Painted by art students
By MOLLY RICHESON
For The Weekly Post
ELMWOOD – Billy the Bison is back on display in front of Elmwood City Hall.
The city purchased the 62-inch tall, 100-inch-long bison statue for $2,000 to commemorate Peoria County’s bicentennial celebration. Art classes from Elmwood High School were recruited to design and paint the 100-pound fiberglass mold.
Similar statues will be on display throughout Peoria County as part of the recently launched Bison Trek – an online digital platform (bisontrek.peoriacounty.gov) that provides a map of each statue’s location. People can earn digital badges by visiting the artworks.
Elmwood’s design was unveiled on April 23 and returned to the front of City Hall after an application of clear coat had time to dry.
“Art is such an important part of our city’s history and the love for it continues,” said Amy Davis, the Elmwood economic development director, in a press release from the city. “Many thanks goes out to Ms. (Alexandria) Tomevi’s Elmwood High School art students for their time in designing/painting the city bison.”
The city held a vote on its Facebook page to name the bison and the public decided on Billy, in honor of William Phelps, the founder of Elmwood.
“Being the furthest west city in Peoria County, rural is becoming a real part of travel with Americans today,” outgoing Alderman Kenny Blum said. “We hope that those traveling to our community will appreciate all that Elmwood has and will stay for a while on their visit.”
At an April 22 meeting, Elmwood honored outgoing Mayor J.D. Hulslander and outgoing councilmen Blum, Walt Avery and Adam Duvall.
The city also honored all post-2000 Elmwood councilmembers and clerks with a decorative plaque to be kept in City Hall.
Also during the meeting, the city locked in a contract with Clearwater Enterprises to begin purchasing natural gas for city buildings at a rate of $0.641 per therm instead of the current rate of $0.675 per therm provided through Homefield Energy. The contract begins in May 2026 and will last through April 2028.
Electric rates will be the next rates to be scrutinized.
The council approved Davis transitioning to part-time employment, instead of full-time employment effective June 1.
