- We have two questions.

- First question, what club in Peoria encourages women to knock each other's blocks off.

Question two, where can you get the cheapest breakfast in Peoria?

- And we got two answers.

- Next on, You Gotta See This.

(peppy music) Speaking of riddles, I've been wondering a lot about the McClugage bridge project and what they're doing right now.

- You know, we've got a lot of interesting information that you might not even know yet about this project.

Plus a bird's eye view.

(mellow music) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) (mellow music continues) - Another bridge fact is the current bridge, it has both sides, both spans, they're what they call a through truss design.

- Back when they used to steel all the time.

- Absolutely.

- Right.

- But it's a lot more expensive now.

So now they're gonna try a tiered deck, which basically will look like the Abraham Lincoln Memorial bridge up around the south.

Over I39, where it goes over the same river.

- Exactly.

- Right.

Well, it'll last, a long, long time, I'm sure way longer than the lower free bridge.

And that was a precursor for those who remember the Franklin Street bridge, which is where the Bob Michael bridge is now, but that lower free bridge when it was built in 1909, it lasted about mm, a day and a half.

The piers underneath crack, crack crack and then ca-splash.

Yeah, the whole thing into the river.

- You know, I've heard a lot about bridges that failed around this area.

- It's crazy bridge history in Peoria.

And if you wanna know more about all these bridges, one after another that fell into the river, check out the October issue of Peoria Magazine.

When Janine Schneider makes new friends, they really hit it off, on the rugby field that is.

The 28 year old is the founder of the Peoria Bootleggers, a rugby club that began playing a little over a year ago.

Rugby isn't new to Peoria.

The Peoria Piggy's men's club has been together almost 50 years, but the Bootleggers are Peoria's first women's rugby club.

Schneider grew up outside Peoria before heading to Michigan State University.

There she heard about the school's women's rugby team and decided to give it a try.

- I heard you could hit people.

And I really always wanted to play like football or any other contact sport.

And it was the first one that I knew I could play.

So yeah.

- After college, Schneider returned to Peoria but she found no women's team closer than Chicago.

- I just missed playing so much.

It kind of felt like a big void was in me not being able to play anymore.

And so I just decided to start a team here.

- She got in contact with the Piggies, the men's rugby club and even practiced with them to get ideas as to how to start a woman's team.

She then mounted a campaign for recruits.

- So I've been out to Bradley's campus.

I run Facebook ads.

Sometimes I do like vendor events in the area.

And I just tell the girls like, hey, you know did you ever wanna play a contact sport?

Have you considered trying rugby?

I try to get them to come out to practice because it's not, we don't really need anyone to have experience.

We just tell them to come out and try it.

And if they like it, you know, come back.

- Often, possible recruits express worry that rugby seem too rough and tumble.

To be sure the sport, which has seasons in the fall and spring, involves plenty of tackling.

But compared to football, rugby involves more finesse and running, running, running.

- Like there's no getting around the fact that it is a pretty tough sport but like definitely it has the reputation for being like hard hits all the time.

And it's not as painful as it seems.

- Charlie Parad agrees.

The 68 year old first played rugby with the Piggies more than four decades ago.

And now he coaches the Bootleggers.

He says rugby is far safer than football - And people get on it.

They ask, well, how can you play football without pads, without helmets?

And you know, what I tell 'em is, is that those, those can be used as weapons just as, as easily as protective devices.

And that's the way I see the football equipment just really makes it even worse.

And that's why it's never been allowed in, in rugby because it's, it makes people more dangerous.

- At the very first practice, He learned that female rugby players of all shapes and sizes enjoy the physicality of the sport as much as men do.

- When I brought the tackle bag out for the, the girls and, and the majority of the girls, women haven't hit, ever hit a tackle bag, and they just had the time of their lives.

They, they loved it.

I said, okay, all your frustrations that you had today, take 'em out on the bag and they just start hitting and we teach 'em how to hit low and head to the side and, and tackle safely.

And they just, they, they really enjoy that.

The physicality of it, once they get into it.

- The Bootleggers practice twice a week sharing a field in West Peoria with the Piggies.

And there's more to practice than just honing their skills.

All that hard work helps forge friendship bonds.

- You know, afterwards they start to meet the other, the other girls and, and get to know 'em.

And all of a sudden, you know, you come to a practice and now you've got 10, 12 new friends.

- The Bootleggers recruited enough players by the fall of 2021 to have collaborative matches with other women's team in the Midwest, that is two or more teams would get together, form sides and play rugby.

Last spring, though, the team got big enough to field a full side of 15 players.

- Last season spring was our first real season.

We had like our own games.

We were able to field a couple 15s matches and now this will be our second official season.

- Rugby is different than other sports.

It's physical nature tends to draw players together off the field and post game get-togethers create an enhanced social environment.

- The social side of it and the way, the fact that you, you get to know the other team, it's not like in softball or these other sports where you shake hands with 'em and then they're gone.

You shake hands with 'em here after the match and then you go down and you, and you have, you have dinner with them and you sit across from 'em and you get to know each other.

- The Bootleggers have been busy this fall season.

They've played multiple away games, but the only home match this fall is October 29 at Catholic Charities Field in West Peoria.

You can find more information at the Facebook page for Peoria Bootleggers women's rugby or just come out and give it a whirl.

(peppy music) - Hi, I'm Tony Bernardi at Mona's Restaurant and we're gonna show you how to make one of our famous cocktails that we serve 50 to 60 a week of the Old Fashioned, classic old cocktail.

We're gonna start off with sugar and the special old fashioned glass, of course, where you can muddle it.

So sugar, bitters, just enough bitters to cover the bottom of the glass.

You can either have your old fashioned sweet or sour.

We're gonna go with sweet.

So we're gonna use 7 UP, right about one ounce of 7 UP, the muddler.

We're gonna stir in the sugar, the bitters and the soda all together.

See how it comes up with a nice frothy head?

Once the sugar has all been dissolved, we'll add the ice.

Fill the ice completely to the top of the cocktail glass.

And the choice today will be a brandy Old Fashioned.

Pour the brandy over the ice till it hits the top and the garnish would be a orange and cherry.

Now that is a Mona's Old Fashioned.

- Behind us, that's where the Hale Memorial Church used to stand for decades and decades and decades.

Quite the magnificent building.

A grand old structure, but it got sold.

They had to finally just knock it down.

- They did, but there was one thing that they saved from it.

It was a time capsule.

They unearthed it.

They were ripping it open.

No, they did it very gently.

In fact, they're taking their time getting each object outta there and preserving it the way it should be.

So it's really exciting.

- It'll be interesting to see what is in that time capsule from, you know decades and decades and decades ago.

- Absolutely.

- But, but I do wonder if we were to make a time capsule today.

- Today.

- What from Peoria would you put in there to be unearthed you know, 100 years from now, whatever?

- Me - Yes.

You - Oh, I think Peorians love to eat.

I mean, they love their food and what would be better than an Avanti sandwich?

- You're gonna put in Avanti sandwich in the time capsule to be unearthed 100 years from now?

- Well, it'll, I'll put in a Ziploc.

- Really tight.

- Really.

Get all the air out.

It'll be great.

Well, what would you put in there?

- Well, if I think about what is Peoria, you see all over the place, potholes.

Potholes, you see 'em all over.

Baby, I don't know how you put a pothole in a time capsule but that's what I would try to do.

- Well that would be one interesting time capsule but we also wanted to find out what other people thought we should put in the time capsule.

Let's go talk about it.

- What captures the essence of Peoria?

What would you want future generations to know about us?

We heard from Peorians and you gotta see this.

- What would I put in a time capsule?

- Some article about crazy politics.

(laughter) - I worked at Grace Presbyterian Church and we had a time capsule.

And when we opened it from the old church building it had a coin in there that was from the 1800s.

It was a large style penny.

So it's like the size of a.

- Oh yeah.

- Half dollar, but it's a penny.

- Yeah.

- It was really weird.

So that was from the 1860s.

So that was, that was kind of cool.

Yeah, it was so, so yeah, maybe coins.

- Oh goodness.

Probably coins, newspaper articles, pictures.

I don't know.

That's a good question.

- A good question indeed.

But what other items could showcase Peoria?

The town we know and love.

- I think some of the pictures from the history down, telling over the years of Peoria from early times to even today 'cause this area is so rich in history that it's just unbelievable.

- Just get some cool pictures.

They have the local businesses and stuff.

- You know, we have such a strong arts community in Peoria.

And I think that I would include information about the history of the arts in our community all the way from the vaudeville era to what we have now in the Peoria community.

It's, it's an incredibly strong tight-knit community with not only live music but visual artists and performance arts as well.

- Let's not forget to showcase our current technology - Probably a cell phone.

(laughs) - Tablet.

I'm sure the battery will be dead by the time they find it.

I'd probably put my Caterpillar machine key in it.

- Oh my goodness.

Albert Pool Hall stories.

- You probably, some cast iron wrenches or something.

- Cast iron wrenches maybe.

Yeah.

Maybe Caterpillar related Komatsu related, LeTourneau, Avery.

- Avery or Acme 'cause I got two Acme pieces.

- Maybe something from the distillery on, on the river.

- Maybe we should throw a few things into the time capsule just for fun.

- A pair of sunglasses from this age.

An Emo's ice cream cone.

(laughter) - Whether it's your favorite snack or historic photos, one thing is clear.

Peoria has a lot to share with future generations.

- The Garden Street Cafe might be the tastiest place you've ever visited.

- There's a lot of people that say they never even heard of it.

You know, we've been here 40 years, but.

- The recipe for the diners long-term success.

- Just you can come and get a good meal at a cheap price and you don't walk away hungry.

- 40 years is an eternity in the restaurant industry.

According to pre-pandemic statistics cited by USA Today, the average lifespan of a restaurant is five years.

And by some estimates, up to 90% of new eateries fail within the first year.

Yet Burr, a low key 65 year old with an easy grin, recently marked his family's fourth decade of ownership of the cafe.

One of just a handful of restaurants remaining on Peoria's south end.

- And there's not many places like this like the mom and pop type places, you know.

- His family got into business by necessity.

His father Leroy Burr worked for Hiram Walker Distillery, which shut down in 1981.

So the next year, Leroy Burr and his wife Sharon bought a long time diner on Garden Street.

Day by day they learned the trade.

In time Burr and two brothers started working there at a time when the south end still boasted a thriving economy.

- Oh it was good.

'Cause it was really great back when Szolds was open and things were a little more (indistinct) down here.

A lot more restaurants, a lot more businesses too.

- These days, the south end can count just a few eateries outside the warehouse district.

Burr's parents and brothers have passed on, leaving the diner in his hands.

Six days a week, you can find him getting ready in the kitchen around 5:00 AM.

- I know it was before the, before us even.

- The cafe survives in part because of cheap eats.

A cheese omelet with toast runs just $4.50.

But the low dough menu isn't the only reason the diner has a Legion of regulars.

Many appreciate that every time they walk in the door, they know what to expect.

- The food's good and it's a great place.

They know how to treat you right.

- Waitress Britney Sergeant, one of a handful of employees, enjoy some morning chatter among familiar faces and even newcomers.

- Like I said, everybody comes in here.

Even if they come in separately, they see somebody they know and they start talking to 'em.

So then we have usually like a chain'll happen.

Somebody will pay for somebody's breakfast and you know, don't even know 'em.

It's.

- Burr is proud of what the diner means to neighborhood residents.

- There's not hardly any places around here for 'em to go.

So I mean, I mean we do a thriving business.

It keeps me busy.

I'm not gonna get rich with the economy right now but we survive and still, you know, do a good business.

- But he'd like to be less busy.

The cafe is for sale, but that's not to say Burr would vanish from the neighborhood.

He owns the Garden Gate Tap just two doors down.

And he still plans to run the joint.

But he'd like to hang up his diner apron.

- Slow down, enjoy a little bit of life.

I've worked long hours most of my life.

So, you know, it's time to relax and spend time with the grandkids and stuff like that.

- What do you think?

- Whenever I invite my cousin Lynn to any family party I know I can count on her to bring her taffy apple salad.

That's when I got introduced to it.

It's such a fun salad because to me it's a dessert salad and I got a big sweet tooth so I'm all about it.

And I think you'll enjoy it too.

What's in this salad is pineapple, mini marshmallows, peanuts, apples.

It's just delicious.

It's sweet.

It's creamy.

It's got this whipped topping in there.

Next time you're invited to a potluck.

You gotta bring this recipe.

Let's get started.

We are gonna start to make the dressing.

We're gonna combine the reserved pineapple juice.

I have a half a tablespoon of white vinegar, here a little bit of flour.

Here half a cup of sugar and your well beaten egg.

So we're gonna heat this in the sauce pan.

And the key is that you want to make sure to continuously whisk it.

Otherwise you may end up with little cooked egg bits and you don't want that.

You're going to heat it up and whisk it until it gets thick and bubbly.

This you're also gonna do the night before.

Once you have your pineapple dressing made you're gonna put it in a container and put it in the fridge.

So our dressing is nice and bubbly.

So we're gonna take it off the heat.

We're gonna let it cool to room temperature.

And then we're gonna go ahead and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

Now we're gonna put together our taffy apple salad.

So we've got our pineapple chunks and mini marshmallows.

We have our peanuts.

We've got our chopped red apples.

Oops, I'm having a Julia moment.

This bowl ain't big enough.

But this one certainly is.

We definitely need room to stir.

Let's add our whipped topping and our custard.

Let's mix it up.

Oh, look at how good this looks.

This is one of those sweet salads that's pleasing to the children and the adults.

You wanna make sure to mix it well, especially the pineapple.

So I usually put some Saran over my bowl and tuck this into the refrigerator and let it set for three hours before serving.

But I can't wait.

I need to have a little taste.

Oh yes.

This is creamy.

You've got the crunch of the apples and the peanuts and the pineapple is divine in here.

I hope you make this at home.

Bring this recipe to your next pot luck.

- So today we're here at Wildlife Prairie Park and we are showcasing one of the over 18 acre pollinator friendly native plantings that we have planted in this Ameren transmission right of way that goes through the property.

So we installed this pollinator friendly project for multiple reasons.

One, this area was full of invasive, incompatible woody vegetation in bush honeysuckle, autumn olive and other plants that would threaten the safety and reliability of growing right underneath the power lines.

So we changed out that plant community for a different one, one that's native plants and grasses that cater to our pollinators.

Monarch butterflies, native bees, honeybees even, pollinating flies and other critters in the area.

In so doing, we made the area more passable for our linemen and our crews that need to get down the right of ways when we have outages.

Usually they're working literally in dark and stormy conditions.

And if they're not working in a bunch of, you know woody incompatible stuff and they're work working in something that's basically a pollinator planting, it's safer for them, it's easier for them to get down the right of ways and get the power back on.

In 2018, Ameren partnered with Pheasants Forever and we've partnered with them on several projects.

This is one of them.

It's over 18 acres in size.

In 2018, the area was prepared so that invasive, you know, incompatible woody stuff was removed and the area was planted in 2019.

- Ameren has these rite of passage opportunities for us and and they partner specifically with our local chapters.

So as a 501(c)3, one of the biggest things we offer is our local chapters the ability to choose where their money is spent.

In this regard, our Illinois River Valley chapter came in, helped with the seed mix and were able to put that down on the ground to, to get what you have behind me right now.

So it's a really beautiful piece here.

- Pheasants Forever consulted with us on the proper species mix to use.

the mix of native grasses and flowering plants that benefit our monarch butterflies.

So there's common milk weed in there.

And then also flowering plants like some of the ones you see here today.

Goldenrod, common boneset.

There's wild senna and there's even some ironweed blooming.

So it's beautiful to look at and it's functional for our pollinators.

So because it's later in the growing season we're gonna have different species blooming now than we would earlier in the summer, in the spring.

And maybe even later than now.

Right now though, I'm standing next to some Maximilian sunflower, which is way taller than I am.

This one blooms summer and into the early fall.

And I'm not ashamed to admit I'm 5'2" and this is a lot taller than I am.

So these can get pretty big in a native planting where you don't mind a prairie aesthetic.

Also blooming this time of year, we have common boneset which is this white blooming plant right here.

And it's native.

And it spreads really well within a planting.

So you get that late summer white flower going in the fall.

We also have something called wild senna that I'm gonna pick up so you can see a little bit better here.

This has a pretty yellow flower where I'm holding it even though it's not blooming anymore.

Those are the seed pods at the top.

And it's got a very distinct kind of dark green foliage down the stem that way.

So that's wild senna.

Also blooming this time of year is goldenrod.

There are many species that are native to Illinois and you'll see them in the summer and in the fall.

Some are taller, some are shorter, some have more or less of this branching and the flowers, but this is another one that pollinators love.

It'll fill in these fields with a lot of bright yellow color.

So the greater value of these sorts of projects are for our pollinators.

Like I said, Ameren can be a better community steward in that way to providing for our wildlife.

And then also it's a teaching moment for folks in the community who want to see these projects and you know, see them in action.

See that, see all the bees and butterflies they attract and the birds and things.

And hopefully they are inspired too to plant something like this at home.

(swoosh of air) - That was a great show.

And then we packed a lot in there but we're always looking for new ideas.

- If you know of a person or a story that should be on this program, here's the email.

Get us that information.

Who knows, next time you might just see 'en on - You Gotta See This.

(mellow music)