The fun folks at Champaign Movie Makers invite you to their latest cinematic experiment this Sunday at the Channing-Murray Foundation. Fresh from the editing room floor, this new short film debuts as ...

Happy New Year, everyone! If you’re looking for something to do to say goodbye to 2024 and hello to 2025, you’re in luck.

Hey folks, Tom here. Just wanted to get in one last little tidbit before the holidays. Illinois Terminal is Champaign’s own combined bus station, train station, and Subway™ station (eat fresh!). If ...

It’s that time again, when we reflect upon the last year. It’s sometimes hard to remember what happened in May or June, never mind January and February. But it’s important that we make a point of ...

This time of year should be a season of joy, and people 21+ can add a little cannabis for some extra merry and more holly-jolly. For my final list on Smile Politely this year, I’m sharing four ...

The most recent entry on my list of favorite local desserts is the flourless chocolate cake from Common Ground Food Co-op. My fiancée Alicia and I keep bringing up how amazing this cake is in ...

In this annual tradition, our editors spend time thinking about all of the things that were stupid, annoying, irritating, and terrible about the last year. After all, we can’t have BEST without WORST, ...

United Way of Champaign County brought Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to the area, and since its launch last December around this time, so many kids in the area have benefited from it. The ...

Skip the usual holiday flicks. From hilarious heists to supernatural reunions, six locally-made films from Champaign or Champaign-adjacent filmmakers and studios are hitting theaters and major ...

I’ve been feeling a bit down lately about the status of all our small businesses in the C-U area. If they haven’t already been forced to close down, in many cases, they are struggling to keep the ...

This year, we wrote a lot about the area’s food and drink scene from restaurants to bars, coffee shops to farmers markets and food trucks. In 2024, Smile Politely food writers covered eats and drinks ...

If I can be honest, I’m kind of scared of seafood in the Midwest. I can’t see the sea past all the corn and soy fields. Here in Central Illinois, we’ve got wonderful small farms raising local poultry, ...