This Labor Day weekend, multiple festivals will take place in Bloomington, including different types of entertainment such as jazz music to diverse cuisines to bubbles. There are so many options for how to spend this Labor Day weekend around downtown Bloomington, but here are a few worth mentioning.
B'Town Jazz Fest
From noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday, various musical acts will perform in the Monroe Convention Center downtown. Admission and parking are free, but donations are accepted, and there will be food, drinks, artist CDs and more for purchase. The lineup consists of the Crossroads Quintet, Rachel Caswell Quartet, Charlie Ballantine Quartet with Amanda Gardier and more. In between each of the 45- to 50-minute acts, high school combos will also perform.
4th Street Festival of the Arts and Crafts
This festival is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The festival will take place across all of 4th Street; however, a landmark location would be Taste of India as the festival runs from Indiana Ave. to Grant Street. The festival is free to enter and, due to the busy schedule of the other three festivals, visitors can find parking at the Convention Center and use a shuttle service to get to 4th Street. Food from local restaurants can be found lining both sides of 4th Street, which is known as a hub for international food in Bloomington.
Bloomington GarlicFEST
At 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday outside of the Waldron Hill Buskirk Park, GarlicFEST will feature a cooking contest, local artists, a kid zone, healthy eating education and more. The festival lasts until 10 p.m., has free admission to the public and will take place outdoors. The entire celebration is to promote a healthier lifestyle, while supporting Bloomington’s local musicians and artists and bringing the community together.
PRIDEfest
The sixth annual PRIDEFest will take place from 2 to 11 p.m. on Saturday, taking place on East Kirkwood Avenue between Walnut and Grant Streets. The festival will have live entertainment, vendor booths from local organizations and businesses, activities for children, food and more. Some performances from artists include Lucy Stoole, Tenderoni and The Wanting. Although PRIDEfest is on Saturday, Pride events have been scattered through Bloomington all month, and the festival will be a culmination of Pride month.
BubbleFest
This three-day festival will take place from Saturday to Monday at WonderLab Museum of Science, Health & Technology. Museum hours include Saturday through Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m, with general admission tickets priced at $9. BubbleFest takes place from 1 to 5 p.m. on all three days. Some activities include a bubble engineer station, billowing bubble sculptures and glow-in-the-dark bubbles.
