By Gary Barlow

Staff writer

Illinois’ Downstate GLBT community newspaper, Prairie Flame, has closed after more than 11 years of providing local GLBT news in its hometown, Springfield, and smaller towns from Carbondale to Rockford, Peoria and Champaign/Urbana.

Owners and partners Buff Carmichael and Jerry Bowman told the Springfield Journal-Register that rising distribution and printing costs doomed the newspaper.

“We held out until the very last day of the (February) deadline before we made our decision,” Carmichael told the Journal-Register. “We just held out hope that something would happen and we would keep it going.”

Carmichael and Bowman distributed about 8,000 copies of Prairie Flame every month, often driving the bundles themselves to the smaller cities where the paper’s readers lived. It was distributed at more than 200 points in Illinois.

Last year Carmichael and Bowman were honored by Equality Illinois for their contributions to the state’s GLBT community.

“I only have the highest regard for those two guys,” said Equality Illinois Political Director Rick Garcia. “It’s just unfortunate that they were unable to keep it up. It’s the end of an era.”

Prairie Flame’s February issue was its last. Carmichael said several people have offered suggestions—ranging from distributing only in Springfield to publishing online—but said he and Bowman haven’t found any of those alternatives to be workable.