Illinois

Name: The Mississippi River Festival
Brand: Amanda Bahr-Evola
SKU: 9780738541327
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Illinois history exceeds the capacity of the Sears Catalog for categorization and the World’s Fair for spectacle. And no matter what the self-appointed tour guide at the local diner might say, the heritage of the land of Lincoln doesn’t end with Capone’s demise. Like the Chicago Loop, the Prairie State’s past seems to defy straightforward chronology—Cahokia offered a version of urban sprawl more than a thousand years before the first Windy City skyscraper. From Park Forest to Cave-in-Rock, scan our shelf of Illinois history books with the unflagging enthusiasm of a Wrigley Field hot dog vendor. [View all Illinois books]

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The Mississippi River Festival

Paperback

$24.99

The Magnificent Mile Lights Festival

The Mississippi River Festival

9780738541327

$24.99

The Mississippi River Festival began as a partnership promoting regional cooperation in the realm of the performing arts, since expanding into a festival of legendary status.

In 1969, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville initiated a remarkable performing arts series called the Mississippi River Festival. Over 12 summer seasons, between 1969 and 1980, the festival presented 353 events showcasing performers in a variety of musical genres, including classical, chamber, vocal, ragtime, blues, folk, bluegrass, barbershop, country, and rock, as well as dance and theater. During those years, more than one million visitors flocked to the spacious Gyo Obata-designed campus in the countryside near St. Louis. The Mississippi River Festival began as a partnership promoting regional cooperation in the realm of the performing arts. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville invited the St. Louis Symphony to establish residence on campus and to offer a summer season. To host the symphony, the university created an outdoor concert venue within a natural amphitheater by installing a large circus tent, a stage and acoustic shell, and a sophisticated sound system. To appeal to the widest possible audience, the university included contemporary popular musicians in the series. The audacity of the undertaking, the charm of the venue, the popularity of the artists, the excellence of the performances, and the nostalgic memory of warm summer evenings have combined to endow the festival with legendary status among those who attended.

The Magnificent Mile Lights Festival

9780738561844

$24.99

Chicago's North Michigan Avenue, known as The Magnificent Mile®, has a long and rich tradition of celebrating the holiday season in grand style. Today the illumination of this world-famous avenue with more than one million white lights is considered by many the official start of the holiday season. The Magnificent Mile Lights Festival® draws some one million visitors each November. Millions more watch the televised broadcast. The development of North Michigan Avenue, known in its humble early days as Pine Street, and the creation of its holiday and tree-lighting traditions are largely attributed to a dedicated group of entrepreneurs and business leaders, known as the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association. Over the years, this line of visionary Chicagoans recognized the avenue's potential and committed to making North Michigan Avenue a world-class street with world-class holiday traditions. The North Michigan Avenue district now features 56 hotels, 275 restaurants, 460 retail locations, and numerous educational, cultural, and health care institutions--and more than 18 million visitors annually. It is one of the great avenues of the world, offering one of the most iconic holiday images when it is aglow.

Lake Forest Day

9780738552491

$24.99

The first Lake Forest Day in 1908 included a hot air balloon ascension, a cutest baby contest, a mind-reading dog, and a vaudeville show. Proceeds from this event, organized by the Lake Forest Woman's Club, funded the Contagious Hospital, which eventually merged into Lake Forest Hospital. American Legion Post 264 took over in 1921 and has maintained this extraordinary tradition ever since. This annual celebration has changed over the years to reflect local interests, national events, and even cultural shifts. With the advent of World War II, the themes became patriotic, such as "Home Defense," "Prelude to Victory," and "On to Tokyo." Lake Forest Day, held on the first Wednesday of August, continues to inspire civic pride. This book represents a fascinating look at Lake Forest in 1908 and the century thereafter, as parades, carnivals, and contests energized community spirit.

DeWitt County

9781467163057

$24.99

Readers interested in the America's heartland and the growth of both nuclear power and agriculture will delight in DeWitt County. Founded in 1824 by settlers such as Prettyman Marvel and Cicero Twist, DeWitt County was considered an abundant area because of its flat, open prairies that could be used for farmland and its plentiful forests. Within 15 years, DeWitt County was officially formed, with the first census including approximately 600 people. Over time, several towns changed their names: Mount Pleasant became Farmer City, Marion became DeWitt, and Dunham became Midland City. Other towns came and went, such as Shoo-Fly and Niptight. Clinton, the county seat, drew lawyers and politicians, allowing Stephen A. Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Vespasian Warner, and many others to make impressions first in Illinois and then throughout the nation. Over 180 years from DeWitt’s founding, factories and a nuclear power plant boosted population by 15,000. The county’s fertile sediment of rich minerals and organic matter left by glaciers and wind over millennia helps Illinois rank as the third state in total prime agricultural acreage.

Images of America: DeWitt County provides photographs covering almost 200 years of engaging county history. The author of two other Images of America books, Maureen Holtz lives in Champaign with her husband and cat. Her two other books about Robert Allerton were published locally.