The City of Peoria's Sister City Commission is preparing for its biggest event of the year. But throughout the year, the commission is maintaining relationships with other cities all around the world and helping fund programs and cultural exchanges that everyone benefits from.
Since 1976, the City of Peoria has had Sister City relationships with locations across the globe: Friedrichschafen, Germany, Benxi, China, Clonmel, Ireland and Aytou, Lebanon.
Commission Chairman Rex Linder said, while the commission is part of the City of Peoria, it doesn't receive line item funding. Maintaining the relationships lies with the various "Friends of-" clubs.
“They are really the backbone of the relationships,” Linder said. “And they fund activities. Like this summer, we’re having, I think it’s about 15 students from Freidrichschafen spending three weeks living with Peoria area families.”
Friends of Friedrichschafen President Dee Walker said COVID put the student exchange activities on hold for two years.
Walker got involved with the Sister Cities Commission after being a host family for the exchange program and traveling to Friedrichschafen for a 40th anniversary celebration.
“I can definitely see why Peoria and Friedrichschafen were drawn to be sister cities,” she said. “Because there’s a lot of similarities. You know, you get that friendliness and helpfulness and it has, kind of, that mix of industry and recreation going on.”
Other leaders also got involved with their Sister Cities through events put on by the group, such as James Dillon, president of the Friends of Clonmel, Ireland, a small town in the southern region of Tipperary.
“Almost 25 years ago, when the group decided that Peoria and Clonmel would be twinned,” said Dillon. “One of the vice mayors was visiting Peoria.”
Dillon met the vice mayor at Jimmy's Bar in West Peoria and was invited to a dinner before the visitors left. Since then, he's joined the commission, taken a role as president of Friends of Clonmel and visited eight times.
“It’s a great little town,” he said. “And if you tell them that you’re from the Peoria area, they roll out the red carpet for you.”
For some of the "Friends of" presidents, the connection is very personal.
Diane Joseph, president of Friends of Aytou, Lebanon, is a third-generation descendent of immigrants from Aytou.
“The sister city we actually started in July of 2014,” she explains. “That was actually the 100th anniversary of the Itoo Society. The Itoo Society being a society and already established.”
Peoria has a significant Lebanese-American population. Joseph estimates it's around 5,000 to 6,000 people. Many of the events put on by the Friends of Aytou raise funds and humanitarian support for the residents of the small city in Lebanon, with a population around 500.
Though Aytou is in a tumultuous area wrought by government corruption and conflict, Joseph has been able to visit the sister city.
“Aytou is definitely an older city,” she said. “Very mountainous, the scenery is just breathtaking and it’s just absolutely beautiful.”
The last Sister City is Benxi, China. Linder said, unfortunately, that sister city relationship has faltered a bit in recent years, due to travel restrictions in the country and heightened tensions between the United States and Chinese governments.
The "Friends of" groups are coming together for their biggest event of the year in April: Sister Cities International Night. The Itoo Society Hall will be filled with food, drinks and entertainment from all across the globe.
Joseph said they're leaning toward meat and spinach pies, but still deciding what Lebanese dishes will be represented.
“We have done beef shawarma in the past,” she said. “We’ve done our Lebanese kibbeh which is almost like a meatloaf or spices with cracked wheat that we cook. We’ve done chicken and rice, we’ve done Lebanese green beans.”
As Joseph points out, it's fun to try different food, but it's also an opportunity for Lebanese Peorians, or Peorians from any of the sister countries, to celebrate their cultural identities.
“It’s family where we came from,” she said. “So there’s definitely that personal, tie-in connection that we will definitely always have.”
Peoria leaves its mark on the other Sister Cities, too. Earlier this month, a massive ornamental stein was installed in Freidrichschafen, created by Peoria artist Lonnie Stewart for the sister city agreement's 40th anniversary.
Linder said the stein is an example of the cultural exchanges Sister Cities make possible.
“It enriches the lives of those who choose to get involved with these activities,” he said. “They make dear friends. We have made dear friends.”
A prominent feature of the stein is a depiction of Peoria's skyline. But instead of overlooking the Illinois River, this one overlooks Germany's massive Lake Constance. It's a little bit of Peoria, halfway around the world.
The Sister City's fifth annual International Night starts at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, April 28 at the Itoo Society Hall on Farmington Road. Entry is $5, with food tickets for $1 a piece.
