Do you ukulele? Aurora wants you to at City of Lights Ukulele Fest

Its most popular song is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," but there's more to the ukulele than Hawaiian songs and hula music.

The instrument is the focus of a new event launching Aug. 26 in Aurora, the City of Lights Ukulele Fest, which will offer a Midwest outlet to celebrate the passion around ukulele performance and introduce more listeners to the fun.

"There are ukulele fests happening all over the world and they're quite popular, so I thought it might be a good idea to have one here in Aurora," said Ward 6 Alderman Mike Saville, a ukulele fan who came up with the idea and is sponsoring the inaugural event. "We think there's going to be a multistate draw."

The event promises seven hours of ukulele music on two stages along with vendors selling ukuleles from $100 to $2,000, workshops for beginners to advanced musicians, Hawaiian dancing, Hawaiian crafts, kids games, food vendors and coordinated activities at downtown Aurora's four museums, which will be open for the day.

Organizers say attendees can listen, get intrigued, buy an inexpensive ukulele, take a beginner workshop offered by a main-stage performer, join a singalong and leave with the ability to play a song - all without paying the admission price of $10 per person or $25 for families. Kids even can use cardboard boxes, rubber bands and twigs to "make a musical instrument that they can go home and annoy their parents with," festival co-chairman Todd Von Ohlen said.

Tickets are required only to see main stage performances, although donations will be welcomed.

The musical flexibility of the ukulele makes all of this possible, festival co-chairman Mark Strausberger says.

"It can be a simple instrument to play. It can be a difficult instrument to play if you want it to be," said Strausberger, who considers his ukulele hobby "an obsession" and has been playing for eight years. "You can expand it out to make it sound like a six-string guitar if you want to. It just depends on how committed you want to be."

Although best-known as a Hawaiian folk instrument made popular by performances such as Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole's rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," enthusiasts say the ukulele can tackle any genre.

One of the groups set to take the main stage, The Beatleleles, proves that by playing only Beatles tunes on their small stringed instruments. Von Ohlen says other main stage performers will play "old-timey folk," rhythm and blues and traditional Hawaiian songs.

"A whole wide range of music played on this tiny little instrument," he said.

Strausberger said Hix Bros Ukulele Band, a group of local performers also set to take the main stage, will further showcase the instrument's versatility by playing songs by Styx, among classic Hawaiian selections. He said artists such as Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and Taylor Swift have further popularized the ukulele by recording their own talents on the instrument.

"If you play guitar, violin, mandolin or almost any other stringed instrument, you can translate what you know to the ukulele rather quickly," Von Ohlen said. "It's just a fun little instrument."

Working through the Aurora Area Convention & Visitors Bureau to advertise the event in a five-state radius, organizers say they're already piquing interest near and far.

Strausberger said he's heard from a family in Elmhurst with ukulele players ages 10, 14 and 16, all of whom want to take the stage. A small stage accessible for free at the event, situated along the Water Street Mall between Benton Street and Galena Boulevard, will allow exactly that, with an open mic for ukulele performers and local talent.

"We want to really get the young people in there," Strausberger said, "and get them an opportunity to play in front of big crowds."

If you go

What: City of Lights Ukulele Fest

When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26

Where: Water Street Mall, 11-13 S. Water St., Aurora

Who: Features performers Lil Rev, Gerald Ross, Lanialoha Lee, The Fabulous Heftones, The Beatleleles and Hix Bros Ukulele Band

Cost: Festival admission free; main stage tickets $10 each or $25 for a family pack

Info: <a href="https://www.cityoflightsukulelefestival.com/">cityoflightsukulelefestival.com</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CityOfLightsUkuleleFestival/">facebook.com/CityOfLightsUkuleleFestival/</a>