2025 Midsommar Music Festival in Bishop Hill -- June 21.
Saturday, June 21
Bishop Hill IL
With highlights from the eagerly awaited annual event including free concerts in the park, a Swedish Maypole celebration, a book signing, children's activities, and more, everyone is invited to bring lawn chairs and have a wonderful time the 2025 Bishop Hill Midsommar Music Festival on June 21, the historic Illinois town's family-friendly celebration of this Swedish holiday.
Celebrating Midsommar, one of the two most popular holidays in Sweden – the other being Christmas – is a very ancient practice, dating back to pre-Christian times. It has its roots in Pagan rituals to welcome summer and the season of fertility. In Sweden, Midsommar festivals have been around for at least 500 years. Even in agrarian times, people in Sweden welcomed summertime by decorating their houses and farm tools with foliage and raising tall Maypoles to dance around.
The free concerts at the village park gazebo will feature Black Hawk Pipes and Drums at 10 a.m., Chloe Finch at 11:30 a.m., Orion Community Band at 1:30 p.m., and the Norwegian Bachelor Farmers at 3 p.m. Immediately following the musical performances at 4 p.m., everyone is invited to decorate the Maypole with flowers and to join the procession. The procession will begin in the park and end at the Colony School where visitors can join in the Maypole dancing and have refreshments provided by the Bishop Hill Vasa Lodge. No experience is required to join in the dancing.
The Vasa National Archives, a short block south of the park, will be offering a Midsummer Respite featuring drinks, snacks, and a make-and-take clay sculpture station. The public is welcome to view exhibits, enjoy some light refreshments, and make a clay sculpture to take home. The Vasa National Archives will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In addition, author Jannifer Stevens Powelson will have a book signing from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Prairie Arts Center, located at 203 North Bishop Hill Street. Powelson (JanniferPowelson.com) is the author of the Rachel & Sammy books, as well as Nature Station Mysteries.
To finish off the day, Ryan Bizarri brings Country Music for your country Soul to The Colony Inn from 7 to 11 p.m. Come enjoy a cold drink while listening to live acoustic country music. This Nashville songwriter/Midwest artist will be playing songs you know and love from artists like Toby Keith, Garth Brooks, Brad Paisley, Zac Brown, Alabama, Morgan Wallen, Bob Segar and more. Meet the co-writer of Rodney Atkins hit "Eat Sleep Love You Repeat" at The Colony Inn.
The Midsommar Music Festival is sponsored by the Bishop Hill Heritage Association, Bishop Hill State Historic Site, Bishop Hill Old Settler’s Association, Vasa National Archives, Bishop Hill Vasa Lodge #683, and area businesses. Regional Media is the major media sponsor, while funding provided by the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, the Minneapolis Foundation, Vasa National Archives, Bishop Hill Vasa Lodge #683, and the Illinois Arts Council.
For more information on the 2025 Bishop Hill Midsommar Music Festival, call (309)927-3899 and visit VisitBishopHill.com.
