This story first appeared in The Daily Illini.
(Photo by Anya Nair/The Daily Illini)
Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery in Champaign announced in a social media post on Sept. 3 that it had received a $200,000 Tourism Attractions Grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Money from the grant will go toward improving parking spaces, landscaping and building a visitor and education center.
The center is going to include a new farm retail store for its award-winning cheeses, gelato and other local products. It will also feature an indoor classroom space for workshops, as well as ADA-compliant restrooms for all visitors.
Prairie Rivers Network is also partnering with the farm to create an educational walking path around the property’s lake.
“We had almost given up hope that we would be able to do any projects,” said Kelly Lay, a farm educator with Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery. “So (the grant) was huge, definitely an awesome investment.”
Wes Jarrell and Leslie Cooperband began the farm in 2005 before selling it to local business owners Lauren and Jeffrey Brokish in 2024.
“Lauren and Jeffrey have this commitment to making Champaign cool, and it was this guiding north star to have the public involved with the property regularly,” Lay said.
The Tourism Attractions Grant was awarded to the farm in order to help increase agritourism in Champaign.
“Any visits to a working farm and engaging in one of the experiences offered on the farm are considered to be agritourism,” said Renata Endres, professor in ACES, concentrating in agritourism experiences and economics.
Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery offers a range of agritourism experiences, including live music nights, farm-to-table dining, workshops like wreath making and flower arranging, goat hikes and monthly markets.
With turbulent crop prices, an increase in agritourism provides opportunities for farmers to diversify their portfolios, create an additional source of income and advance the local economy, according to Renata Endres.
“It also brings people from outside the community to visit the farm, and while they visit the farms, they might stay in a hotel, eat in restaurants (and) support local businesses, so agritourism also has the potential to support community development,” Renata Endres said.
The property is a working farm and creamery in addition to tourist experiences, which pose challenges to effectively accommodating the public.
“We’ve never so wholeheartedly embraced the public as we have in the last two years, and in doing so, it really just revealed a lot of ways in which the farm wasn’t prepared,” Lay said.
Making sure spaces are clean and smell nice, maintaining licensure to make sure the farm and restaurant are safe for the public and effective marketing have been issues in the past.
“We have resolved the vast majority of those,” Lay said. “But this grant really helps us get from just good enough to a really great place.”
States have different laws regarding agritourism and what activities are incentivized on farmland. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been cutting funding in recent months, which has significantly impacted farmers’ abilities to expand into agritourism.
“I think it’s critical that the state of Illinois stepped up to provide this funding when we see a severe reduction in federal funding going to support these entrepreneurial-type businesses,” said Bryan Endres, professor in ACES.
The Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery and its events are becoming a favorite within the C-U community and beyond.
“I loved visiting Prairie Farms; I’ve been once before for a live music event that my family and I really loved,” said Nicole Dudek, fifth-year student in AHS.
Anya Nair is an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a staff writer for The Daily Illini.