March 30 is Take a Walk in the Park Day! With spring weather greeting the state, it is a chance to get outside and enjoy what local parks have to share. To celebrate, here are some parks across the state with walking trails to take a stroll with family, friends or your dog!

Ferne Clyffe State Park: Goreville, IL
With many unique geological features to see at Ferne Clyffe Park, there are plenty of opportunities to walk one of their eighteen trails! Along these different walking trails – ranging from a quarter-mile to eight miles long – there are chances to see the lake, waterfalls and rock formations.

Although an unusual sport, crab racing is a thrill-filled event that captivates the attention of many. Today on National Champion Crab Races Day, celebrate alongside crab race enthusiasts here in Illinois!

Crab racing has been around for decades with a National Crab Racing Association arising in 1979, becoming the most prominent organization involved in crab racing. As for the holiday, it began in the town of Long Beach, Washington in the early 2000s and expanded to other areas. Since then, people annually celebrate the holiday by entering their own crab in races, attending a race or even enjoying their favorite crab dish.

This year, celebrate the Illinois way by visiting Don’s Place in Jacksonville. For over 30 years, Don’s Place has hosted crab races every Thursday evening. Customers can witness the spectacle while enjoying food, drinks, and live music on occasion. Don’s Place is a family-owned establishment that has earned its title as a local favorite operating in Jacksonville since 1933.

Crab races at Don’s Place are held every Thursday from 8:30 to 10 p.m. For more information, visit their website.

Happy racing!

Wherever you live in Illinois, there are numerous clubs, resources and events available to you at your local library! Library Lovers’ Day, celebrated each year on Feb. 14, is a time to celebrate libraries and the life-changing books and offerings they hold. The day has been celebrated in many different ways and in many different places. This year Gallatin County is having a Library Lovers’ celebration focused on the Junie B Jones book series.

Libraries in Illinois have so much to offer. Almost every library in Illinois has multiple book clubs and some even have free yoga classes! Through a program called Explore More Illinois, library card holders from participating libraries can get free and discounted tickets to museums, science centers, sporting events, zoos, park districts and theatres.

There’s a ton going on at your local library during the month of February. One of the many services from Lincoln Library in Springfield is a book match. Throughout February, you can take a survey to get customized book recommendations curated by the librarians. The Normal Public Library holds a teen D&D club as well as a Death Café discussion group. The Peoria Public Library’s JobNow program connects job seekers with live, expert coaches for every stage of the job search, and the Launch Business Center at the Champaign Public Library offers workshops, online tools and one-on-one consultations for starting a growing a business. On Feb. 22, Reddick Public Library in Ottawa is hosting a night with Melanie Holmes, author of “100 Things to Do in Illinois Before You Die,” where she will present travel tips for day outings, weekend trips and weeklong excursions around Illinois.

Don’t miss out on the fun! Use Library Lovers’ Day and the month of February to find out what’s going on at your local library.

Giving Tuesday – or National Day of Giving – is celebrated every year the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, and serves as a time to give back to our communities and others in need. Giving Tuesday was started in 2012 by a cultural and community center in New York City. It was established in order to bring back focus to what the holidays are all about. Following the commercialized Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday provides people the opportunity to be charitable after scouting for material products.

To commemorate the day, many organizations across Illinois gave back to their communities.

Across the state, countless organizations handed out food products in anticipation of the Thanksgiving holiday. From turkeys, to pumpkin pies and full dinners, thousands of families in Illinois were able to enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving, courtesy of local business and community service-based organizations in their area.

Although Giving Tuesday comes around once a year, it is important to be charitable all-year-round and give back to the community at any given opportunity. Giving back can be simple through volunteering, donating and collaborating with local organizations.

Big or small, any act of kindness goes a long way!