Greetings From The Crew At ILLINOISouth!

It’s good to be back! For the first time since 2019, we have released our Holiday edition of the Tourism Times. Whether you’re reading a hard copy or viewing this publication online, we hope you find it to be a handy Holiday tool. Enjoy parades, breakfasts with Santa, Holiday markets and everything in between from the first of November through the end of the year! As a note, events are subject to change due to the ongoing pandemic. If there is something in this publication that you are interested in attending – we highly recommend you do a quick Internet or social media search to make sure that plans are still solid. Likewise, if there is an event you know did not make this publication – that does not mean it is not active. There’s a strong possibility that plans were not finalized by the time the Tourism Times went to print. We recommend you do a quick check or call ahead just to be sure! You can also check our event calendar at illinoisouth.org, where events are updated as we receive information on them.

As you read ahead, you will notice that we broke the publication up into different niche categories around the Holidays. If you’re only interested in light displays, there is a whole section about that, complete with a calendar of when each light display is active. If shopping is more your speed, we have a section just for that as well! Hopefully you take this information and plan a trip or five to ILLINOISouth this Holiday season. If so, we’d LOVE for you to take a ton of pictures of your visit and tag us in ALL of them. We love to see and hear about everyone’s experience while you’re visiting! From all of us here at ILLINOISouth, we hope you have a safe and happy Holiday season.

Left to Right: Katerina Engle, Elaine Byrd, Christine Orr, Andy Waterman, Darlene Chapman, Jordan Jackovich, Elizabeth Vatole, & Dena Woods

Welcome To The Team!

We are happy to announce that the ILLINOISouth crew has grown this Holiday season. We’d like to give a warm welcome to three ladies who are playing a significant role in helping ILLINOISouth market our region of the state to the fullest of our capabilities! The first is a familiar face, as Jordan Jackovich returns to the team in a new role. Jordan was an intern at ILLINOISouth, and that role eventually turned into a parttime position as an office assistant. Jordan left ILLINOISouth upon graduating from McKendree University in the spring of 2019, but now she has returned as our new Sales & Marketing Specialist! ILLINOISouth is also happy to announce the addition of Dena Woods, our new Web Designer & Content Specialist. Dena will be playing a key role in making sure that our website it up-to-date and is as engaging as possible for visitors. Another happy and helpful face in our office recently is that of Elizabeth Vatole, a Public Relations Major at SIU Edwardsville. Liz is playing a key role in creating fresh new content for our website and social media pages! Please help us in welcoming these wonderful additions to our team!

We make every effort to verify the information contained in the Tourism Times; however, we suggest that you call to confirm the hours of operation, rates and reservation requirements before visiting. © Copyright 2021 ILLINOISouth Tourism