Michelada, a drink that some call a Mexican Bloody Mary, may be hightlighted in the name of the Elgin Michelada Festival, but it won’t be the centerpiece. That goes to the 12 bands performing on stage Sunday at Festival Park.
The inaugural concert event being held from noon to 10 p.m. by Elegante Entertainment and State Line Entertainment will have two stages featuring banda and Norteño music, according to Ricardo Rodriguez, a promoter for Elegante Entertainment. The city of Elgin is co-sponsoring the event.
Banda is a regional style of music that originated in the Mexican state of Sinaloa and features large wind and brass bands. It’s exploded in popularity around the world over the last 15 years, according to Billboard.com.
Norteño, from the Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states in northern Mexico, is more traditional music that features the accordion. New forms incorporating saxophone and tuba have become popular over the past five years, Rodriguez said.
“We’re going to have a mix of music for everybody,” he said. “We’re going to jam out.”
Among of the bands scheduled to play are Banda Estrategia, Los K-Bros, Groupo Sekta, Vanguardia, Banda Empresa, Banda Potrillos, Vision Directa and Mapano.
All the bands are from the Elgin, Rockford, and Chicago areas. The festival is being held on Sunday, organizers said, because the bands usually boked play gigs on Saturday night.
Rodriguez said Elegante Entertainment holds concerts or dances every weekend around the suburbs so putting together a show featuring a dozen bands in one setting is not as hard as it might sound. Typically the dances they often present at Mi Vallarta in South Elgin will attract as many as 500 people, he said.
“This is the first time we’re doing a big event like this in Elgin,” Rodriguez said. “We thought we’d try to do something different. I think it’s going to work pretty good. A lot of people are talking about it.”
So far they’ve sold about 2,000 tickets for Sunday’s event, he said. Tickets are on sale for $10.
While the festival is named after the michelada, a drink with a lot of variations but primarily made with beer, tomato juice, a little bit of hot pepper and other spices, and orange or lime juice, the event is going to be family friendly, Rodriguez said. Children 12 and younger get in free, he said.
“We are really surprised,” Rodriguez said of the response so far. “We expected a good crowd, but it’s getting really, really big. It’s the first time someone is doing something like this in Elgin. I think it’s a good thing for everybody.”
Tickets can be purchased at www.eventbrite.com/e/elgin-micheleros-festival-2024-tickets-894092734437.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
