In this episode, we dive into the upcoming Candidate Forums, now hosted on the 618Now Podcast for the first time! Get ready to hear directly from the candidates shaping the future of O’Fallon and Shiloh!

On the calendar:

Wednesday, March 5th: O'Fallon Woman's Club Empty Bowl Luncheon. Purchase your tickets here.

In this episode, we talk about several groups that are firing on all cylinders and doing surprisingly good things in our community!

On the calendar:

Fri/Sat Feb 7 & 8th Bank of OFallon Shootout. Purchase tickets here.

Sat, March 1 Vine Street Micro Markets begin!

March 29 @ 5pm OFallon Neighbors Pickleball Classic

In this episode, we discuss resources for people who are prioritizing their mental and physical health. Specifically, we share about Counselor's Associates Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners who are helping see patients sooner than waiting to see a psychiatrist. They treat depression, anxiety, ADHD, PTSD and mood disorders. We also revisit PremiereU and their hormone optimization and medical weight loss programs.

On the calendar:

Tues, Jan 28th 5-6:30pm Business After Hours powered by Lebanon Electric, hosted at The Hut

Thurs, Jan 30th 8-9am Coffee Connect

Thurs, Jan 30th 3*5pm @ Katy Cavins Parks & Rec Seasonal Job Fair

Sat, Feb 1st 11am-6pm Polar Pub Crawl in support of Special Olympics

Friday Feb 7, Sat Feb 8th Bank of OFallon Shoot Out

Fri, Feb 7 6:30-9 Sweetheart's Dance @ Regency

Wed, March 5th 11am-1pm OFallon Woman's Club Empty Bowl Luncheon

In today's episode, we talk about the millions of dollars in grant funding the city has received to help provide services for residents. It's money that helps improve traffic flow, infrastructure and recreational opportunities. You can review the grant funding when the city's Finance and Administration committee meeting packets are published (usually once a month).

On the calendar:

Jan 14 11am-1pm Sunshine Squad Widow/Life Partner loss group @ Wolfersberger Funeral Home

Friday, Jan 25th 11am-4pm Taste of the District

Jan 30th - April AARP Tax assistance (free) through the OFallon Public Library

Sat, Feb 1st 11am Polar Pub Crawl

Sat, Feb 8th 7am Township Rummage Sale

Happy New Year! We're off this week for the holiday (in what is technically our 200th episode) but stay tuned for new episodes in 2025!

If you have some downtime over the next week with the holidays, check out the playlist of the most popular episodes from 2024 we compiled.

After recording this episode, our episode entitled The $1 million weekend in OFallon became our most popular episode EVER (in just 10 days!).

Here are the other top 5 episodes of 2024:

Economic Update from June (including real estate and housing data) (10:16 mins)

Let's Lead the Rich Bickel Way (11:00 mins)

Secure the Barricade! (22 mins)

Was the City built during a card game? (11:22 mins)

But where will residents live? (10:31 mins)

Great episodes that you may have missed:

You can't build that here! (15:19 mins)

Part 2: You can't build that here! (12:52 mins)

In this week's episode, we share how residents, small business owners and developers have invested more than $99 million new dollars into OFallon thru Nov 2024. After we recorded the episode, new data was released indicating that the new value is $99million, a $25million increase over what we reported in the episode!! This is the value of approved building permits so far and is 34% higher than the same timeframe last year. There are big projects and small, and each make a difference in our community.

You can track new developments using this interactive map.

On the calendar:

• Friday, Dec 13th 7pm US Air Force's Band of Mid-America holiday concert @ The Hett on McKendree University. Free tickets can be found here.
• Sat, Dec 14 @ 1pm and 7pm US Air Force's Band of Mid-America holiday concert
• Dec 14 @ 9am Breakfast with Santa in Shiloh
• Dec 14 4-8pm Home for the Holidays Winter Market in the downtown district
• Fri, Dec 20th @ noon deadline to order a catered holiday meal from The Regency

In this week's episode, we talk about the tremendous economic impact of the 2024 season at the Family Sports Park, including the likely record-breaking weekend in June. We also talk about where the tax revenue generated from visitors goes.

On the calendar,

• Friday, Dec 6 - Sunday Dec 8th OTHS Madrigal dinner. Buy tickets here.
• Sat, Dec 7th 8am OPD's Breakfast with Santa at Carriel Junior High
• Sat, Dec 14 9am-noon Shiloh's Breakfast with Santa
• Sat, Dec 14 4-8pm Home for the Holidays Winter Market @ OFallon Station
• Sat, Dec 20th @ noon deadline to order your catered holiday meal from the Regency