Festivals in the Chicago / Midwest area ?

[Rollie]

Are there any Camping/ picking festivals in the Chicago / Midwest area ? The weathers is right , Time to get out and play some guitar .

[Chicago Sandy]

The Gebhard Woods Dulcimer Festival welcomes pickers of all acoustic instruments. It is in the Gebhard Woods State Park in Morris, IL, the weekend of June 9 & 10. There are workshops and mainstage concert sets--and SASS! will once again be performing and teaching. (Will have exact sched. soon). Donation for the fest is $15 (suggested). There are tent campsites in the park--though parking immediately adjacent is limited, there are shuttles from the remote lots. (Campers and vans are allowed in the lots, though I don't think there are RV hookups). The festival ends at 6 pm each night, although there is plenty of jamming around the campsites and parking lots. Plenty of food and crafts, too.

Labor Day Weekend is when the Fox Valley Folk Festival takes place in Island Park, literally an island in the Fox River in downtown Geneva, IL. Sugg. donation is $10 but nobody is turned away since the park is public. Parking on-site is limited to performers and volunteers but there are nearby lots with shuttles, and the park is located steps from the Metra train station. No camping on-site, though there are campgrounds within 1/2 hr.'s drive and plenty of motel rooms in Geneva, St. Charles and Batavia; and slightly further away in Elgin, Aurora, N. Aurora and Naperville. Besides the main stage, three workshop stages, and storytelling/singaround/kids' tents there are spontaneous jams all over the place, especially on the benches along the riversides and under trees. There is a barn dance on the Sat. night immediately preceding the fest.