Events Calendar

Join our Conservation Book Club as we read The Natural Heritage of Illinois: Essays on its Lands, Waters, Flora, and Fauna by John E. Schwegman. This book is a collection of 93 essays from newspaper columns in the late nineties. Learn how wind, water, fire, glaciers, and people have shaped Illinois!

This meeting will focus on the middle third of the book.
Register to receive reading chapters!

The Biggest German Event of the Year! 3 Days of Fun

Willkommen to Central Illinois’ Biggest and Best Fest! This year’s festival has all your favorites with a few new things to put some guten in your tag!
The Peoria Park District and German American Central Society united their efforts in 1996 to bring the first of the “signature events” planned for the Peoria Riverfront.
Peoria’s Oktoberfest” is the Midwestern equivalent of the Munich Oktoberfest.
Location: Peoria Riverfront
9/18: 5 pm-11 pm
9/19: Noon-11 pm
9/20: 11 am-5 pm

The Biggest German Event of the Year! 3 Days of Fun

Willkommen to Central Illinois’ Biggest and Best Fest! This year’s festival has all your favorites with a few new things to put some guten in your tag!
The Peoria Park District and German American Central Society united their efforts in 1996 to bring the first of the “signature events” planned for the Peoria Riverfront.
Peoria’s Oktoberfest” is the Midwestern equivalent of the Munich Oktoberfest.
Location: Peoria Riverfront
9/18: 5 pm-11 pm
9/19: Noon-11 pm
9/20: 11 am-5 pm

The Biggest German Event of the Year! 3 Days of Fun

Willkommen to Central Illinois’ Biggest and Best Fest! This year’s festival has all your favorites with a few new things to put some guten in your tag!
The Peoria Park District and German American Central Society united their efforts in 1996 to bring the first of the “signature events” planned for the Peoria Riverfront.
Peoria’s Oktoberfest” is the Midwestern equivalent of the Munich Oktoberfest.
Location: Peoria Riverfront
9/18: 5 pm-11 pm
9/19: Noon-11 pm
9/20: 11 am-5 pm

Are you interested in protecting local waterways while enhancing your landscape? Join us for a FREE Rainscaping Education Program, a hands-on, research-based workshop designed to help homeowners, volunteers, and community members learn practical strategies for managing stormwater where it falls.

Participants will learn how rain gardens and other rainscaping practices can reduce runoff, filter pollutants, improve water quality, and create more resilient landscapes. The program covers the fundamentals of designing, installing, and maintaining rain gardens, with opportunities to apply what you learn in the field.
The class is free, but registration is required.

Movie Mondays is a film series connected to the upcoming “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibition. These films will be shown at the *Capitol Theater and will explore themes of communication, propaganda, and public understanding during World War II, highlighting how information shaped perspectives and decisions both then and now. Selections may include classic films from the era, such as “The Great Dictator”, along with other films that provide historical context and encourage meaningful discussion.

Esther J. Hamori will deliver the 39th Annual Mary Olive Woods Lecture in Religious Studies and Philosophy at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23, in the University Union Sandburg Theatre.

Hamori is a professor of Hebrew Bible at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Her research is focused on conceptions of divine-human contact and communication in the Hebrew Bible and other ancient Middle Eastern literature.

Hamori’s 2023 book, “God’s Monsters: Vengeful Spirits, Deadly Angels, Hybrid Creatures, and Divine Hitmen of the Bible,” explores how in both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, God deploys an entourage of monsters. Hamori suggests that confronting God’s monsters and the God-monster may be uncomfortable, but that biblical writers’ unflinching depictions of the monstrous God validate the human experience of a world that is unpredictable, unjust, and at times monstrous.

The annual Mary Olive Woods Lecture is sponsored by the Religious Studies and Philosophy

Programs in the School of Humanities and the Mary Olive Woods Foundation. The event is open to the public.
Light refreshments will be served after in the Sandburg lounge.

You're invited to our next Lunch ala Art at the Fort Madison Area Arts Association!
Enjoy a creative midday break surrounded by art, conversation, and community. This monthly event offers an inspiring presentation or featured artist alongside the option to enjoy a delicious lunch in the gallery.

Lunch is optional—but the experience is priceless!

Lunch is included with registration, but purchasing a lunch is not required to attend the artist's gallery talk

Join us at Argyle Lake as we learn about our only true flying mammal... BATS!! We will dispel many myths about bats during this informative and entertaining presentation about these mysterious mammals. Participants will have the opportunity to listen to nearby bats feeding on flying insects using an echolocation detection device. Many informative handouts will be available.
Meet at the park's visitor center shelter for this program.
For more information, please call (309) 776-3422 or email Bridget.Hinchee@illinois.gov

Many older adults experience fear of falling, often limiting their daily activities and independence. To support community members in building confidence and staying active, University of Illinois Extension is offering A Matter of Balance. Taught by popular Extension Health and Wellness Educator Tessa Hobbs-Curley, this award-winning, evidence-based program is designed to help adults manage fall concerns and safely increase activity levels.
The free program will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays, September 29 through October 22, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the YMCA Senior Center of McDonough County, 400 E. Calhoun St., Macomb.

A Matter of Balance uses practical strategies, gentle exercises, and supportive group discussion to help participants view falls as controllable, make simple changes to improve safety at home, and build strength, balance, and flexibility. The program is ideal for adults 60 and older, as well as anyone looking to improve stability, mobility, and peace of mind.

Registration is required by phone. Space is limited. Call 309‑837‑5733 to reserve your spot.