Financial trouble in the state of Illinois is driving a decision to relocate a longtime music extravaganza to West City Park in Festus.
The Traditional Music Festival, held annually at Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site in Ellis Grove, Ill., for the last 23 years, will come to Festus the weekend of Sept. 21-22.
The Festus Tourism Commission voted May 30 to approve the festival. Officials believe West City Park will be the home for the event for years to come.
Fiddle champion George Portz of O'Fallon, Ill., organizes and performs at the event each year. His group is called George Portz and His Friends of Bluegrass.
"It's just a wonderful time," Portz said. "It's all good family entertainment."
Portz said he has performed at West City Park in the past and thought of it when he learned the festival could not be held during its usual fall weekend at the Fort Kaskaskia Historic Site.
"Because Illinois has financial problems, Fort Kaskaskia will not be available after Labor Day," he said. "I'd played (at West City Park) before and had it in mind when we found out we needed to move from Fort Kaskaskia."
He said the acts will set up at the West City Park gazebo.
Portz said the festival brings together a variety of acts and he expects to have about 20 individual performers or groups at the event.
"We call it 'traditional' because our base is bluegrass, but we have Cajun and we have classic country," he said. "Something different at our festival is we bring in Irish music from Dogtown in St. Louis. We'll have the Redhead Express, a whole family of pickers that performs in Branson. On both days, we have clogging. We have gospel singing and a kickoff prayer on noon Sunday."
Portz said the festival includes arts and crafts and food booths.
Details are still to be worked out but costs to attend are kept affordable, he said. Children 9 and under get in free, he added.
Festus City Administrator Happy Welch noted that a large high school cross country meet will be held Saturday, Sept. 21, at West City Park, but he believes it won't cause much of conflict.
The meet will conclude about the same time as the start of the festival, so some vehicles will be exiting the area while others are entering. But Portz told him the bulk of the music crowd does not arrive until a few hours into the event, Welch said.
"We're making it work for this year and look to schedule it (the festival) annually for the third weekend of September," he said at a City Council work session June 5.
Welch said city officials and Portz intend to make West City Park the permanent home of Portz's fall music fest.
"I think we can make this an annual two-day event," Welch said. "We can bring people in to eat at our restaurants, stay at our hotels."
--Kevin Carbery
George Portz, top right, and Ted Howell photo of West City Park gazebo and crowd enjoying October 2010 bluegrass festival.
