Galesburg's Morning News

Allison Little, Deanna Reynolds, and Becky Brown — the three first-time producers behind Choral Dynamics of Galesburg’s 2025 holiday production — sit down with WGIL’s Galesburg’s Morning News to share everything you need to know about "The Beauty of Christmas". From the show’s gentle invitation to step back from the chaos and truly enjoy the season, to the six themed segments, fresh twists on trad...

The Galesburg Holly Days Parade is back and sweeter than ever on Sunday, December 7, 2025! 🎄✨ Co-chairs Morgan Seabloom and Abby Colvin Thomas join Galesburg’s Morning News to spill all the cookie crumbs: In this episode: 🎂 The delicious new theme: “The Great Galesburg Bake-Off” 🤝 Why the Rotary Club of Galesburg stepped up to run the parade for the first time 🚒 The legendary Santa Rescue at...

On this episode of Galesburg’s Morning News, we welcome CEO Heather Acerra and President Mike Acerra of Lux Blox, the innovative Galesburg-based toy company that's exploding after their live Fox & Friends appearance on Small Business Saturday (Nov. 29, 2025). Hear how a "cold call" PR opportunity turned into national TV gold—complete with scam paranoia, a midnight hotel-room rebuild, and a sales s...

In this episode of Galesburg’s Morning News, Fire Chief Randy Hovind (26-year veteran) and Captain Ben Caruana explain why working smoke alarms reduce your chance of dying in a home fire by up to 60%, share real Galesburg stories where alarms gave families the critical seconds they needed to escape (and the tragic cases where they were missing), and detail the city’s highly successful Red Cross pa...

City Manager Eric Hanson joins Jay Redfern on Galesburg's Morning News for our regular pre-meeting rundown of the December 1, 2025 Galesburg City Council session—the first of two December meetings. Fresh off his upbeat State of the City address at the Chamber’s Thanksgiving Luncheon, Hanson discusses the positive momentum in business growth, community investment, and national recognition Galesburg...

In this episode, 2025 Thomas B. Herring Community Service Award recipient Mark Thomas sits down just days after the surprise announcement at the Galesburg Chamber’s Thanksgiving Luncheon. The owner of Watson-Thomas Funeral Home and former 20-year Knox County Coroner talks about the humility of joining past recipients, why recognition feels uncomfortable when you’ve never served for applause, and h...

The Silver Streaks opened the 2025-26 season Wednesday, Nov. 26, with an 86-60 thrashing of Limestone — a performance that left even veteran broadcaster Brad Bennewitz searching the record books. For the first time in at least 33 years, three Streaks scored 20+ points in the same game. Hall-of-Fame voice Brad Bennewitz (29th season) and color analyst Jason Wessels (former player and 4th-year broad...

The Abingdon-Avon Tornadoes are 3-0 after surviving three nail-biters to open the 2025-26 season, including a dramatic 51-49 comeback win over Illini West and a 46-41 victory over Macomb. Coach Link talks about the “fight, poise, and grit” his team has already shown, the luxury of balanced scoring (a different leading scorer in every game), the senior-driven leadership, the two sophomore starters...

National Weather Service-Lincoln meteorologist Mike Albano joined Galesburg's Morning News to discuss the “slam-dunk” historic storm hitting west-central Illinois this weekend — timeline, two-phase snow, 40 mph winds, and single-digit cold to follow. Full breakdown: When it starts: Snow spreads in from Iowa after midnight tonight (Friday night into Saturday morning) Worst window: 3 a.m.–noon Satur...

Todd Decker from the Bishop Hill Heritage Association stops by Galesburg’s Morning News with the full preview of Julmarknad 2025 – the Swedish Christmas market that turns the entire 1850s village into a living, breathing holiday tradition. No chain stores, no mall vibes – just handcrafted gifts, roaming Tomten (Christmas elves), the prank-loving Julbock goat, daily nyckelharpa concerts, cookie & c...

NOTE: This event has been rescheduled to Sunday, Dec. 14 because of weather. Pippi Ardennia, Daniel Leahy, Bobby Dillard, Lora Wright and Becky Fleischer join Galesburg’s Morning News to preview the now Sunday, Dec. 14 FREE holiday concert inside Lindstrom’s (Main & Seminary) celebrating the store’s 100th anniversary. The Experience All-Star Band lineup: Pippi Ardennia – vocals • Daniel Leahy – pi...

The Taylor Thiel Era Begins ⚫⚪ The new head coach of the Galesburg Silver Streaks, Taylor Thiel, talks family legacy, coaching his own son Stone, and the mission to bring the program back to prominence in the John Thiel Gym named after his grandfather. We cover: The weight (and pride) of the Thiel name in Galesburg basketball Why this senior-heavy group is hungry and buying into the culture chan...

Eric Johnson, Vice President of Institutional Advancement at Carl Sandburg College, joins Galesburg’s Morning News to discuss the college’s biggest-ever Giving Tuesday campaign. The Sandburg Foundation has set an ambitious goal of $350,000 by December 15 — all to remove barriers for local students through scholarships, emergency grants, food pantries, and more. In this episode you’ll learn: Giving...

Phil and Johanna Hennenfent from Altona’s Henn House BBQ joined us exactly six days before Thanksgiving 2025 armed with pro-level tips to save your holiday dinner 🦃🔥. They break down why high-heat smoked (or fried) turkey with a butter injection beats the traditional dry oven bird every time, reveal the three biggest “turkey crimes” home cooks commit, and share a stupid-easy rub recipe you can s...

The ROWVA FFA chapter set out to provide 10 Thanksgiving meals for local families in need — and the community responded in a big way. Thanks to an outpouring of donations (cash, canned goods, turkeys, hams, and even boxes and tape), the students have now assembled at least 20 complete baskets, with more possible before Monday’s deadline. Chapter President Alivia Jones, along with sophomores Sophia...

Galesburg author Tom Colclasure joins Galesburg’s Morning News for a in-studio interview about his new book Spokes of the Wheel — a 25-year labor of love that began in the summer of 1998 when he sat down to record the World War II stories of his grandfather, Henry Raymond Colclasure, a decorated paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. After Henry passed away that November, Tom kept going: tra...

The Orpheum Theatre’s highly anticipated ‘Even More’ 2026 season went on sale this morning at 10 a.m., and Executive Director Andrew Driscoll joined Galesburg's Morning News before after the launch to go behind the scenes of Galesburg’s most diverse lineup yet. In this in-depth interview, Driscoll walks through the Winter/Spring 2026 schedule: the return of the surprise-hit 80s tribute Decade of D...

The 2025-26 Galesburg Silver Streaks girls basketball season tips off tonight, and second-year head coach Lexi Demott stopped by Galesburg’s Morning News to give fans the complete inside scoop. She told us the team has one big focus word this year: “That’s kind of been our big word right now is to be disciplined – whether it’s in our press, in our half-court man-to-man defense, or on offense being...

For 25 years the Children’s Grief Camp has given grieving kids and teens (ages 5-18) a safe, completely free day to heal – and it’s back this Saturday, November 22 at Carl Sandburg College. Camp Director Doug Gibb joins Tyler Gumm and Jay Redfern on Galesburg's Morning News to explain: Why kids grieve differently than adults (and why the holidays can make it “especially heavy”) How the day works:...

City Manager Eric Hanson joins Jay Redfern and Tyler Gumm on Galesburg's Morning news for our regular pre-council preview as the Galesburg City Council meets tonight (Monday, Nov. 17 at 6 p.m.). In this 20-minute interview, Eric dives deep into an item everyone is asking about: Seminary Street demolition – Why the city is finally tearing down the four long-vacant, connected buildings at 224-240 S....

“25% state tax credit for donations to permanent local endowments — Josh Gibb explains how it works, who qualifies, and why the credits can run out before December 31.” Josh Gibb, President & CEO of the Galesburg Community Foundation, joins Galesburg’s Morning News to break down the Illinois Gives Tax Credit Program — one of the best giving incentives in the country. Key points from the interview:...

Galesburg native and Quincy Regional Director for the Better Business Bureau, Don O’Brien, joins Galesburg’s Morning News to help you shop smarter and safer this holiday season. With online shopping scams making up over 30% of all BBB complaints last year, Don shares the red flags to watch for: fake websites, social-media “too-good-to-be-true” deals, phony charity appeals, and risky pop-up stores....

“Classical isn’t for old people — it’s for everybody.” The Knox-Galesburg Symphony presents A Celebration of Spirit — 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, at the Orpheum Theatre — led by Wes Anderson, a musician who attended ROWVA schools His first live orchestra? KGS at age 12: “It felt like a rock show.” He studied with Louise Polay, Bruce Polay, Andy Crawford and Brian Daw — mentors who shaped his life an...

Mark Thomas, Blake Benedict & Terry Bruns reveal how All American Ale has raised $12K+ to give every Knox County veteran free military honors. Tonight (Nov. 13) at 5:30 p.m., Reserve Artisan Ales in Galesburg releases the third annual All American Ale—a light, corn-based cream ale brewed exclusively to fund the Knox County Honor Guard. 🍺 In this 15-minute interview recorded live on Galesburg’s Mo...

Retired juvenile counselor David Gullstrand—longtime Rio, Illinois, resident—unpacks his short holiday tale The Christmas Quilt, written for his granddaughters and narrated through the quirky eyes of 8-year-old Stanley. Drawing from real family camping trips (think backseat squabbles en route to Yellowstone), a "nutty aunt" named Cookie, and secrets stitched into an heirloom quilt, Gullstrand expl...