Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood will host a full day of music, art, and community celebration on June 21 with the return of the Bronzeville Vendor Fair and Wildflower Music Festival. Now in its third year, the event will take place from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. along 33rd Boulevard between Michigan Avenue and State Street.
Founded by jazz vocalist and community leader Senabella Gill—also known as “The Bronzeville Diva”—the Wildflower Music Festival blends local culture with live performances, family-friendly activities, and an outdoor market featuring local artisans and vendors.
The festival's main stage will feature performances from noon to 9:45 p.m., with a lineup that includes:
Zahra, award-winning jazz vocalist and storyteller
Zion Ali, youth advocate and rising star
Greg Penn (CrossWind), Latin jazz and Afro-Cuban fusion artist
Sarita Harrington, blues vocalist with a rich musical lineage
Uneq’ka, R&B and gospel singer, star of Bronzeville the Musical
Zemrah, Crown Royal Female Vocalist of the Year
Dakarai Barclay, jazz trumpeter and Luminarts Fellow
Thaddeus Tukes, vibraphone virtuoso and DownBeat “Rising Star”
Robert Irving III, jazz legend and former Miles Davis collaborator
Senabella Gill, founder of the festival and host of the event
Beyond music, the festival will feature a vendor market showcasing local merchants and makers, along with activities for children—including a bounce house (adult supervision required). Free parking is available along Michigan Avenue and in Illinois Tech lots D1, D2, and D4, accessible via 34th Street and State Street.
Accessibility services will be provided in partnership with Cultural Access Collaborative, with support from the Chicago Academy of Sciences and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum for attendees who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The festival is presented by the Office of Community Affairs at Illinois Tech, with support from WDCB 90.9 FM, Organic Oneness, the Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention, the Near South Planning Board, VanderCook College of Music, Stuart School of Business, and others.
Visionary Kai EL´ Zabar has worked as CEO of arts organizations and as editor, writer and multimedia consultant accumulating a significant number of years in experience as an executive, journalist,publisher, public relations, media training, marketing, internal and external communications. Kai currently continues her life’s work as Editor-in-Chief Of Chicago News Weekly where she has resumed her column, “E NOTES.” She is ecstatic to be in the position to grace Chicago and the world with a publication that articulates the Black voice.