Friday, May 15, 2009 9:26 PM CDT
OUR VIEW: Lake Shelbyville a diamond about to shine brighter
Lake Shelbyville is an East Central Illinois gem that is about to get $11.1 million worth of polishing.
The face lift for many areas around the lake will come via federal economic stimulus money. These funds are part of the $300 million going to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for work at sites across Illinois.
In line to get sprucing up at Lake Shelbyville are recreation areas and campsites, with structure repairs needed since 2002 and 2005 flooding to be done on things like the picnic shelter and shower facilities in the Dam West area. Large building projects will be a new visitors’ center and administration facility.
With several communities on or near its scenic shores, Lake Shelbyville is a huge asset to area residents. It provides a number of recreation opportunities: fishing, boating, camping, swimming and, nearby, golfing, hiking and hunting. Festivals such as each spring’s Spores’N’More bring locals together to enjoy the manmade lake’s amenities.
But Lake Shelbyville is no well-kept secret. Campers, fishers, hunters and others seeking recreation flock to its shores from across the Midwest. Chicago-area residents have a downstate getaway in Shelby County via the lake, and even folks from nearby Missouri, Kentucky and Indiana make summer jaunts to this area.
The federal funds are a welcome shot in the arm for this stellar attribute of East Central Illinois. In tough economic times, this is a solid investment for taxpayers. Many of the activities at and near Lake Shelbyville are free, and events pick up in the summer so that families have many choices. Even the lake activities that have fees are reasonable, from the small per-car charge for a day at one of the beaches to campsite costs.
The stats are impressive: Lake Shelbyville boasts 172 miles of shoreline, 11,100 acres of water and cove after cove for anyone to explore. From Shelbyville to Findlay to Sullivan to Lithia Springs, and from the federal campsites to the state campgrounds to the local marinas, this lake is teeming with opportunities for R&R. Nearby state parks — Hidden Springs, Eagle Creek and Wolf Creek — add to the space for adventure.
In a place where the state record for muskie still stands, and championship golf courses offer miles of greens nearby, where mushroom hunters take to the woods each spring and families descend on beaches and take off in boats every summer, a generous helping of federal funds is a natural.
All area residents and many Midwesterners can look forward to the upcoming improvements at Lake Shelbyville. This nearly 40-year-old gem continues to shine.
— JG/T-C Editorial Board
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julio wrote on May 19, 2009 8:27 AM:
Too bad we're already on the high water ramps. Beaches are gonna be closed most, if not all Summer too.
Chicago people just stay in Chicago. We would love to have you down here pulling tubers 30 feet from our tie-offs and throwing monster wakes. Looks like that will have to wait. "