The Burgoo Festival, sponsored by the LaSalle County Historical Society, is held each October at Utica and adds its own distinctive flavor to the area's entertainment. Named for a tasty pioneer dish, Burgoo is generously ladled from large iron kettles to as many as 35,000 visitors. In addition to this robust dish, barbecued pork chops and homemade pies are favorites. The festival features live music, a large flea market, a craft show, and demonstrations of period handiwork.

Taste of the Illinois Valley is another popular summertime event. Held in June, the festival features food samplings from area restaurants, music, rides, games, and other entertaining happenings.

Mendota's Sweet Corn Festival annually attracts more than 50,000 visitors to the community on the second full weekend of August. It highlights a variety of events for the entire family with no admission or parking fee. The festival consists of musical entertainment, over 200 dealers in handmade crafts and unique merchandise, carnival rides, games, and food booths. The "BIG EVENT" is the serving of tons of FREE hot buttered Del Monte Sweet Corn on Sunday afternoon.

Wenona Days is a celebration of the community's heritage, and features events such as a car show and activities pleasing to the whole family. This is an August event drawing 5,000 to 7,000 people to a town of 1,000.

Each Spring and Fall, the Peru Mall sponsors large craft shows attracting crafters from throughout the nation. The event draws large crowds to the popular shopping mall.

Illinois Valley readers have access to excellent library facilities. The LaSalle Public Library occupies a classic structure close to downtown and offers 44,000 volumes, along with audio cassettes, microfilmed copies of the local newspaper, periodicals and access to the Internet. For children, the library has story hours and special holiday programs. LaSalle Public Library will soon double its size as plans go forward to add a new wing to the existing building. This expansion will make the library handicapped accessible, create meeting rooms and add another entrance.

The Peru Public Library is a modern, 17,000-square-foot structure that has approximately 50,000 volumes, 140 periodical subscriptions, and access to the collections of other libraries.

It provides audio and video cassettes, compact discs and access to the Internet and other electronic databases. The library frequently offers free programs of interest to the public. Illinois Valley residents also have access to materials in the 28 libraries of the Starved Rock Library System and the IVCC library with its extensive selection of periodicals, reference volumes, magazines, books, and newspapers.

The LaSalle County Historical Museum in Utica is the home of the 85-year-old LaSalle County Historical Society. Housed in a fully restored, pre-Civil War stone warehouse near the historic Illinois Michigan Canal, the museum contains such artifacts as Indian relics, early pioneer home furnishings and pioneer garments, early farm tools, and a carriage which conveyed Abraham Lincoln to the scene of a Lincoln-Douglas debate.

Located nearby is Starved Rock Lock and Dam and Illinois Waterway Visitor Center. The Center provides exhibits, an observation deck, and an informative audiovisual display of lock operations.

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