You may have seen the post from our publisher, but this is the official announcement.
The Illinois Eagle is suspending publication.
For the past few years, the readership and following of the Eagle has lagged far behind it’s big brother Great Lakes Den. It has a tenth of the readership and a fifth of the followers on social media. And I simply didn’t have the bandwidth to grow that following and really establish a distinct identity from the bigger publication. So, after eight years as an Illinois focused publication, we’re stopping work on The Illinois Eagle.
The site is not disappearing completely. We will keep the site up with it’s archives. We will still cover Illinois with the rest of the region on the Den. We’ll probably continue to have some postings on our Facebook page. We’ll simply be deactivating the advertisements and stop regular updates.
However, this doesn’t have to be a permanent closure. We may have left the car parked, but we’re also leaving the keys in the ignition. All of you can consider this an open invitation to grab the wheel and drive.
The biggest impediment to growing the Eagle was simply the available time and energy to give to it. Any person or group that wants to take over and see what they can do with it is welcome. The Den will continue to pay for the hosting, even if whoever takes it over competes directly with the Den.
The Eagle was established to give a voice to all the LGBTQ communities of Illinois, especially those outside of the Chicago area. I still believe those communities need that voice. Those communities should have a publication that speaks to and for them. The house is built. You just need to move in and arrange the furniture how you like it.