STATION EDITORIAL
Posted October 4, 2020
This is a station editorial, I'm Randal J. Miller, station president. I'm recording this editorial on October 4th during the second day of the 35th annual Greater Taylorville Chamber of Commerce Chillifest on the Square. I'm doing this editorial from this location because I want to give 2 shout outs to 2 great communities.
The first is the Taylorville community and the Greater Taylorville Chamber Chillifest committee for the hard work they put in to pull off the 35th edition of Chillifest. Chillifest is a 2-day event that features International Chilli Society judging, entertainment on 2 stages, over 90 arts and crafts vendors selling their wares, and chilli in cold quarts being sold by the Chamber as a fund raiser, instead of by the bowl which was eliminated this year due to the coronavirus outbreak.
As a member of the Chillifest committee, I personally know the immense amount of work they did in making sure the event was socially distanced and safe for the public, including encouraging the wearing of masks, and providing countless hand sanitizing stations.
Several thousand people from out of state and Central Illinois, came to Taylorville for the weekend. It's the biggest event of the fall season for the Christian County seat.
The other shoutout I want to give, is to my staff and those involved in the September 26th virtual live coverage of the Clinton Apple and Pork Festival. Although the event itself was cancelled due to the coronavirus, WHOW WEZC station manager Jared White and our news and sports reporter Seth Laurence, spent 8 hours that day at our studios, bringing in representatives from the C-H Moore Museum, who came up with the idea of the Apple and Pork Festival some 50 years ago to raise money to maintain the beautiful house which was turned into a museum.
White and Laurence also scheduled and interviewed countless representatives from the many non profit organizations that man various booths at the festival, who make their yearly budget with what they make at the festival. All of these organizations are now having to come up with alternate fund raisers to make their budget to serve the community.
Kudos to all those involved in our WHOW WEZC virtual Apple and Pork Festival coverage, and those who made the 35th annual Greater Taylorville Chamber of Commerce Chillifest happen.
Both are examples of people who made lemonade out of lemons, and I'm proud of them all.
That's our opinion....we welcome yours. Our e-mail address is editorial@randyradio.com.
