Draft:Chicagoland Music Festival

The Chicagoland Music Festival was a music festival that was held annually at Soldier Field stadium in Chicago. The event was organized and sponsored by the Chicago Tribune. Its initial run lasted from 1932 until 1956, with a brief revival in the 1960s. The final edition was held in 1966.

History
The festival began in 1932 when 150,000 people attended the inaugural festival. The inaugural edition was jam-packed with performances, including a performance of the Anvil Chorus from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il trovatore, a rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from George Frideric Handel's Messiah sung by the entire audience, numerous John Philip Sousa marches, and spirituals like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Thousands of performers were involved in the event, amongst them was Douglas, Michigan's 91-year-old W. T. Kimsey, an American Civil War veteran who had been a drummer in the army of Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Shiloh. Kimsey performed using the same drum that he played at the Battle of Shiloh.

The 1938 Chicagoland Music Festival is credited to have originated the tradition of lighting matches or lighters at concerts.
 * August 21 Liberace headlined the 25th annual Chicagoland Music Festival. Jack Webb appeared at the event to promote the Chicago Theatre premiere of the film Dragnet.

1954 Liberace headlined the 25th annual Chicagoland Music Festival. Jack Webb appeared at the event to promote the Chicago Theatre premiere of the film Dragnet.

1956 Chicagoland Music Festival featured 8,000 performers, including Al G. Wright, Richard Tucker, the Skokie American Indians drum and bugle corps (the national champions). Special guests at the included Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. A men's and a women's singing contest was held at the event, the winners performing on the Ed Sullivan Show the following night. The competition was judged by Rosa Raisa, Sonia Sharnova, and Louis Sudler. This was the final edition of the original run of the Chicagoland Music Festival.

The 1958 Chicagoland Music Festival featured a reenactment of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.


 * August 17, 1963 Lawrence Weller headlined the 34th annual Chicagoland Music Festival. Bob Bell performed as Bozo the Clown alongside other Bozo's Circus cast members at the beginning of the Festival.