As he usually does, Mark Mikenas focused on the positive in his report to the City Council Monday.
And in covering the past four or five months in Kewanee, Mikenas — the executive director of the Kewanee Chamber of Commerce — had plenty of positive news to report:
* While final retail sales data for 2023 isn’t yet available, Mikenas said he got positive reports from local merchants about their Christmas sales. He said he’s confident that the year’s sales will either set a new record or come very close to doing so.
* In 2023, Hog Days pork chop sales were strong, nearly setting a record.
* Runners from 22 states and 110 cities and towns participated in the Hog Days Stampede. And on New Year’s, the Hard Core run attracted 280 participants, representing five states and 90 communities.
* The Enchanted Pumpkin Festival and the lighting of Windmont and Northeast parks went well.
Mikenas also reported that the effort to construct a memorial to the Kewanee Boiler Corp. has made progress.
The memorial is being constructed in the former parking lot across the tracks from the site of the company’s office building. That building, of course, was destroyed by fire last November.
Mikenas said a 35-foot flagpole has been created for the memorial. It’s a replica of the 110-foot flagpole that was moved a few years ago from the Boiler site to Berrien Park in downtown Kewanee.
The organization creating the memorial has also received the donation of an actual Kewanee boiler, which is being sandblasted and painted at MTM Trailers.
Mikenas also said he “wholeheartedly” supports the effort to revive the Henry County Tourism Board and make it more responsive to the needs of the communities in the county.
Local employers are facing some challenges, Mikenas said, with finding qualified people to fill some jobs. The employers are also coping with the increase in the Illinois minimum wage to $14 an hour, and new paid-leave requirements that took effect Jan. 1.
