The ukulele may be a small instrument, but it’s having a mighty influence on the culture. The 5th annual Aurora Uke Fest brings together some of the area’s best musicians with performances and classes to help celebrate the ukulele and encourage others to enjoy and play the instrument.
The festival was the brainchild of Aurora 6th Ward Alderman Mike Saville, who had the idea after discovering YouTube videos of people of all ages playing the ukulele. He soon found that there were ukulele festivals all over the world and thought it would be a good event to hold in Aurora, which successfully hosts several music festivals for a variety of genres throughout the year.
“Mike gave me a call and said, why don’t we do one here,” said Todd VonOhlen, a music industry veteran who was already working with the city on other festivals. “I thought it was a great idea, so we started calling some people up, and before we knew it, we had a committee.”
While VonOhlen didn’t play the instrument himself, he was familiar with it. He said his father kept one around the house and often played it.
“He’d walk around the house playing it all the time, especially if we were going someplace, and he was waiting for everyone to get ready,” VonOhlen said. “We’d hear it and think, ‘time to get moving.'”
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This year’s festival, held in downtown Aurora on Aug. 21, will feature nearly a dozen performers who use the ukulele prominently in their music. It will feature two professional stages, workshops, vendors, food trucks and an open-mike stage on which anyone can perform.
Some of the artists to appear include the Ukulele Kings, the Wild Blue Orchestra, Hula’O Puanani and Olivia Ports.
“It’s a strong lineup with a lot of different types of performers,” VonOhlen said. “Many of them are also doing workshops. We have beginners workshops for people who’ve never played before, and then there are some for players who want to improve their skills or learn how to play in a different style.”
VonOhlen credits multiple reasons why the ukulele has grown in popularity over the last several years.
“There’s been a real resurgence in the last decade or so,” he said. “And some of that has been from well-known musicians taking it up. You see them doing it and, understandably, you want to try it.
“It’s also a relatively easy instrument to play, and it’s not expensive,” he said. “You can buy one for under $100. Schools are now using the ukulele for their basic music instruction, so more people are learning it there as well.”
Before COVID, the festival attracted about 1,200 people, and VonOhlen hopes to get those numbers again this year.
“We went virtual during the pandemic, which was an interesting experience,” he said. “It turns out we had a lot of people tuning in from all over the world. But the fun part of a festival is to be there in person, and I think people are ready to come back now and take part in festivals like this.”
Even if you’ve never played the ukulele before, the Uke Fest is a good way to get introduced to the instrument.
“It’s got food trucks and vendors and other things you expect at a festival,” VonOhlen said. “It’s a way to be introduced to this music, maybe hear something you like and sit in on a workshop to learn how to play. It’s a fun instrument to play, and you see more and more people picking it up for the first time.”
Aurora Uke Fest
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 21
Where: 11 W. Downer Place, downtown Aurora
Tickets: $15; children 15 and under are free
Information: auroraukefest.com
Jeff Banowetz is a freelance reporter for the Beacon-News.