Planning is underway for the Second Annual 
, to be held on Saturday, June 28, 2014. The festival will be held at Aviators Stadium in Loves Park. This is our second year with the festival continuing Crossroads endeavor to bring a blues festival back to the Rockford metro area.
, to be held on Saturday, June 28, 2014. The festival will be held at Aviators Stadium in Loves Park. This is our second year with the festival continuing Crossroads endeavor to bring a blues festival back to the Rockford metro area.We will feature five bands on the big stage. All food catering services will provided by the baseball park and its’ staff. Advanced tickets will be only $10 and $15 at the gate. Our lineup is now official and John Nemeth has agreed to headline festival. John is a superb vocalist and harmonica player with talents ranging from deep blues to soul and funk. He is an extraordinary performer and I think he will delight the Rockford audience. He appeared many years ago at Big Cities, has been featured at the Mississippi Valley Blues Fest and headlined last year’s Paramount Blues Fest up in Grafton Wisconsin! So here is the lineup:
Noon: The Alex Wilson Band kick things off. Featuring the Crossroads Blues Challenge winning band that had a very strong showing at the IBC’s, Alex and his band will get things moving with their electrifying sound. Beaten in the Semi Finals at the IBC by the IBC champion band, they are a great talent and are one of the top young acts in the blues world!
2 PM: Here is where Field of Blues goes international once again. Linda Valori is an Italian vocal super star who will grace our stage along with Italin guitar virtuoso Luca Giordano and with the Barstool Bob Band backing them! Linda was here in Rockford for two shows to packed houses last April. Her singing literally made the hair on my arms stand up as I was over come by the fantastic emotions she portrayed in her singing. She is a lovely and warm person and a fantastic singer who you will not want to miss!
4 PM: The Jimmys, the swinging boys from Madison and New Glarus Wisconsin are on next. With Jimmy Voegeli out front and on his B3 organ, Perry Weber on guitar and the Young Horns in support, this is another super show. And if the Georgia Satellites Mauro Magellan is not enough on drums, Bun E. Carlos from Cheap Trick has agreed to also sit in. He was there on drums and then cowbell for a recent Jimmy’s show in Loves Park and I was actually screaming “More Cowbell” like in the famous Saturday Night Live skit! What a great set this portends to be!
6 PM: We have Doug Deming and the Jewel Tones from Florida along with harpmaster Dennis Gruenling joining them from New Jersey. Doug and Dennis are both superb talents and put on the fan’s favorite best set at the Byron Festival when they appeared there. These guys give their all every time they perform and I think you will enjoy them if you’ve not seen them before. If you have, you know what I am talking about- they are an exceptional act with a rocking and driving blues sound! Doug Deming won the 2013 Blues Blast Magazine Rising Star Award last year and he along with Dennis are a hot commodity!
8 PM: John Nemeth is Memphis based and he is tearing it up on all his tours. His new CD is about to be released and his last release, a two CD set of Blues Live and Soul Live, received great critical acclaim and lots of airplay. He is one of the blues worlds hot young acts and has been nominated for and won a host of awards!
Between acts local guitarist and singer Dan Phelps will be up in the covered Pavillion doing acoustic blues for your enjoyment.
Crossroads Blues Society is an all-volunteer 501c3 non-profit organization incorporated in the State of Illinois that works to conduct Blues in the Schools programs for area schools. Sponsorship donations for the festival are tax deductible and are used to cover the many costs of running a music festival.
Costs include band fees, lodging for non-local bands, a stage, sound and lights, electrical work, insurance, licenses and more. It takes a lot of money and effort to run an event of this magnitude. We had a dedicated core of volunteers who support us.
Festival sponsorship levels:
• Festival Sponsor: $5,000.
One available. Festival name will included sponsor (e.g. “The Acme Field of Blues Festival.” Benefits include logo integrated into festival logo on tee shirt front and all uses, name on banner on stage, recognition in program and other advertising plus 100 free tickets
• Platinum: $1000 and up. Benefits include larger logo on tee shirt, name on banner on stage, recognition in program and other advertising plus 25 free tickets.
• Gold: $500 to $999. Benefits include smaller logo on tee shirt, name on banner on stage, recognition in program and other advertising plus 10 free tickets.
• Silver: $200 to $499. Benefits include name on banner on stage, larger name on tee shirt, recognition in program and other advertising plus 4 free tickets.
• Bronze: $100 businesses, $50 individuals. Benefits include small name on banner on stage, recognition in program and other advertising, small name on tee shirt plus 2 free tickets.
Gold and above level sponsors also get to have a tent/booth at the festival and may place banners in the park. All sponsors are also frequently noted on stage after each act. We expect a large crowd at our festival. Any level of sponsorship can help to make this dream a reality. In-kind sponsors for services and such are also desired.
All proceeds from the festival will be used to fund and hopefully expand our Blues in the Schools (BITS) program. Crossroads Blues Society has conducted 123 BITS programs for almost 40,000 students since its’ inception in May 2002. We are proud to add music events to school calendars and to help keep the blues alive by educating the next generation of music fans about the roots of all American popular music.
We ask that you or your business consider becoming a sponsor for the 2014 Field of Blues Festival. Thank you for your time and consideration! Call 779-537-4006 or email sub_insignia@yahoo.com for more info.
