2025 Schedule of Major Events for the BHHA
PDF of the 2025 Bishop Hill Visitor Guide: BH Guide2025 single pg (1)
2025 BISHOP HILL QUILT SHOW
On May 16, 17, and 18, the Bishop Hill Quilt Show returns. A bedazzling display of color will fill the Colony School. The Colony School comes alive for the 35th year, as over 100 quilts will be on display. This year’s theme is “Cutting it up & Going to Pieces”, and the Challenge Quilts will be on display in the Steeple Building Museum this Friday and Saturday. Admission to the Quilt Show at the Colony School is $5. Colony School hours are 10 am– 4 pm on the 16th & 17, 10 am – 3 pm on the 18th. Sponsored by the Prairie Queen Quilt Club and the Bishop Hill Heritage Association. Contact for more information: Lorna Brown 309-945-7401, lsbrown75@yahoo.com
Gunsmiths of Henry County, IL
On Saturday, May 17, 2025, the Bishop Hill Heritage Association is hosting Gunsmiths of Henry County, IL program by Curt Johnson, author of Gunmakers of Illinois 1683-1900. His presentation will be on the gunsmiths of Illinois, with an emphasis on Henry County gunmakers. Guns made by area gunsmiths will also be on display.
Mr. Johnson’s program will include the gunsmiths that worked on Illinois soil during the French Colonial period. He will then talk about the early Illinois territory gunmakers. His presentation will then conclude with the gunsmiths of Henry County, and the adjoining counties of Whiteside, Bureau, Stark, Knox, Mercer, and Rock Island.
Curt Johnson is a retired tool & die maker with a lifelong interest in antique firearms. His two-volume book set, Gunmakers of Illinois 1683-1900, has information on over 1,500 early Illinois gunsmiths. This free one-hour public program will now start at 1 p.m. on the second floor of the Blacksmith Shop, located at 203 North Bishop Hill Street in Bishop Hill, Illinois. It is sponsored by the Geneseo Foundation and the Galesburg Community Foundation. For more details, please call the BHHA at 309 927-3899 or email bhha@mymctc.net.
May 31, 2025 Doodle Folk Music Festival
On Saturday May 31 2025, start the summer by enjoying the Doodle Folk Music Festival. Located in the village park in Bishop Hill Illinois, some of the best-known Illinois folk musicians, such as Bucky Halker, the Bucktown Americana Music Show, Chris Vallillo, and more will be performing. Their musical styles span a wide range of folk music including bluegrass, coal mine songs, and Woody Guthrie songs, to name just a few. All the park concerts are free and open to the public. Bring lawn chairs and enjoy the music!
The music festival is named after Bishop Hill’s first folk musician. In the mid 1800’s, Jonas Danielson (“Doodle”) would travel around Bishop Hill and perform music on his fiddle for a meal or just a pail of milk. He was nicknamed “Doodle” because his favorite song was Yankee Doodle. A display about Doodle will be located in the park gazebo.
Music starts at 10 a.m. and continues throughout the day. Peoria’s singer-songwriter Barry Cloyd will start off the day performing songs from his 10 CDs. At 11:30 a.m., Chicago’s singer-songwriter Buck Halker will be playing songs about American Coal Miners. His program is sponsored by the IHC Road Scholars Bureau. After a lunch break, Chris Vallillo will perform at 1:30 p.m. Chris Vallillo is an award-winning rural singer/songwriter, folk musician and folklorist from Macomb, IL. The Bucktown Americana Music Show will finish off the day by performing at 3 p.m. If you’re a fan of bluegrass, folk, Celtic, Americana, or old-time music, you’ll love the Bucktown Americana Music Show.
This free event is funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council, the Illinois Humanities Council, the Galesburg Community Foundation and the Geneseo Foundation. For more details, you can call 309 927-3899 or email bhha@mymctc.net.
Concert Schedule for Saturday May 31
(main stage is located next to the park gazebo in the center of the village park)
10 a.m. Barry Cloyd
11:30 a.m. Bucky Halker
1:30 p.m. Chris Vallillo
3:00 p.m. Bucktown Americana Music Show
June 21, 2025 Midsommar Music Festival
The 2025 Bishop Hill Midsommar Music Festival is a family-friendly event occurring on Saturday June 21. Highlights of this festival includes free concerts in the park, a Swedish Maypole celebration, and much more. Please bring a lawn chair and join us as we celebrate this Swedish holiday in historic Bishop Hill, Illinois.
Celebrating Midsommar, one of the two most popular holidays in Sweden – the other being Christmas – is a very ancient practice, dating back to pre-Christian times. It has its roots in Pagan rituals to welcome summer and the season of fertility. In Sweden, Midsommar festivals have been around for at least 500 years. Even in agrarian times, people in Sweden welcomed summertime by decorating their houses and farm tools with foliage and raising tall May poles to dance around.
The free concerts at the village park gazebo will begin at 10 a.m. This year’s lineup includes Black Hawk Pipes and Drums, Chloe Mae Finch, Orion Community Band, and the Norwegian Bachelor Farmers. Immediately following the musical performances at 4 p.m., everyone is invited to decorate the Maypole with flowers and to join the procession. The procession will begin in the park and end at the Colony School where visitors can join in the Maypole dancing and have refreshments provided by the Bishop Hill Vasa Lodge. No experience is required to join in the dancing.
2024 MIDSOMMAR MUSIC SCHEDULE
SATURDAY June 22
Schedule for the day includes the following FREE performances at the center of the park
in front of the gazebo:
– MAIN STAGE –
Black Hawk
Pipes & Drums 10 am
Chloe Mae Finch 11:30 a.m.
Orion Community Band 1:30 p.m.
Norwegian Bachelor Farmers 3 pm
***Maypole dressing begins at 4 pm and procession to the Colony
School begins just after it is dressed.
Maypole dancing at Colony School at 4:30 p.m., followed by supper provided by the Bishop Hill Vasa Lodge
July 9-11 2025 Clay Resist and Stitched Shibori 2-Day Class taught by Sheri Wood Clay Resist and Stitched July 9 and your choice of either July 10 OR 11 for indigo dyeing!
Please spend a day using stitching and clay resist to make patterns and designs of fabric and prepare them for dyeing. We will use a variety of techniques to make our designs. I will bring tools and supplies to pattern your fabrics and will show you several ways to put your design ideas onto fabrics. All materials and supplies will be provided, including some different color clays for the resist, along with instructions to take home. Bring along your hand sewing supplies to work on stitched shibori. You will be able to leave your clay pieces at the workroom to dry until dyeing day. You may take you stitched pieces home to do any more stitching on them before your dyeing day. We will take a lunch break. Class is from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Dairy Building in Bishop Hill, IL Class fee is $180 for a 2-day class. For more information or to register for a class, contact Sheri at sheri_jeanne@hotmail.com .Partially sponsored by the BHHA.
July 10-11 2025 Indigo Dyeing taught by Sheri Wood One-day class in which you choose either July 10 OR 11 for indigo dyeing!
Please spend the day exploring the magic of dyeing with indigo! Using natural fibers and fabric we will start our day by taking a short walk to the indigo patch to harvest fresh Persicaria Tinctoria or Japanese Indigo., then use it to color our materials in several different ways. We will get a variety of colors from using fresh indigo, including shades of greens, blues maybe even some yellows and purples! Before our lunch break, we will start the indigo vats to use in the afternoon to learn and experiment with vat dyeing. Materials, supplies and instructions are included. Please wear clothing you don’t mind getting splashed with blue, or bring an apron. You will leave with your fabric and fiber samples, complete instructions and starts of plants to grow at home. If you want to take your dye bath home with you to continue dyeing, please bring along your own 5-gallon bucket with a tight-fitting lid. Class is from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Dairy Building in Bishop Hill, IL Class fee is $90. For more information or to register for a class, contact Sheri at sheri_jeanne@hotmail.com. Partially sponsored by the BHHA.
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 .
This is a listing of BHHA events only. To view all other Bishop Hill events, please check out https://www.visitbishophill.com/. Please confirm BHHA events details by emailing bhha@mymctc.net, visiting the Bishop Hill Heritage Association Facebook Page, calling 309 927-3899, or visiting www.bishophillheritage.org
*The programs of the Bishop Hill Heritage Association are partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency.
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