The pace slows on U.S. 24 as you ease into town, eyes surveying the landscape. Fairbury is just one of many pretty towns along this highway that lies razor-straight across the Illinois prairie. Another speed zone, another blinking traffic signal, another set of churches and schools and municipal buildings and a Casey’s General Store.

But Fairbury is different. Special. Somewhere, off to the south, just the other side of an idyllic grid of neat lawns and well-kept homes, is an old fairgrounds. MORE