The nonprofit Rogers Park Business Alliance (RPBA) is proud to announce the 29th annual Artists of the Wall Festival, returning to Rogers Park on Father’s Day weekend, June 18-19, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at Loyola Park and Beach between Farwell and Morse. A longstanding community event, the free-admission festival will feature 160 murals and 12 live band performances, offering entertainment for families and beyond all weekend long. For more information on the festival, go to http://www.loyolapark.org/artists-of-the-wall/.
Themed “World of Tomorrow” this year, the festival will feature 160 murals created by various artists and local residents. Pre-registered mural spots are sold out, but a limited number of spots reserved for walk-up are available at the festival on Saturday, June 18, starting at 9 a.m. Additional free chalk drawing over the weekend is provided by Circle Gardens, a community garden within Loyola Park.
In addition, the festival will also feature 12 live band performances of folk, rock and jazz music on a 20-foot stage in the meadow in Loyola Park at the Farwell Street entrance, on June 18th from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., and June 19th from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The music will kick off on Saturday with Rogers Park Hot Club., followed by local favorites Baby No Name and Daniel Conolly Band, renaissance storyteller Michael the Bard, and two jazz bands. Sunday music performances will open a flute ensemble, followed by blues bands, jazz fusion band ‘Here and Now’, Chicago FESTet with Lucy Smith and Donovan Mixon, Daniel Conolly Band, Baby No Name, and Chicago HOT Club.
Synapse Dance will perform throughout the park on Sunday, welcoming visitors into the festival. Third Estate Art will host a kids’ activities tent where kids of all ages can paint their future world on a tiny globe. Visitors are encouraged to bring a picnic and blanket while enjoying the festival. The Chicago Coast Guard Auxiliary will provide water safety along with coloring books for kids.
The festival is a fundraiser for the Loyola Park Advisory Council, an all-volunteer team of Rogers Park residents, with donations made at https://www.loyolapark.org/donate. Festival sponsors include Bark Place, Clark Devon Hardware, Jewel-Osco, Orner Real Estate Group, Rogers Park Business Alliance, Flatts and Sharpe, Honeybear Cafe, Northwestern University, Loyola University, Rogers Park Builders Group, Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society, State Farm Insurance, and Connie Abels.
The Loyola Park Advisory Council is a group of volunteers that work to produce events in the park. This year, with the reopening of in-person activity in the parks, LPAC has doubled down on its commitment to producing events in the park with two movies in the park, eight park tours, and bi-monthly community gardening events. To see a list of all events, go to www.loyolapark.org/events
Rogers Park Business Alliance (RPBA) is a nonprofit organization that has served Chicago’s diverse Rogers Park neighborhood for 29 years. RPBA works to cultivate and sustain a thriving economic environment in Rogers Park, serving businesses and residents with a variety of public events and business initiatives. RPBA programs include the GROW/PROGRESANDO entrepreneurial training program, the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Rogers Park Business Alliance, annual Best of Rogers Park awards, Chalk Howard Street Festival, Taco Crawl, and the Glenwood Sunday Market farmers market. For more information, visit RPBA.org.