Now that is seems like it may stay on the warm side weather-wise, it is time for Andersonville lovers everywhere to turn their attention to the official kickoff of the summer festival season – Midsommarfest! This year’s festival takes place on Saturday, June 13 and Sunday June 14 from 11:00 am – 10:00 pm both days and promises to once again be (in our humble opinion) the best party in the city. We will have delicious food, great vendors, cold beer and 4 stages of music for your carefree dancing pleasure. The line up on all 4 stages is now final – see it after the jump!
NORTH STAGE – CLARK & CATALPA
Saturday, June 13
12:00 PM Jesse Thomas
1:00 PM Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus
2:00 PM Roots Rock Society
3:30 PM Windy City Cowboys
4:00 PM Devin & The Straights
6:00 PM Bumpus
8:00 PM 16 Candles
Sunday, June 14
12:30 PM The Dirty Rooks
1:30 PM Chicago Spirit Brigade
2:00 PM Al Rose
4:00 PM Sons of the Never Wrong
6:00 PM Dick Holiday & the Bamboo Gang
8:00 PM Funkadesi
CENTER STAGE – CLARK & BERWYN
Saturday, June 13
12:00 PM Chicago Spirit Brigade
12:30 PM The Hobo Wives
1:45 PM Traditional Maypole dance
2:00 PM 7th Heaven
4:00 PM Chicago Samba
6:00 PM Rock Candy
8:00 PM Mike and Joe
Sunday, June 14
11:00 AM Gospel Brunch featuring The Deliverance Singers
2:00 PM Woogie
3:30 PM ROTC
4:00 PM Spoken Four
6:00 PM Trippin’ Billies
8:00 PM Maggie Speaks
SOUTH STAGE – CLARK & FOSTER
sponsored by Simon’s Tavern
Saturday, June 13
2:00 PM Jimmy Sutton & His Rock n’ Roll Guitar
4:00 PM Libido Funk Circus
6:00 PM Arra
8:00 PM Too White Crew
Sunday, June 14
2:00 PM Prohibition Orchestra
4:00 PM CatFight
6:00 PM Wedding Banned
8:00 PM Hairbangers Ball
SWEDISH STAGE – CLARK & FOSTER
sponsored by The Swedish American Museum
Saturday, June 13
11:30 AM Opening Ceremony
11:45 AM Traditional Maypole dance
12:15 PM Chicago Spelmanslaget
12:40 PM Sverige Barnen I.O.S.
1:00 PM Nordic Folkdancers
1:20 PM Absolut Flicka Choir
Sunday, June 14
12:00 PM Nordland Band
FAMILY STAGE – CLARK & SUMMERDALE
sponsored by Alamo Shoes and Harris Bank
Saturday, June 13
12:00 PM Pet Parade with Ruff n’ Stuff
1:00 PM Trowbridge Guitar Studio
2:00 PM Raisin Rhyme
3:00 PM Scribble Monster
4:00 PM Emerald City
5:00 PM Little Nashville
Sunday, June 14
12:00 PM Merry Music Makers
12:30 PM Dream Big Performing Arts
1:00 PM Andersonville Suzuki Academy
2:00 PM Happiness Club
3:00 PM Trinity Irish Dancers
4:00 PM Radio Disney
5:00 PM School of Rock
We look forward to seeing everyone out and about at this year’s Midsommarfest!
How is this lineup cultivated and decided upon?
We use an event production company who books most of the acts, although we do give some feedback to make sure some of our favorites are included. Scotty at Simon’s Tavern books the stage at Foster. If you know of a band you would like to recommend, you can always contact us, but I encourage people to contact Star Events just because they plan a lot of festivals throughout the summer and can potentially offer more opportunities to play.
I’m SO excited about this. I was born in the area and lived there for about 11 years until I moved, and I’ve been to this event almost every single year, and loved it. I’m excited about this year, the lineup looks great.
Oh and Scott rocks, I know him in person.
I’m wondering though, is there going to be a petting zoo this year? I used to love the petting zoo.
CC – look forward to seeing you out at Midsommarfest! No petting zoo this year – we haven’t done one for the past 7-8 years. But we will have a great family area, and of course lots of great vendors and the stage line up is really exciting. I wish I had more time that weekend to actually enjoy the music, but I am always running around!
Are we allowed to bring dogs?
Sorry there won’t be a petting zoo. It gets pretty rough for the animals if the temperature starts to climb. It’s always hard to make sure the animals are well treated so we don’t have a petting zoo anymore.
Yes, dogs are allowed! They must be leashed and we do request that you keep the leash pretty short. It’s easy for dogs on long leashes to create a lot of mayhem when the crowds are dense. I’d definitely recommend signing up for the pet parade! It’s a lot of fun.
No way. The two best bands, Too White Crew and 16 Candles, are on opposite stages at the same time on Saturday night. Boo to the people who let that happen.
[...] Midsommarfest! We hope to see you all there. If you haven’t already, check out our post about the band lineup. In the meantime, be sure to check out all of the fun things happening THIS weekend! And if you [...]
Will the basketball hoops be set up again this year? My kids had a blast last year! Thanks.
Sorry, I don’t think there will be basketball hoops again. That interactive display was a special deal to promote the USA Olympic basketball team before the Olympics in China last year. But we will be having a climbing wall and inflatables for the kids in our Family Area, as well as other activities!
How do you sign up for the pet parade?
If you’re interested in signing up for the Pet Parade at Midsommarfest, stop by Ruff N’ Stuff, 5430 N. Clark before Friday.
[...] shirtless boys, from falafel to free family fun, from neighbors to ‘nother beer. Add to that over 50 bands, selections from some of our best local restaurants, and the best darn people watching this side of [...]
hi how can we get the winning raffle numbers? We had a terrific time last weekend, thanks for all you do.
-skokie resident.
We will be pulling the winners early next week and doing a post here about who won!
hi-still hoping for a response to my earlier post about more family/kid friendly vendors and activities.
Kris – I am always be happy to talk to people about ideas for more family-friendly activities. I feel like over the past few years we have worked to increase the amount of stuff we have had for kids based on feedback we had gotten from people in the neighborhood. In fact I think the Family Stage was really great this year because we had someone who really know about kid-friendly entertainment do all of the programming. But any additional input is always helpful. Feel free to hit me up on my email here at jcox@andersonville.org. And here is a great blog post that someone wrote about what her kids did at the festival – http://chiilmama.blogspot.com/2009/06/swede-times-in-chicagos-andersonville.html
Are the raffle winners’ names going to be posted? I was surprised to read above that the winners would be drawn “next week” from June 19, when the the ticket I have says that winners will be drawn the week of June 15. And Mena’s web site isn’t working now.
We just drew the raffle winners names at the end of last week. We’ll be posting the names as soon as we’ve contacted the winners (it’s nice to make sure they hear it from us). Sometimes there is a delay in drawing the winners because we’re waiting for a few more raffle prizes to come in (as was the case this year). We like to make sure we have all of the prizes on hand when we contact the winners.