Playing in Peoria?

How did I play in Peoria? That was the witty (?) question I encountered around the office after returning a couple of weeks ago from speaking at the Creve Coeur Club of Peoria’s 120th annual Washington Birthday banquet. My response was to challenge my interlocutors as to whether they knew the origin of that phrase. None did, as I didn’t, until I did a few minutes of research on the history of Peoria before speaking there.

 

The phrase doesn’t originate, as I’d assumed it did, in mid-20th century marketing or politics, reflecting an assumption that Peoria is emblematic of Middle America. Rather, as the indispensable Wikipedia informs us (it really has become indispensable, hasn’t it?):