Showgoers walk or ride on golf carts through the crowded streets of the Farm Progress Show on Tuesday.
September 1, 2023 – Although this year’s Farm Progress Show is officially in the rearview mirror, Teri Hammel is already thinking ahead to 2025, when Progress City USA will once again be bustling with visitors from across the globe.
“We’ve already started preparations because we make notes from the things we’re doing now,” Hammel, the Decatur Area Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Executive Director, said. “We have a whole tablet of, ‘this is what we have to remember next year, this is what we have to do next time in 2025.'”
2023 was the 70th year of the annual agriculture expo and the 10th time the show was hosted at its Decatur home, built on a campus adjacent to Richland Community College exclusively for the show in 2005. The three-day event is known for showcasing the newest and coolest equipment and practices the ag industry has to offer, drawing hundreds of thousands of farmers from across the world to town. But the week was a highlight for more than just the ag world—Hammel said the visitors are an end-of-the-summer staple for Macon County’s businesses and families.
“Everyone does well when they’re in town,” Hammel said. “Between the hotel-motel tax, food and beverage tax and all the stores that have things that they buy, it makes a big difference.”
As vendors tear down their exhibits and visitors hit the highway or airport, data reported by FPS and area businesses show 2023 could be its best year, for the show and the community. Estimated figures calculated based on previous shows (especially the 2022 iteration in Boone, Iowa) and estimated attendance are already rolling in, and finalized numbers are expected to be reported as post-show surveys are collected.
Flags fly outside of the International Trade Center, located in the southwest quadrant of the Farm Progress Show.
Between 150,000 and 200,000 visitors funneled through Progress City over three days. People hailed from 46 states and 46 countries, and the CVB issued 600+ U.S. Embassy Visitor Letters. Approximately 100 private planes landed at Decatur Airport throughout the week.
Ag professionals from as close as Argenta and as far away as Brazil stopped by the show this week. Interpreters were onsite to assist with translating between various worldwide languages, and a flag flew for each represented country outside of the International Trade Center, operated by the CVB. This year’s international representation has grown significantly since the first year the show was in Decatur—eight countries were represented in 2005—and Hammel has already put in a request for a bigger tent.
“They were lying in the grass and eating in the yard—we need a bigger tent because we always want to show that we’re very happy to have them,” Hammel said. “We want to do our best to make everyone feel like the United States is one of the best places to ever be.”
The show generates nearly $31 million in revenue for Macon County.
Between the contractors, utility bills, landscaping, free bottles of water, flowers, roadways and more, Farm Progress invests millions into Decatur to ensure the expo’s success. NPR Illinois reported when the initial 20-year deal between Farm Progress, Decatur and Boone, Iowa was finalized in the early 2000s, they estimated revenue to peak at $10 million. Nearly 20 years later, the show has surpassed that expectation threefold.
Nearly 9,000 hotel rooms and rental units were full within an hour-and-a-half driving radius.
Hammel said she’d heard from partners as far away as Jacksonville every hotel room was filled with those visiting and working the show throughout the week. Available hotels in neighboring cities like Springfield, Champaign, Bloomington, Shelbyville and Mattoon sold out at above-average rates weeks before the show started.
Decatur resident Dawn Mitchell owns two Airbnbs on Decatur’s West End, and she said she hosted visitors from Kentucky, Ohio and Manitoba, Canada throughout the week. In the three weeks leading up to the show and the following weeks as teardown continues, she’s also welcomed countless workers in charge of behind-the-scenes operations. As a Decatur native, she said she loves hearing her guests’ stories and recommending her favorite places to eat and visit.
“I love that the Farm Progress Show is a way to show off Decatur,” Mitchell added.
Progress City boasts 90 acres (or 4 million square feet) of outdoor exhibit space and 6.13 miles of paved roadways. More than 25 semi-loads of tents are hauled out to keep more than 500 exhibitors cool in the shade.
Everything from pole barns to full-sized silos and shiny new combines were scattered throughout the show. Exhibits were as small as a table and as large as a full city block, and areas like the Varied Industries Tent gave showgoers the chance to dig deeper into their favorite topics all in one place.
Larger booths like John Deere and Case IH sold T-shirts and model tractors, among other branded merchandise, but nearly every booth handed out free swag.
An FFA student tosses a beanbag while playing cornhole with a friend at the show’s John Deere booth.
Over 2,000 FFA members from Illinois high schools attended.
Although adults are a crucial demographic at the Farm Progress Show, busloads of Illinois students interested in agriculture continually cycled through the show during the week. Programs like Decatur Public Schools’ Dwayne O. Andreas Ag Academy brought their students to the show for hands-on learning experiences that supplement their classroom lessons in a one-of-a-kind way.
Especially as FFA chapters see twofold membership increases across the state, in part because of new funding allocations that pay for students’ membership fees, youth attendance was higher than ever this year. And unlike previous years, their absences from school were excused, thanks to legislation signed by Gov. Pritzker last month.
The show was split into 4 quadrants, featuring 4 food courts operated by local volunteer groups.
With pork chop sandwiches, loaded baby potatoes, creamy mac and cheese and more for sale at a large tent located in each quadrant, farmers and families had plenty of options for lunch. Food courts were operated by several local churches, Nelson’s Catering, Macon County 4-H and the University of Illinois Extension Office, among other community organizations.
Several vendors even brought their products into the show on wheels, like Richland Community College’s Bistro to Go food truck, serving locally sourced burgers and sandwiches, as well as the Mimi’s Frosty ice cream truck, which was stocked full of delicious cool treats.
Although the show is important to the community, the community is important to the show. Local volunteers staff the information booths, manage the flow of traffic, operate admission gates and perform many other small yet crucial jobs throughout the grounds. Hammel said she’s proud to see the community come together once every two years for the event, which benefits the area in countless ways.
“This is one of my most heartfelt events ever,” Hammel remarked. “I had no idea what I was getting into in 2005, but it’s been great getting to see the first one and then seeing how it’s progressed.”
The Farm Progress Show will be hosted at its second home, Boone, Iowa, in 2024, but will return to Decatur on August 26-28, 2025.
