Rocking out at Corn Fest

MORRIS – Deciding what music attendees at the annual Grundy County Corn Fest will hear on the two stages of the annual festival is a daunting task – one that takes an entire year to decide.

Jim Maskel, chairman of Entertainment for the festival, luckily knows a little bit about music, as he works as a local deejay.

"We get 80 to 90 requests from bands to play at Corn Festival," Maskel said. "It just gets bigger every year."

This year Corn Festival will again have two stages – one at the corner of Jackson and Liberty streets, the other at Illinois Avenue and Wauponsee Street – so the festival can offer a variety of bands and start times for people to hear live music.

At the end of each Corn Festival, the committee starts working its way through the list of interested bands, and then narrow it down to a manageable number members can go see.

"There is a lot of input from the committee on who we book," he said. "The committee goes and watches the bands we are interested in when they are playing somewhere so we know what their show is like."

The stages are separated by bands with ties to Grundy County performing at the Jackson Street stage, and other bands performing at the South stage on Illinois Avenue.

"We like to have a local spotlight [for those who] have ties to Grundy County," Maskel said. "This gives their friends and families a chance to see them locally."

One of those bands gracing the local stage is Jake Mack and The Last Stand. Glenn Burnam is on lead and backing vocals, and the band's keyboardist is a Morris resident.

Mack, from Aurora, said those coming to see the band can expect a lot of high-energy numbers.

"At Corn Festival we will play a little more of a cover mix," he said.

He said he'd call the band's genre a mix of alternative country, with some blues and jazz thrown in.

While the band also plays original music, Mack said he knows those coming out like to sing and dance to tunes they know.

"This group is based on a group of musicians having a good time with a regional sound," he said. "We like to play music that influenced us, we're a little left of center but we like to entertain."

Maskel said while the committee tries to have a variety of different genres, the community really turns out for rock, country, and oldies.

"We try to have a variety of entertainers and we never have the same band back to back, each year," he said. "We take the feedback from festival goers and go from there."

He said he's already thinking about the bands he'll book for the 2016 Corn Festival, even though this year hasn't started yet.

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MUSIC SCHEDULE

South Stage - Illinois Avenue at Wauponsee Street

FRIDAY

• 5 p.m. – Greg's Fender Benders

• 7 p.m. – Ethan Bell Band

• 10 p.m. – ARRA

SATURDAY

• 1 p.m. – The Lost Vinyls

• 3 p.m. – Headin' West

• 6:30 p.m. – Cadillac Casanovas

• 9:30 p.m. – Silver Bullet STL

Jackson Street Stage - Jackson and Liberty streets

FRIDAY

• 5:30 p.m. – Jake Maskel

• 7:30 p.m. – Box Whine

• 10 p.m. – Nobodyz Business

SATURDAY

• 7 p.m. – Micro Management

• 8:30 p.m. – Jake Mack and The Last Stand

• 10:30 p.m. – Wildfire