CHILLICOTHE, Ill. — This year’s Summer Camp music festival will apparently be the last, at least in the way it’s been done so far.
The producers of the annual event at Chillicothe’s Three Sisters Park say the good news is the festival on Memorial Day Weekend will continue, but due to various factors, Summer Camp as we’ve all come to know it will be taking a hiatus.
Summer Camp producer Ian Goldberg says in a Facebook post that they plan on throwing a redefined camping & music experience on Memorial Day weekend 2024.
Goldberg says details on the new event will come after this years festival, and will likely include certain elements of Summer Camp that Summer Campers over the years have come to love.
Goldberg’s full statement is attached below:
Hello Summer Camp Family,
I am writing to share some important news with you in advance of this year’s 22nd Summer Camp Music Festival.
Over two decades ago in 2001, I founded and started producing this special event. So very much has changed with the festival landscape since then, but we’ve endured and persevered at every turn. Twenty three years of memories have included challenges, victories and everything in between.
The good news is that our tradition of gathering every Memorial Day Weekend at Three Sisters Park will continue.. However, due to various factors, Summer Camp Music Festival as we’ve all come to know it will be taking a hiatus.
Again, the good news is that we still plan on throwing a redefined camping & music experience at Three Sisters Park every Memorial Day starting in 2024 that will be presented by Summer Camp.
The challenges of throwing a mid size independent music festival in the face of the big corporate festivals as competition both for fans and for artists, along with the logistical challenges (especially post pandemic) of throwing an event of this size in a small market in Central Illinois have had us reevaluating what we do for awhile now.
But reimagining Summer Camp had its own challenges, we could not figure how to scale back the event in a way that would feel true to everything Summer Camp Music Festival has come to be. Cutting pieces of it felt like leaving our children behind. So we decided it was time to put Summer Camp Music Festival to rest. For now.
We will be announcing more details on the new event after this years festival, but it will likely include certain elements that long time SCampers will find very familiar. Most importantly we have cherished our long relationships with our host bands, moe. and Umphrey’s McGee and we look forward to what the future may hold with this new event.
So, this 2023 rendition of the Summer Camp Music Festival next week is going to be insanely meaningful for myself and everyone coming to join us. Let’s celebrate together like we never have before as we close this chapter of what once was, and anticipate what the future holds together!
As a kid from Pekin IL, who just really liked throwing parties for a living, I could have never dreamed we would create something like this community. It is all because of you beautiful people, and how your spirit of love and happiness permeates these grounds, online, and in your own world’s back home year after year.
I am forever grateful and appreciate your support as always.
Much Love,
Ian Goldberg
More information about Summer Camp ’23 is HERE.
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