A traveling exhibit created by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum will be present during the Illinois State Fair from Aug. 7 to 17.

The exhibit, “Abraham Lincoln: Self-Made in America,” consists of graphics, facsimile documents, artifacts and presentation of the video, “The Civil War in Four Minutes,” in a 53-foot trailer.

In addition to recent stops at the Taste of Chicago from June 27 to July 2, and the Naperville Ribfest July 3 to 6, the exhibit will be present at Lincoln Bicentennial events around the country until August 2010.

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A musical presentation, “The Civil War,” by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum will take place Tuesday through Friday, July 24-27, at Union Square Park in Springfield. It honors men and women who fought and lived through the war.

For information or reservations, call (217) 558-8934 or access http://www.abelincolnmuseum.org.

Special events planned

“Tour de Lincoln,” a 360-mile bicycle trip through important sites in the life of the 16th president, will take place from Aug. 16 to 23.

Participants will follow Lincoln’s pathways from his birth in Hodgenville, Ky., his boyhood in Southern Indiana and adult life in Springfield and other Illinois locations.

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“Conversations with Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas,” an informal dialogue about issues of their days, will be held Saturday, Aug. 16, at the Old State Capitol in Springfield. Access http://www.oldstatecapitol.orgfor details.

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The sesquicentennial of the Lincoln-Douglas debates will be observed in recreations by actors portraying Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas.

Starting Aug. 22 in Ottawa and ending Oct. 19 in Alton, the presentations will take place on weekends nearest the dates of the 1858 debates.

The series will be preceded by an appearance on July 26 in Bement, where Lincoln and Douglas may have met to discuss details of their debates.

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The 1828 voyage by Abraham Lincoln on a flatboat from Rockport, Ind., to New Orleans will be re-enacted in a 26-day tour of 18 cities in eight states in September.

Illinois communities where stops will be made include Cave-in-Rock, Elizabethtown, Metropolis and Cairo.

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A 37-mile bicycle tour, from Urbana to Danville, will be conducted by the Champaign County Lincoln Bicentennial Committee on Sunday, Sept. 28, to simulate Lincoln’s horseback journeys along the circuit.

The ride will begin at the Cattle Bank at First Street and University Avenue in Urbana, and head east to the County Courthouse located where the old courthouse was located in Lincoln’s day.

Participants will head east on Main Street, south to Washington, and on to Danville along Route 150 and an old state road that parallels it. Several turnaround points will allow riders to return without covering all 37 miles.

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The Knox College Lincoln Studies Center in Galesburg will conduct its 23rd annual Lincoln Colloquium on Sunday, Oct. 12, at the site where Lincoln and Douglas held their sixth debate on Oct. 13, 1858.

The topic is “The Lincoln Douglas Debates.” Speakers include author Garry Wills, James M. McPherson, Allen C. Guelzo, David Zarefsky and Rodney O. Davis.

Call (309) 341-7158 for information or access http://www.knox.edu/lincolnstudies.xml.

Lincoln links

During the next few months as the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth nears, the ISBA Bar News will publish information about related events throughout the state. Send details by e-mail to sanderson@isba.org.