2012 BCBF Marks Three Straight Successes for CBS
Nick Moss The third annual Byron Crossroads Blues Festival became a part of history in the late evening hours of August 25th, and it was a day and night that many will remember! Crossroads Blues Society, started this even in 2010 and have nurtured and grown this event into a wellrespected and incredibly professionally run day. We do it with two prime tenetsplanning and hard work.
Festival chairman Steve Jones, came up with the idea to run a festival in Byron near the banks of the Rock River about 11 miles south of Chicago-Rockford International Airport, his home town. As we now know, Byron is a sleepy little town with just about 3,900 people in the City limits and almost 12,000 in the school and fire districts. Steve lives in Byron and he knew the local community would support an event that offered a good time, good value and a way to focus on the community. Rockford is the center of their Blues Society’s operations, but a 50+ page document is part of the application process to run a festival there with a lot of extra costs and restrictions, so Steve and Crossroads focused on a neighboring town that would welcome something like this. The festival is now in its’ third year and has turned a profit every year. We do that
September-October 2012
Keeping the
by partnering, managing costs, sponsorship and selling a sufficient number of advanced tickets. Working with the Downtown Byron Bar Association, who put up the backing for the festival, Crossroads has offered a great lineup at a minimal cost ($5 Laura Chavez and Candye Kane advanced ticket, $10 at the gate) with good values for food and beverages. Beer was $4 for a 16 ounce aluminum bottle, pop and waters was only $1, and the wide assortment of food was from local restaurants and very reasonably priced.
Blues Alive
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BITS Kicks Off With a Bang for 2012-2013 Year It did not take long for Crossroads to start the new school year off right! Two sets of artists from New Orleans kicked off the year for us a in a superb manner! Bryan Lee and the Blues Power Band performed for Spectrum Elementary School in the morning and Carlson Elementary School in the after on Tuesday, September 4th. Bryan and his band really impressed the kids and the blues really were felt
by over 550 students that day. Thanks to Rick Davis and Harmonica Joe for setting this up and escorting Bryan and his band! September 26th marked the return of Spencer Bohren and his “Down the Dirt Road Blues” program. Byron Middle School had 400 students at the AM program and another 400 student spent the after with Spencer at Highland Elementary School in Stillman Valley. Mr. Bohren
also did a great evening show at Just Good Listening room the night before to an appreciative and excited audience. Thanks to Rick Davis, Joe Poluyanskis and Steve Jones who escorted Spencer and set up these programs. More BITS is planned for later in the Fall and into 2013. Gina Sicilia is next on October 17th; stay tuned for additional info!
Spencer Bohren at BMS
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