54th Annual Willow Folk Festival

After settling for remote zoom performances last year due to the pandemic, there'll once again be live music in the in that pastoral valley about eight miles South of Stockton, Illinois. The Willow Folk Festival returns August 14 - 15.

In addition to drawing top amateur and professional acoustic talent in the area to the Willow UM Church grounds, the fest draws scores of musicians from Chicago, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Many of them camp in the nearby cow pasture and enjoy impromptu jam sessions, while the pasture's usual inhabitants spend the weekend in owner Stuart Schlafer's barn.

Musi...