Hundreds of tents dotted Jackson Park in Woodlawn on Saturday, shielding music lovers from the morning rain and the afternoon sunshine as they immersed themselves in house tunes.
In the city widely considered the birthplace of house music, tens of thousands of fans gather every year for a day of good food, good music and good company just south of the Museum of Science and Industry.
“If you love house music, make some noise,” yelled DJ Mike Dunn from the main stage. House, he said, is about the spirit of love and unity. “You want some potato salad?” he said with a laugh, alluding to neighborly exchanges between concertgoers sharing food. “That’s how we do it.”
Dunn is the newest member of the Chosen Few DJs, a group of South Side musicians who would perform their soulful music in basements, high schools and nightspots beginning in the late 1970s. Other members include DJs Wayne Williams, Alan King, Andre and Tony Hatchett, Jesse Saunders and Terry Hunter.
Since 1990, the Chosen Few have put on a yearly Picnic and House Music Festival, drawing house music lovers from across the country and the world.
Attendees made their way around lawn chairs with drinks in hand, stepping carefully on wet grass after the morning showers, the smell of barbecue and food from countless grills wafting through the air. Some wore shirts declaring their love for house music: “House. That’s It,” “Club music is house,” “House. ‘Nuff said,” and “All this girl wants is sunshine and house music.”
Suburbanite Cassandra Scott, 45, reunites ever year for the last decade with hundreds of elementary school, high school and college friends at the picnic. Some of them flew in from Atlanta this year, she said. She started listening to house music as a teenager in the late 1980s, attending shows at the legendary Warehouse dance club, considered the heart and soul of house music in the United States.
Donning a Black History Month T-shirt and sipping from a mug with a Juneteenth quote, Scott said the festival is all about community. Other concertgoers like Scott also wore tees celebrating Black excellence and heritage. “Big Black Energy,” “Black and proud” and “Dope Black woman,” some of them read. These displays of pride are no surprise, really, given the roots of house music in Chicago’s vibrant Black nightlife scene.
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“But the good thing,” Scott said, “is it crosses over. It’s not just African Americans. Anybody that’s here — house music is what connects all over. Regardless of what your race is.”
Sisters Keisha Verner, 53, and Quania Verner, 50, drove from Gary and East Chicago, Indiana, to meet up for their yearly long-standing tradition of attending the picnic together since its inception over 30 years ago.
“We schedule our lives around this,” said the older sister, who listens to house music every day before going to work to pump herself up. The Verners bobbed their heads in sync — and their clothes coordinated too. One of them wore an all-neon pink outfit, the other a bodysuit with pastel colors and purple sunglasses.
Keisha Verner can trace her love for house music to a specific year and one musician: Her mother introduced her to Chicago-based Ron Hardy’s music in 1982, when she was a teenage in living in Roseland.
“There’s nothing going on here but a good time,” she said. “You know why? Cause you just dance it out. “Her sister agreed: “No drama. All peaceful.”
“We need to see more of this on the news,” said V103 local radio DJ Joe Soto. “It’s a family-friendly crowd, a Chicago crowd, the crowd of the chosen few.”
