Ash Bash Festival planned for Aug. 3
By TRAVIS MORSE
tmorse@morningsentinel.com
Sentinel File Photo
ASH BASH — Camyrn Berk, 10, RIGHT, gets his arm painted by Hannah Johnson of Fairy Tale Gothmother at last year’s Ash Bash Art & Music Festival. This year’s festival will be from 2 to 11 p.m. on Aug. 3 at 205 N. 44th St. in Mount Vernon.
MOUNT VERNON — Plans are well underway for this year’s Ash Bash Art & Music Festival, which will take place from 2 to 11 p.m. on Aug. 3 at 205 N. 44th St. in Mount Vernon.
The annual event, now in its 13th year, honors the life of Ashton Ilbery, who died on Aug. 13, 2011, from Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The festival also raises money for lymphoma and leukemia research, and to help local people who are battling cancer, Sentinel archives state.
Last year’s festival was a rousing success, as the event saw its best fundraising year so far in 2023. Last year’s earnings beat out the prior year’s and reached the 2023 fundraising goal of $30,000.
Organizers donated $26,000 of last year’s earnings to the Siteman Cancer Center. Of that, $13,000 went to help patients needing help buying medications and paying for power, bills, gas, rides and more. The other half of the Siteman funding went toward lymphoma and leukemia research, the archives state.
In addition, organizers set aside $4,000 of the money raised last year to donate locally to cancer patients throughout the year. The attendance at the 2023 Ash Bash was about 3,000 to 3,500 people.
Lori Ilbery, the mother of Ashton and an Ash Bash organizer, remarked Monday on her hopes for this year’s event.
“We’re looking forward to surpassing that goal from last year,” Lori Ilbery said. “We’re hoping to hit $35,000 this year. That’s our hope. … We’ve got a real good lineup and there’s a lot of good buzz about Ash Bash, so I’m confident we’ll be able to.”
Each year’s Ash Bash features a free concert with a wide range of musical performers. There are also food vendors, a live auction and specialty vendors who make and sell unique items like artwork, jewelry, soap and more.
The lineup of performers for this year’s Ash Bash on Aug. 3 includes Them Dirty Roses; Simmons, Bradley & Ward; Fire Creek; Pumphouse Monster; and Muddy Creek & Company.
In addition to the music, there will also be fire performers, a stilt walker, face painting, hula hooping, specialty and food vendors and a beer and wine tent. Furthermore, there will be live auctions, raffles and prizes at this year’s festival. There is a fee for parking at the event.
For more information, visit the “Ash Bash Art & Music Festival” Facebook page or contact Lori Ilbery at (618) 214-8564.
