The Chapmans

Special Consensus, The Chapmans and The Harmans, all Midwestern bands with a far-reaching span, will headline the 37th Annual Barnes Family Bluegrass Music Festival Sept. 4, 5 and 6 at the Mercer County Fairgrounds in Aledo, Ill.

The festival dates to 1972, when Jim and Eleanor Barnes promoted that first event. It is the oldest active festival in Illinois.

“From the first year at the Ponderosa Camp ground to our 34th year at the Mercer County fairgrounds, the Lord has permitted us to keep up the tradition of the music of the rural America in the manner of which it was played from its origin in the early 1900s through to its current popular growth of the present,” the Barnes family says in promotional material.

Show times for this year’s festival are 6 p.m. Friday, 12:30 and 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Other bands include Blue River Bluegrass Band, Burlington Street Bluegrass Band, Southern Reign and Henhouse Prowlers.

Besides the concerts, a free wiener roast, potluck supper and jam session will take place at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Weekend passes are $35, and camping is available for $12 a day. Daily admission tickets are also available. Children under 16 are admitted free with a parent.

Proceeds will benefit the Children”s Therapy Center in the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa.

More information is available at the festival’s Web site.