Camp Smokey Bear Festival Returns featuring Young Chop, Chimeka, & More Sept.14th

While Chicago may be the heart of the music world in some eyes it has yet to become the heart of the musical festival world. However, that may change with people such as Chimeka, the founder & artist of Camp Smokey Bear Fest, putting on their own second festival to put on for the city of Wind.

Camp Smokey Bear

Tomorrow, Saturday September 14th at 12:00pm, the second annual Camp Smokey Bear Festival will take place within the Cook County forest preserves in the Chicago suburb Calumet City (15810 S. Torrence Ave). The all-day event will have live performances from Z Money, Young Chop, Queen Key, Kidd Kenn, Solo The Dweeb, Happy Birthday Calvin, 8 Matik Logan, Mother Nature, Chimeka and more.

Camp Smokey Bear is an all-ages festival complete with different attractions including “Game Land” an interactive gaming area, “The Mall” vending market and the recently added “King of Camp 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament.” The festival not only supports music artists and Chicago-based small business owners, but powerhouse radio station Power 92.3 has signed on to become an official partner sponsor for Camp Smokey Bear this year. Chicago has always been a big emphasis for the festival and that continued this year with the help of Don’t Do Coke LLC a Chicago based social media marketing agency. They curated the Camp Smokey Bear Festival to expand and connect the Chicago creative community by introducing innovative ways to network.

Camp Smokey Bear

When asked why such a Chicago-centric festival, Chimeka stated “I created this festival to help push Chicago’s local music scene to the next level. I’ve always personally felt Chicago leads popular culture. We needed a festival that represented this culture and that so heavily influences the hip hop community. This isn’t a festival that just takes place in Chicago as so many do, it is Chicago!”

The first Camp Smokey Bear did numbers bringing in over 3,000 guests. Following the success of the initial festival, four featured performers signed major recording contacts including Billboard 100 ranking artist Calboy 147. With the second festival taking place tomorrow, there’s no telling which future legends will be signed and heralded next.

For more Chicago music news make sure to check here at RESPECT.Magazine.

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Melvin Taylor II

Melvin Taylor II is a writer, producer, host, actor, and Chicago native living the New York City dream. He studied education and journalism at Knox College and writing at the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) New York and The Magnet Theater. His writing is grounded in the experiences of being from the south side of Chicago while also juggling careers there and in the Big Apple for multiple years. He currently hosts his radio show #TheAltWithMel on WHCR 90.3FM-NY every Monday night at 11:55pm EST. Additionally, his weekly YouTube videos have garnered over 2 million views. You can find him monthly at The Magnet Theater and UCB-NY performing improv and sketch comedy or writing for RESPECT Magazine. Find him everywhere: @MelvinTaylorii