Yeni Rodriguez of Yeni’s Palarte in East Peoria wasn’t expecting her homemade Mexican ice cream shop to garner statewide recognition through the Illinois Makers program.
“I was in shock. I’m really excited,” Rodriguez said Tuesday after Yeni’s Palarte joined three other small businesses from the Peoria region in being honored as Illinois Made Makers winners.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t feel like I’m (worthy) enough for this award. But it just shows all the work that I put into my business, all my efforts, 60 to 80 hours a week just to make everything from scratch.”
The program in conjunction with the Illinois Office of Tourism celebrates small businesses for locally-made goods that stand out. Joining Yeni's Palarte as the Peoria-area winners are Ardor Breads and Provisions, Black Band Distillery, and JK Williams Distilling.
“It will boost my business big time, because it will be seen from people that probably have never been there in my shop,” said Rodriguez, who took over the business in 2019. “We see all the support from Peoria and Discover Peoria and some other groups, social media. It's a huge help for us, and for me it means the world.”
The area winners were recognized by Discover Peoria on Tuesday during a reception at the Mt. Hawley Country Club. Each winner was presented with a hand-crafted plate made by another Illinois Makers honoree, Mississippi Mud Pottery in Alton.
For Andy Faris of JK Williams, the award serves as acknowledgement of small businesses realizing their vision.
“It highlights creativity and dedication and perseverance as entrepreneurs, and to be honored alongside fellow Peorians is really cool,” said Faris. “It gets back to: how are these individual businesses expressing themselves? What's their creative strategy and what's their vision? And when you get recognized for that, that feels really good.”
Black Band's Andrew Justus said he hopes the honor will bring more attention to their goal of assisting local farmers through their organic craft distillery in Peoria’s Warehouse District.
"Being a small business and a locally sourced farm-to-table restaurant — all of our grains are organic, locally sourced from farmers in the central Illinois area — it's a big deal to us, because we're all about giving back to the farmers and to the community,” said Justus. “Being able to bring people in and show them what we're doing with what's sourced from around here is really big for us.”
Harreld Webster Jr. of Triple Dipple’s Treats and Delicacies in Chillicothe knows first-hand about the benefits that can be gained from being an Illinois Made Makers winner, having received the honor three years ago.
“The instant thing is that they're going to be noticed all over the place and there's going to be influx in business,” said Webster. “But they really are a part of a prestigious club now. These businesses that are a part of the Illinois Made Makers, there's not a ton of them. It gives them like a seal of approval from the state, so to speak, that it's not just a ‘fly by night’ business. This is something that everybody can appreciate.”
Discover Peoria president and CEO JD Dalfonso said the Illinois Made Makers awards broadens the reach of promotional efforts for the selected small businesses. He noted the four winners from the seven-county Peoria region matches the area’s total from last year.
“Each of the last two years, the Peoria area has more Illinois Makers recognized than any other destination in the state of Illinois,” said Dalfonso. “I take pride and joy in seeing that come about because, not only are we nominating great stories but we've seen it rewarded.”
