Summer Solstice rocks Yorkville’s Riverfront park

The Summer Solstice Indie Music festival returned to Yorkville for the 11th time over the weekend bringing country jams and hundreds of attendees to Riverfront Park at 301 E. Hydraulic St.

“If you can’t have fun with a lineup like today’s, then there’s something wrong with ya’,” Taylor Hunicutt shouted to the crowd at the start of her set on Saturday afternoon.

Performance times were moved up an hour on Saturday in preparation for rain, but the weather didn’t stop hundreds of festival goers from enjoying live music on the bank of the Fox River.

Texas-based band Silverada headlined the event on Saturday evening, drawing roughly 300 fans. After the show, The Law Office Pub & Music Hall hosted an after party where Drew Cooper played an acoustic set for a packed house.

Montgomery resident Chris Masterson was at the festival with his family for the fifth time. He said while the venue is seems like an unlikely place for a music festival, the level of talent they bring in blows his mind every year, and this year was one of the best yet.

“We come every year,” Masterson said. “It’s amazing how talented the bands are, and it’s so much better at a place like this. You could never be this comfortable at a giant festival or in a stadium.”

Yorkville residents Cole and Melinda Clemmings recently moved to town and were at the festival for the first time. They were impressed with the talent and loved being able to actually meet and talk with the performers.

“I can’t believe how good the bands are,” Melinda Clemmings said. “And it’s so cool to be able to talk to the artists after their sets. I just bought one of the drummers a beer.”

Local food truck Freaky Fries was serving food at the event both days for the second year in a row. Owner Brandon Partridge was happy with the turnout and said this year was busier than the last.

Partridge said Freaky Fries works most of the community events in town and Summer Solstice is one of their favorites. He said the biggest food hit of the weekend was their Porker, a plate of smoked pulled pork over waffle fries and topped with sour cream, pickles and bourbon barbecue sauce.

Kiwanis Club member Eric Essex was working the ticket booth at the entrance to the festival on Saturday. Essex said despite rain in the forecast possibly lowering attendance on Saturday, the number of pre-sale tickets was in the hundreds, with plenty more buying tickets at the event.