The Chicago Traveler

I can hardly contain my excitement.' It’s finally time for the Blues Festival.' Grant Park comes alive once again June 12th through the 14th.' If you like Blues or just like a great party, you have to attend.' You cannot be in Chicago and not attend at least one day of the festival.' And once you have attended one day, you will be back.

There will be six stages where everything will take place.' For 24 previous years, the festival has been very popular.' You can even bring a cooler if you are outside of the shell (No alcohol please).' Every since Muddy Waters graced the stage in 1984, many others have come to rock the house.

This is the largest free blues music festival ever with over 90 different performances.' The area will be one big party and you just sit back and listen to the Blues Greats on stage.'

Now get ready for the traffic and the people because there will be a lot of both.' Plan to get there early.' I know I will.' I hate a lot of traffic (ok more than usual Chicago traffic) so getting there early means you will have some time on your hands.' The earlier acts begin at 12pm so this is definitely an all day event.' You can buy food and drink tickets which are sold in 12’s for $8.' I’m going to brink a few items that won’t go bad in the cooler after being there all day like snack items.' The weather forecast is calling for sunny skies but we know that can change in an instant.' Make sure you are prepared.

Friday’s line up includes:

• Andrew Jr. Boy Jones
• Mary Lane’s Blues All Stars
• East of the Edens Soul Express
• Sam Lay
• Eddie C. Campbell who will be celebrating his 70th birthday

Saturday’s line up includes:

• Ray Allison
• Travis “Moonchild” Haddix
• Samuel James
• Little Dave Thompson
• Bettye LaVette

And then rounding out the Sunday line up:

• Vernon Harrington and the Atomic Blues Band
• Lee Boys
• Ben Payton
• Grady Champion
• Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

Here is just a little sample of what you will find.' This is from the'preview that happened on June 6th.

Photo Credit:' Flickr