Simply put, the Merchant Street MusicFest held each late summer at the Harold & Jean Minor Minor Festival Square in downtown Kankakee has been a huge success.
What began as a one-day music concert back in 2005 has grown into a two-day extravaganza with more than 30 bands sharing three separate stages with the Kankakee train depot and downtown skyline as backdrops. What a way for our diverse community, that too many times is portrayed negatively, to celebrate its deep music heritage.
This weekend’s Merchant Street MusicFest is the 17th annual event, with the only blip being the 2020 festival getting canceled due to the pandemic. The MusicFest has music for everyone in the greater Kankakee community to enjoy from blues, rock, jazz, hip-hop, rap to alternative, country and R&B, along with food and art. The music begins at 5 p.m. Friday and at 2 p.m. Saturday.
The growth of the festival has been remarkable. Within a few years of its inception a second day was added. Although it was free music show for a number of years, an entry fee of $5 was instituted in 2015 to help offset the cost of putting the MusicFest together.
The budget for the Merchant Street MusicFest was just $20,000 in 2010, but it has grown to more than $100,000 over the past couple of years with very few of those dollars derived from the city’s budget. Most of the cost is through sponsorships, food and drink sales, and what is now a $10 per day entry fee. It’s still a bargain to see local, regional and national acts.
The title sponsors — Kankakee Development Corporation, the city of Kankakee and the Kankakee Public Library — should be applauded for their longtime commitment to ensuring the success of the Merchant Street MusicFest. And each festival wouldn’t be possible without the dozens of volunteers each and every year from throughout our community. Take a bow.
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