Peoria officials create videos to promote the city

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) - City officials in central Illinois hope new promotional videos will attract residents and show how their city is improving.

The one-minute videos unveiled to the public Tuesday highlight Peoria's arts, education and sports, The Journal Star reported .

"In spite of the obstacles the city has faced, there's good stuff out there," said Mayor Jim Ardis.

He said the videos come at a time when the city is overcoming recent setbacks, including budget issues, the loss of Caterpillar Inc.'s headquarters and the closure of the Bergner's department store chain.

"Peoria's been through tough times before," Ardis said. "The idea is to stay grounded, stay focused. That's the message we can send."

The videos were funded by the CEO Council and Peoria business community, he said.

The CEO Council worked on the project for more than a year, said Don Shafer, who is part of the council.

"There are things depicted in the videos that we felt are important, and these concepts are presented without a lot of narration," he said.

The videos will be used as a tool to recruit employees and students to the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, said Dr. Sara Rusch, the university's regional dean.

"Sometimes we forget the resources that are here," she said. "It's nice to have (the videos) to tell us what's available."

Pylgrm, a local production company, shot and edited the video, said Cara Allen, vice president of marketing and operations for the Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"A lot of work went into it," she said.

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Information from: Journal Star, http://pjstar.com