Things to Do in Sterling

As a member of the National Association of Consumer Shows, Showtime Productions, Inc. has hosted some of the largest and most well-attended trade shows in the Midwest. The Rockford Home Show, for example, has been going strong for more than 30 years, and Showtime partners with Landro Productions to organize boating and fishing and camping and travel shows that have attracted outdoor enthusiasts for more than four decades.

Many of their events are held at the Indoor Sports Center, a 60,000-square-foot complex where visitors have plenty of room to walk past rows and rows of exhibit booths. Convention guests refuel with burgers, tacos, and other casual bites while watching the action below from the second-floor Skybox Restaurant and sports bar.

Located high above the wilderness of the Illinois River Valley, the cables, suspension bridges, and treetop platforms at Zip Chicago are fully designed and licensed by the EBL (Experience Based Learning Inc.)—a leading authority in ziplining adventures. Six half-inch cables ranging between 225 feet and 1,000 feet in length snake through the hardwood forest, providing bird's-eye views of the Illinois River Valley from up to 90 feet above the ground. Throughout the tours, fully trained guides ensure every detail results in a safe, exciting adventure, from clipping into the harnesses properly to converting cell phones into grappling-hook mode.

J&J Tumbling, Trampoline, Dance & Swimming's team of athletic instructors strives to create a fun, enjoyable learning environment where kids and adults can master skills in a variety of sports, including cheerleading, swimming, and gymnastics. Within the facility's spacious gym, parents watch from the balcony as their offspring spring on five Olympic-sized trampolines and flip onto the surrounding safety mats and foam pits. A 50'x28' saltwater pool kept at a toasty 89 degrees sections off into four lap lanes where swimmers practice their breast strokes and water-walking lizards train for relay races. The sturdy hardwood floors of their dance studio weather the fiery footsteps of students learning ballet, jazz, and hip-hop gesticulations. J&J's fitness classes keep adult exercisers in fine fettle with workout routines such as lap swim, aerobics, yoga, and Zumba.