will.illinois.edu/prairiefire/episode/pf2007-02-22 WILL, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Series Episode WILL goes to Springfield to eat at the Maid-Rite Sandwich Shop; we celebrate Bagelfest in Mattoon; we show a classic Prairie Fire episode from 1992 about the Oakland Bakery Abstract Segment Business, Food/Restaurants, WILL Custom Prairie Fire Subject Headings It’s hard to think back 15 years and try to remember how I got the idea for the Oakland Bakery story. It may have been because of the popularity of his noodles. At the time I lived a block away from the Courier Cafe and would go there for breakfast every week. They had the Oakland noodles in their display case at the cashier’s desk. I do remember seeing the Oakland Bakery name on the bags. Looking at the story again (I haven’t watched it since that episode ran in 1992), I’m struck with a little bit of nostalgia for that sort of mom-and-pop business that has been largely put out of business by people shopping at Wal-Marts and other “Superstores,” and admiration for all the people like Happy Ethington who could work hard at the same job for 37 years, day in, day out and still take pride in their work. A subject like a bakery was also great to shoot and edit because there was a process that was repetitive. It gave you a chance to catch the same actions again and again if you needed to and then select the best shot of that action for editing. I am amazed at how we did so many stories in 1992 when I look at the technology we have today, which makes it so much easier and faster in many parts of the process. But the interviewing, logging the interviews and writing the story seems pretty much the same—the hard work of finding the story in your subject and paying attention to detail to a thousand details. Abstract Jeff Cunningham Producer Segment Food/Restaurants, Illinois Culture/History, WILL Custom Prairie Fire Subject Headings On a hot Saturday morning in July, 2006, we rolled into the small, central Illinois town of Mattoon at 8 am. When we got there, we discovered a town overrun with bagel-lovers. Mattoon is the home of the main manufacturing plant for Lender’s Bagels and, amazingly, Mattoon makes more bagels than anywhere else in the entire United States. While Bagelfest was like a lot of other small town festivals (with live music, carnival games, parades, etc.), bagels were worked into even the smallest facets of the day’s events. Our first stop was the Run for the Bagel race. The race started in downtown, wound through Mattoon’s residential streets, and then looped back to downtown and ended at the local YMCA. When the runners finished the race, they weren’t given awards or prizes. Instead, they got free bagels and cream cheese. When I first heard that runners would be getting bagels, I imagined bagels being handed out to the runners along the race at water stations. Since giving gasping runners a bagel instead of a bottle of water would have be a little cruel, as well as potentially life-threatening, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised that the bagels were held back as a post-race treat (instead of an in-race hazard!). Next stop was the ‘World’s Biggest Bagel Breakfast.’ When we got there, the breakfast was already about halfway over and Lender’s had already given away 10,000 bagels! We met the locals, talked with Lender’s officials, and got to see just how popular free bagels could be. It seemed like nearly everyone we talked to either worked for Lender’s, had a relative who did, or just plain liked their bagels. Lender’s had set aside 20,000 bagels for the breakfast, and, from what we saw, it looked like the Mattoon masses would have no trouble getting through them. After the breakfast, we filmed the Bagel Parade, which featured bagel-adorned cars, floats, and marchers. It was nice to see the Lawn Rangers from nearby Arcola marching their bagel-festooned lawnmowers in the parade (we did a segment on the Lawn Rangers last season). Abstract Steve Drake Producer Segment Food/Restaurants, Illinois Culture/History, Springfield, WILL Custom Prairie Fire Subject Headings Maid-Rite Sandwich Shop This Springfield institution has been a part of my life forever, so it was only natural that I produce a story on this amazing restaurant. My mom and dad used to eat there when they were students at Springfield High School. As a child my Dad loved to take me to the Maid–Rite and it was a tradition that we had to sit in the “original” dining room ... which can only hold about 8 people. Back then I never realized how small it was, but when I visit as an adult I’m amazed at the tiny space. When I was a student at Springfield High School my girlfriends and I were at the Maid-Rite regularly for the homemade root beer and cheese fries. Now that the high school has a closed campus, I regret that current students can’t have the same midday experience. But there are still plenty of regulars to fill the place during the noon hour. Thankfully current owner Sam Quasi has kept the place the same ... still using the same recipes for the loose meat sandwiches and the root beer. While we were there recording the story, I noticed that the customers were a true cross-section of Springfield … policemen, florists, construction workers. Old, young and everyone in between. The Maid–Rite sandwich appeals to all … I especially enjoyed getting my crew, Virginia Steffen and Julius Bolton, addicted to the Maid-Rite. When we were back in Springfield a few weeks later taping another story we had to go there again for lunch. Now that my Dad is gone, another reason I go to the Maid-Rite is to remember him. Whenever I take my boys there and they are slurping down the root beer and eating the special ice cream sundaes that Sam gives to all of his younger patrons, I feet that my dad is there with us enjoying this special Springfield meal. Abstract Alison Davis Wood Producer WILL-TV, University of Illinois Copyright Holder Publisher ¬© 2009 University of Illinois 2007-02-22T13:00:00-06:00 2007-02-22T13:00:00-06:00 video/mp4 http://willmedia.atlas.uiuc.edu/mpeg4/pf2007-02-22.mp4 Moving Image MPEG video MPEG-4 00:28 eng pf2007-02-22.mp4 WILL Public Media, University of Illinois 2007-02-22T13:00:00-06:00 2007-02-22T13:00:00-06:00 video/x-flv http://willmedia.atlas.uiuc.edu/flash/pf2007-02-22.flv Moving Image Flash Video Flash Media 8 00:28 eng pf2007-02-22.flv WILL Public Media, University of Illinois 2007-02-22T13:00:00-06:00 2007-02-22T13:00:00-06:00 video/vnd.rn-realvideo http://willmedia.will.uiuc.edu/ramgen/pf2007-02-22.rv Moving Image 00:28:00