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TechnographSweet home Urbana: Celebration brings good food, music to area
By Jim Shay
Posted: 6/30/08 Section: News
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"Are you ready out there?" the lead singer and his five fellow band members asked the crowd.
"We're goin' to start this party up."
The fourth of six bands to take the stage at Urbana's first Blues, Brews and BBQ festival, the Bernard Allison Band, had no trouble bringing the crowd to its feet late Saturday afternoon - most didn't sit down again until the last note of the festival was struck over six hours later.
Urbana's newest summertime event attracted an array of locals looking to celebrate the city's 175th birthday, as well as pockets of blues fans from the surrounding area hoping to enjoy a blues festival that left Allison impressed.
"I think it's great. First year, they've got a great lineup, and the people are ready for it. I think the town is ready for it," Allison said after his set. "Just blessed that they could do something for the people. You've got a lot of blues lovers here."
Allison, originally from Peoria, Ill., now lives and performs overseas with the band which is in the midst of a summer festival tour before it heads back to Europe.
"It's special to come back in the area," Allison said. "I have a lot of family around."
Crowds were relatively sparse through the first half of the festival, which included a performance by local product The Kilborn Alley Blues Band.
But by the time dusk set in and Allison took to the stage, Lot-H at Lincoln Square Mall was filled with people soaking up the music and keeping the collection of barbecue food vendors busy with orders.
Randy Upton, a self-proclaimed "blues man" from Mattoon, Ill., and an avid fan of blues festivals, arrived in time to see the last two performances of the night - Tab Benoit followed by blues legend Lonnie Brooks, two artists hailing from Louisiana.
"This is a very good, well-planned thing," Upton said. "$20 admission, but where are you going to see these guys? You're not. You'll have to go to the Fox Theater, in St. Louis or Chicago, and you'll pay $40 a ticket and it isn't outdoors.
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