The 2025 Bishop Hill Midsommar Music Festival is a family-friendly event occurring on Saturday June 21.
Highlights of this festival includes free concerts in the park, a Swedish Maypole celebration, and much more.
Please bring a lawn chair and join us as we celebrate this Swedish holiday in historic Bishop Hill, Illinois.
Celebrating Midsommar, one of the two most popular holidays in Sweden – the other being Christmas – is a
very ancient practice, dating back to pre-Christian times. It has its roots in Pagan rituals to welcome summer
and the season of fertility. In Sweden, Midsommar festivals have been around for at least 500 years. Even in
agrarian times, people in Sweden welcomed summertime by decorating their houses and farm tools with foliage
and raising tall Maypoles to dance around.
The free concerts at the village park gazebo will begin at 10 a.m. This year’s lineup includes Black Hawk Pipes
and Drums, Chloe Finch, Orion Community Band, and the Norwegian Bachelor Farmers. Immediately
following the musical performances at 4 p.m., everyone is invited to decorate the Maypole with flowers and to
join the procession. The procession will begin in the park and end at the Colony School where visitors can join
in the Maypole dancing and have refreshments provided by the Bishop Hill Vasa Lodge. No experience is
required to join in the dancing.
The Vasa National Archives, a short block south of the park, will be offering a Midsummer Respite featuring
drinks, snacks, and a make-and-take clay sculpture station. The public is welcome to view exhibits, enjoy some
light refreshments, and make a clay sculpture to take home. The Vasa National Archives will be open from 10
a.m. to 4 p.m.
Author Jannifer Stevens Powelson will have a book signing from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Prairie Arts Center,
located at 203 North Bishop Hill Street. Jannifer is the author of the Rachel and Sammy books, as well as
Nature Station Mysteries. Please check out her website at janniferpowelson.com for more details.
To finish off the day, Ryan Bizarri brings Country Music for your Country Soul to The Colony Inn from 7 to 11
p.m. Come enjoy a cold drink while listening to live acoustic country music. This Nashville
Songwriter/Midwest Artist will be playing songs you know and love from artists like Toby Keith, Garth Brooks,
Brad Paisley, Zac Brown, Alabama, Morgan Wallen, Bob Segar and more. Meet the co-writer of Rodney
Atkins hit “Eat Sleep Love You Repeat” at The Colony Inn!
The Midsommar Music Festival is sponsored by the Bishop Hill Heritage Association, Bishop Hill State
Historic Site, Bishop Hill Old Settler’s Association, Vasa National Archives, Bishop Hill Vasa Lodge #683, and
area businesses. Regional Media is our major media sponsor. Funding provided by the Barbro Osher Pro
Suecia Foundation, the Minneapolis Foundation, Vasa National Archives, Bishop Hill Vasa Lodge #683, and
the Illinois Arts Council. For directions or more information, visit www.visitbishophill.com, or call 309-927
3899.
2025 MIDSOMMAR MUSIC SCHEDULE
SATURDAY June 21
Schedule for the day includes the following FREE performances at the center of the park
in front of the gazebo: – MAIN STAGE –
Black Hawk
Pipes & Drums
Chloe Finch
Orion Community Band
Norwegian Bachelor Farmers
10 am
11:30 a.m.
1:30 p.m.
3 pm
***Maypole dressing begins at 4 pm and procession to the Colony
School begins just after it is dressed.
Maypole dancing at Colony School at 4:30 p.m., followed by supper provided by the
Bishop Hill Vasa Lodge
***Courtesy of Todd DeDecker, BHHA Administrator***
