September Festivals!

Arcola Broom Corn Festival! Sept 5, 6, and 7. Carnival, parade, arts & crafts, live music, beer & wine. Arcola has one of the best little downtowns in central Illinois. Don't miss the great prices on antiques at the Emporium.

Bruegala! Sept 5 and 6. Eighth annual festival of international beer held at the Interstate Center in Bloomington. Over 200 beers, six bands, and a bean bags (aka corn hole) tournament. Sounds perfect to me.

Havana Oktoberfest! Sept 5 and 6. German foods, arts & crafts, and carnival. Sept. 5: Oktoberfest Parade kicks off at 6 p.m. Muddy River Brass Band, Phat Kitten. Sept. 6: Polka Pace Race and 5k Walk/Run (sign-up 6:30 a.m.) at 8 a.m., followed by pancake and sausage breakfast; 3-on-3 basketball tournament, 10 a.m.; Eddie Korosa Jr. and the Boys from Illinois, Bob Dozak Band, Still Kick'n with Angela Martin.

Mt Pulaski Fall Festival. Sept 4, 5 and 6. Civil War-era encampment. Cavalry rides in festival parade; Regiment Band performs on courthouse lawn; 1854 Cast Iron Tombstone Trial reenactment in the courthouse courtroom. You shouldn't miss the donut eating contest and central Illinois band Poprocks always puts on a killer show.

Scovill Zoo fall festival! Sept 6 and 7 in Decatur. Activities, entertainment, animals, and a teddy bear repair and picnic.

Taste of Country Fair Festival & Rt 66 Reunion, Sept 5, 6, and 7 in Lexington. Parades, juried fine art show, antiques & crafts. Local food vendors and entertainment.

Chrisman Days Celebration, Sept 5, 6, and 7 in downtown Chrisman. Fish fry, garage sales, flea market, horse show, and entertainment.

New Salem Traditional Music Festival. Sept 6 and 7. Jam sessions, bluegrass, old time music. Lincoln's New Salem historic site.

Atlanta Fall Festival. Sept 11, 12, and 13 throughout Atlanta. Features music, a carnival, free petting zoo, car show, art & craft vendors, great food and pie & cake baking contest/auction.

Abraham Lincoln National Railsplitting Festival. Sept 12, 13, and 14 at the Logan County fairgrounds in Lincoln. This is a can't miss festival with railsplitting, corn shucking, tomahawk throwing and a Civil War ball.

Tower Hill Community Fall Festival! Sept 19, 20, 21. Friday, Talent Show & Karaoke. Saturday, Car & Motorcycle Show, Tractor Show, Produce "500", Kids Competition & Games, Garden Tractor Pull, Parade, Auction, Scavenger Hunt, Live Music. Sunday, Demolition Derby!!!

The Touchstone Energy Hydrofest NBRA National Hydroplane Boat Races. Sept 19, 20, 21 at the Wilborn Creek Recreation Area. This is one of the best race sites in the country with the fastest competitors. Don't miss this exciting event.

Marshall Autumn Fest! Sept 19, 20, and 21 in downtown Marshall. Arts & crafts, car show, you get the picture.

2nd Annual Gourd Festival, Sept 20, 21 (9 am to 4:30 pm) at the Clinton Jr. High School. Gourd arts & crafts. Free.

Arts in Central Park, Sept 20, 21, and 22 in downtown Decatur. Annual juried art festival.

Railroad Days: Monticello Railway Museum, Sept 20, 21. Ride the vintage passenger and freight trains as many times as you want. $12 adults, $10 seniors, and $8 children between the ages of 2 and 12.


Apple and Pork Festival! Sept 27 and 28 in Clinton. A true fall festival prominently featuring the foods of the season. Wear sturdy shoes and don't miss the fine art booths.

World Wide Day of Play, Sept 27 in Bloomington-Normal. Tipton Park, Anderson Park, and at the Children’s Discovery Museum. HUNDREDS of exciting ways to play. Visit one or all of these three locations and enjoy free, fun activities! Everything is FREE! In addition to the activities, there will be great prizes and goodie bags.

This list is not exhaustive. Please leave a comment to add your local September festival information.

Central Illinois Labor Day weekend festivals and events

Arthur Cheese Festival! See my photos from last year here. Don't miss the cheese curling or the cheese eating contest.

Live music in Decatur! Floweezy, a Senor DeVivo reunion, and many more bands. A benefit for Angie Morris at the Elks Lodge on Parkway Drive. Sunday beginning at 3 pm. This is where I'll be!

Live music in Champaign! 56 Hope Rd plays the Canopy Club Sunday night with Tea Leaf Green beginning at 6 pm.

The Illinois Symphony plays in Springfield at Douglas Park on Saturday and in Bloomington at Miller Park on Sunday.

Get your Abraham Lincoln history fill at the tenth annual Prairieland Chautauqua in Jacksonville.

In west central Illinois, one of the oldest festivals is the Nauvoo Grape Festival. Lots of opportunities for wine tasting as well as more traditional fall festival activities like tractor pulls, an auto show, and midway rides. Don't delay, enter to play mud volleyball today!

Coal Creek Days Aug 29, 30, 31 at Coal Creek Pioneer Village in Pana features frontier life demonstrations.

National Sweetcorn Festival, Hoopeston, Aug 28 thru Sept 1. One of the last chances for a demolition derby this year!

Pittsfield Fall Festival, Aug 29, 30. Parade on Saturday.

Taste of Beardstown, Aug 30.

All weekend the 21st annual Popcorn festival, Casey, Fairview Park featuring a Rod Stewart tribute band.

Allerton Music Barn Festival at Allerton Park near Monticello, IL.

Millikin Decatur Symphony Orchestra plays Monday, Sept 1 at 6:00 pm in the Nelson Park Amphitheater in Decatur.

McLean County Fair

Last night we attended the McLean County Fair and it was a blast. The fairgrounds are far nicer than many of the county fairs in the area and the midway ride providers had a huge selection of newer rides. They had all the oldie but goodie rides, like the matterhorn and the tilt-a-whirl, but a lot of new "extreme" physical challenge type rides that I've never seen before.

We were really there, as you may guess, to watch the demolition derby. It did not disappoint! Two hours of cars crashing, tractors pulling cars out of the mud, smoke, firemen, ambulances, popcorn, and hooting and hollering. One driver even came up into the grandstand to talk to his family next to us and described in gory detail how his friend was, "only a little scalped" when part of the car fell on his head while he was installing the back-up radiator for the next round of derby. He smelled heavily of gasoline and cigarettes.

On the way in we were given free fair tickets by a stranger, it turned out that kids under 3 were free to the derby, and rides were mostly only 2 tickets a piece. There were no lines for rides, apparently no alcohol sales, the whole Interstate Center to cool off in, and McLean County is so much more diverse than I knew.

All in all a great county fair experience.

August Demolition Derbies

Looking for some noisy, dirty fun? Look no further than your local demolition derby. The people watching ain't bad either.

Friday Aug. 1: Coles County Fair, 7 p.m. $12 Box seats, $10 general admission, $5 children.
Saturday Aug. 2: McLean County Fair, 7 p.m., $15.
Sunday Aug. 3: Logan County Fair, 6 p.m.,

Saturday Aug. 9: Effingham County Fair, 6:30 p.m., $15 Infield, $12 Grandstand.
Saturday Aug. 9: Vermillion County, Georgetown Fair, 7 p.m.