PAGE 3
PAGE 4
CHRISTIAN POP BAND BUILDING 429 TO PERFORM
TWO BANDS TO ROCK THE BEER TENT
26th Year, No. 25
BagelGazette 50 Cents
©2011 Mattoon Journal Gazette
Tuesday More music, vendors added to growing Bagelfest July 19, 2011
BAGELFEST 2011 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Wednesday 6 p.m., carnival opens; armband times from 6-10 p.m. 6 p.m., Beautiful Bagel Baby Contest at Cross County Mall
Thursday 5 p.m., carnival open 5-10 p.m., food and craft vendors open 6-9 p.m., bingo at DeMars Center 7 p.m., Miss Bagelfest Contest at Williams Elementary School 8 p.m., Building 429 performs on the Main Stage
By HERB MEEKER Staff Writer
M
ore music and expanded vendor spaces are signs that Bagelfest is growing even in its 26th year. The blues band Resonation Station will play Saturday morning at the Rotary Band Shell during much of the free bagel breakfast, courtesy of Lender’s Bagels, in the DeMars Building. The performance is another way of jazzing up the event that draws thousands of bagel lovers to Peterson Park each year. Call it blues with your bagel. “We’ve talked about doing something like this before, with the breakfast being a big attraction for Bagelfest,” said Angelia Burgett, Mattoon tourism coordinator. “This is another opportunity to showcase local talent and I think everyone will enjoy their bluesy music.” Resonation Station will play from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday. A good sign of the popularity of Bagelfest is that organizers maintain a waiting list for the various food, commercial and not-for-profit vendor
booth spaces along the roadways on the west side of Peterson Park. This year, the demand was so great that some of the 80-plus vendor spaces will be located near the Broadway Avenue sidewalk, Burgett said. “We have so many new vendors that we decided to offer extra spaces on that side of Peterson. We always have a waiting list,” Burgett said. Hitting the right notes with the public is important for Bagelfest. Last year, a Christian music night was offered on Thursday night and that will continue for this festival as well, with a concert by Building 429 from Tennessee, Burgett said. “We are continuing this on the Main Stage [on Grimes Field] for this year. This is a national act and supported by local churches,” Burgett said. The main music acts for Friday and Saturday offer an up-and-coming country music performer, Craig Campbell, and one with an amazing string of hits, Travis Tritt. “We had one man call and say he wasn’t familiar with Craig Campbell but felt he would be hearing more about him after Bagelfest because that has happened before with our
1 p.m., carnival opens; armband times from 1-5 p.m. Noon-10 p.m., food and craft vendors open 5 p.m., beer tent opens 6-9 p.m., bingo, DeMars Center 7-11:30 p.m., Ryan Ideus & Feudin’ Hillbillys, beer tent stage 8 p.m., Craig Campbell performs on the Main Stage
By DAWN JAMES Staff Writer
Saturday
INSIDE Bagel breakfast................2 Run for the Bagel.............3 Building 429.....................3 Beer tent bands................4 Parade..............................4 Arts in the Park.................5 Carnival............................5 Bagel Wow Wow...............8 Bingo.......................... .....8 Resonation Station.........11 Bagel Baby Contest........11 Bagelfest pageant..........12 Bagel recipes.................13
The price is free for signing up for prize drawings during the festival. Keeping things in balance is important on scheduling. Organizers note that you can join in or watch different events on Saturday, starting with the Run for the Bagel, then head toward the Bagel Breakfast and hear the blues songs from the band shell and then take a rest in the shade before making the rounds of vendors or enjoying other events that day. And don’t be fooled by some names tied to the Bagelfest beer tent; the Feuding Hillbillies is just a band, and Suede is the same, not a dress code requirement. Burgett said one tradition that has kept growing is the work of volunteers and support for the festival, which started 26 years ago as a tribute to the bagel factory in town. “Our volunteers are great. Without their help on setup and cleaning and everything else, we couldn’t do this. We are so fortunate to have a community stepping up to do what is successful,” she said.
Contact Herb Meeker at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.
Travis Tritt brings string of No. 1 hits to Bagelfest Main Stage on Saturday
Friday
7 a.m., Run for the Bagel race begins near bus station, Broadway Avenue and 19th Street 8 a.m.-10 p.m., food and craft vendors open 8-10 a.m., World’s Biggest Bagel Breakfast, DeMars Center 8-10 a.m., Resonation Station performs, Rotary Band Shell 10:30 a.m., Bagelfest parade begins at 21st Street and Western Avenue 11 a.m., carnival opens 11:30 a.m., free Arts in the Park tent open following parade, near Peterson House 1-7 p.m., bingo, DeMars Center 2 p.m., Bagel Bow Wow Contest 5 p.m., beer tent opens 7-11:30 p.m., Suede performs, beer tent stage 8 p.m., Travis Tritt performs on the Main Stage
Bagelfest acts. We have a reputation for booking up-and-coming stars for our shows. And Travis Tritt has so many hit songs, so he will draw a crowd,” Burgett said. Bagelfest keeps the interstates humming with travelers for those Main Stage shows. “We draw people from Indiana, St. Louis and Chicago. And they stay overnight for both shows, too. “We are fortunate this year to have even more hotel rooms to accommodate people for Bagelfest and the other events we have each summer in Mattoon. It’s a busy weekend, and from an economic standpoint everybody wins,” she said. But the price is free for so many Bagelfest events, including the parade with its summer-friendly theme of “Beach Blanket Bagelfest”; the Bagel Bow-Wow contest; and the beauty pageants, featuring graceful young women and girls for the Miss Bagelfest competitions at Williams Elementary School to waddling toddlers during the Beautiful Bagel Baby Contest in Cross County Mall. “So many of our events are free, so that is a nice balance,” Burgett said.
Submitted Photo
Travis Tritt
Legendary country artist Travis Tritt will take the stage at 8 p.m. Saturday at Peterson Park as part of this year’s Bagelfest activities. “Travis’ success speaks for itself,” said Bub McCullough of WMCI. “There’s really nothing he can’t do on stage.” Tritt was one of the leading new country singers of the early ’90s, holding his own against Garth Brooks, Clint Black and Alan Jackson, according to a press release. He was the only one not to wear a hat and the only one to dip into bluesy Southern rock. Consequently, he developed a gutsy, outlaw image that distinguished him from the pack. Throughout the early ’90s, he had a string of platinum albums and Top 10 singles,
including three No. 1 hits. Music has been a part of Tritt’s life since childhood. He is a self-taught guitar player, learning at the age of 8. He began writing songs at age 14. While Tritt’s desire was to become a musician, his parents did not encourage him to follow that path. His mother wanted him to sing gospel music when he performed, and his father was afraid he couldn’t make a living performing music. At age 18 he tried to settle down, work and have a family, without success. He worked at an air-conditioning company, as well as other jobs, and found himself married and divorced twice before age 22, the release said. While working for the airconditioning company, the
company’s vice president was also a guitarist who hadn’t followed his dreams, and he encouraged the young Tritt to pursue his passion. The vocalist then quit his job and pursued his dream. In a private studio of Danny Davenport’s, Tritt made his first demo tape. Davenport was a Warner Brothers exec who was impressed with the young artist, and for the next several years they worked together in recording demo tapes. By 1989 Warner Brothers’ Nashville unit signed Tritt with his first album, “Country Club,” that appeared in stores in the spring of 1990. The song “Country Club” had made the Top 10. The release also said that his next two singles “Help Me
TRITT/2
Campbell offers country-boy approach to his music By DAWN JAMES Staff Writer
A
lan Jackson may or may not know it, but there’s a new guy on the country music circuit. “Craig Campbell has been compared to Alan Jackson,” said Bub McCullough of WMCI Radio. “He’s got that regular guy, country boy approach.” Traditionally, Bagelfest organizers feature an up-andcoming artist on Friday and an established country star on Saturday. Campbell is on the slate to perform at Peterson Park at 8 p.m. Friday. “He is definitely on the rise,” said Angelia Burgett, Mattoon tourism coordinator. She said he will follow well in the footsteps of last year’s The Band Perry and 2009’s The Zac Brown Band.
Sponsorship provided by:
“He’s making his way up the charts,” she said. The voice of Campbell is straight-forward and powerful, according to a recent press release. The songs are down-toearth portraits of real people from the American heartland. His sound is traditional, unapologetic country. Campbell is a reminder of one of country’s strongest creative periods, building on the early-’90s legacy established by some of the genre’s most successful figures: Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Clint Black and Travis Tritt, according to the release. Campbell’s unique style is inspired by a blend of influences. Growing up, Campbell’s house was filled with the sound of gospel groups — the CatheSubmitted Photo
CAMPBELL/2
Craig Campbell