If that political festival happening downtown this week wasn’t your particular cup of tea, the good people from the Brady Street Business Improvement District are ready to swoop in and give you an entirely different festival to drink in this Saturday, July 20.
Yes, the Brady Street Festival is back for the … somethingth time. See, it’s a little hard to put our finger on that one because the event started back in 1973 and then stopped in 1981 and then picked back up again in 2007 and then the pandemic and so on and so forth. But I guess we can say it’s the 51st anniversary?
Anyway, the 2024 edition of Brady Street Fest will, as usual, swallow approximately eight blocks of the thoroughfare from Van Buren to Farwell from noon to 11 p.m. There will be vendors — the vast majority being local — selling crafts and personal-care items and clothing and food and beverages and goodness knows what else. There will be activities like the Adventure Rock climbing wall in the Fun Zone, presented by Gruber Law Offices. There will even be a “Bee the Change” kids’ pollinator parade at the West (Don Julio & Bacardi) Stage promptly at 12:15 p.m.
There will also be music. So much music. It’s all below, but a few 88Nine favorites to note are Allison Mahal (1:30 p.m.) and Social Cig (9 p.m.) on the East Stage; Alyssia Dominguez (2 p.m.) and Jinksie (8 p.m.) on the Center Stage; and Emmitt James (5 p.m.) and Wave Chapelle (6:30 p.m.) on the West Stage. Really, you can’t go wrong with just about any stage you visit due to the quality talent the festival typically lines up and the free-ness of the whole thing.
Unlike that first rained-out event back in 1973, the weather looks like it’ll cooperate this Saturday, so make sure you get out there for at least a little while and enjoy what the Brady Street BID put together for us.
Brady Street Festival schedule
East (Bud Light) Stage
- Noon — School of Rock
- 1:30 p.m. — Allison Mahal
- 3 p.m. — Ben Mulwana
- 4:30 p.m. — Ladybird
- 6 p.m. — LUNDE
- 7:30 p.m. — Modern Joey
- 9 p.m. — Social Cig
Center (North Shore Bank) Stage
- Noon — Dog Yoga
- 2 p.m. — Alyssia Dominguez
- 3:30 p.m. — Valley Fox
- 5 p.m. — Billy Bronsted
- 6:30 p.m. — Wire and Nail
- 8 p.m. — Jinksie
- 9:30 p.m. — Wonderful Bluffer
West (Don Julio & Bacardi) Stage
- Noon — True Skool
- 3:30 p.m. — Louie and the Flashbombs
- 5 p.m. — Emmitt James
- 6:30 p.m. — Wave Chapelle
- 8 p.m. — The Love-In
- 9 p.m. — Brew City Belly Dancers
- 9:30 p.m. — Brady Street Babes
Lilliput (Saint Brady Vodka) Stage
- 1 p.m. — Jamai Fisher
- 2:30 p.m. — Spine Stealers
- 4 p.m. — Public Maximiano
- 5:30 p.m. — Cruel Buddhist
