Love on the Lawn, featuring R&B and hip-hop music, returns

Love on the Lawn is being presented for free this year in downtown Elgin, and music producer Mike Page hopes his hometown comes out to support the hip-hop and R&B music festival.

“I want everyone to have a good time,” said Page, owner of Impossible Dreamz Music Group in Atlanta. “I’m looking forward to seeing people dance and getting a lot of hugs and a lot of love.”

By doing away with the admission cost, he said he thinks they’ll be able to increase attendance from 700 in 2022 to 1,000 this year as the event returns for a second year.

“It’s going to be way more lively,” Page said of the event, which he’s putting together in conjunction with the city of Elgin. It’s set for 2 to 10 p.m. at Festival Park.

New this year will be a series of afterparties being held at area bars and restaurants to keep the energy going, Page said.

Jennifer Fukala, executive director of the Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin, worked with Page on promoting the event. Five restaurants have agreed to offer drink specials and offer events following the festival, she said.

Banners at the festival will list the places people can go when the park entertainment ends.

“There’s a lot of interest and appetite for more nightlife in downtown Elgin,” Fukala said.

The Downtown Elgin Farmers Market has had a lot of success in drawing crowds to surrounding bars and restaurants and she thinks this could as well, she said.

“This being a music festival, it’s another opportunity to promote nightlife,” she said.

Love on the Lawn will feature local favorites like DJ Charles Wells, Rodney Blalark and up-and-coming DJ Weedy Roszay opening for headliner Bobby V, an R&B singer formerly known as Bobby Valentino. He’s worked with such artists as Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne.

Sundance, a V103 FM host, will also be participating. “Her energy is great. People loved her last year,” Page said.

There will be more vendors this year, mostly black and Hispanic-owned businesses, he said.

Page’s dream, he said, is to have the festival be as big as Chicago’s Lollapalooza and to put Elgin on the map as a destination over Labor Day weekend.

“I want people to know Elgin is special,” he said. “We can make Elgin the hub of everything. Elgin is going to be the place.”

Fukala sees a lot of potential in Love on the Lawn too.

“Chicago being the birthplace of house music, there are a lot of people in this area who have a soft spot for that genre of music. It could be a great opportunity for Elgin to become a destination for Labor Day weekend,” she said.

Impossible Dreamz Music Group is donating 10% of its profits from the kid’s zone part of the event to the Elgin Northwest Tide Youth Football team.

Page said that while he may be living in Atlanta, he comes to Elgin to visit family and friends often and he wants to do right by the city.

“Elgin is everything to me. I love my town,” he said.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.