Illinois REALTORS® Bicentennial Task Force members meet in East Peoria Illinois during the association’s Public Policy Meetings. Photo: Scott Moomaw

Members of the Illinois REALTORS® Bicentennial Task Force met Monday in East Peoria to discuss the association’s plans to honor the state’s 200th anniversary.

REALTOR® Vicky Turner at a meeting of the Bicentennial Task Force. Turner serves as chair of the panel.

The association began planning last year to commemorate the state’s milestone birthday in 2018, and heard presentations from task force committee members and a representative serving on the Illinois Bicentennial Commission.

The state association task force outlined plans to have local associations to adopt local historic landmarks. Capital Area REALTORS® recently announced it was adopting a Springfield historic site, and other local REALTOR® associations are in the planning process.

“This can be a small project, it does not have to be big,” said Vicky Turner, the task force’s chair. “We want to make sure the community knows about our work.”

Rebecca Thomson gives an update that the Bicentennial Task Force meeting on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017.

Jim Kinney, a former Illinois REALTORS® president who serves on the state commission, said the commission met for the first time in January. He praised the state association task force’s planning.

“This is a great opportunity where as REALTORS® we can show the public and the state our leadership potential,” Kinney said.

The state association is looking at developing property on the north side of its Springfield headquarters into a park commemorating the state’s 200th birthday.

The REALTORS® effort to celebrate the bicentennial has a Facebook page, and uses a Twitter hashtag, #REALTORSworkingwithHeart.