Nick Rynerson is all-in on Lexington, but he’s originally from the Twin Cities.
“I’m what they call a ‘townie’ in Bloomington-Normal,” he said in an interview at Lexington’s new Upstairs Bookstore.
Rynerson is a 2009 graduate of Normal West High School, where he played football.
“I was really bad,” he said. “I got injured my senior year; it was the best. I didn’t have to play. I got to wear the jersey. I didn’t have to, like, harm people. I was too sensitive.”
Football might be the only thing Rynerson isn’t good at. He’s worked in publishing and film production, including producing commercials for State Farm. He and his wife fell in love with Lexington, where they bought an old farmhouse they're renovating and launched a design, marketing and branding agency called Bolt Cutter.
They immersed themselves in the community, even having something to do with downtown Lexington's revitalization. Bolt Cutter re-did the town's website. And they created fresh, cohesive signage for several businesses, including Lexington Social and Analytical Brewing.
“We have really been accepted by people,” Rynerson said. “We’ve been accepted by the town.”
Looking to add a brick-and-mortar commitment in Lexington as a hub for his business, Rynerson moved his vast book collection to the second floor of Lexington Social, fittingly called the Upstairs Bookstore.
To get there, you walk right through the middle of Lexington Social, which still uses its second floor for overflow seating from time to time.
“We feel like happy little squatters,” Rynerson said. “It’s been really cool to be able to just be up here and see where that goes.”
The shop is currently open for Lexington's fourth Fridays and by appointment. They've also experimented with hosting live music, which the shop's vaulted ceilings are perfect for.
“I don’t know what that’s going to look like in six months,” he said, “which is kind of cool. We have that flexibility if things come up or to stay here. It’s fun to have that extension of our home.”
Things Rynerson likes
Upstairs Bookstore's theme, according to Rynerson is, "things I like." It's a mix of classics, rare and limited edition finds, favorite children's books and random collections culled from estate sales and Facebook marketplace. A fair number of titles are by local authors or focus on McLean County history. One of his favorites is Funk of Funk's Grove, originally published in 1952 by The Pantagraph.
If it's about Central Illinois, Rynerson wants it.
“It’s kind of boring,” he said. “If you are from here, there’s this latent resentment a lot of people have for being from the flat. When you sit in it long enough — when you live here long enough and observe the plants that change on the side of the highway, when the chicory comes or the yarrow comes, you can see the movement and the poetry of the place.”
Rynerson took a calendar year to try and capture that poetry, writing his first collection of poems called Seasons: A Year of Midwestern Life.
A limited run of 300 hardback copies is scheduled to arrive at the end of the month — the only new book sold in the Upstairs Bookstore. Rynerson launched a boutique publishing company called Impeded Stream in 2024, with a 40-page magazine celebrating the 10th anniversary of Duncan Manor as its inaugural project. The glossy features Dave and Randy Howell's once-abandoned, austere Italianate mansion in the middle of a Towanda cornfield, which they've converted into an arts and event space, in addition to living in it as their family home.
Seasons is a love letter to Central Illinois, divided by month. There are plenty of musings on the region’s black dirt and ecology, but also the lumps and bumps of everyday life in 2025. There's one about air conditioning window units getting installed in sweltering June. Another, for Rynerson’s wife, is called Girl Boss. Several take jabs at Big Ag.
“When you look at the fields that are full of hybridized seed corn that are being subsidized, commoditized and not eaten by the people who live here, you can see in the slow roll of the fields this beauty that is still here,” Rynerson said. “No matter how hard we try to pulverize it away, there’s something about this area that is so magic.”
Put together, Rynerson is using his collection of skills and passions to notice the place he loves — and to write it all down.
“I think this area fosters greatness, but it doesn’t encourage greatness of itself,” he said. “Usually, people who are awesome from here go off somewhere else and become famous. Let’s write about Illinois. There’s something here I want to help people see.”
The Upstairs Bookstore and Impeded Stream are located above Lexington Social, 322 W. Main St. Seasons: A Year of Midwestern Life is available for pre-order at impededstream.com. A limited run of about 300 hardback copies is scheduled to arrive in late March. Author Nick Ryerson plans to host a book launch event and reading at Emerald & Amethyst on May 3.
