As voters prepare for the March 17 Primary Election, Delavan Township Clerk Brad Donley is seeking the Republican nomination for Tazewell County Board District 1, bringing more than 20 years of service to the Delavan community into the race. Donley is also the only Delavan resident running for any county office this year.

District 1 elects multiple members to the County Board, and Illinois uses a cumulative voting system for this office. Each voter receives three votes to distribute among the candidates in any combination—whether all three for one candidate, one vote each for three candidates, or any other split. The system is designed to broaden representation in multi member districts and give voters flexibility in how they express their preferences.

For communities like Delavan, cumulative voting can also serve as a tool to amplify local representation, allowing residents to concentrate their votes in ways that help ensure the district’s smaller towns have a voice on the County Board.

On the Republican ballot, Donley’s name appears in the final position for County Board District 1. While ballot order does not affect how cumulative votes may be allocated, the last slot can still shape how voters scan and interpret the list in a competitive field.

No candidates filed for this office on the Democratic ticket. As a result, the winners of the Republican primary will advance to the November general election unopposed, making the March 17 primary effectively the decisive contest for the district’s seats.

Donley highlights his long tenure in township government—overseeing records, budgets, and public meeting administration—as preparation for serving at the county level. His two decades of involvement in Delavan’s civic life have included a wide range of administrative and community support roles.

Voters may cast their cumulative votes during early voting, by mail, or in person on Election Day. For official sample ballots, polling locations, and voting guidance, residents should consult the Tazewell County Clerk’s office or other trusted election authorities.

The Optimist Club of Delavan has announced the winners of its annual Poster Contest, held this year under the theme “How I Can Show Optimism in My Community.” One winner was selected in each of two grade divisions—3rd and 4th graders, and 5th and 6th graders—during the club’s regular meeting on Thursday, March 12.

The contest was coordinated by Debbie Woiwode, who oversaw the project and guided the review process. Optimist Club members evaluated the student submissions and cast votes to determine the winners. Each winner received a $25 prize in recognition of their work.

The Poster Contest is one of the Optimist Club’s longstanding youth initiatives, designed to encourage students to reflect on the values of optimism, service and community leadership. Each year, the theme challenges participants to think creatively about how they can make a positive impact in their schools, neighborhoods and daily interactions. Teachers across the district help promote the contest, and many incorporate the theme into classroom discussions about kindness, responsibility, and civic engagement. Club members noted that the contest continues to grow in both participation and artistic depth, with students offering thoughtful interpretations of what optimism looks like in action.

In the 3rd and 4th grade division, Lacey Fann earned top honors with a poster depicting a tree “rooted in kindness,” its branches extending outward to represent Family, Community, Nature and Friends.

In the 5th and 6th grade division, Nora Harland was selected as the winner for her illustration of a chain of people holding hands, each figure expressing messages of hope, love, community and family.

The Optimist Club expressed appreciation for all participating students and emphasized that the creativity and thoughtfulness displayed in this year’s entries reflect the many ways young people help build a more optimistic community.

Long before hybrid seed companies dotted the Midwest, before yield trials and precision planting and before Illinois became synonymous with towering fields of golden grain, one farmer’s curiosity helped reshape American agriculture. His name was James L. Reid, and the corn he developed—Reid’s Yellow Dent—became one of the most influential crops ever grown on the prairie.

Though Reid’s work began in the 1840s in Ohio, it was the fertile soils of Tazewell County that turned his experiment into a national powerhouse. When the Reid family moved to Central Illinois in the 1850s, they brought with them a handful of seed from a cross James had made years earlier: a soft kerneled, early maturing variety from his father and a hard, flinty corn from a neighbor. The combination produced a distinctive kernel with a deep crease—“dent”—down the center. It was hardy, adaptable, and remarkably productive.

In an era when most farmers saved seed from whatever happened to grow best in their fields, Reid took a different approach. He selected carefully, season after season, choosing ears that showed the traits he prized: uniformity, strong stalks and high yields. His neighbors took notice. So did seed buyers. By the 1870s, Reid’s Yellow Dent was winning prizes at county fairs and agricultural exhibitions across the Midwest.

But it was the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 that changed everything. Reid’s corn took top honors, beating out dozens of competitors and earning national attention. Seed orders poured in. Agricultural journals praised its consistency. And farmers from Illinois to the Great Plains began planting it by the wagonload.

For communities like Delavan, where agriculture was the backbone of daily life, Reid’s Yellow Dent arrived at exactly the right moment. The post-Civil War decades saw rapid expansion of railroads, grain elevators and rural markets. Farmers needed a crop that could withstand unpredictable weather, deliver reliable yields and store well for transport. Reid’s corn did all three.

By the early 1900s, it had become the dominant corn variety in the United States, forming the genetic foundation for many of the hybrid lines that would follow. In fact, when hybrid corn began its rise in the 1920s and 1930s, plant breeders often used Reid’s Yellow Dent as a parent line because of its vigor and stability. Its DNA still runs through countless modern hybrids grown today.

The impact on central Illinois was profound. Higher yields meant more grain moving through local elevators, more railcars leaving small towns like Delavan and more income circulating through rural economies. The success of Reid’s corn helped solidify Illinois’ reputation as a national leader in corn production—a distinction the state still holds.

But the story of Reid’s Yellow Dent is more than an agricultural milestone. It’s a reminder of how innovation often begins in the quiet work of everyday people. Reid wasn’t a scientist in a lab. He was a farmer walking his fields, studying ears of corn laid out on a kitchen table and trusting his instincts about what would grow best on the prairie.

His approach—patient selection, careful observation and a willingness to experiment—mirrored the spirit of countless early settlers who shaped this region. They built mills, dug wells, planted orchards and raised barns. They tried new tools, new crops, and new methods, always looking for ways to make life a little more secure for their families and their neighbors.

Today, when we drive past the endless rows of corn surrounding Delavan, it’s easy to forget that each field carries a legacy. The uniform stands of modern hybrids trace their lineage back to Reid’s original cross, made nearly two centuries ago. The grain hauled to elevators each fall is part of a story that began with a handful of seed and a farmer’s determination to improve what he had.

Reid died in 1905, but his influence never left the prairie. His corn fed livestock, fueled early ethanol experiments and helped launch the hybrid seed industry that transformed American farming. And though the name “Reid’s Yellow Dent” may not appear on seed bags anymore, its genetic fingerprint remains woven into the fabric of modern agriculture.

For Delavan and the surrounding countryside, the story of Reid’s Yellow Dent is a testament to the power of local innovation.

Visitors are invited to stop by during the Delavan Community Historical Society museum’s open house on April 12, from 2–4 p.m., to learn more about Reid’s contribution—or simply to enjoy the display in person.