Bloomington group makes Rt. 24 stops

A group of visitors from the Bloomington area stop at Dave's Supermarket in Fairbury.

A group of senior citizens enjoyed a trip down Route 24 Wednesday, with stops between El Paso and Piper City.

Bloomington Parks and Recreation schedules the out-of-town trips for older adults.

“You do not have to be a Bloomington resident to attend these trips,” notes Neal McKenry, a program manager for Bloomington Parks and Recreation. “It’s just registration based.”

More than 20 participated in the trip while they actually had a waiting list of 15. Attendees came from Bloomington-Normal, LeRoy and other locations.

“We do trips like this several times a month,” adds McKenry.

The group enjoyed lunch at Dave’s Supermarket in Fairbury before visiting the Gridley Telephone Museum and stopping in El Paso for a treat on the way home.

Former Fairbury resident and longtime Prairie Central High School teacher Donna Sands was on the trip and we visited with her during the lunch stop at Dave’s Supermarket.

“It’s a wonderful tour group that we get to go with for a day and we came to Dave’s to visit,” said Sands. “Next Friday, we are going to Fugate Woods.”

While she lives at Luther Oaks in Bloomington, Sands was born and raised in Fairbury.

“When I retired, I moved to Bloomington but my heart is still in Fairbury.”

In fact, Sands has a connection to Route 24 Radio as she was the news reporter years ago for Fairbury on WPOK. She would read the local news happenings at 7 every morning.

“It was kind of a fun thing to do and I felt like that was a hard job to do and teach school at the same time,” added Sands.

Visit www.bloomingtonparks.org and flip to the older adult section for more on the various programs offered.