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Food, music & fun for families at downtown festivals
By Edith Brady-Lunny
eblunny@pantagraph.com
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NORMAL — Food and music lovers were in festival heaven this weekend as uptown Normal and downtown Bloomington hosted outdoor events. | Hot August Nights photo gallery | Sweet Corn Festival photo gallery

A morning drizzle that fell on shoppers at the farmer’s market in Bloomington moved out of the area by mid-morning, just in time for the opening of the Sweet Corn Blues Festival in uptown Normal. A long line of eager sweet corn eaters waited for the first batch to be served.

Visitors and vendors maneuvered around the construction zones surrounding the uptown streets.

Joe Friedmen, assistant manager of Bloomington’s Upper Limits rock climbing gym, said he looks forward to the renovations under way in the heart of the town’s business district.

“I like the new uptown Normal. It has a kind of trendy, college atmosphere,” said Friedmen, who also attends Illinois State University.

The annual festival is a tradition for local residents, said Friedmen.

“I look forward to the festival. It brings in the start of the school year,” he said.

Kathy Strasser of Bloomington said she has some concerns about the changes that may occur to the area after the new Marriott Hotel and Conference Center is complete.

“In a way, it’s positive, but I worry about the parking. That won’t be better if we have to pay for it. As long as they leave part of it ‘old town,’ it will be OK,” said Strasser.

Jewelry maker Lori Huddleston of Decatur has sold her creations from the same spot on North Street for a dozen years.

She was not surprised by the chaos of construction. “They told us it would be torn up. It looks like they’re doing quite a bit,” said Huddleston.

Mary Wolf of Bloomington found a shady seat on a curb to enjoy her corn. It was her first visit to the festival.

Wolf said heavy construction in the area convinced her to take a city bus to the festival rather than the shuttle service set up for the event.

“The streets have been torn up for so long, people can’t get down here. I wasn’t sure about the shuttle — it sounded so confusing — that I just took the city bus,” said Wolf.

Food was also on the minds of visitors to the premier of Hot August Nights: Taste of Downtown Bloomington.

Fourteen local eateries offered menu items from tents along North Main Street as Sister Groove performed on stage for a large afternoon crowd. Business owners who had reservations about the closure of the street in front of their shops said they were pleased with the traffic the festival brought to their doorsteps.

“We’re getting a lot of walk-in traffic, including people who have never been here before,” said Diane Clark, owner of blue thistle, located at 418 N. Main St.

Peggy Flynn, executive director of the Downtown Bloomington Association, said the Main Street crowds are good for business.

“Our goal is to bring people down here and let them see what downtown has to offer,” Flynn said of the event, sponsored by the Pantagraph and the Downtown Bloomington Association.

The inaugural event could become a tradition, said Flynn. “We’re hoping for bigger and better. We’re thrilled with the turnout. We need more events to get people to their downtown,” said Flynn.

Mary Paradies and her neighbor from Normal, Nancy Lind, came early to the downtown festivities.

Lind said the festival gave people a chance to check out some of the downtown stores.

“The downtown needs to have unique shops to be viable. They can’t compete with malls but the Mom and Pop stores will attract people,” said Lind.

Paradies and her two children visited the sweet corn festival before coming to Hot August Nights.

“I couldn’t pass it up. It’s a nice mixture of food and music. It’s a great time of year to have something like this,” said Paradies.



More Sweet Corn Blues

What: Sweet Corn Blues Festival

When: 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. today

Where: Uptown Normal

Happenings: Fresh-cooked corn, arts and crafts, sidewalk sales and blues music

Take a look
Reality Bites workers Andy Weaver, left, looks on as Greg Saarinen, center, and Miranda Erickson, right, make a couple soft tacos during Hot August Nights in downtown Bloomington, Illinois, Saturday afternoon (August 25, 2007). (Pantagraph/B Mosher)
Stuart Black of Bloomington, bites into a piece of sweet corn on Saturday, during the 19th annual Sweet Corn Blues Festival in Uptown Normal. Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY
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Reader comments on this story - 9 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Saint Padua Deputy Coroner wrote on Aug 26, 2007 8:28 PM:

" Out here in Eastern McLean County the sweet corn is way passed. But them maters , eggplants and fall crop spargus is mmmmmmmmm good. "

So much fun! wrote on Aug 26, 2007 7:25 PM:

" My husband and I had a great time at the Taste of Bloomington and hope it becomes an annual event. The food and music was great, and we'd love to see it expand to include more of our local restaurants next year. We also saw a sign for Oktoberfest to be held in Bloomington in just a few weeks--we can't wait!!! We hope the city sees this and continues to offer such great events in the future! "

Re: Festival of India wrote on Aug 26, 2007 3:05 PM:

" We went looking for Festival of India around lunchtime, when it was supposed to be running, and there was nothing there. It was supposed to run 10 to 5, according to the newspaper's calendar. Where was it??? "

Family of Four wrote on Aug 26, 2007 10:40 AM:

" We brought our two kids downtown Bloomington to enjoy the food and music. What a wonderful experience. The D.B.A. and all the sponsors did a great job. We tried food from restaraunts that we have never been to and thoroughly enjoyed them all. We were not able to stay too late but caught the end of Sister Groove and then stayed for most of the Jurys' Out band. What a wonderful time !!! Our family and many friends we spoke to agree that this would be a great yearly event for Bloomington. "

alittledisappointed wrote on Aug 26, 2007 10:21 AM:

" Great pics and story. However I have to admit I'm a little disappointed in the absence of coverage on the Festival of India at the McLean County Museum of History in this piece held in the same location, Downtown bloomington!It was centrally located and along the same theme, festivals. Both Festivals in downtown Bloomington were attended by a very diverse crowd and I din't see that in this article or photo gallery (there was a token shot of an Indian child at Hot August Nights "A taste " of downtown Bloomington)) I doubt this was done intentionally and Pantagraph did give good coverage and great article by MSK on Festival of India in another story .The community was unified for one day and there was an opportunity to unify the communites here and it didn't happen in this peice. "

Taste of Bloomington wrote on Aug 26, 2007 8:14 AM:

" Was indeed a nice event. Good Food, Good Company and Good Music... Then you have another "gun" incident taking place just blocks from the downtown area when the downtown is full of event workers and attendees, families, visitors to our community, volunteers and students. What is going on? Something radical has got to be done about the escalating crime in our community! "

beastie boys wrote on Aug 26, 2007 8:08 AM:

" those saarinen twins are $ "

miranda wrote on Aug 26, 2007 5:33 AM:

" looks really cute! "

william wrote on Aug 26, 2007 4:13 AM:

" I got a splinter in my butt from the picknic table and the music was too loud, but the food was good. "
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