Couple finds nature’s farmacy right in their own backyard
Erie is feeling renewed, refreshed and revitalized
A Prophetstown archery shop aims to please
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Town
4 A whirlwind of activity
Next year will be a big event for Tampico: The village almost wiped off the map by a tornado, and put on the map by a President, will celebrate 150 years of history, and a group is already busy making plans.
12 Nature’s farmacy
Want to learn how to tap into healing power generated right in your own backyard? Head to a Prophetstown farm, where you can learn how to build a healthier lifestyle from the ground up.
20 A work in progress
When a group of volunteers saw their town in need of a helping hand, they got together to give it one — and their efforts have paid off: Erie is feeling renewed, refreshed and revitalized
26 They aim to please
The familiar faces at a Prophetsown shop share more than just a last name: They both got hooked on archery at a young age and they both turned their passion into a profession: A business where people can buy bows, stock their quivers, and pick up some tips.
hile its most famous native — you know, that actor who became President of the United States — often takes center stage when people think of Tampico, there’s more to its history than being the birthplace of Ronald Reagan.
There’s also Admiral Joseph Reeves, who commanded Navy ships during the first World War I and headed wartime military administrations during the second. He retired as a four-star admiral in 1947, and also is credited for donning the first protective head gear in a football game, while playing for the U.S. Naval Academy.
Then there are countless other Tampiconians, whose fame may not have equaled Reagan’s or whose accomplishments didn’t measure up to Reeves’, but without whom there wouldn’t have been a village around to give a nation a President and the Navy an admiral. They’re the people who put Tampico on the map, and kept it there through the years, and they’ll be celebrated next year during a historical hoopla when the village observes the 150th anniversary since it was first incorporated in 1875, just a year after a tornado leveled almost the entire village.
TAMPICO cont’d to page 6
Tampico’s 150th may be months away, but a group of residents hasn’t wasted any time getting ready for it.
Tampico’s Sesquicentennial Committee, led by chairwoman Jenee Blackert, is using this year as a drawing board for special events and initiatives designed to honor residents past and present, and renew people’s passion for local history and heritage. During the first six months of planning, ideas that have been discussed include a kickoff celebration in February, a sesquicentennial history book, time capsule, local business punch card promotions, and adding to the town’s annual Tampico Days celebration in the summer, and there’s more to come — and you can help.
The committee is still looking for ideas to make its sesquicentennial celebration one that they’ll be talking about for the next 150 years, and they could use some helping hands, too: volunteers to coordinate its efforts and help with events.
Official events and dates will be announced on the Tampico Historical Society’s Facebook group, its website, and in local media when they are finalized.
“We’ve got this far, and we’ve thrown out ideas,” Blackert said. “Now it’s just putting it all together.”
The sesquicentennial committee has about 10 regular members, and has received input from another dozen of so, Blackert said. Meetings began in January and are every third Wednesday at the Tampico Historical Society; they are filled with personal stories and reminisces which compliment the usual orders of business, plus news of whatever new local artifacts have made their way to the Tampico Historical Society or Ronald Reagan Birthplace.
Among the challenges that the committee has faced in making the sesquicentennial events a reality has been getting more people to volunteer and recruiting the local school district to assist with its plans.
“We’re always looking for more,” Blackert said. “It’s their town, and it’s their celebration.”
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Planning Tampico’s 150th anniversary takes a
and celebrate the town’s unique history. Sesquicentennial
(from left): Joan Johnson, Jenee Blackert, Terry Gaskill, Duane Thompson and Linda Taets. “When you want
in this town, you’re looking at this group right here,” Blackert said. CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SHAWMEDIA.COM
Extra! Extra! They used to read all about it ...
Tampico once had its own newspaper, The Tampico Tornado, named for the twister that leveled nearly the entire town in 1874. Pictured here is the sixth issue, from June 8, 1876. The paper would later publish its motto on the front page: “You get wind of everything in the Tornado.” Many issues from 1876-92 are available for viewing at the University of Illinois Digital Newspaper collection. Go to https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/ and click on Whiteside County on the state map, then select Tampico Tornado on the next screen.
TAMPICO cont’d from page 6
While plans are still being worked out, at least one event is already set: Tampico High School’s reunion, scheduled for July 19, 2025, at Deer Valley Golf Course in Deer Grove. Those who graduated from the former high school, in any class, are invited to attend. Tampico once had a full kindergarten through 12th grade district in three buildings, but now has just one: an elementary school for the Prophetstown-Tampico-Lyndon school district. The high school closed in 1996.
The annual reunion of former Tampico Trojans had taken place in the few years prior to the coronavirus pandemic, but has been put on hold until next year. Joan Johnson, longtime resident and curator of the Ronald Reagan Birthplace museum, was in charge of arranging the event.
“We’re hoping that what remains of the people who there are from our high school will be able to attend that,” Johnson said. “Losing our schools was a big detriment to our town.”
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Tampico’s heritage can be found throughout the village. Its most famous native, President Ronald Reagan, was born above the First National Bank building downtown (below left), and a park is named after him (below right). Welcome signs also bill the city as his birthplace (right).
Blackert, who works for the Illinois Department of Transportation, grew up in Tampico and moved back six years ago. She has a bachelor’s degree in history from Northern Illinois University and has traveled to several national museums and points of interest. When she came back home, she used her passion for history to volunteer at the Tampico Historical Society and bring new ideas to it, including sharing historical photos on the group’s Facebook page and launching a speaker series of events where local historians share stories and advice.
She may not have been around for Tampico’s centennial in 1975, but Blackert was a teenager when the 125th anniversary came in 2000, and could only know about the centennial through personal stories and by reading the Centennial Historical Record history book from cover to cover.
With a sesquicentennial history book in the plans, she has an idea of what that collection can look like.
“From being here, I’m learning more and have reached out to my relatives and learned more, too,” Blackert said. “I’ve read the [centennial] book and have gone through it so many times, and I keep finding something new every time that I didn’t realize about the history of the town. Sometimes I’m still confused and have to ask a lot of questions.”
Johnson knew of Blackert’s passion for history, and is excited to see someone younger than her lead the sesquicentennial efforts.
“Jenee, since she has come back, has taken a great interest in the history and has been pushing us,” Johnson said. “We need her
to help us get going.”
The centennial celebration of 1975 drew a huge crowd, Johnson said; and for that event, an out-of-town company was hired by the town to organize events and entertainment. This time around, local people will be in charge of it all — and Johnson wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
“I like to have my fingers in what all is going on,” Johnson said. “I’m interested in Tampico, having been here forever. I want things to go forward, I like for us to have a community that people are proud of, and one that people will want to stay at and help out. It’s a good group to work with, and I hope we can expand.”
Nostalgia brings comfort, Blackert said, and photos can be great comfort food for the soul. The pictures she enjoys sharing online the most are those that trigger memories and spark conversations that can help unearth more history.
“Talking with peers of my age group, not a lot of those people can tell you much about the history of Tampico,” Blackert said. “It’s good that we get some of that in the limelight. When we’ve posted stuff on our Facebook group, people have been excited. They like to see what their relatives were involved in.”
Terry Gaskill is another Tampico lifer who has given countless amounts of time to his community. Along with serving on the sesquicentennial committee, he also coordinates volunteer efforts with the Tampico Lions Club and the local Royal Neighbors of America fraternal organization. The longtime insurance agent has seen many fellow residents come and go over the years, but is proud that many don’t forget their roots, Blackert included.
TAMPICO cont’d to page 11
“I’ve been here all of my life, 70-some years, and I see the younger people graduate and they move away, some become professionals with college degrees, and that’s nice,” Gaskill said. “The one thing I’ve seen with these people who move away: They’re still interested in Tampico. I give a lot of credit to Jenee for what she puts on Facebook. It’s so interesting to see what she does.”
Linda Taets served as Tampico’s village clerk for more than 30 years before retiring 15 years ago. She remembers previous anniversary celebrations and wants to see the sesquicentennial be even bigger and better.
“I just wanted to be able to share some of the ideas that we did or didn’t do in 1975 and 2000,” Taets said. “I thought it may be of some value to the committee.”
As president of the Tampico Historical Society, it was a no-brainer for Duane Thompson to become involved with the committee. Having lived just outside of town for most of his life, he’s found time in recent years, after parting with the livestock on his grain farm, to dedicate himself to community functions and volunteer work to help Tampico thrive.
“I’ve always been interested in history, and I had quite a few relatives who lived here years ago,” Thompson said. “Now that I grain farm, I’m busy a month or so in the spring and two months in the fall, but otherwise I have some time that I can do stuff like this.”
In the seven months that the sesquicentennial committee has met, there’s been plenty of progress, Blackert said, toward a goal of making 2025 a year to remember and celebrating Tampico’s heritage.
“I take notes and have pages dedicated to everything that we’ve talked about,” Blackert said. “We look at them deeper and answer some questions from where we might have left off. We’ve come a long way, and it’s now a matter of getting the planning set in stone. The ideas are there, we just have to make it happen.” n
Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
Go to facebook.com/groups/tampicohistoricalsociety to learn more about Tampico's history and for updates on 2025’s sesquicentennial celebration. Go to tampicohistoricalsociety.com for more Tampico history. Want to volunteer in celebration planning, or have an idea for its committee to consider? Email
ake a look around your back yard. Some of what you may see as weeds, Amanda Norris sees as medicine.
That Creeping Charlie that won’t stop creeping around your lawn? The stinging nettle that keeps poking around your yard? Amanda and her husband David don’t mind it growing from the sandy soil of their off-the-grid home south of Prophetstown. After all, those “weeds” are just the planet’s prescription for what ails us, and the Norrises are happy to help people discover the benefits of what’s growing all around them at Sandy Glen Farm and Forage, where she shares her passion for all things green through plant walks and workshops.
Curiosity and trial-and-error fueled her passion to unlock the benefits of plants and herbs, and it inspired Amanda to become a certified clinical herbalist through the online-based HomeGrown Herbalist School of Botanical Medicine of Buhl, Idaho.
When it comes to natural remedies, “we can help ourselves or we can ignore them,” Sandy said, but she prefers to embrace the earth and all that it offers. The more that grows, the more she knows.
“I have a hunger for learning about the gifts that we have been given,” she said. “I find all of it to be so fascinating, and I want to know.”
SANDY GLEN cont’d to page 14
One thing that she knows is that there’s a natural balance to the world: When nature sends a deer fly to nip her in the arm, it also sends her to her garden where she finds something to treat it. Instead of going to the medicine cabinet or pharmacy, she heads to her shelf where she finds comfrey and plantain salve made with ingredients from her own yard. Its anti-inflammatory and other properties are good for treating scrapes, burns, scratches, insect bites and other skin ailments.
“There’s generally something in anybody’s yard that’s usable,” Amanda said. “If you take a plantain leaf, one that grows in everybody’s yard, chew it up, and then take that messy glob and put it on that bite, plantain has drawing properties that will pull out the toxins. It’s analgesic, so it will stop the itching and the burn. It’s just amazing. It does wonderful things.”
Amanda’s not alone in her faith in the power of nature. According the financial website MarketWatch, the global market for herbal medicines is growing; it was an estimated $146.6 billion dollars in 2023, with the U.S. generating $26.3 billion of that, and by 2030, those numbers could reach $248.6 billion and $50.2 billion, respectively.
That growth is something of a return to nature. Herbs have a broad spectrum of effects, Amanda said, and before science and chemicals came together to treat people, plants and herbs were the only treatments people knew.
The Norrises’ collection of plants and herbs include: plantain, milkweed, elderberries, yarrow, Sweet William, lemon balm, shepherd’s purse, purple cone flowers, purslane, chickweed, mullein, St. John’s-wart and calendula — just some of around 150 different plants on the property that derive their benefits from their leaves, stems or roots. For example, milkweed can help dissolve warts, lemon balm helps cold sores and other herpes viruses, and both shepherd’s purse and yarrow aid in blood pressure management.
Green is a good color for diets, too, and elsewhere on the farm the couple grows basil, bell and cayenne peppers, beans, broccoli; and fruits such as strawberries and aronias in a pair of gardens on the farm. And when snow falls, the Norrises aren’t hibernating; they’re busy tapping black walnut trees to make syrup that is more nutty and buttery than the maple tree variety. They raise chickens, too, which do their part as a compost system for unwanted plant remains.
SANDY GLEN cont’d to page 17
As for that Creeping Charlie mentioned earlier, don’t pull it — brew it. Creeping Charlie, as well as plantain, can be used for tasty herbal tea, Amanda said, and both are rich in Vitamin C.
“Creeping Charlie is one that people hate,” she said. “They complain about it and pay lots of money to have it removed, and have their lawn sprayed to kill it off.”
Devil’s beggarticks is another flowering plant with a love itor-hate it reputation. Before Amanda learned of its medicinal values, she worried it would overtake everything else she was growing. “It was going to be the only thing I’m left with,” she thought.
“Then I came to find out that it’s a very natural antibiotic. It’s outperformed penicillin, methicillin and tetracycline against both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria.”
The couple has discovered some of nature’s treasures by accident — like their encounter with stinging nettle. While picking fruit one day, David unknowingly rubbed his hand against the weed’s prickly hairs and felt the sting it was named for.
“All of a sudden I had blisters all over my arm,” David said. “I was on fire, burning, and thought I had poison ivy, but then I realized poison ivy doesn’t react that quickly. I didn’t know what the heck I got into.”
But instead of putting the weed on the chopping block, they decided to see whether it had any benefits, and found that it can be used to promote kidney health when mixed into tea — after the leaves wilt and lose their sting.
“Stinging nettle is amazing stuff as far as making tea with it,” David said.
Sandy Glen once was an aviary and a private hunting ground before the Norrises bought it in 2010 as a rustic, sans electric and water, weekend retreat from their home in Sterling. After their two daughters grew up and moved out, Amanda and David relocated fulltime to the property in September 2020 and added a well and solar panels.
An “outdoor child” as her mother often called her, Amanda had long dreamed of living the rustic life “in woods and mountains,” she said, but the fauna and sand hills and berms of their new home have been a satisfying substitute.
SANDY GLEN cont’d to page 18
From solar panels to garden space, the Norrises make the most out of the gifts nature gives them. In addition to the natural flora found around Sandy Glen, the couple also plants fruits, vegetables and herbs in a pair of gardens; and raises chickens, which do their part for the farm’s ecosystem, pecking away at plant scraps.
SANDY GLEN cont’d from page 17
“When we bought this property, we started to find plants that we did not recognize,” Amanda said. “We were like, ‘What is that?’ We just had this hunger to know. We’d find it, identify it, and then find out and tell each other, ‘Wow, did you know that it could be used for this?’ After finding out so many of them that were edible, the first question that came to mind was, ‘Can I eat that?’ Once I found out what was and was not edible, then we found out all of the amazing medicinal abilities, so it goes so much further than being a food.”
David enjoys the peace and quiet of it all as well; like most people, he wasn’t a fan of what he saw as weeds, but now he has an appreciation for them.
“I love the things I used to curse at,” David said. “Now we can grow and eat them.”
They also can share what they’ve discovered with others.
SANDY GLEN cont’d to page 19
Amanda’s passion for herbal medicine inspired her to start spreading the word last year, offering three-hour plant walks and basic herbal medicine making classes for groups of 10 to 12 people. During the workshops, Amanda shows people how to identify plants and herbs, where to find them, and their uses. At the end of each class, attendees get to make oil infusions, vinegar extracts or tinctures from what’s grown at Sandy Glen.
“I’ll tell them how it’s used, what it’s good for and whether it’s edible, medicinal or both,” Amanda said. “I teach them how to turn them into simple medicines that they can make for themselves. I have such a passion for sharing it because it’s all gifts and we’re just meant to use it.”
Classes are offered once or twice a month from April to September, depending on what nature deals. Dates and times are announced on Sandy Glen’s Facebook page.
Private group sessions of eight to 12 people, including those for homeschool co-ops, also are offered.
Amanda loves seeing people light up when they learn about the benefits to be found in their backyard, she said.
“There’s such a hunger for it,” Amanda said. “When I talk to people about it, they’re like, ‘That’s so cool!’ I get a new group of people out here every month for the classes that I do, and it’s just so much fun to see everybody light up and get excited when they learn what some of these plants can do.”
Amanda has longterm plans for Sandy Glen’s future, including building a small apothecary and creating an online course that includes deep dives into certain herbs. They’re plans that are likely years down the road, but all she needs is an idea rooted in her passion for plants, and everything else will grow.
“The more I learn about it, the more I want to know. It’s just the cycle that’s feeding itself,” Amanda said. “It fascinates me that people have known this stuff for so long, and now we don’t know it anymore. That just makes me want to know more and share it more.” n Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
Sandy Glen Farm and Forage in rural Prophetstown offers plant walk and herbal medicine workshops once or twice a month from April to September. The cost is $40. Register at sandyglenff@ gmail.com. Find it on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram (@ sandyglen ff), or go to sandyglen.wixsite.com/sg-ff to learn more about Amanda and David Norrrises' farm.
ometimes, progress works in peculiar ways.
When Interstate 88 (then State Route 5) was extended through Whiteside County 50 years ago, it became a more efficient pipeline for people traveling from Sterling and Rock Falls to the Quad Cities — progress in motion.
Unless you were the village of Erie.
That efficient pipeline put Erie in a bit of traffic jam, diverting drivers away from what was then state Route 2, which went through the village. Less vehicle traffic meant less customer traffic, and for businesses in Erie, that wasn’t progress.
The village didn’t fall off the map, but bottom lines did take a hit. Erie’s economy was impacted by the decline in traffic, and it reached a point by the late 2010s when residents sought to reverse that trend and make their village a destination once again.
REVITALIZE cont’d to page 22
The idea caught on, and before long it went from plan to progress — as well as the name of the group of residents and business owners who joined together to form a non-profit organization of volunteers committed to making village the best that it can be.
It’s been six years since Revitalize Erie set out to give the village a shot in the arm and show people that Erie still had some muscle to flex, and so far they’ve been heading in the right direction, and that’s gotten more people to head in the right direction, too: back toward Erie.
Now that’s progress.
Revitalize Erie’s leadership includes president Jason Robshaw, vice president Carla Jaquet, treasurer Mark Melton, secretary Michelle Misfeldt, Event Committee chair Danae Wunderlich and Beautification Committee chair Kayla Bohms. They lead groups that work to improve the overall quality of life for residents and businesses. For those who haven’t been in Erie since the group began in 2018, they’ll notice many changes, whether they’re in the triangular downtown or elsewhere in the village.
“It started with people who wanted to do something for Erie,” Robshaw said. “There were a hand-
ful of people that were a part of it and then they started meeting.”
The group then sought the services of Western Illinois University’s Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs and its Mapping Program to help create a strategic long-term vision for Erie, and that gave Revitalize Erie a framework in which to work.
“They kind of came in at that point and really did some analysis,” Robshaw said. “’What are we looking to do?’ What sort of people are interested?’ We had a huge community meeting getting ideas and getting feedback. This little group of half a dozen people got that going, and then we got into an actual board.”
Bohms also found the Mapping Program to be very beneficial in Revitalize Erie’s goals.
“They had a nice Power Point presentation and broke it down into asking us, here’s how you think about it,” Bohms said. “When you say you want to make improvements, it can be hard to come up with a plan, but they had a nice way that really mapped it out for us on how to make improvements, set goals and how to reach those goals.”
While working with what the Mapping Program provided the group, it led to them adopting their mission as their name, Melton said.
Work is underway at Heritage Park, in a joint effort with the village and Revitalize Erie, on a twophase project to build a walking path, expand parking and install playground equipment. Ideas are still being finalized for the second phase. The team effort was also used to refurbish downtown’s Margaret Park in 2022. The park is pictured on page 20 & 21.
Raising awareness, raising interest ... Revitalize Erie sets up at local events, such as serving breakfast during the Memorial Day parade (left). Another of its promotions was its Shop Local Punch Card, which ran from Oct. 28 to Nov. 25. Shoppers collected punches on cards at participating Erie businesses if they spent $10 or more, and turned in full cards of 10 punches for a chance to win cash prizes.
Erie High School students helped prepare planter boxes for flowers in May, an effort coordinated by Revitalize Erie to beautify its downtown.
“It was just a pie in the sky thing, I think, with what we wanted to do, and not to hold anything back,” Melton said. “It took about four or five group meetings before we became Revitalize Erie.”
Erie has its usual slate of annual events which started decades ago, including many revolving around the holidays, and one of Revitalize Erie’s first tasks was to find ways to improve and enhance them. Working with the existing events gave the group inspiration to create its own events that add to the village calendar.
“We were like, ‘What can we do to improve it?’” Robshaw said. “We did a hot dog lunch one year and have done little things to add to it. There’s a car show that’s in September that was already going on in Erie, and we were like, ‘What can we do to help it? Can we make it bigger?’”
One of the newest events that Revitalize Erie created was its Shop Local Punch Card Promotion, which ran from Oct. 28 to Nov. 25. Shoppers collected punches on cards at participating Erie businesses when they spent $10 or more, and turned in full cards of 10 punches for a chance to win cash prizes of up to $200.
It motivated many residents to shop more often in town rather than drive to larger towns, Wun-
derlich said.
“It’s an opportunity for people to go downtown, shop local, and promote our local businesses and give back to our community because they’ve invested a lot in our community,” Wunderlich said. “For being the first year, we got a lot of positive feedback and a lot of people participated. It was real neat to see.”
Along with assisting with tourism and commerce, Revitalize Erie also helps improve the village’s look and feel. Members of the Beautification Committee have assisted in painting and construction projects, and have installed flower planters throughout town, many of which Melton made himself.
Even the planters have become a sign of progress. At first they just had artificial flowers in them, but later real ones were planted, watered by committee members. They used to use a borrowed John Deere Gator to go from planter to planter, but were able to raise enough money to buy their own in 2023.
“One of my favorite comments I heard last year was from a community member who said they looked forward to coming to the downtown because it was so beautiful to see all those planters,” Jaquet said.
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We invite you to stop by and enjoy a multi-level shopping experience
One of Revitalize Erie’s current projects is working with the village government to revamp the village-owned Heritage Park. The project is being done in two phases: the first, scheduled for completion around late fall, will include an eight-foot walking path, expanded parking and new playground equipment. Ideas for the second phase, with work to continue into 2025, are still being finalized.
“We’re working toward a common goal,” Jaquet said. “The Village is working on the revitalization of Heritage Park and we’ve been asked to be a part of that. I’m very excited about the park. We’re making it a more inviting space. It’s tucked away, and there was not a whole lot that went on there. It’s a beautiful, really serene location, but it was very under-utillized. There wasn’t a place for people to park when you had a lot of people.”
2021 to July 2022, Bridgman worked the group, as well as with the village and school district, utilizing her Peace Corps experience improving communities in Moldova in Eastern Europe, to identify community needs and put the group’s original Mapping Program ideas to work.
More info
Go to facebook.com/revitalizeerieil to learn more about Revitalize Erie’s efforts to help its community. Email revitalizeerie@gmail. com for volunteer information, or show up at a committee meeting: The Beautification Committee meets on the second Monday and the Events Committee meets on the fourth Monday of each month, both at 6:30 p.m. at the Erie Village Hall, 740 Main St. Donations and other correspondence can also be mailed to Revitalize Erie, P.O. Box 152, Erie, IL, 61250.
Heritage Park is the second park in the village that Revitalize Erie has had its fingerprints on: Margaret Park, which is the triangle area of downtown, was reconstructed by the group and village in 2022 in time for Erie’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
Having a working relationship with local entities such as the village and school district has helped Revitalize Erie move forward with many ideas. The village government has been receptive to many of the group’s functions, Robshaw said, and the schools have been helpful in providing volunteers for community projects and special events such as community cleanup days.
“One of the big things with Revitalize is that we had buy-in from everyone,” Robshaw said. “The Village supported us, the schools supported us, so with their help, that made a huge difference. We can do these kinds of events and talk to the village about shutting down the Triangle if we needed to, or talk to the schools about manpower for cleaning day. Our relationship with those entities makes a huge difference in everything that we do.”
Robshaw gives much credit to Katelin Bridgman, an AmeriCorps Fellow Intern and master’s degree student at Western Illinois University, for helping Revitalize Erie. From September
“She gathered a whole bunch of information about what our needs were, what we had for resources and what we didn’t have yet,” Robshaw said. “That work was huge. She was important in getting new businesses started in town, she helped business owners put together their plans, and got work done on a TIF district within Erie.”
On any given day, more cars are parked along the downtown triangle now than 10 years ago, with much of the credit for that going to Revitalize Erie.
The group set out to get more eyes on Erie and more dollars in business, and succeeded in both. The revitalization of the community and its economy has had trickledown effects, including the building of a new nine-acre subdivision of duplexes across Albany Road from Erie Cemetery. It’s Erie’s first new development of residential land in nearly 30 years.
While many small towns struggle to remain viable, Erie has found ways to grow and show what it has to offer, encouraging locals to become more invested in their community, and travelers to exit the interstate for a visit to town — and their work isn’t done yet. Even after six years, there’s still plenty more to revitalize, but that spark that was lit six years ago has helped the group keep the home fires burning.
“It’s really reignited people’s passion about the community,” Jaquet said. “There were people who became very apathetic, saying they live out in the middle of nowhere, there’s nothing here or saying downtown looks terrible. Revitalize Erie created a spark where people are excited about our community again, and people are thinking about moving back. Some people are thinking about staying versus saying they can’t wait to get out of here, and they’re saying, ‘It’s not a bad place after all.’” n
Cody Cutter can be reached at 815-632-2532 or ccutter@shawmedia.com.
