Make Music Normal is an annual music festival in Uptown Normal that features local and regional acts. There are five different stages, and you’ll see a lot of familiar names in the lineups: Modern Drugs, Bashful Youngens, Poster Children, Merry Travelers are a few of them. There will also be karoake, open mic sessions, opera, dance performances, an air guitar competition, a “how to be a DJ demonstration”, and a drag show at the Normal Theater.
Music will be filling the air from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday, June 23rd, and 12 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 24th. All events are free to attend.
Uptown Normal is cool area to explore should you head over for the festival, if I can plug my hometown for a minute. I offered up some of the highlights during one of my trips home for Thanksgiving. It’s an opportunity to visit Mother Murphy’s, now that the Champaign store has closed. Fiala Brothers Brewery & Beer Hall has opened since my last stroll through Uptown, and they have a full menu of grilled cheese variations, which seems like a great thing. If you want some straight up bar food, go to Pub II, just on the edge of Uptown and get cheese balls.