June 21 Midsommar Music Festival
Bishop Hill’s Midsommar Music Festival returns this year on Saturday June 21 with a strong line-up of local musical performers. Some of the performers are Black Hawk Pipes & Drum and the Orion Community Band. Other highlights of this event include a Swedish Maypole decoration and ring dancing. Join us for this lively Swedish tradition to celebrate the summer solstice. This festival is free and open to the public, starting at 10 a.m. Email bhha@mymctc.net or call 309 927-3899 for more information. Organized by the Bishop Hill Heritage Association. Funded by the Bishop Hill Vasa Lodge #683, Bishop Hill Old Settlers’ Association, Illinois Arts Council Agency, Minneapolis Foundation, and the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.
July 12, 2025 Dancing Queen: ABBA Tribute Band Concert
Dancing Queen: An ABBA Salute is quite literally the most accurate tribute band on the planet. With painstaking attention to detail, they’ve recreated an ABBA experience that is second to none. This two-hour concert is FREE and open to the public. It will start at 1 p.m. in the Village Park. For more information about this concert, contact the Bishop Hill Heritage Association at 309 927-3899 or bhha@mymctc.net. Organized by the Bishop Hill Heritage Association. Funded by the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, Community State Bank, Minneapolis Foundation, and Illinois Arts Council Agency.
August 9, 2025 Bishop Hill Chautauqua
This year is Henry County’s Bicentennial. So, in honor of this occasion, the Bishop Hill Chautauqua will look back at the people who impacted Henry County history. A modern-day Chautauqua is when storytellers, actors, and historians perform first-person portrayals of famous historical figures. This free festival will occur in the village park gazebo on Saturday August 9.
The day begins at 9 a.m. with “A Storyteller’s Tour of Bishop Hill”, a walking tour led by professional storyteller and historian Brian “Fox” Ellis. The tour will last about 90 minutes and circle the town. The tour will include stories of the founding of the town, as well as some of its more colorful recent history.
After the tour, the programs will start in the gazebo. At 10:30 a.m. in the park, Jimmy Lakota Edwards will talk about Native American history in our area. At 1 p.m., Brian “Fox” Ellis will perform as Benjamin Dunn Walsh, the first State Entomologist of Illinois who lived just outside the Bishop Hill Colony. Mr. Ellis will give an outsider’s viewpoint of the Bishop Hill Colony. At 2 p.m., Angie Snook, retired Geneseo Historical Museum director, will portray Harriet Cone Miller, a member of one of the founding families of Geneseo. Mrs. Snook will tell us the inner workings of the Underground Railroad in Henry County. At 3 p.m., singer-songwriter Barry Cloyd will portray Illinois poet laureate and Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg. Carl Sandburg’s sister Mary was a teacher at the Bishop Hill Colony School. To conclude the day, at 4:00 p.m., the Bishop Hill Heritage Association is hosting a fika with the performers at the park gazebo. Fika is a Swedish tradition of coffee and conversation; in this instance the audience is invited to ask questions of the performer and about their historical characters.
All the Chautauqua programs will be held at the gazebo in Bishop Hill’s town square, on the corners of Main Street and Bishop Hill Road, in Bishop Hill, IL. Folks are encouraged to bring a lawn chair. This free public event is sponsored by the Bishop Hill Heritage Association, Community State Bank, Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, Geneseo Foundation, Galesburg Community Foundation, and Fox Tales International. For more information, call 309-927-3899, visit www.bishophillheritage.org or email bhha@mymctc.net .
Please call 309 927-3899 or email bhha@mymctc.net to confirm dates and times.
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