The state historic site of Bishop Hill, Illinois, will begin the 2015 season with kick-off activities on Saturday, April 11. This is the weekend when we say goodbye to a long winter and get out and enjoy everything anew.
- The Bishop Hill Arts Council is sponsoring an Art Show at the Welcome Center. Featured artist is Jillie Swanson of Galesburg. There will be a reception from 10 a.m. to noon to meet the artist. The Welcome Center is located at 207 North Bishop Hill Street.
- Sweet Annie Primitives is having their Spring Open House from 10 a.m. to 4 pm. Inside you will find early cupboards & tables, jugs & crocks, quilts & textiles, dried everlastings, gardenware, and much more. Sweet Annie Primitives is located at 106 South Bishop Hill Street. They will also be giving tours of their home, the 1855 Colony Apartment Building.
- “Put a Little Art in Your Garden” by attending a studio open house at Hantverk Galleri, featuring handmade garden inspired pottery birdhouses, plant pots, totems, fairy houses, butterfly spas, and more. The open house is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Hantverk Galleri is at 403 North Bishop Hill Street.
- The Bishop Hill Museum will be providing bird nesting materials for people to put in their yards. The museum is located at 304 South Bishop Hill Street.
- Richard Morthland will perform a first person portrayal of John Deere at 2 p.m. in the Dairy Building, located at 410 North Erickson Street. John Deere’s agricultural innovations, especially the self-scouring steel plow, monumentally impacted farming methods during the formative years of the United States, making expansion into the vast prairies and plains possible. This free, public program is sponsored by the Bishop Hill Heritage Association.
*Spring Jubilee is sponsored, in part, by the Illinois Arts Council and the Illinois Humanities Council.