The Fourth of July holiday weekend has come and gone, and now there isn't another holiday weekend to look forward to until Labor Day. But all is not lost in your quest for fun and entertainment. There's plenty to do around the state of Illinois, including a wave of county fairs around the state that arrive later this month.
In addition to the county fairs there are two major food festivals, plus a "kardboard" boat regatta, a walleye festival and a music festival all on tap.
We've got you covered with 17 events to do in Illinois in July...while some of these events might have wrapped up this past weekend, most of them are still to come so we're here to help you schedule and prepare.
One of the events not on that list but coming up this upcoming weekend in Chicago is the Windy City Smokeout in Chicago. One of the musical acts for the weekend festival is Brett Eldredge, a country music star who hails from Paris, Ill. He made our chart of singers born in Illinois and bands that originated in the state. It's pretty interesting and you can use it to impress friends at cookouts this summer, especially when you can tell them that REO Speedwagon formed in Champaign-Urbana.