The Conn family takes great pride in the Springfield community. We are dedicated to supporting local initiatives and projects that will enhance the quality of our precious city, as well as the life of its residents.

The Conn family and their related properties are deeply invested in the community-at-large. Conn Family Community Works is a 501(c)3 extension of Conn's Hospitality Group, Inc. that coordinates most of our donations and charitable giving, community partnerships, and non-profit event planning/execution.

Springfield Oyster and Beer Festival

Other cities have craft beer festivals. Why not Springfield?

It all started with a casual conversation between a few local Springfield business owners. They wanted to bring a quality beer fest to Springfield and to support Midwest craft brewers. Donating the profits to a local charity was an easy decision. Making it all a really good time was the easiest decision of all.

The first Springfield Oyster and Beer Festival was held September 11, 2010 and was a great success! Not only was it a great time with some outstanding craft brews and great food, the organizers were able to make a sizable donation to the Animal Protective League. They decided immediately they had to make this an annual event with a different recipient charity each year. To day, this one-day, five-hour festival has donated over $130,000 to local charities!


Learn more about the SOB Festival


Moonlight Market

Moonlight Market is an summer evening event series that highlights the talents of local Artists and Artisans from around the Central Illinois area. All vendor fees being donated to Conn Family Community Works, NFP!

 

Held the first and third Wednesdays of the month from May through September, make plans to come dine, sip and shop on those nights. 

Moonlight Market is held on Jackson Street between 6th and 7th in front of Obed & Isaac's from 6-9 pm.

This is a family-friendly and pet-friendly event series.  Come have fun, support local artists, and see what wonderful things downtown Springfield has to offer.

Learn More about Moonlight Market


 

The 3rd & Canedy (3C) Garden

As a result of the 2014 Springfield Oyster and Beer Festival, Generation Healthy Kids was able to create what quickly became their flagship garden project. With a small abandoned lot provided by the Conn family, the team created 20 raised garden beds and planted in the spring of 2015. Thanks to great compost and heavy spring rains- not to mention the dozens of volunteers- the garden quickly took off. Over 1600 lbs of food was generated from less than 1/4 acre of garden space in the first year alone. 

  • 400+ volunteer hours contributed

  • 1600+ lbs of food produced (at least- who knows what neighbors might harvest between worktimes!)

  • 30 adults participating at least semi-regularly

  • 20 kids participating at least semi-regularly


3C COMMUNITY GARDEN CONTACT FORM



Giving Back to the Community in which we live

In the early morning hours of April 29, 2018 Obed & Isaac's - Springfield experienced a fire in the outside beer garden kitchen. Thankfully the Springfield Fire Department was on the scene quickly and eliminated the fire before it could do more damage.

We are very fortunate to be able to make light of a situation that could have been MUCH worse. To show our appreciation of the Springfield Fire Department and those that were on call that evening, we invited them into our brewery to help us brew a special beer to be released almost 2 months after the fire.

The Station 1 Smoked Porter was a limited edition beer released on June 20, 2018 and $2500 from its sales were donated to the Burn Unit at Memorial Medical Center. 

 

Supporting old and new community traditions and the uniqueness of Elkhart, Illinois


Donation Requests

Charitable donation requests are handled by Conn Family Community Works and then coordinated through the appropriate property in the portfolio. Conn Family Community Works supports many organizations and events across many categories, but are especially focused on organizations/events that fit the following criteria:

  • Non-profits; ideally 501(c)3 or other tax-exempt statuses

  • Organizations that benefit a group (or groups) of recipients more than an individual

  • Organizations/events that directly benefit the greater Springfield or Peoria communities in Illinois

  • Organizations/events where a significant majority or all of the proceeds go directly to recipients

  • In addition, special emphasis is given to organizations/events that focus the following areas: Arts and Culture, Community Development, Education, Environmental Protection, Healthy Living, Historic Preservation, Animal Welfare, and Youth or Human Services

We regularly receive a large volume of requests and are fortunate to be able to accommodate many of them. We will review all requests on a monthly basis and follow up with those requests that we are able to accommodate. While we would love to support all charitable events and organizations that approach us, it is not possible to grant every request we receive. We will attempt to reply to all requests, and if we’re unable to help immediately, we encourage you to keep us in mind for future consideration.

Charitable Request Form