Summer Camp Issues Note About Potential Location Move

Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, Illinois has been the home to the long-running Summer Camp Music Festival since its first installment way back in 2001. Yesterday, the Commercial News out of Danville, Illinois reported that the Vermillion County Conservation District board approved a music festival for Kennekuk County Park next year and though Summer Camp wasn’t mentioned, all signs from the details of the article point towards SCamp being this music festival. Summer Camp founder Ian Goldberg has issued a statement in regards to where the event will be held in 2017.

Goldberg revealed that “there has been no decision made to move Summer Camp from Three Sisters Park.” He mentions “we have long been having trouble with our current venue” and that the organizers are embroiled in a legal spat with Three Sisters Park, so they have come up with backup plan that would allow Summer Camp ’17 to take place at the site that hosted the inaugural Phases Of The Moon Music & Arts Festival in 2014. Kennekuk County Park is located 139 miles from Three Sisters Park.

Read the complete statement from Ian Goldberg via the festival’s website:

Summer Camp Family,

As there seems to be a lot of misinformation out there due to press coverage of a public meeting, I wanted to set the record straight. At this time, there has been no decision made to move Summer Camp from Three Sisters Park.

It is no secret that we have long been having troubles with our current venue. We are currently engaged in a legal case over material terms of our existing contract with them. Although we have made our best efforts at dialogue and to find a mutually agreeable resolution, we have been unable to resolve those issues to date.

As such, we have had to move forward with alternative plans in case the issues are unable to be resolved. On Wednesday night, the Vermillion County Conservation District approved a draft contract to allow us to hold festivals at the Kennekuk County Park outside of Danville, Illinois.

It has been reported that this means we are moving Summer Camp to Kennekuk County Park. At this time, that decision has not been made. We are very excited by the potentials of this great park and the welcome we have received from all involved in the Danville area. We are continuing to examine all options for use of this great space.

Should our attempts to resolve our issues with Three Sisters Park prove futile, there is the possibility that Kennekuk could become Summer Camp’s future home, however, that decision is premature at this point.

Like all of you, we have a profound love of our current home. I married my wife there. And when she passed, we created a memorial for her there. If we are forced to make a move, you can trust it will be because we all can no longer feel welcome in this space.

If we are unable to resolve our issues, you can also trust that Kennekuk County Park is an amazing space filled with lakes, trees and beautiful open spaces ready to welcome and embrace everything that Summer Camp has come to stand for. Or, it possibly will be home to a new and different event at some time in the future.

So for the moment, I ask that you ignore any rumors and speculation about what is going on, and wait to hear from us once we work through these issues.

Thanks and much love,

Ian Goldberg
Founder and Director
Summer Camp Music Festival

Summer Camp usually starts the Thursday before Memorial Day and runs through Sunday.

[Hat Tip – Live For Live Music]