Glen Ellyn Sounds of the Street brings music, food and wine outdoors
It's kind of like dipping your toe into cold water.
This is Main Street in downtown Glen Ellyn. The scene of high-end restaurants and shops. A church tower looms overhead.
So you're not exactly sure what to do when music from rock gods AC/DC is blaring and the wine is flowing - on the actual street. Outside. Steps from the police station.
"How often do you get to drink alcohol on the streets of Glen Ellyn?" asks Carol White, executive director of the Alliance of Downtown Glen Ellyn.
Sounds on the Street will give crowds free rein to do just that tonight, while enjoying plates from downtown restaurants. And the sounds - live concerts - promise to loosen up even the most tentative visitor wondering "should we or shouldn't we?"
The Alliance of Downtown Glen Ellyn started the event five years ago to spotlight eateries along a stretch of Main Street. Rain soaked attendees the past two years, but White hopes to match the roughly 2,000 that showed up under clear skies in 2012.
"It's just a great night," White said. "It really is."
The night out begins with five restaurants serving Sounds on the Street at 7 p.m.: Santa Fe, Blackberry Market, Wooden Barrel Bar & Grill, fire + wine, and Shannon's Irish Pub. Cabernet & Company will offer wine by the glass.
Whether it's appetizers or a full meal, food and cocktails will be served on paper or plastic, allowing diners to head out to the street and rock out to the live music that also begins at 7 p.m.
Show Team, the "best of the best" from School of Rock in Glen Ellyn, will play covers of classic rock for an hour and then do a "crossover set" with their instructors for 30 minutes, said Jillian Macson, the school's general manager.
"We have picked some hits to get people going," said Macson, noting AC/DC, "Zepp" (Led Zeppelin, if you're wondering), Rolling Stones and Aerosmith.
"They kicked us off last year, and it was amazing," White said. "People were tongue-tied how good they were."
Even more so once they learn the ages of the bandmates: 10 to 16. To get in, kids and teens have to audition every six months or they lose their spot in the "student ambassador" band that represents the Crescent Boulevard school in gigs like Taco Fest in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood Sept. 20.
Then the full-blown rock show continues with the school's instructor band for two hours, shutting down Sounds on the Street at 10:30 p.m.
It's the perfect way to toast the end of summer, White says.
"Enjoy the music, get a cocktail, walk in and out of the restaurants," she said.
Main Street will be blocked off to traffic between Hillside Avenue and Duane Street, starting at 5 p.m. Then the band shell, tables and chairs will be set up.
If you go
What: 5th Annual Sounds on the Street
When: 7 to 10:30 p.m. tonight
Where: Main Street, between Hillside Avenue and Duane Street, Glen Ellyn
Admission: Free, but $5 donation appreciated
Info: Downtownglenellyn.com