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The Blues, Brews and BBQ Festival returns to Main Street in Urbana
4:00 am Jun 25 - by Eric Gordon – buzz Writer
Making a appearance in Urbana for the second year, the Blues, Brews and BBQ Festival is returning this weekend to its new location on Main Street in Urbana (in front of the courthouse), and should help residents beat the expected heat with good food, drinks and unforgettable music and all around fun before the 4th of July holiday.
In addition to the three B’s of summer, the festival will also be celebrating the 176th birthday of the city. Fluid Events partners Perry David and Jeff Grant said they hope the celebration will be a continuous event for the area. With 4,000 to 5,000 people expected to attend, they are well on their way this year to making that happen.
“Many people are not going on vacation this year and I think our event will provide plenty of entertainment,” Grant said.
Besides the food, drinks and music, there will be a number of inflatable activities, skateboarding activities provided by Board Boutique as well as the chance to play Guitar Hero by means of Exile on Main. The festival will also bring a number of sponsors, seven non-profit organizations and a few local businesses to the area including Samuel Music and Blues Barbeque. Josh Kline, sales associate from Samuel Music, attended last year’s festivities and said he is excited to be a part of this year’s festival again.
“We were pretty impressed for a local festival for Blues,” Kline said. “They had some really good acts.”
Kline also said he’s excited for one of the local bands, one he feels no one should miss.
“Kilborn Alley Blues Band is the band to see,” Kline said.
Kline said he and his colleagues will be bringing drum circles and harmonica clinics on the first day and will welcome anyone, regardless of prior experience.
“We want to target a lot of kids and families,” Kline said.
In order to get those families out to the event, Fluid Events partners Grant and David saught to increase awareness and attendance through radio sponsorships and national advertising.
“We are also taking baby steps with a number of posters of Louie, an alligator mascot for the event,” Grant said.
However, the most significant change to the event is the change in admission price. This year, the event is free with a $3 suggested donation. This is a welcome change from the $20 admission last year, and was something Grant and a number of sponsors considered while planning the event. The concept of the cookout was also taken out.
“One of the misconceptions last year was that the event was put on by the city, but we are not a city affiliated company.” Grant said.
The event runs Friday, 5 to 10:30 p.m. and Saturday Noon to 10:30 p.m., with activities following each night at 88 Broadway.
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