6 Downstate Illinois Towns and the One Claim to Fame Each Won’t Let Go Of

Some small towns are known for one big thing.

In Downstate Illinois, a few have built whole festivals around theirs, and they’re not shy about it.

Here’s what these towns are famous for, and why they hold on to it.

1. Chester

Britannica says Popeye’s creator, cartoonist E.C. Segar, was born in Chester on Dec. 8, 1894.

Popeye himself didn’t show up until January 1929, in a strip called Thimble Theatre that Segar had started in 1919.

So what does a town do with a cartoon sailor?

The state tourism site Enjoy Illinois invites you to go on a scavenger hunt for the Popeye character statues scattered around town.

You’ll also spot murals, picture cutouts, and signs.

Each fall, the Popeye Picnic adds another statue to the character trail.

Texas has a Popeye statue in Crystal City, a spinach-growing hub, Britannica notes.

Chester has the hometown.

2. Arcola

Arcola calls itself the “Broomcorn Capital of the World,” and it throws a festival to back up the claim.

The claim has a number behind it: Arcola once produced 40 percent of the nation’s broomcorn, Illinois Public Media reported in 2024.

This year’s Broomcorn Festival ran Sept. 11-13, according to the Arcola Chamber of Commerce.

You can see broom making, run a 5K or 10K, and catch the Broomcorn Parade.

The Lawn Rangers march in it, a precision lawn mower drill team that has marched with brooms and lawn mowers since 1980.

3. Fulton

Fulton celebrates its Dutch heritage every year at Dutch Days, and local station KWQC calls the town’s windmill a symbol of Dutch culture.

The 52nd annual festival ran May 1-2 this year.

Wooden shoe races, traditional Dutch dancing, and a parade filled the schedule.

The festival is held primarily downtown, with more than 60 arts and crafts vendors selling handmade items.

The windmill itself arrived prefabricated from the Netherlands by ship, rail, and truck, according to Enjoy Illinois.

Dutch millwrights and masons made three separate trips to the United States to rebuild it in Fulton.

The windmill is fully operational, and its cap can turn while the sails move by wind power.

Admission to the windmill is free.

You can also buy its stone-ground flours at the Windmill Cultural Center gift shop.

The town dedicated the windmill during Dutch Days in 2000.

4. Lincoln

Britannica calls Lincoln the only U.S. community named for Abraham Lincoln before his presidency and with his knowledge and cooperation.

Abraham Lincoln was a Springfield attorney when the town was founded in 1853, and he handled the legal work.

If you ask how it got its name, the city’s history page says he christened the town with watermelon juice on Aug. 27, 1853.

5. Du Quoin

If you’re looking for Du Quoin’s claim to fame, it’s a state fair that sits apart from the Illinois State Fair in Springfield.

A group of Du Quoin business leaders came up with the idea in the spring of 1923, according to the fair’s history page.

They called it a state fair because they wanted it to become as well accepted in the area as the Illinois State Fair in Springfield.

The fair draws more than an estimated 300,000 visitors.

From 1957 through 1980, the fair was home of the Hambletonian, which that page calls harness racing’s Kentucky Derby.

6. Bishop Hill

Bishop Hill began in 1846 as a Swedish colony founded by pietist Eric Janson and his followers, according to the Illinois Historic Preservation Division.

Many regard that emigration as the beginning of Swedish America.

The Bishop Hill Historic District became a National Historic Landmark in 1984.

You'll find the Colony Church, built in 1848, among the four historic buildings the state manages there.

Jordbruksdagarna is the village's nineteenth-century harvest festival, and the name is Swedish for agricultural days.

The Bishop Hill Heritage Association scheduled this year's Jordbruksdagarna for Sept. 26-27.

The site also hosts Lucia Nights, a Swedish holiday tradition, and Julotta, a Christmas morning service.

The Oldest Surviving Capitol

Vandalia's 1836 statehouse is the oldest surviving capitol in the state, according to the Illinois Historic Preservation Division.

It was the fourth Illinois statehouse and served as the capitol from 1836 until 1839.

The building cost $16,000 to complete, Illinois Heritage reported in 2000.

A bill passed in 1839 authorized giving the building to Vandalia and Fayette County, with the west half reserved for county offices.

Fayette County later sold it to the state for $60,000.

A Madonna of the Trail statue at the site commemorates Vandalia's role as the terminus of the National Road, the division says.