Country star Sam Hunt announced for RISE Up festival, renamed to McHenry Music Festival

The RISE Up Foundation’s music festival is now the McHenry Music Festival, rebranding the three-day concert series to include the city’s name, McHenry Mayor Wayne Jett said Monday as he announced some of his non-profit foundation’s concert series acts.

Jett also recently announced where funds raised by the festival will go next - a bike riding complex at Knox Park.

Country music star Sam Hunt will headline Friday night during the Sept. 11-13 festival at McHenry’s Petersen Park. Rock-reggae fusion act Slightly Stoopid is set to highlight Saturday’s acts, with rock-reggae band The Elovaters also performing.

Reggae acts were a popular part of the 2024 festival and sold out, Jett said.

“People asked for it again because it was a great show” and adding that there are no reggae-based festivals in the area to compete with.

Other band announcements, and the themes for other festival nights, are expected in upcoming weeks, Jett said.

“A lot of bands we can’t announce” quite yet, Jett said, as negotiations are in progress and radius clauses – limiting where a band can perform, distance-wise, from other venues – also apply.

“There are a couple of options we are working through with artists,” he said.

The RISE Up Foundation and its concert festival was created by Jett and his wife, Amber, “to provide funding for [McHenry] projects focused on enhancing the quality of life for children and their families,” according to mchenrymusicfest.com, the festival’s new website.

Jett was first elected mayor in 2017, and is now running for his third term against 4th Ward Alderwoman Chris Bassi.

Now set for its fourth year, there is more than just a name change in store.

Other changes include a new layout for the stage and seating area, additional parking, and a new ticket vendor, Etix, Jett said.

Changes to the festival’s layout moves the stage to where the parking was previously located.

“In the other location [the setup] was wide and narrow” and those at the back of the park had a hard time seeing and hearing the bands, he said.

“The sound was not getting far enough, and we had to turn down the sound” due to noise complaints from City Council members, Jett said.

The new layout also points the sound amplification to a portion of neighboring Johnsburg with no houses. Residents in McHenry “will still hear [the music] but not as loudly by turning the stage,” Jett said.

The alignment also allows more people in – and tickets sold for – the VIP area. The new layout means about 1,000 more tickets can be sold overall, Jett said.

Gates will open at 4 p.m. each night, with acts not going on until about 5:30 p.m. The earlier gate allows those driving in to stagger their arrivals. “Cars can get in quicker,” Jett said, adding that this year they’ve also arranged to lease property across McCullom Lake Road to park another 1,000 cars.

The foundation’s concert festival have raised $1.2 million for city projects since 2021, including the splash pad at Fort McHenry Park and a portion of renovations to and the amphitheater at Miller Point Park. The 2024 show’s earnings are earmarked for inclusive play area upgrades to the Veteran’s Memorial Park playground.

The next park upgrade paid for by the festival is set for Knox Park, located between Route 31 (Main Street) and Green Street on the south side of McHenry. The Jetts are proposing what they call a “family riding complex” at the park, including a 15,000-square-foot bike pump track and a 1,000-square-foot beginners bike pump track. The entire area would be surrounded by a bike and pedestrian trail connecting to the adjacent skate park.

The biking complex has been talked about since about 2022, Parks and Recreation Director Bill Hobson said, adding that it fits well into the Parks Master Plan his department is working on.

“One of the big things in the parks master plan is activities for teens and families. This is a perfect fit for that,” Hobson said.

The plan, which is set for a city council vote later this year, calls for more activities for teens and families “that are more free-playa and not structured, more ‘create their own adventure,” Hobson added.

In July, the McHenry City Council approved spending $40,000 in park developer donations to repair the skate park at 330 Knox Drive and another $35,000 to install six new pickle ball courts on what was a wood rail section for the skate park.

Other plans for the skate park include a quarter pipe and grinding curbs, Jett said.

Jett said he’d also like to see lighting at the walking track “and around the entire area” at the park. There is lighting at the skate park now.

He also hopes to bring a haunted house back to the park’s barn. That event was ended for safety reasons, including the lack of a sprinkler system. “We are working with a private individual” to sprinkle the barn for the haunted house and other events, Jett said.