<\/p>\n
The lineup for 2026 is out<\/a>, but what Wayne Jett won\u2019t yet announce is whether the McHenry Music Festival<\/a> will return in 2027.<\/p>\n Promoting the September weekend concert festival \u201cis a full-time job for me,\u201d said Jett, who is also McHenry<\/a>\u2018s mayor and owns Jett\u2019s Heating and Air.<\/p>\n Being the concert promotor is not a job he\u2019s paid for.<\/p>\n \u201cI get nothing out of it \u2013 just the risk,\u201d Jett said. <\/p>\n Costs to put on the show for 2026 are in the $3 million-plus range, and all profits from the three-day event go to the RISE Up Foundation, he said. <\/p>\n The bands must be paid, even if the show is rained out or otherwise canceled.<\/p>\n McHenry Mayor Wayne Jett celebrates his reelection April 1, 2025. <\/span>(Patrick Kunzer for Shaw Local\/Patrick Kunzer for Shaw Local)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The first show was planned for 2020 \u2013 and then pushed back a full year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The concerts were held in 2021 and 2022, skipped in 2023 to give the Jetts and volunteers a break, and came back for 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n The acts have been largely country music performers, with reggae mixed in. <\/p>\n It is that risk involved with putting on the show that nixed a reggae lineup for 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cThat one night of reggae … liquor sales were down by 75%,\u201d Jett said, noting that they almost sold out on tickets.<\/p>\n But Jett and his wife keep putting on the shows \u201cbecause I think it is great for the community. Standing on that stage and seeing 10,000 people roughly, each night, and the amount of fun people are having … it is worth it,\u201d Jett said.<\/p>\n The hundreds of community volunteers also are a big part of a successful show.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many people and businesses that care and who want to give back,\u201d Jett said. \u201cIt is a sense of community, and I think it is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the first McHenry festival, the RISE Up Foundation has donated $1.2 million toward projects in McHenry, including a splash pad at Fort McHenry, renovations at Miller Point Park and the inclusive playground at Veteran\u2019s Park.<\/p>\n The revenue numbers from the 2025 show have not yet been finalized, Jett said, adding that he expects to get that number in early 2026. <\/p>\n How those funds will be used in McHenry also is up in the air. Although discussion has centered on bringing a pump bike track to Knox Park, that may not be where funds are allocated.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will bring it to the [McHenry City Council]<\/a> \u2013 the funding and where the money will be going to,\u201d Jett said. \u201cThe basketball courts are not in the best shape, and more people use those courts than a bike track.\u201d<\/p>\n The council recently approved spending $157,000 to replace the playground at Shamrock Farms Park, and $75,000 \u2013 including a $15,000 grant \u2013 for the playground at Althoff Park.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy add a park when we can\u2019t maintain what we have?\u201d Jett said. <\/p>\n He also has used the RISE Up Foundation to raise funds for other city projects. In late 2023, through community donations, the foundation raised $90,000 to install a skating rink at Miller Point Park<\/a>. Donations over the past few weeks have covered the annual $6,000 installation cost, according to a post on Jett\u2019s public Facebook<\/a> page. <\/p>\n Additionally, the foundation presented a $20,000 check to McHenry Rotary to help with its Secret Santa program and other things it funds, Jett said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.shawlocal.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The lineup for 2026 is out, but what Wayne Jett won\u2019t yet announce is whether the McHenry Music Festival will return in 2027. Promoting the September weekend concert festival \u201cis a full-time job for me,\u201d said Jett, who is also McHenry\u2018s mayor and owns Jett\u2019s Heating and Air. Being the concert promotor is not a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2197536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[373502,373503],"class_list":["post-2197535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-mchenry","tag-mchenry-il-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Will-2026-McHenry-Music-Festival-be-the-last-Jett-wont.JPG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2197535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2197537,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2197535\/revisions\/2197537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2197536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2197535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2197535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2197535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}