A northern Illinois festival will celebrate many different anniversaries.
This is the 41st year of the Woodstock Folk Festival. Carol Obertubbesing, the president and producer of the festival, said this year’s festival will highlight America250.
“As if that's not enough,” she added, “we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Fox Valley Folk Music and Storytelling Festival, and the 35th anniversary of The Lake County Folk Club.”
Obertubbesing said the two local groups aren’t competitors but colleagues.
“We see them as our, you know, compatriots in presenting folk music in the area,” she said. “We don't see them as competitors. We feel that we're, we're colleagues, and we want to celebrate everything that they do.”
The festival will also include a tribute to folk singer Phil Ochs.
“He passed 50 years ago," she said, "and many of his songs are about issues that are still very relevant today, and one of his songs, ‘Power and the Glory,’ I think, would make a wonderful national anthem as well. It's about the power and glory of our country but acknowledging its shortcomings as well.”
The 41st annual Woodstock Festival takes place on Sunday, July 19.
Obertubbesing said a lot of people take the Metra to the festival, but this year the Union Pacific Northwest line will not run that day due to scheduled track work, so make alternate plans.
The full schedule can be found on the festival website.
