The board of directors of the Dixon Petunia Festival is
pleased to announce the 49th annual Dixon Petunia Festival. The festival has earned the reputation of the
finest local festival in the area and we are pleased to announce the major acts
and activities for this year’s festival.
The dates of the festival will run from July 3rd until July 7th.
Dixon Petunia Festival Board
The
Dixon Petunia Festival is a Non-Profit organization with an all-volunteer board.
Continuing Partnership
We are
pleased to announce that the Petunia Festival has partnered up with Dixon Main Street
again this year to work on festival activities together. The two groups share a common bond of
promoting the city through similar activities so it made sense to both
organizations to continue in this partnership.
Josh Albrecht and his team have joined us to put together a festival
that will provide a great time for all citizens of the area.
New This Year
We are
pleased to announce that we are moving the entertainment and food venues from
the previous location in the page park area to the downtown area along the
Heritage Riverfront. The festival will
be held in an area on River Road
between Peoria and Galena and on Hennepin from First Street to River Road. We will be featuring a main entertainment
stage across River Road
near the Dixon Tourism building and will have a tent set up on River Road for
seating. Also new this year is the
Peoria Street Bridge will be closed after the parade until after the
fireworks. This will provide easy access
between the downtown and the carnival area and will also create a new spot to
watch fireworks. The reasons for this
change are many:
·
The success of the Mumford and Sons tour proved that
the downtown venue can work and in fact we received a lot of feedback stating
that we should look to do something similar
·
One of the challenges in the past couple of
years of the festival has been the comment that people would prefer not to pay
the festival admission charge to just attend the carnival. The carnival will remain at its current
location in front of the High School and will not be part of this year’s
admission charge.
·
Our continuing partnership with Dixon Main Street
which has allowed us to work with the downtown vendors to put the riverfront
venue together.
Entertainment
The
Petunia Festival prides itself on having the best entertainment in the area and
in 2013 we have done it again.
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday Night July 3rd
we will kick off the entertainment with our Country Concert on the new river
front stage with “Back Country Roads” opening for “Brushfire”. Brushfire is
burning up the country music scene as they are fresh off of their victory at
the BATTLE FOR THE SADDLE
at Nashville, Tennessee’s legendary Wildhorse Salon in early 2012. Out
of the over 300 national bands that entered, Brushfire was dubbed the champ.
Since that time they have shared the stage with many country music legends as
they continue to make a name for themselves.
For more info go to http://brushfireband.com
THURSDAY
Thursday July 4th the stage will be
rocking from noon to midnight with a wide variety of musicians including the “Woodlawn Academy
bands”, “Tristan Bush”, “Burn N’ Bush” during the day. At night, the stage will
feature local blues/rock band “Robbie LeBlanc and the Real Live Show”.
Headlining the Fourth of July will be “Aaron
Williams and the Hoodoo.” Hailing from Madison, Wisconsin,
Aaron Williams and the Hoodoo received "first round Grammy nominations in
2011 for “Blues Album of the Year” and “Best New Artist” they’ve been
skyrocketing towards a nationwide breakout. They also had the distinct pleasure
of being named WAMI Blues Artist of the Year (2012). A Madison Favorite the
last four years as voted on by Isthmus Newspaper readers and taking home 6 MAMA
awards in 2010 & 2011 including the coveted Artist of the Year has been a
testament to the bands success in a very short period of time. Their debut full
length album “It Ain’t Easy,” (Won Blues/Rock Album of the Year 2010- Real
Blues Magazine). For more information, go to aaronwilliamsandthehoodoo.com
FRIDAY
Friday night we are proud to have Dixon’s own “Gina Venier
and the Gentlemen” taking the stage. Fresh off her winning the Bar 1 Big Break
competition in Chicago
last year, Gina has been playing her "blue-eyed soulful pop music"
throughout the Chicagoland. More info available at www.ginavenier.com.
Friday night finishes up with crowd
favorite "Dot Dot Dot". They have been rocking the Chicago area since 2007. "The co-ed
quintet may be familiar to some as finalists on FOX TV’s “American Idol”
spin-off show, “The Next Great American Band,” during its 2007 season.
High-profile shows have followed, including appearances at the Sundance Film
Festival, a VH1 Save the Music benefit, events for WGN, T-Mobile,
Victoria’s Secret, Wrigley, and an invite to
perform at President Obama’s 2010 “Moving America Forward” rally in Chicago." More info
at their website www.dotdotdotonline.com.
SATURDAY
Saturday will be another full day
of live music with a little something for everyone. Artist that day include great local talent
with “Acoustic Circus”, “Trippin Molly”, and the “Noyz Boyz”.
Headlining on Saturday night is
famed alternative/blues legends the
“Spin Doctors”.
The Spin Doctors first burst onto the scene in 1991
with the album Pocket Full of Kryptonite which would eventually go triple
platinum and had breached the Top Five among Billboard Pop Albums while
spinning off two major hit singles: "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" and
the No. 1 Rock radio song of 1993, "Two Princes." Ultimately, Pocket
Full Of Kryptonite sold over five million copies in the US and another
five million overseas.
Recently, the Spin Doctors announced the upcoming
release of their latest album "If the River Was Wiskey". According to
their website, it is "the blues album the band was always
meant to make, and their confidence shows, as they give the songs lots of room
to breath and let the tracks come alive via the road-tested musicianship of
Chris Barron (vocals), Aaron Comess (drums), Eric Schenkman (guitar) and Mark
White (bass). With no overdubs, irreverent lyrics, soulful drums and guitar
licks that are on fire, ‘If The River Was Whisky' captures lightning in a
bottle and further cements Spin Doctors' reputation as a live act to be
reckoned with. Perhaps Schenkman puts it best: "we've been playing
together for 25 years & we're all badasses!" Listen to streaming
samples, here: https://soundcloud.com/spin-doctors/sets/if-the-river-was-whiskey-album"
For more information, go to
www.spindoctors.com
SUNDAY
Sunday afternoon we kick off with
festival favorites “Lyle Grobe and the
Rhythm Ramblers” followed up by “South of Disorder” a Jimmy Buffett tribute
band from suburban Chicago
that is sure to please Parrot Heads and festival goers of all ages. The group
boasts an 11-piece band that will entertain the crowds up until we raffle off
the Harley and light the fireworks!
|
TIME
|
Wednesday, July 3
|
|
9:30 - 11:30
|
Brushfire
|
|
6:30-8:30
|
Back Country Roads
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thursday, July 4
|
|
9:30- 11:30
|
Aaron Williams and
the Hoodoo
|
|
6:30 - 8:30
|
Robbie LeBlanc &
the Real Live Show
|
|
2:00 - 6:00
|
Burn N Bush and
Tristian Bushman
|
|
12:00 - 1:30
|
Woodlawn Academy
Bands
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friday, July 5
|
|
9:30- 11:30
|
Dot Dot Dot
|
|
6:30 - 8:30
|
Gina Venier and the
Gentlemen
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saturday, July 6
|
|
9:30 - 11:30
|
Spin Doctors
|
|
6:30 - 8:30
|
Noyz Boyz
|
|
3:30 - 5:30
|
Trippin Molly
|
|
12:00 - 2:30
|
Acoustic Circus
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sunday, July 7
|
|
6:00 - 9:00
|
South of Disorder
|
|
3:00 - 5:00
|
Lyle Grobe and the
Rhythm Ramblers
|
Taste at the
Petunia Festival
This
year an effort has been made to bring
more local food vendors to the Taste Trail at the Petunia Festival
. Many familiar local food vendors will
be joining us at the Riverfront area.
Vendors will be featured throughout the grounds.
Returning
Favorites
Many
favorite events are returning to the festival this year. Those include the North American Midway
Entertainment Carnival with great rides for all ages, the area’s best Fireworks
display, the 14th Reagan 5K run, the men’s garden club annual
pancake breakfast, the 7th annual Petunia Festival bags tournament,
Elks Lodge poker tournament, the annual patriotic municipal band concert on the
court house lawn, the community Church service, the Elks fishing derby, Art
Show, and much more! Also bingo will be
back but will be at a new location, the Dixon Elks Lodge. This venue offers climate control and more
accessible parking.
Family Fun
This
year the festival offers lots of family fun where there will be family fun
activities and on Sunday, July 7 a free admission day to the riverfront
festival area with bands playing on the main stage, great food and of course
for the grand finale of the festival - the area’s best fireworks display.
A new
family event will be the Brush, Bloom, and Boom painting competition for all
ages in downtown Dixon. The event will use First Street as the canvas as
budding artists will help us decorate the downtown for the Petunia Festival. On
Thursday, July 4 starting at Noon, artists will paint 4 foot by 4 foot squares.
Winners will be announced with prizes of Carnival wristbands and downtown gift
certificates. Registration is just $10 per square. Open to all ages!
Parade
The
parade keeps getting bigger and better and this year will be no different and
will be held on July 7th. This year’s
theme is “Looking fine for 49”. There
will be plenty of floats and music to satisfy all parade goers.
Fundraiser
One lucky winner will choose a
2013 Harley Davidson 110th Anniversary Special Limited Edition Super
Glide Customer or $10,000 in cash. Only 3500 tickets will be sold. Get tickets at
the Dixon Main Street office or calling (888)441-7851, or visit us on the web
at www.petuniafestival.org. Ticket prices for this fundraiser are as follows: 1 for $20, 3 for $50
and 7 for $100. The drawing will be held on Sunday night, July 7, 2013, at the Main
Stage on the festival grounds at approximately 8:00 p.m. See the Harley on
display before the festival at Ace Hardware in Dixon on the weekends and during
the festival at numerous events and at the Riverfront. You can also visit the
website for more pictures and complete details on the fundraiser.
Costs and More
Info
For all
this entertainment and access to the festival grounds the cost is $5.00 for
each day or $12.00 for all four days admission is charged. For other ticket info and cost and for
everything else petunia please go to www.petuniafestival.org.
Volunteers
The
Petunia Festival does not exist without the help of many hardworking
volunteers. Each year the festival only
runs well because of these folks and we need your help. Please consider giving four hours during the
festival week to help out. Go to our
website or call 815-284-3361.
Sponsors
The
Petunia Festival is once again proud of all the companies who have signed up to
be sponsors of the festival. As with the
volunteers we would not exist without their support. There is still an opportunity to become a
festival sponsor so contact us if interested.
We urge all festival goers to recognize and support our sponsors.
No comments:
Post a Comment