Last year, my older sister and brother-in-law took a trip to Minnesota. While they were there, they mentioned that they were going to be doing an "escape room." Awesome!....what is an escape room?? Apparently you're put into a room with a group of people and you have to search the room to find clues and crack codes in order to escape the room. If you can do it during a certain amount of time, you win! If you don't you lose. 

I've had my fair share of swimming pools, frozen beverages and layers of sunscreen this summer already, but there's one thing in summer that I haven't enjoyed yet: a good old Midwestern festival. Lucky for us here in Rockford, August is FULL of festivals each weekend! These events have pulled out all the stops. There are carnival rides, deep fried food, games with prizes and of course, live music. Here is a rundown of festivals during the month of August here in the Rockford region. Have fun!!

Zak Rotello knows all things beer and Tour de North End. We sat down with him and talked about The Olympic, Rockford, beer and bikes.

Imagine standing in an open field with a group of other people, and you're told to move from one spot to another. Sounds easy, right? Now imagine that it's 90 degrees out, you have to move your feet at the EXACT same time as everyone else, you can't bounce when you walk, you can't look down, you might be moving backwards...oh yeah, and you're playing songs from memory on an instrument. Not so easy anymore! This is just the tip of the iceberg of what members of the Phantom Regiment do for every practice and performance! 

It's that time again! Each year (at least for the past two years...) I write a Fourth of July Cheat Sheet to help you with your holiday weekend planning! Here is your 2016 edition!!

When you're a kid, it's not out of the norm to hang upside down on a jungle gym, or swing from a rope on a playground. It is a bit different when you're doing these things as an adult...in a yoga class. 

Hello everyone!

For this week's photo blog, I wanted to show the focus that's been in the back of my head for a few weeks -- making cleaner images. With my photography background mostly in photojournalism and landscape photography, I find the two styles (particularly in how the photo is executed) often clash.

Hello everyone, I'm Tyler Yomantas! I just started at the RACVB as a summer marketing intern and photographer. I have lived in the Rockford area all my life, and I graduated last year from Guilford High School. I am currently a student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design pursuing my BFA in photography. I have been a photographer for just over 7 years.

My first blog features some of my favorite photos from the past week from events such as: the live interview with WGN featuring Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, and Mayor Larry Morrisey, along with a Press Conference for Rockford Sharefest, Landscaping for Forest City Beautiful, Tough Mudder (shown above), and the Rockford Marathon.

I'm naturally a cold person. Andrea and I have a space heater under the desk that we run year round (yes, even in the summer). I sometimes get self conscious when I shake peoples' hands because I usually get the response, "Oh my! Your hands are so cold!"

As we start the new year with a fresh coat of snow on the ground, it seems more like a winter