Road Kill Roundup

I saw a letter to the Journal Star bemoaning all of the road kill being allowed to rot on the sides of our Illinois highways last week. I agree, btw, it is sad to see that we have to do this. With the price of gas, the powers that be are making the pickup crews stay in the office more, apparently, and making the rounds less. Of course, in typical Peoria-area fashion, the letter and the following comments all had to take shots at Illinois and it’s governor for this. No one blames the real culprit, but why would they? It wouldn’t be very “Peorian” to lay blame in the proper location.

Be that as it may, however, I was satisfied (can’t say “delighted”, it’s never a “delight” when an animal dies such a horrific death as being squashed by a semi tractor) to see that Illinois is not alone. There were three times as many dead deer, opossum, and raccoons dead along Iowa highways yesterday. I traveled 20 miles north of Waterloo for my son’s graduation, and was amazed at how many deer lay dead, and in various states of decay, along the roadsides.

Wonder if there’s any Peoria right wingers who’d like to blame Blago for IOWA’s problem with roadkill, too?

Look, I don’t care what you think of the governor of Illinois, obviously, he’s not the best guy to come down the pike (still, not any worse than the joker he followed), but for Pete’s sakes, people, can’t you see why the crews aren’t on the road? Gas is freakin’ four dollars a gallon! And that is NOT the fault of the governor of Illinois, or the state legislature, for that matter. Put the blame where it belongs.

You want animal carcasses picked up? Call Dick Cheney, he’s probably got plenty of spare time between counting oil dividends.

Oh, one more thing: If they WERE out picking up every dead animal every day, I’m sure some right-wingnut around Peoria would right a letter and blame Blago for WASTING gas.

Hey, Aaron, Where’s The Beef?

Over at Bill Dennis’ site, contributor Diane Vespa recently asked Colleen Callahan, candidate for the 18th District House Seat in Illinois, “where’s the beef?” regarding Ms. Callahan’s supposed “vagueness” and “lack of accountability”.

I currently, btw, have a question at the end of that post’s comments section that has gone unanswered.

So I visited Project Vote Smart this evening, hoping to learn more about Mr. Schock and his own policies.

Part of what  you’ll see when you click on the specific page I’ve linked for Project Vote Smart is this:

Representative Aaron Schock repeatedly refused to provide any responses to citizens on the issues through the 2008 Political Courage Test when asked to do so by national leaders of the political parties, prominent members of the media, Project Vote Smart President Richard Kimball, and Project Vote Smart staff.This candidate will be asked again to provide responses during the general election.

See that? “…repeatedly refused to provide ANY responses…”. So again, I’m asking, if Ms. Callahan is going to be accused of dodging specifics, when is Mr. Schock going to be held to the same standards by contributors to Bill Dennis’ board, and other Peoria area voters who have their mind made up, simply because Schock will have an “R” next to his name in November?

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A Law That Needs To Be Tweaked?

I put the headline in the form of a question, as I’m not sure if the law I’m about to discuss needs changing, it just seems like maybe it should.

Also, let me start (to deflect the snarks before they mouth off) by saying I have ALWAYS stated publicly on my blog, on Billy’s blog and on any other blog, that I speed, and my feeling is that if I get “caught”, then good for you, Mr. Officer, as long as it doesn’t show up on my insurance.  That being said, here’s the story, with the subsequent question about state law to follow:

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Standing O, The Encore (Or: Billy Nails It Again)

Billy Dennis wrote this:

I don’t know whether or not Ali al-Marri is a terrorist or an enemy combatant or not. Some of the evidence the U.S. government says it has against the guy is pretty damning. But I know one thing: The United States is a nation that should operate under the rule or law. If the courts say this guy deserves a trial, then he ought to get one. If our laws are to be ignored when it’s inconvenient, then they mean nothing. That’s not a pro-terrorist statement; that’s a pro-America statement.

…and he’s 100% right. 100%. Every word. As a friend said to me this past week, “if it can happen to him, it can happen to you and me, and that’s not the America I know or want.”

Well said, Billy. The sad thing is you had to say it at all. And shame on the rest of the government AND the people of this country for letting King George and his snarling asshole of a henchman Cheney get away with this.

Problem Solved, Where’s My Money?

So the City of Peoria is preparing to spend $30,000 to have a new logo designed, and people are upset about it, particularly where there are potholes to fix.

So here’s the solution:

The new city logo should be the image of a pothole.

I’ll even offer a discount. Pay me $10,000. Keep the other $20,000, and you don’t even have to fix the potholes, because you NEED them to justify the new logo.

There. Pay me.

“He Can Sing”, or “How Jeffrey Steele Turns Another Star Into A BIG STAR.”

“He can sing,” Diane correctly stated as we walked to the car last night. She’s right, as always, and she was talking about Craig Morgan, the country singer who performed in Carver Arena after Friday night’s Rivermen game. And Craig Morgan is about to go from “decent singer with a nice following” to “country superstar” thanks in no small part to the best songwriter going right now, my favorite songwriter, Jeffrey Steele. No one captures American small town life better than Jeffrey these days, picking up from the way John Mellencamp wrote our lives in the 80’s. The name of this blog comes actually comes from my favorite song penned by Jeff.

Jeffrey’s songs are responsible for turning many country music acts who’ve had average success into acts who are country superstars. To wit: Trace Adkins’ career-changing hit? “Chrome”, written by Jeff.  Montgomery Gentry’s career builders? “Gone”, “My Town”, “Speed” and several others, all written by Jeff. Where would Rascal Flatts be without “These Days” and “What Hurts The Most”, written by Jeff. The Van Zant brothers foray into country? “Help Somebody”, written AND produced by Jeff. Keith Anderson? Produced by Jeff.

And now, Craig Morgan is going to be the latest country singer to turn the corner from “he’s pretty good, he’s had some nice songs” to “Wow! That’s my favorite song EVER!”, thanks to Jeff. Morgan is a solid performer with a great voice, always has been, and has had some decent sized hits like “Almost Home” and “Redneck Yacht Club”. He’s one of those guys that country music fans like and say, “yeah, Craig Morgan…not bad”, but would not be an act that could be a Kenny Chesney/Toby Keith-type headliner.

But now, that is changing since Craig - with Jeffrey’s song “International Harvester” - has tapped into American farm life, and thus all of Middle America, i.e. country’s base. In typical Jeffrey style, the simplicity of the lyrics makes you slap you head and say “why didn’t I think of that!”, but in typical Jeffrey style, those same simple lyrics not only make for great sing-alongs and tremendous melodic hooks, but they have an inner, deeper meaning that is hard to explain, bu the kind of meaning that makes people BECOME the song, not just hear it and sing along.

Is it a “novelty” song? In a way, maybe, some people would think so. But I say no. Sure, it’s got a catchy hook, but the song is not satire…it’s the truth. Did the 6,500 or so who stuck around after the game last night sing along out loud and know every word? Absolutely. Craig Morgan has Jeffrey Steele to thank for a song that will pass the test of time, that will still be a big hit years from now when country stations play it as a “gold”, or “oldie”. Way to go Jeff, and way to sing it, Craig. Nicely done.

Standing O

For Billy Dennis. This is the definition of commentary, and the fact that it’s right on only accentuates how well it’s done.

Bravo, sir. Well said. Well said.

In The Words Of The Immortal Bobby Boucher: “The Search Continues, Mamma…”

I am so intrigued by the “callahanforcongress” website, and the subsequent questions about it’s authenticity, that I can’t let it rest.

This is a list of candidates for ALL offices in the State of Pennsylvania this year, including those running for Federal positions. The name “Callahan” does not appear on the list.

Today I called the City of Bethlehem, PA to speak to the Mayor John B. Callahan (I still await his return call) and his secretary was just as surprised to hear that he might be running for congress as the news director of the local radio station was when I talked to him yesterday.

I have also left another message with the John B. Callahan from State College, PA (182 miles from Bethlehem) to see if it is HIM that is pondering a run for office.

This is fun, I like working on weird stories. We’ll keep trying to get to the bottom of it. Until then, the saga goes on.

BIG UPDATE: John B. Callahan from State College, PA, the pharmaceutical rep, returned my phone call today, and here is what transpired:

I introduced myself, and gave him a quick summation of the chatter that has been occurring here in Illinois regarding a certain website.

1. It turns out Mr. Callahan is indeed the man who registered that website with GoDaddy.com, he was happy to admit that information to me.

2. He says it happened “after a friend of mine and I got into a heated political discussion one night. He showed up the next night with his daughter in a “Callahan For Congress” T-shirt and I decided to put it on the web, and start the site ‘callahanforcongress.com’. It’s just a joke. I have no intention of running for office.”

3. He is aware of the Mayor John B. Callahan on Bethlehem, and says he even knows the mayor’s wife, Matalda, who at one time apparently worked for the same company that the State College John B. Callahan does.

4. He says both he and his friend are Republicans, hence the x-ed out donkey on the little girl’s t-shirt.

5. When I asked him what his friend’s little girl’s name was, he said “Emma”. He was not aware that the Callahans across the state in Bethlehem also have a little girl named Emma. He laughed at the coincidence.

6. Finally, when I asked him, ”do you know anyone in Illinois?”, he said “not that I’m aware of.”  He did have one long pause, and that was when I related to him how his website went up the very same day that Colleen Callahan’s name was tossed into the ring as a possible opponent for the GOP opponent. At no time did I tell him the GOP opponent’s name, at no time did he ask for it, or offer up that he knew who it was. He just said, “wow”, when I brought that up.

So, this whole thing may be solved. Then again it may not be.

Either way, we now know exactly who owns the site: John B. Callahan of State College, PA. We know he’s not running for congress, despite what “Democrat Pundit” said on one of Billy’s threads. We know that he owns the site for exactly one year, and through what he told me, there are no plans to do anything else than what’s already on the site.

What we DON’T know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, is whether or not this site was the brainchild of someone outside of Pennsylvania, but do we really need to know? There are too many strange coincidences to totally close the case. We do not know if the T-shirt on the little girl was really created by Mr. Callahan’s friend, or photoshopped later (check the “C” in “Congress” and see if it matches up with the fold in the little girl’s shirt, for instance). There are many things we know, and still some things that, if this were a court of law, would remain open for question and interpretation.

Be that as it may, whatever the case, if the other campaign new a guy in PA and got him to do this…so what? It’s just politics. There’s nothing overly malicious, just a good move to squat a site. But that’s only IF it happened. Maybe all of these little quirks are just that…quirks and coincidences. January 17th. Emma. Two John B. Callahans. It’s all too much fun.

I’ve enjoyed the hunt.

How Can We Fix It?

Full disclosure: I am the PA announcer for the Peoria Rivermen hockey team, and have been for 11 of the last 12 years. I love hockey. I desire to see the Rivs draw better. The front office works incredibly hard to try and draw more fans to Rivermen hockey fans. That being said…read on… 

My good friend (and solid reporter) Dave Eminian is correct in today’s column in the PJStar when he says the Rivermen front office staff has struck some attendance gold in the last couple of months:

The Rivermen have hit a home run on a new marketing strategy, which is to bring in celebrities from soap operas, to Nickelodeon and Disney TV shows, pro wrestling and post-game concerts.

It has helped the franchise turn the corner at the box office, quite a feat at a time when most minor-league hockey teams are showing downtrends in attendance.

What David unfortunately does NOT mention is this year’s average attendance, which is now 4,194 per game. That figure ranks a lowly 21st in the 29-team AHL. That puts the Rivermen about 900 UNDER the league average, but ahead of fellow Illinois AHL teams in Rockford (25th at 3,683) and Quad City (27th at 3,432). Chicago (6,981, 4th in the league) is the best-drawing AHL team in the state.

Further, this year’s average is almost 200 below LAST year’s final average (4,386), which belies Dave’s comment that the we’ve “turned the corner”. Maybe from beginning of this year to the current date, but not when one compares the past.

Here’s the past few years:

2005-2006 - (1st year in AHL) - 4,7

2004-2005 - 4,785 (last year in ECHL), 10th overall out of 28

2003-2004 - 5,101, 3rd overall out of 31 teams!

2002-2003 - 5,394, 4th overall out of 27

As a matter of fact, this year’s attendance is lower than any since the team moved from the IHL to the ECHL in 1996. For the record, Dave used to give weekly updates in his column on Rivermen attendance, but they have not been there so much this year.

Again, I have been part of the Rivermen culture since I moved here in 1996. I love hockey. I cannot understand why the team cannot consistently draw the 6-7,000 fans it draws on occasional Saturday nights.

So I’m asking those in the Peoria blogosphere: Why? Why are there not more fans at games? What do you desire the team do to attract you to go to a game? More promotions? More fights on the ice? Less fights? Cheaper concessions? What is it?

Hockey is tremendous fun when it’s viewed live. You DO NOT need to “understand” the game to enjoy it. Heck, there’s really only two confusing rules: icing and offsides, which become completely understandable after you get a quick, easy-to-grasp explanation. Other than that, it’s a lot like basketball…teams pass and skate and try to put the “ball” (in this case, of course, a puck) into the goal. And it’s a lot like football…teams hit and defend and try to stop the other team from getting the puck across the goal line and into the goal.

So what is it going to take to get the attendance this sport deserves in Peoria (and Rockford and the QC for that matter)? What would make you go to the game?

Half Empty, Half Full

A friend asked me today if this year’s edition of the Peoria Rivermen were a good hockey team? I said they were. He asked if they were over .500, I said “yes and no”. He was confused. Moreso than normal.  

So, are the Rivermen over .500 or not? Depends on how you look at it. Peoria’s record is 18-11-3-4. That’s the new hockey math. The first two numbers are self-explanatory and suggest the Rivs are way over .500. But the last two numbers (which are one too many) show you “overtime losses” and “shootout losses”.

Technically, the Rivermen have won 18 games…and lost 18 games. However, since they took seven of those 18 losses into overtime, games that used to show up as “ties” in the standings, the Rivermen have scored 43 points out of a possible 72, for a “points scoring percentage” of .597. So, for the purpose of promoting the team from the “glass half full” side, it is logical and acceptable to say the team is “over .500″.

But if one prefers half empty, and takes simply wins v. losses, the team is playing exactly .500 hockey.

It’s semantics, and it’s hockey math. Oh, and it’s the whole four-numbers thing in the standings is completely unnecessary. Peoria gets two points for wins, no points for regulation losses (second column), one point for overtime losses (column three) and one point for shootout losses (column four). So it doesn’t make any difference, and there doesn’t need to be a fourth column. A loss is a loss, eh? The Rivs are 18-11-7. There. That makes a whole lot more sense.

Part Of The Game…Always

True hockey fans know and accept that fighting - not the gratuitious, do-it-because-you-do-it-every-game style, but the “time to stick up for myself and my teammates” style - is a major part of adult hockey. Many newbies to the sport feel it has no place in the game, all the while enjoying the mugging that is every college basketball rebound and the controlled violence that is every helmet-first football tackle.

Sunday afternoon’s Peoria Rivermen game showed exactly why fighting has been, is and always should be part of the sport’s allure. The three largest sustained moments of crowd excitement yesterday? The three battles. The turning point in the game? The final of the three bouts, when Rivermen winger and Blues prospect Nikolay Lemtyugov dropped his gloves for the first time since coming to North America, and pummeled a Quad City defenseman who had been dogging him and shoving him for an entire shift.

The result was a huge ovation, a huge turn of emotion, and a wake up call to his teammates (Peoria was trailing 2-0 at the time, and while playing hard, were becoming increasingly frustrated - having scored but 1 goal on Quad City goalie Brent Krahn in over 95 minutes of hockey covering Sunday and the previous night.

Jean Guy Trudel scored just over a minute later, and scored again a couple of minutes after that. When Steve Wagner blasted home a slapper with 1.1 seconds left in the period, the Rivermen went to the locker room up 3-2, thanks in no small part to Lemtyugov’s decision to stand up for himself.

PJ Star writer Dave Eminian correctly awarded Lemtyugov the game’s “Third Star” afterwards, based solely on that momentum-turning, crowd-arousing bout. Several other sports staffers at the paper, good friends of mine, think that fighting should be outlawed. Astute hockey observers know better.

Wackest Letter Ever?

I spent a bunch of time cleaning my keyboard this morning after spitting up while reading the Letter To the Editor in the PJStar from a Sharon Robinson. 

Oh…my…supreme being.

Was that woman serious? Actually, considering it was written by a Peorian, she probably was. Sadly, Peoria has more than it’s share of these kinds of close-minded, awful people. A couple of them even have blogs.

The comments section on the website below the letter shows there is indeed hope, however, for Peoria, as some very sane people have picked apart this letter.

I’d like to pick apart a small bit no one has touched on yet:

A wall should be built on all borders, with a warning sign in Spanish and Arabic: “No Trespassing.”

Yeah, as long as you speak those languages, stay the hell out, right Sharon? But every other language? You’re okay. Sheesh.

C’mon, right-wing Peorians, denounce this crap of Ms. Robinson’s. Mouse, you should be particularly disgusted by this woman’s bigotry and racism (notice her “whites are leaving” comment in the original letter). Let’s see if the right side of the Peoria blogosphere can properly call this woman what she is: an idiot.

The “Optimistic Weather”, Cheney Style.

Dick Cheney (or, in actuality, a guy doing a fairly bad impression of The Dickster) called the Scott and Gin radio show Friday morning and delivered the “Optimistic Weather Forecast” for Peoria and Central Illinois. It went something like this:

“We’re in the final throes, if you will, of winter. I predict no more snow will fall this winter, as a matter of fact, there’s no snow on the ground right now. We also look for temps in the 70’s every day in 2008, as a matter of fact, it’s 74 right now.”

He then invited Scott on a hunting trip.

Maddening Driving Habit #632

Why is it here in Illinois that people refuse to dim their lights until the last possible second, if at all? Is it that hard? Are the drivers that selfish?

Particularly maddening is as you approach a hill, you can see the glow from the oncoming car’s lights, and they’re bright. I ALWAYS dim my lights BEFORE I crest a hill, because that’s how I was TAUGHT to drive by my instructor in Minnesota. Common courtesy, it’s called. Also has something to do with safety. I don’t know how many times I’ve done this recently, dimming my lights well in advance of line-of-sight of an oncoming vehicle behind a hill, only to see the other driver just leave his/her brights on until we’re right on top of each other, meeting at the top of the hill, and I’m momentarily blinded. Thanks, jerks.

Another aspect of this is interstate highway driving. Just because there’s separation between the four lanes does NOT mean you can simply leave your lights on bright when approaching other vehicles. The most frustrating of all is when you give an oncoming car a flick of the brights…several times…and you simply get ignored. If I’m WRONG and you’re already on dim, then show me. If I’m RIGHT, then dim your damn lights, arsehole.

Besides, with improved headlights and the increase in “driving lights” on newer cars (we used to call them “fog lights”), there’s little need to EVER have your brights on unless you’re alone on a two lane road.

I’ve come to the conclusion that most people that do this around here do it on purpose. Just to be an ass. Guess what? Mission accomplished.

40 Days Of Prayer?

I’m still amazed at this one.

How about 40 days of officials and legislators and law enforcement people getting together to figure out better gun laws?

How about 40 days of raiding the homes and vehicles of known criminals and convicted felons and getting the drugs and guns and everything else they shouldn’t have?

How about 40 days of non-stop communication between whites and blacks in Peoria on how to better understand and get along with each other, instead of hating each other?

I could think of so many other things that could be done over 40 days that would be more effective than “40 days of prayer”. But that wouldn’t get me reelected, now, would it?

The Life Of A Road, Through The Duration Of An Ice Storm

Earlier this week one of my alter-egos had this description of road conditions, more of a “recap”, really, from the last week, during a phone call to the Scott and Gin show.

First, the freezing rain starts to fall. It’s at this time the roads get slippier than Britney Spears’ sanity. Then, they start to ice up, making them slicker than Mitt Romney’s hair. At storms peak, the ice on the roads gets thicker than Robin Williams’ chest hair. At that point, driving becomes as treacherous as hunting with Dick Cheney. Your vehicle is able to move forward about as well as the Chicago Bears offense.

Eventually, all the ice starts to go away. In areas where it was warm enough to melt away, the roads then become sloppier than Paris Hilton on a Saturday night, and it eventually turns to a heavy slush, which can push your car to the right faster than having lunch with Hillary Clinton. Or, to the left faster than having lunch with Fred Thompson. Either way, you’re going where you didn’t want to go.

And that’s the best way to describe life on the roads in Central Illinois for the last week.

Congrats Redbirds

Our football coverage this fall on CD 107.9 ended with Metamora’s thrilling victory over Morris in the IHSA 5A finals. Congrats to Coach Ryan and the kids, and the whole town for that matter, on the title. I’ve heard good things about our championship coverage, which included Dave Murphy and Rich Draeger in the booth and Mark Bixler on the sidelines. Bix got Pat Ryan on twice during the game, so for those who’d like to hear it, it’s archived over at Jason Plank’s website: www.jmpsports.com.

We’ve already segued into basketball coverage, as our busy fall now turns into our busier winter.

IHSA Football, Week 4 of the Postseason.

Same two teams still in it, same station still on it!

1pm Saturday - Marion at Metamora on CD 107.9 and www.cd1079.com

5pm Saturday - Galena at North Fulton on CD 107.9 and www.cd1079.com

IHSA Football Playoffs, Week 3

The local clubs are getting whittled down. We’ll have two games on this Saturday, both on CD 107.9 and www.cd1079.com:

At 1pm - 5A - Metamora at Pontiac, Dave Murphy and Rob Paullin on PBP.

At 6pm - 1A - North Fulton at Stark County, Leon Groover and Bob Wagner on PBP.

Hope everybody gets a chance to listen!

IHSA Football On The Radio, Round 2

Our stations will be at three different games Saturday:

On CD 107.9 and www.cd1079.com:

1pm - 4A Game - Decatur St. Teresa (7-3) at Dunlap (9-1). Dave Murphy and Rich Draeger on PBP.

7pm - 1A Game - Lewistown (10-0) at North Fulton (8-2). Leon Groover and Bob Wagner on PBP.

On AM 1560, WBYS and www.wbysradio.com:

7pm - 2A Game - Orion (10-0) at Farmington (6-4). Dave Murphy and Mark Bixler on PBP.

Tony Z will have his halftime scoreboard show on all games. Tony will get up to the second scores by text message from games involving Richwoods, Metamora, Washington, IVC, Stark County, Princeville, Aledo and every other team in this part of the state.

I’m very proud of our guys and our stations. Eight football games in two weekends on two stations, utilizing a total of seven play-by-play announcers and three studio engineers. I don’t think any other group of stations in the state has done that many games over the first two weeks of this year’s playoffs, plus we give steady updates from those other games around the state through use of stringers sending texts from nearly every game.

Between this and severe weather, this is what live local radio is all about. If anybody among the few folks who read this hear any of the coverage, let me know how we do.

No Reason For Four Public High Schools In Peoria Right Now

Over at Knight’s site, there was a discussion about schools last week. They’re also talking about it as it relates to sports over the Journal Star sports message boards.

I wrote a long response over at Knight’s place, I wanted to put it over here as well. If you check the link to the PJS board, you’ll see there ar

Billy, if the reports are true that Manual is down to around 500 students and numbers are falling every year, I’d say it’s time to close a high school and save the taxpayers some money (I thought you were all about that, btw, but maybe I missed something).

Not that I’m suggesting closing Manual. Rather, I’d take a very simple approach: Oldest building goes away. Don’t want to lose the “history” of Peoria Central High School? Than attach that name to one of the other schools and drop either Manual, Richwoods or Woodruff.

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3 comments.

Definition Of A Superb Blog Post

Go to Brad’s Blog and read this.

Paying For Garbage Pickup, Kewanee Style

A lot has been made about garbage on some of the Peoria blogs recently. I’d link to a recent post from the blogfather’s site, but there seems to be a void in his archives when it comes to anything in the last week.

Anyway, here’s Kewanee’s way of doing things:

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“…and 2007 continues to lead 2006!” (crowd roar) NOTE: Updated June 23

They just ought to erect a scoreboard and hang it from the Murray Baker Bridge:

“…well, Biff, as the clock runs out on spring and we head officially into summer this weekend, it looks like 2006 has some work to do to get back in this one.”

“right you are, Cotton, but 2007 sure looks strong and we’ve got only 1/2 a year to go!” 

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/062107/TRI_BDIH89RK.013.php 

Plus, we just added another one Saturday. Impressive. Not.

HOI Fair

Interesting story yesterday about the HOI Fair in Peoria, full of quotes from Eileen Frey, most of which were either not quite the whole story or completely false.

In the story, she says the North Dakota State Fair paid Tim McGraw $425,000 for one show last year. I think that’s a tad high. It might have been $125,000, or maybe even up to $200,000, but I highly doubt it was $425,000. I know, I’ve talked with promoters and managers for years. If Tim DID get $425,000 for one show, he laughed all the way to the bank.

But be that as it may, she also said the HOI Fair struggles to get the big acts because they don’t have enough money to spend. I don’t doubt that, but maybe the REASON they don’t have enough money to spend on big acts is the way they’ve done things over the years.

I arrived in Peoria in 1996, and the HOI Fair brought in pretty big acts every year back then. Heck, in 2001, the country shows alone were Brad Paisley, Montgomery Gentry, and Collin Raye. Not bad. Paisley and MG were already all over the charts, and Raye was a solid act who had just come off a nice run in the 1990’s. Having all three of them in one year couldn’t have been cheap.

All three performed on the football field at Richwoods, in front of the grandstand, which the HOI Fair no longer uses. She claims in the story “it’s not big enough” of a venue. Um, yeah it is for what you’re trying to do.

The REAL problems, as I see them, are these:

1. The fair never accurately counted it’s attendance at these shows. Entrance into the fair also got you into the show if you wanted to see it, so you just walked into the concert. Then, people with clipboards would “estimate” the attendance based on how many seats they thought they had available, and how many people appeared to be in those seats. By doing that, they could then tell the fair board “that show didn’t draw that well” without accurately knowing. Example: Montgomery Gentry packed the place. Not an empty seat in the grandstand, not an empty chair on the running track in front of the grandstand, and people STANDING on the track beyond the chairs. I stood next to the gentleman in charge of estimating attendance that night, and he wrote “3,500″ on his report. Excuse me? 5,000 grandstand seats (according to him) and 600 chairs on the track. My eyes saw 5,600 PLUS standing, my guess was 6,000 in attendance. Nope, he said 3,500. He also said “it’s awful loud”. A-ha! He didn’t LIKE the show so he UNDERestimated the crowd.

Two nights later, a local country show plays before about 200 family members and friends, and the report says “1,700″. See the problem? How does the fair board justify paying Montgomery Gentry when it appears they’ve only drawn twice as many fans as a local kareoke singer?

2. Pay at the gate, walk into the show. Duh. If you said you were bringing in Sugarland or Kenny Chesney or Brooks & Dunn to the fair this year, and you then said “you not only have to pay $10 at the gate to get into the fair, but it’ll cost you an extra $30 to get into the concert”, guess what? People would DO IT! $40 to see a headliner? Very much inline with seeing them at the Civic Center, PLUS you get to browse the fair. People would do it. The fair is very short sighted in not seeing that. Say you pay $35,000 for Terri Clark (her going rate as of this past summer), and then you charge $20 per seat plus fair admission. Say she brings in 4,000. Do the math. No brainer. BTW, last time I saw Terri live was at the BUREAU COUNTY FAIR in the metropolis of PRINCETON, about three years ago. Hello? Bueller? The Bureau County Fair can bring in headliners and the HOI Fair can only afford kareoke?

3. The biggest problem, in my opinion. When I arrived in 1996, it was radio wars at the HOI Fair. Every company had every station out there broadcasting live, and battling to see who could turn their monitors up the loudest. Then Regent came. Regent Broadcasting bought into the Peoria market in 2001, and one of their goals was to “own” events. Not a bad plan if you can pull it off. The HOI Fair soon made a deal that Regent stations would be the only stations they advertise on. Guess what? Attendance has been off, revenue has been off, and entertainment has been curtailed ever since. It’s not Regent’s fault entirely. It’s simple logic. If you only advertise the fair on four radio stations out of a market of 15-20 stations, you’re not going to reach the full audience. It wouldn’t matter if it was Regent, JMP, AAA, Kelly, or now Independence. Your advertising is going to miss 60-80% of the entire market if you don’t spread it out!

The number of people I’ve run into over the last few summers who say “the fair is over? I didn’t even know it was going on” lends credence to my argument. Other entertainment entities in town who’ve done similar deals over the past five years have also seen their attendance flatten or decrease. The benefactor, of course, is the radio company that gets the exclusive deal. But it’s not a win-win situation for the entertainment entity. The HOI Fair, as I said, is not alone in this problem.

But they can correct it by correcting their marketing. And they can get bigger acts WHEN they market better, and when they change their internal workings as far as how they charge and what they charge for.

Peoria’s fair shouldn’t be on a death march. But I think it is in it’s current form.