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Story Subject Category: Food/Restaurants
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Segment duration: 2:51
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Producer: Eleanore Stasheff
Chief Camera - Segment: David Noreen
This segment is filed in these categories: Food/Restaurants • Literature • University of Illinois
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By producer Virginia Steffen
My crew and I arrived at the Market 6 a.m. on a June morning, armed with camera, tripod and sound equipment. The day was still not too warm, and the sun had barely risen. We started by interviewing Mary Finch about her crafts. Then, we relocated to shoot another interview, and another, and another, until people started filing into the rows of venders, ready for another week of shopping for local food and goods. As the crowd hit full-force, the heat did, too. It was a bright, hot day, but we barely had time to notice because we were so quickly moving around to get patron interviews, and shoot footage of people shopping and musicians performing.
I love Market on the Square, because of all the local excitement going on. There is such a genuine feeling of community here on Saturday mornings in the summer. We saw friends hugging, venders and patrons chatting up like good friends, and lots of community people out enjoying this homegrown taste of summer.
For me, highlights were: getting up on the roof of the city building to interview Kathy Larson with the market behind her, and shooting footage of local performer Michael Powers. Michael is such a great local character, and he is a lot of fun to videotape because he enjoys interacting with his audience members and the camera.
Segment duration: 05:39
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Producer: Virginia Steffen
Chief Camera - Segment: Virginia Steffen
This segment is filed in these categories: Agriculture/Agribusiness • Business • Food/Restaurants • Urbana
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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.
Segment duration: 06:31
Producer: Jeff Cunningham
This segment is filed in these categories: Business • Food/Restaurants
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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).
Segment duration: 07:30
Producer: Steve Drake
This segment is filed in these categories: Food/Restaurants • Illinois Culture/History
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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.
Segment duration: 06:32
Producer: Alison Davis Wood
This segment is filed in these categories: Food/Restaurants • Illinois Culture/History • Springfield
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WILL-TV’s Henry Radcliffe goes on his first mushroom hunting expedition, and brings home the prize for the largest mushroom at the Spores ‘N’ More Mushroom Hunt near Lake Shelbyville.
Segment duration: 06:35
Producer: Henry Radcliffe
This segment is filed in these categories: Food/Restaurants • Science/Nature
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After the granddaughters of the founder of this candy store bought back all the furnishings of their grandfather’s store, they cried when the old marble soda fountain was reassembled. They reopened the store in 2004, and are using his recipes for the candy, caramel apples and other treats they serve.
Location: 101 West Sale St., Tuscola, Illinois
Phone: 217-253-3753
Hours of Operation:
Monday - Saturday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday: Noon to 5 p.m.
Lunch Served: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Segment duration: 05:39
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Producer: Tom Rogers
Editor: Tim Hartin
This segment is filed in these categories: Business • Food/Restaurants • Illinois Culture/History
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Many children who come to the Homer Emporium have never had a soda out of a glass bottle. Owner Charlene Cunningham patiently shows them how to use a bottle opener. The antique store has the largest variety of bottled pop in Illinois. Find out which are the most popular brands.
Location: 118 South Main St., Homer, Illinois
Phone: 217-896-2880
Segment duration: 05:50
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Producer: Tim Hartin
Chief Camera - Segment: Julius Bolton
This segment is filed in these categories: Business • Food/Restaurants
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Jim Evans and his family use an old-fashioned one-row corn picker to harvest 2 tons of popcorn from the acre-and-a-half they use in their family popcorn business. The money family members earn goes to an education fund for the younger generation.
Segment duration: 05:14
Producer: Alison Davis Wood
Editor: Julius Bolton
This segment is filed in these categories: Agriculture/Agribusiness • Food/Restaurants
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Ron McFarlain keeps the spirit of Louisiana cooking alive with bread pudding, alligator, gumbo, shrimp and crawfish.
897 East U.S. Highway 6
(1 mile East of the old location)
Utica, Illinois
Phone: 815-667-9855
Hours of operation:
Thursday 4 pm-9 pm
Friday 4 pm-9 pm
Saturday 4 pm-9 pm
Sunday 12 pm-6 pm
Segment duration: 06:34
Story links:
Producer: Tim Hartin
Chief Camera - Segment: Julius Bolton
This segment is filed in these categories: Business • Food/Restaurants
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