Andrew Sullender/Chicago Sun-Times
VILLA GROVE, Ill. The bar is officially named the Embarras, because it’s barely a bottle cap’s throw from the Embarras River in central Illinois.
But in this rural community some 160 miles south of Chicago, everyone just calls it “the bar.”
And now, whether locals like it or not, it’s known as the site of a coronavirus “superspreader” event.
On a bitterly cold February night, residents lined up for the opening of the bar, one of the few establishments in town for locals to gather for some fun after a year of COVID-19 lockdowns.