The Rockford Fringe hosts three-mile hikes through the forests and prairies of northern Illinois every Sunday. At the end of each hike, we circle up and share a poem or story or painting or sketch or song. These are our popular Hike-n-Shares and they are free and open to the community.
Every December, we host a Winter Solstice Poetry Caroling Festival that is also free and open to the community. That’s when we go on a night hike and carol the community and each other with winter-themed poetry.
We also host the occasional Ugly Jam Session. The jams take place in Chicago and feature musicians, poets and storytellers sharing their take on what it means to be “ugly.” These events are, you guessed it: free and open to the community.
And we produced the Rockford Fringe Festival in July of 2022. We received a “Forward for Fun” grant from the City of Rockford and produced an outdoor fringe festival at Walker Park. It featured theatre, music, dance, poetry, spoken word and rap. Did I mention it was free and open to the community?
There’s always something going on with the Rockford Fringe. Hosting free and public events that take place outdoors is what we do.
If you’re curious what we don’t do, here’s a list.
- gossip
- exclude people
- drugs or alcohol
- litter
- play loud music on the trails
- disrespect each other
- disrupt other hikers
- complain or whine
- let our dogs go off-leash
In other words, we follow basic trail etiquette. You can learn more by checking out our website or following us on Facebook and Instagram @rockfordfringe.
The Rockford Fringe is for everyone. All you have to do is RSVP.
Thanks for reading. -Connie
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Rockford Fringe 