Farmer City Merchants Organization

03/18/2026

Spaces are filling up!! Let's get this printed early this year. Only 7 spaces available.

Send a message to learn more

03/11/2026

03/04/2026

Dear business owner,

I hope this message finds you well.

My name is Robert Allen McIlvain, and I represent Farmer City Merchants' Organization. We are currently preparing our upcoming Farmer City brochure, which will be distributed to approximately 5000 customers throughout the communities, 30 -60 minutes from Farmer City, and some further.

We would love to offer you the opportunity to advertise in this brochure. This publication is a trusted resource for targeting audiences to shop, eat, and attend festivals, making it a valuable way to increase your visibility and connect directly with potential customers in our community.

By placing an advertisement, your business will:

Gain direct exposure to a targeted audience

Demonstrate support for the community

Increase brand recognition and customer engagement

We offer the following ad size that fits many budgets

3 1/4' width x 2 7/8" length for $60.00, as the Farmer City Council has approved the City of Farmer City to pay $700 towards printing costs. We have included our brochure from 2 years ago.

The deadline to reserve advertising space is April 15. If you’re interested, I would be happy to provide more details or discuss options that would work best for your business.

Thank you for considering this opportunity to partner with us. We truly value the support of local businesses like yours and look forward to the possibility of working together.

Sincerely,
Robert Allen McIlvain
The Mischievous Monkeys
Farmer City Merchants' Organization
309-928-7656
[email protected]

Send a message to learn more

03/03/2026

02/17/2026

01/22/2026

Your town spent $100,000 to demolish a building and $0 enforcing codes on the other 50 buildings falling apart.

Make it make sense.

Every year I watch cities pay a fortune to tear down “blighted” buildings. Meanwhile, they completely ignore the code violations that created the blight in the first place.

It’s like watching someone with a cavity refuse to brush their teeth, then pay thousands for a root canal, then still refuse to brush.

Demolition is not a strategy. It’s a surrender.

Code enforcement is boring. It’s not sexy. There’s no ribbon cutting. No press release. No way for a politician to take credit.

But it works.

Every building that falls apart does so slowly. First a broken window. Then some peeling paint. Then a sagging roofline. Then it’s “blighted” and needs to be demolished.

At every single stage, code enforcement could have stopped it.

But enforcement requires having standards. It requires telling property owners “no, that’s not acceptable here.”

Most cities would rather pay for demolition than have an uncomfortable conversation.

How many buildings has your town torn down that could have been saved?

12/15/2025

Everyone Knows What They Want. So Why Doesn’t It Happen?

I asked a room of 70 people in Houma, Louisiana:
“Who thinks cars should be prioritized over pedestrians downtown?”

One hand went up.

“Who thinks pedestrians should come first?”

Seventy hands. Immediate. Unanimous.

And yet, Houma’s downtown is built for cars. Wide streets, narrow sidewalks, fast traffic, and a walking experience that ranges from unpleasant to mildly terrifying. When downtown isn’t designed for people, people avoid it. Then businesses struggle, buildings sit empty, and everyone wonders what went wrong.

Here’s the strange part. These weren’t random residents. These were community leaders. Owners. Stakeholders. The people capable of changing things. They all wanted the same outcome, but the city was delivering the opposite.

Later, I asked if downtown buildings should be banned from being used as storage. Seventy hands again. Total agreement. The problem wasn’t vision. It was follow through. Knowing what people want is useless if no one shows up when it’s time to act.

By the afternoon, someone suggested another plan to “find out what residents want.” I asked if they wanted a walkable, lively downtown with shops, apartments, offices, and good design.

One hundred percent. Public input complete. Save your money.

We don’t have an imagination problem. We have a translation problem.

Cities keep asking the same questions, getting the same answers, and producing the same disappointing results because the system is process driven, not outcome driven. Departments optimize for themselves, not for the place as a whole. It’s how you end up with streets that work great for traffic and terribly for humans.

People want walkable, attractive, human scaled places. We already know this. The work now is fixing the broken machinery between desire and reality.

Until we do that, we can stop asking the same damn questions.

12/04/2025

Couldn’t we all use a little more cute in our lives? I mean honestly, are there people who don’t like cute things? And if so… who hurt them?

My friend Bernice Radle, a developer in Buffalo, proudly renovates buildings to be, in her words, “cute AF.” And she’s right. Cute isn’t frivolous. Cute is a strategy.

On a recent work trip, I wandered into a downtown block that had the audacity to be adorable. Two-story, half-timbered, well-kept mixed-use buildings. Shops below, life above. A little European village dropped onto American soil. It was charming, warm, human-scaled. Cute AF.

And here’s the thing about cute: people flock to it. Cute pulls us in, makes us feel something, makes us want to slow down and explore. Businesses thrive on cute streets because cute puts butts in seats, and that demand makes the real estate more valuable. Cute is an economic engine disguised as delight.

Then I crossed the street and slammed directly into the Dark Side. One-story, all-black, steel-and-glass monolith. Utterly devoid of charm. If the building itself wasn’t evil, the tenant certainly was trying. How did a community let this thing sprout directly across from pure serotonin in architectural form?

We pretend aesthetics are subjective, but come on—we know better. Almost everyone prefers the cozy block of mixed-use buildings over the Sith Lord Operations Center next door. Humans like quality materials, repeating-but-not-identical patterns, buildings that sit comfortably under tree canopies, and places built at a scale that feels, well… cute.

So how did we stop building cute? When did we collectively decide “soulless” was the brand?

I want every town to have a Department of Cute. Or at least a Cute Committee. Grandeur is rare and expensive; cute is cheap, small, and wildly effective. My favorite parts of every town are always the cute parts, the little storefronts, the stoops, the human moments.

Every hour spent making your town cuter is an hour invested in making people love it more. When someone asks how to get involved, don’t send them to a meeting, just hand them a paintbrush, a flowerpot, or a hammer and tell them their job is to make the place a tiny bit cuter.

Because cute isn’t silly. Cute is power. Cute is pride. Cute is how you build a place people actually want to be.

12/03/2025

I have started working on a NEW BROCHURE for Spring of 2026. Some businesses are gone, and it needs to be done! It has been a great asset for our business district and town. We may be sending some of you letters to discuss our partnership and having your advertisement on this piece. As some already know, we don't have a fee to be a member or involved with this Organization.

Q & A

Where does this beautifully done brochure get picked up from? We deliver to Decatur, Monticello,
El Paso, Mansfield, Champaign, Bloomington, Paxton, and many are distributed even further away, as some customers at The Mischievous Monkeys would grab a handful to take back to their community. It was that attractive!

What types of places is it available? Hotels, Banks, out-of-town Chamber of Commerce offices, Antique Malls, Gas Stations, Boutiques, Local Stores, City Hall, Welcome Baskets, and we hope to hit even a larger distribution this year to upscale establishments that will hopefully include some major restaurants in the CU area.

What was the cost, and will it go up? We hope to still do them for $100 a space, and we are hoping to reduce the price if we get done what we are going to try.

Who prints this? We chose UpClose in Champaign last year. Since we had to do a double linear fold, they had the best service and price. We started to design as a simple trifold, but it grew. We didn't expect it to be so big, but how fantastic. After seeing the quality of ads and overall design after printing, many others commented they would like to be on it for the next one.

Does Farmer City Merchants' Organization make any money doing this brochure? Absolutely not. It takes many volunteer hours and pulls time away from The Mischievous Monkeys boutique. We barely made the cost, due to the double linear fold really adding to the final price.

Who is doing the layout and design work? Robert Allen McIlvain does all of the graphic layouts unless businesses provide their logos and graphics. Works with individuals representing the business as closely as you wish or stands back and has you provide a layout for our size requirements.

You can contact us via email at [email protected]

We are sending an email today for a quote from UpClose and see how it compares to this one done 2 years ago. It may be more expensive, and I doubt it has gotten any cheaper. We would love to keep it at $100 per space.

No printing is done till everyone has paid their invoice.

12/02/2025

We absolutely don't get it. Snow removal is so simple; if you ever played with Tonka trucks as a child, or were properly trained. Who is responsible? I am so ashamed that Farmer City is continuously rated as the most unfriendly town in Central Illinois. I'll touch base on what I mean by "unfriendly" in a bit, as I am pretty sure you don't understand that term as in the ways I mean. Is it orders from City Manager? Mayor? Chief of Police? Who? Why do we have these No Parking signs when the City doesn't clear the snow? Those signs make us look ridiculous if it's not being done. The photo evidence shows, it is NOT being done. Both snows were in the forecast, so we were able to plan for it. Shop owners had time to get salt if it was needed in front of the doorway. But in our cases, you have to buy multiple bags and do the whole sidewalk and parking spots.

Don't come at me and say I don't understand driving a big truck. I have driven 18-wheelers, and I have driven an 8-foot-wide RV through an alley 8.5 feet wide, among many other feats with vehicles.

Secondly, I am ashamed of business owners, too. We all need to do better! If the City doesn't see the value of clean parking spaces and sidewalks, you sure should! Improve! We advertise for customers, right? If you had asked someone over to your home, would you have prepared a place for them to walk up to your welcoming door?

The Mischievous Monkeys (a 65-year-old with disabilities) spent 3 hours after the first snow to get two spots completely open, along with their sidewalk and neighbors' sidewalk, and what does a snowplow do right as they are about to close? Puts a pile of snow in the crosswalk 2 feet away from where a large pile of snow is. Not white fluffy stuff, but dirty, heavy, icy snow that will stick in place. Just needed to push it 2 feet more, but no. The Mischievous Monkeys already had to close early on Shop Small Saturday due to no snowplow making driving easier on Main St. Now this.
I have witnessed 2 vehicles getting stuck from parking on Main St. in the 300 S. block. The street is sloped so much, who can then back up with ice and snow, and the front of the vehicle is buried in snow that is 3 feet out from the sidewalk. I witnessed an older gentleman walking down the street in front of the Bank behind parked cars, because you can't attempt walking over piles of snow to then walk on a sidewalk that has not been shoveled. The 100 and 200 S. Main St. blocks can't even have parked cars on opposite sides of Main St. and room to allow 2 different directional cars trying to pass, even in the nicest of sunny summer days, and now can't even pull up to the curb if they dare park? This touches on us being an "unfriendly" town. See, it isn't just about being greeted inside a business or smiling at a stranger on the street. It's deeper.
So, is it because no one with authority understands? They don't care? What is it? I have been to both Monticello and LeRoy this morning, and the snow is nicely plowed from all sidewalks and roads. Where is someone not understanding the importance here in town? We want traffic and shoppers on Main St., right? Shopping means running into your insurance company, doing banking, eating, and maybe some retail therapy or getting that item that is important and needed.

Now, the "unfriendly" term used for Farmer City. What causes that? Here are a few of the checklist items that may include not just Winter months, but Summer too. Here it is: No proper snow removal. No leaf removal. Misunderstood and confusing yield areas. Tight driving. NUMEROUS near misses of shoppers getting hit. Wrong layout of parking. Buildings in bad shape. Lack of concern. Dirty windows. Cleanliness. Lack of pride. Businesses closed when advertised open. Kicking out customers because you close in 5 minutes. Speed limit. Lack of safety for pedestrians. Beautification not present. No foresight. Disregard of Historical. Maintenance.
We will stop there, but list is by far not complete. It's just too depressing to go any further with this.

We have a Golden opportunity here. You (people that grew up here) maybe don't see what is wrong or know how to be involved to fix it. The lack of yield sign never crossed your mind. It's "normal" for you. Driving down Main and almost having to switch a whole lane at intersection of the 200 S. and 300 S. is not big deal. It's been that way for so long. You maybe don't see how it is, for a first timer, coming to shop on Main St. We are killing out town! Seriously. Sure, we can finally get a coop grocery store that many have worked hard for. There may be more shops open on Main St. in 2026. It's a very exciting time. Will it last if we don't change things now? Is your Grandmother safe to park on Main St. and try to stand in the road to put purchased in the trunk of her vehicle? Let me take your under the age of 5 years old with me to the crosswalks a few times. How many know it is illegal to not stop if a pedestrian is at the crosswalk? VERY FEW, but those people we invite to shop here from bigger towns looking for Charm and to experience a town to return to multiple times, they know and think you know to stop, but you don't. We don't treat them like they are our lifeline. Many don't understand the benefits of them spending their money at businesses on Main St. That speeding 60-year-old from here going down Main St. hasn't had any of this cross their mind.

At least The Mischievous Monkeys gets it.