It’s that time of year again: the air smells of campfires, music is happening, and people are gearing up for the first real summer of concerts and festivals that we’ve had in two years. In that spirit, allow me to tell you why if Summer Camp isn’t on your schedule, it certainly should be.
First of all: there are plenty of festivals out there that try to do the “something for everyone” thing, but rarely is it pulled off so well, especially in the Midwest. There isn’t really anything in the region that compares and that has such a large annual draw; a big reason why is the dedication to variety and commitment to delivering a heaping helping of just about anything you could ask for in a festival lineup. You want funk? Funk served hot and ready. Bluegrass? EDM? Roots? Jazz? Summer Camp has you covered.
What really seals the deal though, for those who return to Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, Illinois, year after year after year, is the feeling that creeps up your spine as you head down Route 29 and see more and more cars in your same lane, stickers aplenty, cars fully loaded, the air positively buzzing with anticipation: you’re going home. There’s no shortage of festivals that try to sell the family feeling, but it’s not often that major festivals succeed at making it reality.
Summer Camp was my first festival. I admit I’m a late bloomer (relatively speaking) to the whole scene; my first year was 2012. I remember looking over the lineup and my jaw dropping: Primus, Jane’s Addiction, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, Gigantic Underground Conspiracy, and of course three days of perennial headliners Umphrey’s McGee and moe. It was all a fan like me could ask for. Little did I know what I was in for; how the experience would change my outlook on music, travel, and life itself. I attended every year until 2017.
After taking a couple years off to explore some of the unknowns of our current amazing musical landscape (and of course a couple years of nothing happening anywhere), I returned to Summer Camp in 2021 to see my beloved Ween absolutely crush the Sunshine Stage. It really felt like I was just coming home, albeit with some twists; Vibe Tent was Vibe Village now, things were organized a bit differently, etc. One thing that didn’t feel different, though, was that I felt like I belonged.
No matter which year, Summer Camp has always been a welcoming place full of love and a deliciously greasy sense of humor. Whether you’re struggling through the woods at four in the morning or simply relaxing to some of your favorite early afternoon tunes, the general “vibe,” as the young go-hards like to say, is general contentment. At any given moment, if you’re not at one of the six or seven stages with music currently playing, chances are you can wander up to a strange campsite and make a new friend within 30 seconds.
If you’re still reading at this point, you’re already in the Summer Camp family. Curiosity, patience, bravery, reckless abandon – all the qualities it takes to read the words of a music critic – these are the essential elements to Summer Camp. It is a celebration, a release of tension, one gigantic sigh of relief.
This year is especially significant for me; it’s the 10-year anniversary of my first trek up to Three Sisters, and the return of the festival to its Memorial Day weekend spot, after last year’s August sojourn. I am as happy to return to these dates as I was for Ween to play the festival; if you know me, you know what that says.
At the end of the day, what really makes Summer Camp special isn’t anything I’ve listed here – it’s the collective experience of everyone who’s hung out a bit too late at the Campfire Stage, drum circles and acoustic guitars drifting softly across the main road. It’s Chicago Farmer taking us on a road trip through song, it’s Trouble Chasin’ breaking life down for you, it’s Smashing Pumpkins and Little Feat on the same day. It’s everything unexpected and then some.
I’ve been around the country to festivals from upstate New York to southern California to Virginia, Louisiana, Tennessee, etc. There’s a reason people keep coming back to Summer Camp. Be there this year and you just might find out why.
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