Hubbard Trail Days 2026 — Photo Gallery & Recap

A shopping day built on a history lesson

On the second Saturday of September, Downtown Watseka handed out passports and asked people to walk. Twenty shops, twenty stamps, and a two-hundred-year-old trade route running right down the middle of it.

Hubbard Trail Days ran from 11 AM to 5 PM on Saturday, September 12, 2026. Passports came from the Santa House in the First Trust parking lot, or straight from a phone, and every participating business along the way had a stamp waiting at the counter.

Tables came out onto the sidewalk and stayed there all day. There were flowers in buckets on Walnut Street, chalk on the pavement, a prize wheel outside Harbor House, popcorn, snow cones, free popsicles from W.G.F.A., and a fire truck the kids were allowed to climb. Shops that are usually quiet on a Saturday afternoon had lines at the register.

Stamped passports came back to the Santa House, where volunteers counted them and entered people into the drawings on the spot: ten stamps, fifteen stamps, or the full twenty. The drawings were held in the days that followed and winners were contacted directly.

None of it was ticketed and none of it was gated. It was a free day downtown, paid for by the businesses and neighbours listed further down this page.

A visitor holding up a Hubbard Trail Days passport filled with collected stamps — A full passport, twenty stamps and twenty stories.

The Photo Gallery

Eighty photographs from the day, taken all along the trail. Click any photo to see it full size, then use the arrows or your keyboard to move through the set.

Photographs by Jani Marie Films & Photos, (815) 383-2088, shot for Visit Watseka on Hubbard Trail Days, Saturday, September 12, 2026.

Mile Markers

Our supporters and donors. Hubbard Trail Days cost visitors nothing, which only works because these businesses, organisations and neighbours paid for the printing, the prizes and the extras that filled the street.

And every stamp stop. All twenty participating businesses opened their doors, kept a stamp at the counter and handled a day of foot traffic, free of charge. They are listed further down this page. Thank you as well to the volunteers who staffed the Santa House, counted stamps and ran the Kids Zone, and to Perfect Pawz for the dog treats and bandanas.

How the trail worked

Paper or phone, it counted the same. Here is the shape of the day, kept on the page for anyone planning to walk it with us next time.

Pick up a passport

Paper passports were handed out at the Santa House in the First Trust parking lot. A digital passport did the same job from a phone.

Collect the stamps

Walkers stepped into each participating shop, looked around, and asked for the stamp. Twenty stops, twenty different stamps.

Turn it in

Stamped passports came back to the Santa House. A volunteer counted them and entered each walker in the drawing they had earned.

🥉

Trail Walker

10 stamps

🥈

Pathfinder

15 stamps

🥇

Trailblazer

All 20 stamps

Drawings held after the event. Winners contacted directly.

The twenty stops

Every one of these was a stamp stop. Many also had tables out front for the sidewalk sale, and for one Saturday the whole street was a marketplace. The trail facts below are the ones that travelled with each stamp.

BookishStop 1

131 E. Walnut St.(815) 383-4152

A one-of-a-kind combination of books and wine — the perfect cozy spot to browse, sip, and settle in for a while.

Trail Fact No. 1Gurdon Hubbard once walked seventy-five miles through the night to warn settlers of a threatened raid, arriving before dawn. The Potawatomi named him Pa-pa-ma-ta-be, or Swift-Walker.The trail he wore north is now Route 1, the road just outside this door.

Sugar Creek Trading CoStop 2

127 E Walnut St.(815) 644-4474

Trail Fact No. 2In the early 1820s Hubbard set up a trading post where the Iroquois River meets Sugar Creek. His license, granted in 1822, covered the Iroquois River and all its tributaries.The creek this shop is named for is the reason there is a town here at all.

Simply Country ShoppeStop 3

106 E. Walnut St.(217) 495-1790

A charming shop with a country aesthetic — gifts, home decor, and unique finds for every occasion.

Trail Fact No. 3Hubbard came west in 1818 as a sixteen-year-old clerk for the American Fur Company. He never left Illinois again, and died in Chicago in 1886.He was younger than most of the people walking this street today.

XO Nail SalonStop 4

129 E. Walnut St.(815) 383-7112

Trail Fact No. 4In 1962 Katherine Clifton left Iroquois County both the money and the land for a new courthouse, a gift of more than $1.5 million. The site was ground her husband had once meant to make a municipal airport.No public money, no bond issue. One woman simply paid for it.

Harbor House Resale ShoppeStop 5

100 E Walnut St(815) 432-3525

A nonprofit resale shop supporting the Harbor House mission — great finds at great prices while giving back to the community.

Trail Fact No. 5Watchekee was the daughter of Shabbona and Monashki. Shabbona was a Potawatomi leader and warrior respected across the region, and his name is said to mean Built Like a Bear.Her father counseled peace when war would have been the easier choice.

Above Family GroomingStop 6

203 E. Walnut St.(815) 386-1671

Trail Fact No. 6Watchekee married Gurdon Hubbard here in 1826, in the Potawatomi tradition. The marriage lasted only a few years and ended by mutual agreement, but her story reached far past it.He got a street in Chicago. She got the whole town.

MyClozet2YourzStop 7

102 S. Fourth St.

MyClozet2Yourz is dedicated to making our customers look good for Less.

Trail Fact No. 7The 1833 Treaty of Chicago forced the Potawatomi off this land and west across the Mississippi. Watchekee was removed with her people to reservations in Iowa and Kansas.Everything on this street sits on ground that was taken by treaty.

W.G.F.A.Stop 8

Pop-up in the Kids Zone

Trail Fact No. 8Watchekee never accepted the leaving. She walked back to this country again and again from the reservations. Her descendants estimate she covered more than six thousand miles on foot.You are walking a few blocks of a trail she walked for a lifetime.

The HubStop 9

114 N. 3rd St., Watseka(815) 785-1015

Trail Fact No. 9In 1865 the village of South Middleport was made the county seat, incorporated as a city, and renamed Watseka in her honor.The town changed its name to remember a woman it had helped drive out.

La PotosinaStop 10

200 W. Walnut St., Watseka(815) 432-4500

Trail Fact No. 10In 1840 Watchekee was baptized and given the name Josette. She married Francis Xavier Bergeron, a French Canadian she met on one of her long walks back east.Her descendants are the ones who counted up all those miles.

Trios SteakhouseStop 11

1140 E. Walnut St.(815) 432-1116

Watseka's newest steakhouse and bar — premium cut steaks, burgers, pastas, and specialty drinks, with specials all week long. Perfect for date night, family gatherings, or game day.

Trail Fact No. 11Hubbard went on to build Chicago's first stockyard and to serve as an alderman of the city. Chicago still has a Hubbard Street and a Hubbard High School.The cattle trade that fed Chicago started with a boy on this river.

Massey DesignStop 12

116 E. Walnut St.(815) 644-4642

Custom apparel, graphic design, and branded merchandise for businesses and organizations throughout Iroquois County.

Trail Fact No. 12The path Hubbard wore north toward Chicago became known as Hubbard's Trace. Settlers followed it, it widened into a road, and that road is now Illinois Route 1.A footpath became a highway without ever moving.

The Silo Pub & EateryStop 13

117 W. Walnut St.(815) 450-1461

A Downtown Watseka staple right next door to the Farmers Market. Great food, cold drinks, and a warm welcome any day of the week.

Trail Fact No. 13Iroquois County was organized in 1833 with a population of just 350 people. Its first county seat was not here at all, but at a settlement called Montgomery.Three hundred and fifty people in the entire county. Look around.

Spleodar FollaineStop 14

127 1/2 E. Walnut St.(815) 351-9854

Trail Fact No. 14Before the treaties this country belonged to the Potawatomi and the Kickapoo, and before them to peoples of the Illini Confederation. Chief Tamin led the Kankakee band.The Hubbard Trail is one thread. There are a great many others.

Griswold FeedStop 15

119 E. Cherry St.(815) 411-4279

Trail Fact No. 15Watseka grew where two railroads crossed, the Toledo, Peoria & Western and the Chicago & Eastern Illinois.The trail made the town. The rails are what kept it.

The First Trust & Savings BankStop 16

120 E Walnut St(815) 432-2494

Trail Fact No. 16When the Iroquois County courthouse was rebuilt in 1964, it was paid for entirely by a bequest from Katherine Clifton, believed to be the only courthouse in the country built wholly with private money.One woman's will bought a county its courthouse.

Gray FarmsStop 17

Pop-up at 127 E. Walnut St., Watseka

Trail Fact No. 17Henry Bacon was born right here in Watseka on November 28, 1866. He grew up to design the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, dedicated in 1922.A boy from this town drew the room where Lincoln sits.

Ingram AtelierStop 18

203 1/2 E. Walnut St.

A father-and-daughter gallery in downtown Watseka specializing in original art — creating art for all.

Trail Fact No. 18In 1878 Watseka drew national attention for the case called The Watseka Wonder, when thirteen-year-old Lurancy Vennum appeared to take on the personality of a girl who had died years before.For a while this quiet town was the strangest place in America.

Traditions Bar, Inc.Stop 19

104 W. Walnut St., Watseka(815) 644-0499

Trail Fact No. 19Watchekee, the woman this town is named for, was born around 1810 near the Kankakee River. Her name comes down to us as Daughter of the Evening Star.Say the name of this town out loud and you are saying hers.

Illiana Backyard FunStop 20

800 E. Walnut St., Watseka(815) 432-1100

Trail Fact No. 20Every storefront on this street sits on a two-hundred-year-old trade route. The fur trade, the settlers, the railroad and the highway all came through on the same line.You have walked the whole trail now. Welcome to the end of it.

The Free Kids Zone

It ran all day on Third Street, between Walnut and Oak.

The Hub opened up for kids and teens, with tunes and snow cones.
W.G.F.A. handed out free popsicles.
Harbor House brought free chalk, and the pavement showed it.
Perfect Pawz had free dog treats and colour-your-own bandanas for the dogs on the trail.
A fire truck everyone was allowed to climb up into for photos.

Collect Them All

Every stamp in the passport carried a face from Watseka’s history. Collect the set and you collected the story.

Watchekee collectible stamp — **Watchekee**“Daughter of the Evening Star.” The Potawatomi woman this town is named for, who walked back to this land again and again after her people were removed west.

Gurdon Hubbard collectible stamp — **Gurdon Hubbard**The young fur trader the Potawatomi called *Pa-pa-ma-ta-be*, Swift-Walker. The path he wore north is now Illinois Route 1, running through our downtown.

Katherine Clifton collectible stamp — **Katherine Clifton**Her bequest paid for the Iroquois County courthouse in 1964, believed to be the only courthouse in the country built entirely with private money.

Henry Bacon collectible stamp — **Henry Bacon**Born in Watseka in 1866. He grew up to design the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, dedicated in 1922.

The invitation

The film that went around town in the weeks before the trail opened, kept here for the record.

Why “Hubbard”?

Two hundred years ago a young fur trader named Gurdon Hubbard set up a trading post where the Iroquois River meets Sugar Creek, the ground Downtown Watseka stands on today. The Potawatomi called him Pa-pa-ma-ta-be, or Swift-Walker, after he covered seventy-five miles on foot through the night to warn settlers of a threatened raid, arriving before dawn.

The path he wore north toward Chicago became known as Hubbard’s Trace. Settlers followed it, it widened into a road, and that road is now Illinois Route 1, still running straight through our downtown. Every storefront here sits on a two-hundred-year-old trade route.

But our town does not carry his name. It carries hers. Watchekee, “Daughter of the Evening Star,” was a Potawatomi woman and the daughter of the respected leader Shabbona. She married Hubbard here in 1826. After the 1833 Treaty of Chicago forced her people west, she walked back to this land again and again, thousands of miles over a lifetime of removals. In 1865, Middleport was renamed Watseka in her honor.

Most people here, visitors and lifelong residents alike, had never heard that story. On September 12 they collected it one stamp at a time.