IN OUR COMMUNITY

Join the Peoria Pops Orchestra for a Spooktacular Halloween Concert! Get ready for a spine-tingling musical experience as the Peoria Pops Orchestra performs thrilling, haunting, and magical tunes perfect for the Halloween season!

Special Offer:

Kids 12 and under get in FREE when they wear a costume! 

Bring the whole family, enjoy a night of festive fun, and don’t forget to wear your spookiest costumes!

Tickets:

Adults: $15

Seniors 65+: $10

Children 12 and under: $5

The Washington District Library will be hosting the FOWL Book Sale on October 18th through the 22nd. The sale includes thousands of books of all genres and topics. All proceeds go toward adding popular items to the collection, paying for additional programs, and covering expenses for the children’s department and summer reading.

Friday & Saturday: $1 each

Sunday: $0.50 each

Monday: $3/bag

Tuesday: Free/Donation

Book, DVD, and CD donations for book sale are accepted Sept. 30 - Oct. 13 at the Main Library.

Hot off its Off-Broadway premiere, ‘A Taste of Ireland―The Irish Music & Dance Sensation’ hits stages across the USA this fall, performing the show that has entertained thousands around the globe. Laugh, cry and jig into the night with a production that is Celtic, for this generation.

Performed by former World Irish dance champions, and featuring dancers from the West End’s Lord of the Dance and Riverdance, ‘A Taste of Ireland’ transports the audience through the story of Ireland’s tumultuous history delivered with a pint of Irish wit.

The event is held at Washington Five Points on October 20th at 3:00 p.m. More information available at https://fivepointswashington.org/

Experience the Ultimate 80’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Revelry at Five Points Washington on October 19th from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. From exhilarating 80’s Rock Anthems, MTV Video Nostalgia and Electrifying Musical Performances, this show promises to deliver non-stop action and entertainment!

Decade of Decadence plays only the Greatest Rock Anthems from 80’s Rock Icons like… Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Poison, Journey, Guns N Roses, Scorpions, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Cinderella, Ratt.

Don’t miss this electrifying journey back in time. The 80’s never sounded better! More information available at https://fivepointswashington.org/

The Washington Chamber of Commerce’s Community Showcase will be held on October 15th! This vibrant event is your chance to put your business in the spotlight and connect with the local community. Whether you’re a Chamber member or not, this is a fantastic opportunity to display your products or services and network with the community.

The event is free to the public and family-friendly. There will be concessions available for purchase throughout the event.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to showcase your business and build valuable connections! Deadline to register is October 1st, 2024. Registration is only for businesses interested in having a table at the event. For more information, please contact the Chamber at (309) 444-9921 or megan@washingtoncoc.com. 

GospelFest Ministries Presents their First Annual A County GospelFest. This show will featuring Shawn Degenhart, The GospelFest Singers, Choir and Band with special guests Steve Hargis and The Kramers. This event will be held on Saturday, October 5th at 7:00 p.m. Doors open at 6:15 p.m.

Admission is FREE: love offerings will be taken.

Join Crossroads Church for an evening of Trunk or Treat on October 27th from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.! Their parking lot will be filled with decorated cars, each offering candy and treats for kids in a safe and welcoming environment. Come in your favorite costume and enjoy an evening of fun. This event is free, and everyone is welcome to attend.

Come out to Faith Lutheran Church for their Trunk or Treat  gathering on October 26th from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.!  You can wear your costume and have fun looking at the decorated trunks. They will have plenty of candy to pass out.

Taylor Masonic Lodge #98 will be hosting an All You Can Eat Breakfast on October 19th from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. This breakfast is held every month on the 3rd Saturday (excluding June, July and August). 

They are located at 119 N. Wilmor Road. The cost is $10/person, $5/kids 6-12 years old and free for kids under 6 years old.

Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe-inspiring locations like never seen before. The event is  held at Five Points Washington on October 4th from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Get your tickets now to discover the music of Taylor Swift at Five Points Washington Caterpillar Performing Arts Center under the gentle glow of candlelight. More information available at https://fivepointswashington.org/

Come out to the Saturday Night Lights Trunk or Treat held at the Connect Center on October 19th. This is a free event from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

This is their second trunk or treat and anything with wheels is welcome. You can just come and pass out candy you canto the kids too! Food and drinks will be available for sale.

Trick or Treat night!!! Come out and bring your chairs and hand out candy. If you are a business, you can set up and advertise your business for free. Food trucks will be set up, and there will be some tables and chairs. You can bring your own tables and chairs also. If the weather is bad, the event will be set up inside. Vendors will be set up, along with the balloon man, face painter and music.

Fall TV sun outages will begin on Saturday, October 5th, and are expected to last through October 10th. You can expect to see video issues these days between the hours of 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.  Video outages will range from a few blips of interrupted video to channels that may go dark for several minutes. 

Sun outages are a natural phenomenon that occurs when a satellite and a receiving earth station come directly in line with the sun. The sun’s energy interferes with the satellite’s signal and affects the signals received by the earth station. 

This is a new article we’ll be featuring each month from MTCO admin Nick Fawcett to pass along quick tips and advice to protect yourself online, offer tech shortcuts, and more!

To protect your data online, always use unique passwords for each of your accounts. This practice prevents threat actors from using stolen credentials to access other assets you may have. 

The best way to manage these passwords is by using a password manager. Two top options are Bitwarden and 1Password, both of which offer similar features. One advantage of Bitwarden is that it is open-source, allowing any security researcher to verify its encryption and security claims.

There has been an increase in phishing emails targeting many users, including MTCO customers.  These fraudulent emails are designed to appear as though they are from legitimate sources, including our company, but they are designed to steal your personal information.

To help protect yourself, please keep the following tips in mind:

• Look for signs of phishing: Be cautious 

  of emails that contain urgent requests, 

  unfamiliar links, or attachments.

• Do not share personal information: Avoid 

  providing sensitive information through 

  email.

• If you receive a suspicious email, 

  immediately delete the email and do not 

  click on any links or download 

  attachments.

MTCO has additional information on protecting your email. Go to https://www.mtco.com/?support&email#MTCO and select number 11, “How To Recognize Phishing.”

MeTV Toons

A great new channel for kids, and likely adults too!  MeTV Toons channel’s programming consists of classic animated cartoon content from Warner Bros., Hanna Barbara, and more, dating from the 1930s to the mid-2000s.  The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo!, The Flinstones, Super Friends, Bugs Bunny & Friends, and many more!

MeTV Toons will be available by mid-October on MTCO digiMAX channel 59.

Chicago Sports Network

NBC Sports Chicago and its Plus channel are changing to NBC Sports Chicago and NBC Sports Chicago + on October 1st on MTCO digiMAX channels 562 and 563. There will be little change in the content as they will take over the distribution of the Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Cubs, and White Sox.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) games are coming, and it’s only a matter of time before the AI Xbox is announced.  Look for the concept of AI Non-Player Characters (NPCs) that will enable games to modify themselves based on gamer feedback and observations.  A gamer will also be able to fill a team with AI NPCs, and work with AI-driven moderators that can respond instantly to questions or issues by monitoring gameplay 

Hot on the heels of the National Public Records data breach, which leaked over 2 billion records, another background check firm has now suffered a leak.  MC2 Data exposed the sensitive data of around one-third of the U.S. population—106 million people—to the entire internet. Full details at: https://cyberguy.com/security/106-million-americans-exposed-as-massive-data-leak-rocks-background-check-firm/