Blues, fine arts fill downtown Mt. Prospect Saturday

Blues tunes and fine arts return to downtown Mount Prospect this weekend. Admission is free; all residents have to do is bring their own blankets and chairs.

Maura El Metennani, Mount Prospect's public information officer, fills us in on the details.

Q. What's new this year?

The fest will go an hour later this year. Blues on the Green has a brand new stage this year with better lighting and sound. In addition to the Blues Bar, Vino 100 and Jimmy Johns will sell food and beverages. Central Continental Bakery will serve desserts.

Q. Who's your headliner?

Big James and the Chicago Playboys. Big James is former member of the Buddy Guy Blues Band. He has performed worldwide with the master bluesman and also appeared on Jay Leno's "Tonight Show." The Chicago Playboys rocked the main stage of the Chicago Blues Festival. Big James has also shared a stage with Eric Clapton, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Public Announcement, Dan Aykroyd, Larry Coryell & Lou Rawls.

Q. How many people typically attend?

Last year we had an estimated 5, 000 people. This year, we are hoping for an even larger turnout.

Q. What happens if it rains?

The event is rain or shine. But it's not going to rain!

Q. Best place to sit?

Bring your own blanket or chair and sit on the "green" in front of village hall. Tables and chairs will also be available.

Q. What else?

We ask attendees to bring a donation to the Mount Prospect food pantry. The list of acceptable items is available on www.mountprospect.org.

Souvenir Blues Fest T-shirts will also be for sale for $10 with a portion of the proceeds donated to the food pantry.

Q. What's the history behind Blues Fest?

The idea started in 2007 as part of a discussion about creating a comprehensive marketing plan for the village. We had invested a lot of effort in improving the downtown, but found that we needed to find ways to bring people there. One of our goals was to introduce new events that would draw people to the downtown and create a sense of community.

We had a beautiful village green, newly renovated streetscapes and better yet, a genuine blues venue, Blues Bar, right in our back yard.

We knew that if we could all agree to work together, a blues fest would be a great event to showcase all that was going on in our village. In a sense it was our debut as a destination place.

Q. Why combine it with the Fire Arts Fest?

We thought it made sense for the village to combine the blues fest, with the existing Special Events Commission's Fine Arts Festival with the idea that the two events could play off each other, attracting an even larger crowd for both.

Q. How did you pull that first one off?

The first Blues on the Green Bluesfest was held in 2008. Turnout was around 5,000.

Glen Andler, our public works director (and event planner extraordinaire) jumped right in. His crews hung street banners, handled setup, layout and all the behind the scenes details for the day.