Greetings and welcome to Lit!! I'm not certain what cities are in which areas of Illinois (since I'm not from here) and I know Illinois is a "long" state, so we very well could be quite far apart.
I live in Rockford. I've been here since Sept. of last year and am from Omaha, NE. I know no one here offline and have been looking to make friends.
Saturday, April 12th (yes, I know it's a ways off still) there is going to be a "Litogether" at a sports bar called LT's here in Rockford. (It's on Alpine St. south of East State.) We do not have a time set yet since we've been going off of feedback from all people in the area who are interested in going.
There is a thread about it titled: Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin Litogether in the Playground and it is open to any people who wish to attend. Feel free to check out the thread and post if you'd like.
If us "northern folk" aren't what you're looking for, I wish you well in your search here at Lit!