By Ethan Duran
Patrons fill the street at a previous Locust Street Festival.(Photo By Linda Maslow.)
Live music, food and arts will be featured all day during the 42nd annual Locust Street Festival this June 10 in Riverwest. Vendors and stages will line the street between Holton and Humboldt, with 35 different bands playing throughout the event. The main attraction is the annual Beer Run, a 1.8 mile walk or run through the Riverwest neighborhood.
Names like Keith Pulvermacher, Sigmund Snowpek’s Beer Show and Chicken Wire Empire will be jamming out on the festival’s stages. The air will be filled with the sounds of different country, rock and Latin bands as they rotate through the fest’s six different stages from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Most of the stages are based out of local Riverwest businesses, like Klinger’s East and Linneman’s Riverwest Inn.
On top of the large variety of music, there will be an astounding number of vendors lining Locust street for the festival. Most of these vendors specialize in food, art and crafts. Sixty of these vendors have attended for the past 13 years, specializing in lotion and soap.
“People like to come here for the Riverwest vibe,” said Linda Maslow, organizer of the festival for the last 13 years. “If we did no advertising for the event, people would come anyway.”
This year’s Beer Run will be set off at 11:30 a.m. by Alderman Nik Kovac with the help of the Tripoli Shriners, who the festival has partnered up with for the first time this year. The race lasts for an hour, starting at Locust street and passing through Weil, Center, Fratney and Chambers before finally ending at Locust again.
Participants must be 21 or older to register.
Registration can be done online at $23 or in person for $25 during the day of the event before 11 a.m.
Proceeds from the run go to the Tripoli Shrine Center.
“I am looking forward to meeting new and old vendors alike,” said Maslow. “I am also excited about some of the bands that are playing and mingling with our Riverwest neighbors.”