New location for this year’s Fox Valley Folk Music & Storytelling Festival
This year’s Fox Valley Folk Music & Storytelling Festival returns on Sept. 1-2 at a new location, Wheeler Park in Geneva. After last year’s successful return to Island Park, recent weather events have left Island Park unusable and required a last-minute location change for this year’s festival.
The Labor Day weekend event will be 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday and Monday, with special evening events on Sunday. The Fox Valley Folklore Society puts on the annual event in cooperation with the Geneva Park District.
The festival, now in its 48th year, will feature more than 20 acclaimed performers from the Chicago area and other parts of the country on six stages, plus an exhibitor arts area, jamming spaces, storytelling, Kids' Zone, and food trucks.
On Sunday evening, plan to stay for the Old Time Community Barn Dance to live music from 6 to 7:30 p.m., and Spine-Tingling Tales from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the north pavilion.
Get a sneak peek of one of the festival performers when Debra Cowan, a folk singer from Springfield, Massachusetts, comes to the “Friday Night Concert Series” at 8 p.m. Aug. 30 at Two Way Street Coffee House, 1047 Curtiss St. in Downers Grove. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Suggested donation is $10. It also will be livestreamed. Learn more at twowaystreet.org.
Some of the highlights will be Canadian singer-songwriter Connie Kaldor, a three-time Juno Award winner who recently marked 45 years in show business with her 18th recording titled “Keep Going!“; and singer-songwriter Crys Matthews, who won the 2022 International Folk Music Song of the Year for her song “Changemakers.”
Mustard's Retreat, with Libby Glover and David Tamulevich, has been entertaining audiences with their songs and stories for almost five decades.
Other performers include:
• Bob Bovee, a Nebraska native known for his old-time cowboy songs, and humorous and sentimental numbers;
• Margaret Burk, who co-produces and co-hosts three monthly storytelling events in the Chicago area;
• Sara Grey, a storyteller on a five-string banjo who specializes in stories from northern New England;
• Donna Herula Trio, a Chicago-based folk blues group that performs traditional Delta, country and early Chicago blues songs as well as creating original songs that tip the hat to the tradition;
• Oba William King, a storyteller with a wealth of tales and over 25 years experience;
• Spencer & Rains, the husband-and-wife duo of Howard Rains and Tricia Spencer, who are both fiddlers, guitar-players, and singers who preserve and build on the traditions of their home states of Texas and Kansas;
• Sam Robbins, a Nashville-based musician whose music evokes classic 1970s singer-songwriters like James Taylor and Neil Young, while adding a modern, upbeat edge to the storyteller troubadour persona;
• Steam Machine, an award-winning Minneapolis project formed to explore fiddle/string band traditions from the Midwest and beyond that straddle the line between bluegrass and old-time music;
• Chris Vallillo, a master of finger style and bottleneck slide guitar who uses original and traditional songs to create a portrait of the history and lifestyles of the Midwest;
• Kray Van Kirk, an Alaskan finger-style guitarist and storyteller;
• Jack Williams, who has a 65-year career of playing folk, rock, jazz, R&B, classical and the popular music of the 1930s-’50s, and 14 albums.
Some performers will be on Monday only, including Mark Dvorak, known as Chicago’s “troubadour” and a Woodstock Folk Festival Lifetime Achievement Award winner, and longtime festival favorites February Sky, featuring traditional singer and Celtic guitarist Phil Cooper with songwriter and singer Susan Urban.
Support this all-volunteer event with a donation, which goes to the costs of production and performers.
Suggested admission is $35 a day for adults, $20 a day for students and seniors; youth under age 12 are free, but a donation of any amount is appreciated. Cost for both days is $60 and $30. Family passes are available for $80 a day or $140 for the weekend.
The festival will be held in the north end of Wheeler Park. Bring lawn chairs or blankets. For updates on nearby parking options, visit the website.
For information, visit the Fox Valley Folklore Society website at fox-valley-folklore-society.square.site/ or facebook.com/fvfs1/.
Fox Valley Folk Music & Storytelling Festival
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday and Monday, Sept. 1-2; evening barn dance and “Spine Tingling Tales” between 6 and 9 p.m. Sunday
Where: Wheeler Park, 822 N. First St. (Route 31) in Geneva
Requested donation: $35-$60 for adults or $20-$30 for seniors and students. Family passes available for $80 a day or $140 for the weekend