Huge music festival planned south of Libertyville Sept. 13-14

LIBERTYVILLE – Jefferson County will host a massive festival next month for fans of electronic music.

Symmetry Music and Arts Festival will be Sept. 13-14, at an acreage between Libertyville and Douds with the address of 2751 Eastwood Ave., Libertyville. Those who attend will be treated to a smorgasbord of performers in a genre of music called “wave,” which festival co-organizer Donald Revolinski said is a type of electronic music.

Fifty bands will perform on stage, plus another 25 artists are expected to perform on “renegade stages” that Revolinski said will “keep the vibes going” all weekend. The top headliner is a band called Of the Trees, followed by Ravenscoon. Other notable bands that will perform during the festival are A Hundred Drums, Sippy and UZ.

Revolinski said the organizers chose to hold the music festival at this acreage because they needed a lot of space.

“We’re using 5-6 acres this year of 20 acres total,” Revolinski said. “There’s room to grow, and we intend to make this a yearly recurring festival. We hope to make it bigger and bigger each year.”

The acreage consists of mostly forest and a grassy patch that is perfect for a thousand people to spend a weekend dancing to music and camping in a tent. Revolinski said the setting will make festival-goers feel like they’re in the middle of a cornfield, because they are.

“This is an untouched piece of land surrounded on all four sides by corn that is 9 feet tall,” he said.

At least 60 percent of ticket-buyers will be coming from out of state, Revolinski said, with some coming from as far as Europe and Japan.

“People are flying internationally for this festival because of the lineup,” he said. “This will be a melting pot for every specific type of fan of electronic music.”

The festival’s organizers hope this event will show the world, and locals, what’s possible in Jefferson County.

“This is our investment into the community, to make Libertyville and Fairfield a special place,” Revolinski said. “We want people to know that you don’t have to go to a big city to get this kind of thing. You can stay here.”

Revolinski is co-owner of Symmetry Music and Arts Festival along with Jesse James, Neil Merchant and Dominic Borg. Each one has a unique specialty, with Merchant serving as the festival director, Revolinski as talent buyer and in charge of artist relations, James as head of production and Borg as head of grounds.

This acreage between Libertyville and Douds hosted a music festival last summer called Balance Music Festival, which was put on by Revolinski’s production company Lucid Journeys and another production company. Ever since that festival ended last July, organizers started planning for Symmetry Music and Arts Festival.

One change the organizers wanted to make for their 2024 festival was holding it later in the year. Last year’s event was held in the middle of summer on a 100-degree day, so organizers moved this year’s event to mid-September to avoid the heat.

Revolinski said music festivals usually need a few years to get the word out and attract interest before they become profitable. That’s likely going to be true for Symmetry Music and Arts Festival, too.

“We’re doing it because we have a passion for it,” he said. “We’re putting up our own money to make it happen, with the hope that next year will be even better.”

For information about tickets, a list of bands, camping rules and other information about the festival, visit symmetryfestival.com.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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