Festival History

Watseka Family Festival was established in 2019 with plans on providing a fun family event at an affordable price with quality entertainment for the community. In order to get the name out there the festival board hosted a FREE 4th of July Street Dance and Golf Cart Scavenger Hunt in downtown Watseka, Illinois. 

After covid forcing us to cancel 202. In July 2021 our headliner was Roots & Boots (with (with Aaron Tippin, Sammy Kershaw and Collin Raye) on Saturday night. Other music acts for Friday and Saturday nights included Nick Lynch Band, Rock America, and Creedence Revived. We hosted many activities for families throughout the park and added Thursday and Friday events.

The 2022 festival was headlined by Tracy Byrd with entertainment from Hairball, Nick Lynch Band, John David Daily and Daily Jr. More and more family activities were added to our 3 day event.

The 2023 festival... Drew Baldridge was headlined by Josh Turner on Saturday night with entertainment from The Boat Drunks on Friday night. More and more family activities were added to our 3 day event.

The 2024 festival...headlined by Tracy Byrd with entertainment from Hairball, Nick Lynch Band, John David Daily and Daily Jr. More and more family activities were added to our 3 day event.

The 2025 festival...Friday night we had Heartless and Revil In Red followed by Saturday Neal McCoy opening for Sara Evans! We had business family feud, FFA Pork Chop sandwiches and beer garden on Thursday. Friday, we had a $10,000 raffle, FREE Kids Zone, Tailgate Treasurers Craft Market, Scarecrow Contest, American Legion Fish Fry, and 6 food vendors. One Saturday we had all of that (except the fish fry was Friday only) along with American Legion Opening Ceremony, Kiwanis B&G Breakfast, Baby Contest, Princess Party, Color Run & Kids Dash, Reptile Show, Gaming Trailer, Laser Tag, Magic Show, Stilt Walker, Face Painter, Bubble Machine, free swim day, ABRA Bingo, Chamber & Legion Bags Tourney, a car show and more. The festival just keeps growing each year and we're so thankful for all of the support! 

The Watseka Family Festival Board of Directors is excited to announce the new and upcoming festival events and entertainment soon! Keep watching for updates as we get closer!