a record for the largest enrollment in its history for the seventh consecutive year.

UIC is the second largest university in Illinois and is the largest university in the Chicago metropolitan area. It is also the city’s only public research institution and has 16 academic colleges that serve more than 34,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.

Read more …

Illinois ranked 5th in ghost sightings

Ghost seekers will be excited to learn that Illinois now ranks fifth in ghost sightings in the U.S. A new study conducted by CardsChat.com that claims to have collected every reported ghost sighting since 1972 has found that Illinois has the fifth highest number of spirit sightings in the past 50 years. The group reported a total of 62,482 ghost sightings across the United States-showing at least 2,398 of those were at locations across Illinois. Other Midwestern states that made the list include Michigan at No. 4, Ohio at No. 3 and Indiana at No. 8. In 2012, Illinois sightings hit their highest number since 1972 with 3,697 reported sightings. However, that number has dropped in the last decade, going from 1,297 reported sightings in 2016 to only nine reported sightings in 2020. According to votes taken by participants in the study, the DeSoto House Hotel in Galena was voted as the spookiest spot in the state. Illinois not only has spooky places, it also has some scary ghost stories.

One of the most famous ghost stories in Illinois is the story of the “Resurrection Mary,” a story which fits into the broader category of urban legend known as the “vanishing hitchhiker” myth. The story takes place on the roads near Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, located a few miles southwest of Chicago. Since the 1930s, several men driving northeast along Archer Avenue between the Willowbrook Ballroom and Resurrection Cemetery have reported picking up a young female hitchhiker. This young woman is usually wearing a white party dress and is said to have light blond hair and blue eyes. There are other reports that she wears a thin shawl, dancing shoes, carries a small purse, and possibly that she is very quiet. When the driver nears the cemetery, the young woman asks to be let out. The woman then disappears into the cemetery never to be seen again.

Whether you believe in ghosts or not, as Illinoisans get ready to celebrate Halloween dressed up as ghosts, they may be just as likely to run into the real thing.