19th Annual Traditional Music Festival September 27 - 28 at Fort Kaskaskia

ELLIS GROVE, IL --- Music lovers of all ages are invited to the 19th Annual Traditional Music Festival scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, September 27 and 28, at Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site. The event is free and open to the public.

The event will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. Food and soft drinks will be available. Visitors are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. A $10 per car parking fee will be charged, and camping will be available at Fort Kaskaskia Campground.

The Traditional Music Festival will feature Bluegrass, Cajun, Country, Gospel and Irish music as well as country-style clogging. National "Open" Fiddle Champion George Portz, who serves as music director for the festival, will perform with his Friends of Bluegrass Band. He will be joined by national harmonica champion Wailin' Wood from Nashville; country vocalist Zane Prosser; bagpiper Nancy Meadows; fiddle champion Leisl Schoenberger; All-Ireland Concertina Champion Gearoid O'hAllmhurain; junior harmonica sensation Matt McElroy; RavenMoon bluegrass band; traditional Cajun musician Dennis Stroughmatt et L'Esprit Croele; Cadence Cloggers; Appalachian bluegrass group The Gordons; southern Illinois bluegrass vocalist Wil Maring; national banjo champion Phillip Steinmetz and the Sunny Tennesseans; the Mulhearn Family, "first family of fiddlers"; junior country singer Marissa Harms; ten-year-old fiddler Heather Stortz; and Thunder & Lightning Cloggers.

There will be a Gospel Sing at 11 a.m. Sunday, and a craft show both days.

The Traditional Music Festival is sponsored by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which administers Fort Kaskaskia. It is located up the hill from the Pierre Menard Home State Historic Site, which will also be open for tours during the festival. Fort Kaskaskia is six miles north of Chester, Illinois, just off state Route 3. Signs will direct visitors to the event.