Anyone strolling the city square Saturday experienced a Charleston night far different from the usual.

Similar to most weekend nights, there were still large groups of roaming students, alcohol was consumed, and music of every variety permeated the night air. However, the music came from more than 30 live bands Saturday.

Squarefest: Round II, the music festival on the Charleston square, offered the Charleston and Eastern community 10 hours of music. Any of the 400 people who roamed the five businesses that hosted bands were treated to a musical buffet.

Indio Cigar Factory, Mac’s Uptowner, Top of the Roc, Mother’s and Friends and Co. all hosted bands.

Scott Chaplinski, who organized the festival, wanted to promote the local music and art scene along with businesses on the square.

“I really wanted it to be a central Illinois music showcase,” Chaplinski said. “The square’s a really cool place (it has) some really great bars and great people in the bars.”

Chaplinski said it took a couple of years of attending Eastern before he realized what the square had to offer. Now he wants students to enjoy the square for themselves and support the local businesses located there.

No one appreciates Chaplinski’s efforts more than the business owners and mangers who earn a living on the square.

Adam Miranda, manger of Mac’s Uptowner, welcomed a music festival on the square with open arms.

“We definitely saw some new faces and hopefully people come back,” Miranda said. “A lot of people got to experience the square that normally wouldn’t have come up here.”

The square is across town from Eastern and many students simply do not want to walk so far or they do not want to drive Miranda said. Despite this, Miranda hopes that after the festival students continue to venture back to his business.

Miranda has also noticed positives when his bar offers live music.

“There’s been times when we don’t have bands we don’t see the numbers we would like,” Miranda said. “When we do have bands, business is real good.”

Chaplinski said as an organizer he assigned each of the hosting businesses with a different genre of music. Besides making the festival more organized, Chaplinski hoped this would encourage festival attendees to check out all five businesses on the square.

Iron Tigers, a folk and country band based out of Charleston, appreciated the organization by Chaplinski.

Luke DeYoung, the lead singer for Iron Tigers, said he knows the festival promoted local businesses but as a musician, he appreciated other aspects of a music festival.

“It allows people to go see numerous bands and their favorite bands,” DeYoung said. “I think (Chaplinski) did an excellent job of assigning different styling of bands to the different locations.”

Musicians and bands at Squarefest performed a wide variety of music ranging from rock ‘n’ roll to electronica music.

A member of the Iron Tigers said the festival succeeded in bringing in people who normally would not have been interested in seeing just one band. More people will work Squarefest into their schedule because it is a larger event, DeYoung said.

DeYoung, who has lived in Charleston most of his life, is noticing the local music scene in Charleston has been on the upswing lately. DeYoung credits this to a few individuals who work hard to plan music events for the Charleston community. Chaplinski is one of those individuals.

Besides promoting the local music and businesses, Chaplinski appreciates the by product of a large music festival added taste and culture. At this year’s festival, Chaplinski noticed more street musicians.

“There were some kids out on the courthouse lawn jamming on some electrics and a girl playing acoustic,” Chaplinski said. “They were having a great time.”

DeYoung agreed the vibe was positive and added more music culture to Charleston while offering students something out of the ordinary.

“It’s a fun crowd,” DeYoung said. “You ended up having different braids of people walking to different bars. It was like an adventure.”

Chacour Koop can be reached at 581-7942 or at cmkoop@eiu.edu

Matt Eisele, lead vocalist of the band Weather Underground, hops off stage during the band’s performance in The Uptowner during Squarefest Saturday. (Jordan Boner

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