2013 Chosen Few DJ’s Annual House Music Picnic
I attended the 2013 Chosen Few DJs annual picnic out in Jackson Park here in Chicago, IL and what a GREAT time I had! The Chosen Few picnic, dubbed as music festival that celebrates Chicago’s homegrown house music sound July 4-7, 2013, had in attendance over 30,000 people from all over the country. There are events going on throughout that entire weekend but the signature event of the weekend is the 23rd annual Chosen Few Old School Reunion Picnic on July 6, 2013 in Jackson Park, 63rd and Hayes Drive, Chicago.
What started as a small reunion of a few friends from the early days of house music has grown into one of the largest house music festival events in the world, drawing more than 30,000 dance music fans each year! Often referred to as the “Woodstock of House Music” and the “Lovefest,” each July the Picnic draws thousands of ”house heads” from Chicago and around the world to Jackson Park on the south side of Chicago–where the house music sound all began–to celebrate house music pioneers and today’s innovators. The picnic has grown in size over the recent years and continues to grow in attendance because of the notoriety of the event. Cover charge was $20 to enter and most people attending normally go in early on that day to setup a spot in the park for their own grill, chairs, and food.
I spent time with some friends who are very close to me, Lionell Martin and Michael Fitzgerald, where they hosted their own picnic in the picnic with plenty of food and alcohol! I took a lot of pictures and plenty of video and in this post you will be able to see a few minutes of me along with some friends, as well as my mom back stage at the picnic.
We ran into a host of comedians like George Wilborn, Vanessa Fraction, and Corey Holcomb. Surprisingly, my mother joined me this year for the first time since I began attending the event back in 2009. Needless to say, we had a BALL and stayed the entire day until the event ended at 8pm.
Now, if you aren’t into crowds then this event was probably not the event for you as it was extremely crowded and difficult to move around, BUT the sound of house music playing with thousand of people dancing all to the same beat is quite an exciting and empowering experience.
The 2013 Chosen Few Picnic features the legendary Chosen Few DJs: Wayne Williams, Jesse Saunders, Alan King, Andre Hatchett, Tony Hatchett, Terry Hunter and Mike Dunn, as well as special guest artists and DJs. In recent years, Picnic performers have included Frankie Knuckles, Louie Vega, Jamie Principle, Ten City, Kem, Linda Clifford, Terisa Griffin and Rochelle Fleming, lead singer of the group First Choice.
This years special guest was Crystal Waters, and if you don’t know who she is and you’ve never heard her music, you need to Google her! Make plans next year and join us at the Chosen Few DJ’s annual picnic, there’s nothing in the world like it!