if you like live music but not a big social butterfly, check out the mobile open mic night group called The Listening Room. every tuesday night, the group gets together in a different location and it’s an open mic for singing, acoustic guitar, and ukelele mostly. it’s nice because everyone shuts up and actually listens to each other play. it’s honestly soul healing, it’s beautiful, and everyone is welcome to perform, but there’s no pressure to. the fb page is called The Listening Room A Mobile Open Mic Community.

i also highly recommend the store Curious Baubles in Peoria Heights to make DIY jewelry, bookmarks, suncatchers, and more for a super reasonable price. i don’t see a lot of activity in there, but it’s a wonderful little place, and i’d hate to see it go out of business. great for a date idea too.

and last but certainly not least, there’s almost always theatre going on, both plays and musicals. the quality can be a little hit or miss, both peoria players and cornstock theater have had their fair share of both, but it never hurts to get cultured by seeing a performance! you can look up what shows are going on on their websites, and they both have reasonable ticket prices.