Illinois products will be highlighted at Mount Pulaski celebration

THE COURIER

MOUNT PULASKI — The fifth annual Food, Wine and Music Festival will take place June 18-20 on the uptown square in Mount Pulaski. The festival will include bluegrass, jazz and big band music, as well as Illinois wines and food products.

Those who plan to attend the concerts should bring their own lawn chairs. All concerts are free, but donations will be accepted.

The festival will begin with a mostacolli dinner under the big tent from 4:30 to 8 p.m. Friday. Jazz and wine will be available at the same location from 5 to 9:30 p.m. Soap Box Derby practice begins at 5 p.m. Friday. A flea market, an arts and crafts fair and shops will be open Friday evening and all day Saturday.

A sidewalk breakfast will be served at the Pulaski House Restaurant from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday. Soap Box racing will begin on the north side of the square at 9 a.m. Dinner will be available under the tent from 4:30 to 8 p.m.

Various bands will provide continuous bluegrass music from noon until 7:30 p.m. and Don Smith and his Dance Band Orchestra will play for dancing until 11 p.m. Bluegrass performers include High Cotton, Long Creek, Dean Watson, High Lonesome, Uptown String Band, Cambric Garden, Randy Irwin and the Irish Step Dancers and the Heartland Cloggers.

Pulaski House Restaurant will feature a Saturday evening wine tasting dinner by reservation.

Sunday activities will open with a sausage, gravy and biscuit breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m. An old-fashioned ice cream social will start at 2 p.m. on the courthouse lawn with homemade ice cream and baked goods. There will be music and Father’s Day prizes.

Mount Pulaski Teen Community Center will also be open during the weekend and the Mount Pulaski Courthouse State Historic Site and Mount Pulaski Township Historical Museum will be open for tours.

For vendor information, people can contact Darrell Knauer at 792-5985. Band information is available from bluegrass music promoter Terry Lease of Jacksonville at 243-3159 or tjlease@fgi.net. Festival information is also available from the Mount Pulaski web site at www.mtpulaskiil.com.