Cornerstone Festival is a four to six day-long Christian music and arts festival held annually in Bushnell, IL during the end of June/beginning of July. It is produced by Jesus People USA.
It features a variety of bands and artists covering several genres including, but not limited to rock, rap, hardcore, metal, punk, goth, industrial, pop, electronic, dance, folk, blues, and country. Several well-known Christian bands and artists, such as POD, Project 86, Family Force 5, Glen Kaiser Band, KJ-52, Los Lonely Boys, Pillar, Underoath, Demon Hunter, Living Sacrifice, Impending Doom, Brian "HEAD" Welch, August Burns Red, Becoming the Archetype, mewithoutYou, and Skillet, perform throughout the week at Cornerstone. The Festival also features lesser known bands, such as Stavesacre, The Crucified, Spoken, A Hill To Die Upon, Your Chance To Die, Divulgence, Grave Robber, and many, many others.
In addition to the wealth of live music, Cornerstone Festival also offers numerous seminars with well known speakers discussing a wide range of topics from Christian theology, history, movements, communities and lifestyles to modern social, health and personal issues such as homosexuality, racism, mental illness, homelessness, relationships, love and sex.
Cornerstone also offers programs and sessions specifically designed for teenagers and children. The Breakaway program offers teens the opportunity to meet with one another to discuss issues relevant to their lives. For those with teens or children, there are special family rates, as well as youth group rates.
There are also several non-music, non-seminar fun things to do. There is a lake, which you can boat, swim or fish in. There's a skate park, volleyball and basketball courts, and laser tag. There are movie showings and an after-hours dance club. There are also arts and crafts classes, as well as an extensive amount of merchandise (from bands/programs/random official vendors) to browse.
Did I mention it takes place on over 700 acres? Well, it does. This means there is more than enough ample camping space for you and anyone else who might like to camp there. This is not your typical, usual idea of camping though. Should you choose to camp, you will be camping with *thousands* of other people from all across the nation (and world). There are some areas to camp where you can expect to be kept up until at least 2:00am and others where you could probably comfortably and quietly head to bed at 10:00pm or so (but why would anyone want to do that?!). There are some ground rules though, and the most major/important are 1-no open flames/fires, 2-no weapons, 3-no alcohol or drugs, and 4-no pets.
If you choose to camp, you can bring your own food/water in your own cooler and cook it on your own grill or camp stove (which has a contained fire) or you can buy food from any of the several food vendors on the grounds. There's also a store on the grounds for those who would rather do their shopping day-to-day.
Showers are also found on the grounds for those who decide to camp. Separate men's and women's showers are located in two areas on the grounds, with running water. There are also sinks available for regular hygiene upkeep. Unfortunately, there are no actual bathrooms, but there are *tons* of unbelievably well-kept and cleaned portable restrooms available for use. No really, you'll be surprised at how clean they're kept.
If you choose not to camp, there are several local motels as close as 30-45 minutes away, and there are day parking lots available to those who will be leaving the grounds regularly.
So whether you're into religion (or not), music (or not), games (or not), camping (or not), please give this some real and serious consideration! Feel free to bring family and/or friends!
There is an official Cornerstone facebook page which you can get info from and likely RSVP to.
If you decide you want to go, or are still considering the idea of going, be advised that the earlier you buy your tickets, the cheaper they will be. Ticket prices can be found here:
http://www.itickets.com/events/267740/Bushnell_IL/Cornerstone_2012.html
Also note: People who are under the age of 18 would be well-advised to find a responsible adult to attend the event with them (such as a parent/grandparent/aunt/uncle/older sibling/youth pastor, etc) and to get written parental consent to attend the festival with another responsible adult should your own parent not attend (for official and legal purposes).
*Event picture taken from Cornerstone Festival official facebook page.*
Official Cornerstone Festival facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/cstonefestival?ref=ts
Official Cornerstone Festival website:
http://cornerstonefestival.com/
Ticket Info:
http://www.itickets.com/events/267740/Bushnell_IL/Cornerstone_2012.html
add photo
add video
add slides
www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=240797369283609
