Willkommen to Central Illinois’ Biggest and Best Fest! This year’s festival has all your favorites with a few new things to put some guten in your tag!

The Peoria Park District and German American Central Society united their efforts in 1996 to bring the first of the “signature events” planned for the Peoria Riverfront. 

Peoria’s Oktoberfest” is the Midwestern equivalent of the Munich Oktoberfest.

Location: Peoria Riverfront

9/20: 5pm-11pm
9/21: Noon-11pm
9/22: 11am-5pm

Ticket Options: 
- Friday & Saturday: Advance $9; Day of event: $12. 
- Sunday: $6 Advance/Day of Event
- Weekend Pass Advance Only: $15

For more information, visit the festival website: www.oktoberfestpeoria.com

Skill building classes which meet once a week.  Learn the basics of or improve your skills hand-building and wheel throwing pottery , as well as how to finish through glazing your work.

Instructor: Jacob Grant
No Experience Necessary.
Ages 18+.  
For Beginning students and Beyond Beginners: Intermediate and Expert levels require taking several classes at the Beyond Beginning level or several hours (500+) of independent work time.  
Registration cost is $190. This covers tuition and two 5lb bags of Red Stoneware Clay to begin the class.  If you need more, it can be purchased as needed.  
Everyone will need to have their own tools for the class.  If you do not have tools, there is a $20 add on option to purchase them through us.
All glaze and firing costs are included in the cost of the clay you purchase.  
When pottery is finished, it is food-safe, dishwasher-safe, microwave safe.

After you fill out and return the form, your application will be reviewed, along with availability in the class.  If there is not room, you will recieve an email that you have been placed on a wait list and will be notified as soon as a spot come available.  

If there is room in the class, you will be notified by email and you will also receive an invoice via email, which you can pay online with card.

To register: https://sites.google.com/site/wheelartpotterystudio/classes/adult-clay-classes

Skill building classes which meet once a week.  Learn the basics of or improve your skills hand-building and wheel throwing pottery , as well as how to finish through glazing your work.

Instructor: Jacob Grant
No Experience Necessary.
Ages 18+.  
For Beginning students and Beyond Beginners: Intermediate and Expert levels require taking several classes at the Beyond Beginning level or several hours (500+) of independent work time.  
Registration cost is $190. This covers tuition and two 5lb bags of Red Stoneware Clay to begin the class.  If you need more, it can be purchased as needed.  
Everyone will need to have their own tools for the class.  If you do not have tools, there is a $20 add on option to purchase them through us.
All glaze and firing costs are included in the cost of the clay you purchase.  
When pottery is finished, it is food-safe, dishwasher-safe, microwave safe.

After you fill out and return the form, your application will be reviewed, along with availability in the class.  If there is not room, you will recieve an email that you have been placed on a wait list and will be notified as soon as a spot come available.  

If there is room in the class, you will be notified by email and you will also receive an invoice via email, which you can pay online with card.

To register: https://sites.google.com/site/wheelartpotterystudio/classes/adult-clay-classes

Join us from 6-8pm on the last Tuesday of each month to meet other women who climb! 

Open to all female-identifying climbers.

This meetup is geared toward climbers age 16 and older. All ability levels welcome!

Free for First Ascent Members | $15 per climber for non members (rental gear included)

Booking Requirements

This class requires a ticket.

For tickets: https://faclimbing.portal.approach.app/event/2828/booking/532057

kill building classes which meet once a week.  Learn the basics of or improve your skills hand-building and wheel throwing pottery , as well as how to finish through glazing your work.

Instructor: Jacob Grant
No Experience Necessary.
Ages 18+.  
For Beginning students and Beyond Beginners: Intermediate and Expert levels require taking several classes at the Beyond Beginning level or several hours (500+) of independent work time.  
Registration cost is $190. This covers tuition and two 5lb bags of Red Stoneware Clay to begin the class.  If you need more, it can be purchased as needed.  
Everyone will need to have their own tools for the class.  If you do not have tools, there is a $20 add on option to purchase them through us.
All glaze and firing costs are included in the cost of the clay you purchase.  
When pottery is finished, it is food-safe, dishwasher-safe, microwave safe.

After you fill out and return the form, your application will be reviewed, along with availability in the class.  If there is not room, you will recieve an email that you have been placed on a wait list and will be notified as soon as a spot come available.  

If there is room in the class, you will be notified by email and you will also receive an invoice via email, which you can pay online with card.

To register: https://sites.google.com/site/wheelartpotterystudio/classes/adult-clay-classes

Skill building classes which meet once a week.  Learn the basics of or improve your skills hand-building and wheel throwing pottery , as well as how to finish through glazing your work.

Instructor: Jacob Grant
No Experience Necessary.
Ages 18+.  
For Beginning students and Beyond Beginners: Intermediate and Expert levels require taking several classes at the Beyond Beginning level or several hours (500+) of independent work time.  
Registration cost is $190. This covers tuition and two 5lb bags of Red Stoneware Clay to begin the class.  If you need more, it can be purchased as needed.  
Everyone will need to have their own tools for the class.  If you do not have tools, there is a $20 add on option to purchase them through us.
All glaze and firing costs are included in the cost of the clay you purchase.  
When pottery is finished, it is food-safe, dishwasher-safe, microwave safe.

After you fill out and return the form, your application will be reviewed, along with availability in the class.  If there is not room, you will recieve an email that you have been placed on a wait list and will be notified as soon as a spot come available.  

If there is room in the class, you will be notified by email and you will also receive an invoice via email, which you can pay online with card.

To register: https://sites.google.com/site/wheelartpotterystudio/classes/adult-clay-classes

** Tour the Lincoln Branch Library **

This behind-the-scenes talk and tour will showcase the history of a true architectural gem: the Peoria Public Library Lincoln Branch. Two hundred years ago, Peoria's earliest settlers lived on this site—and then, for the second half of the 19th century, it served as the old City Cemetery. In 1911, the current Carnegie Library was built. Come take the tour, including a rare look at the building’s basement. This event is free, but space is limited and preregistration is required. Call 309-674-1921 to reserve!

Every Thursday Open House from 10AM - 2PM. Private Tours are available for small groups by appointments. For questions, private tours and special event rentals contact the Peoria Historical Society Office 309-674-1921.

The Pettengill-Morron House has celebrated 150 years! When you visit lean about all of the owners, stories of abolitionists and the underground railroad, what famous actor was married in the home and other stories of Peoria's past along with unique collection of pieces. The house is on the National Register of Historic Places and is owned by the Peoria Historical Society.

 

For more info: https://www.peoriahistoricalsociety.com/events

hese classes offer kids, ages 5-17, the chance to explore and build skill, learning different hand-building techniques and how to throw on the potter's wheel. They also learn how to finish work through different glazing techniques.  

Instructors Jacob Grant and Kyla Cadwell co-teach this course.  

Jacob started Wheel Art Pottery Studio in 2010. He has 25 years of experience working in clay, an M.F.A. in Ceramics from Bradley University, and 20 years of experience teaching ceramics.  He began teaching pottery to homeschool children at The Peoria Art Guild in 2005.

Kyla is a working artist with 15 years of experience in art education. She has taught art to children in many settings, including Montessori School of Peoria, Peoria Lakeview Museum, the 21st Century Program, Cornerstone Academy of Performing Arts and most recently at Wheel Art Pottery Studios.

Jacob and Kyla share a teaching philosophy that creativity is best learned through independent experimentation/trial and error.

Their teaching process involves detailed lectures on materials used in ceramics, the firing process, and its historic and technological impact on human civilization. Demonstrations are given of techniques on how to manipulate clay through hand-building and wheel-throwing methods to create a variety of functional and sculptural forms. Children are then allowed to "play in the clay." They are encouraged to fail and learn through their failures. Students will be instructed on being responsible for their workspace and tools, and mindful of the materials they use.

Wheel-thrown Projects: Students are instructed on the basics of creating pots on a pottery wheel.  They are then given opportunity to spin clay (throw) by themselves, while instructors are only observing.  After working on the wheel independently for a period of time, instructors will give assistance and more instruction, as needed.

Hand-building Projects: Students will learn pinch-pot, and slab techniques for the upcoming fall session.  Focus on fall-time creations: slab-built leaf trays, pinch-pot pumpkins (can be carved decoratively like jack-o-lanterns), and slab spiders (used from carving patterns of their hands).

Students learn to finish their own pieces by applying glaze, underglaze, and/or other ceramic mediums before they go into a kiln and fire on for a permanent finish.

Children in both classes follow individual paths in clay. With guidance from the instructor, they are allowed to develop their own unique voice in clay. 

All kid's classes work with stoneware clay and glazes that are food-safe, water-tight, oven-proof, microwave/dishwasher-safe.

No experience necessary

Ages 5-17

$165/student, includes materials & firings

Next Session: 7 Consecutive Thursdays, August 29-October 10, 4:30-6pm

To register: https://sites.google.com/site/wheelartpotterystudio/classes/kid-s-clay-classes

This tour explores everything from interesting tales from Peoria's "naughty" history of gambling and monsters to its "nice" four-time designation as an All-American City.

Please note that this tour is not suitable for children.

Venue Information

Caterpillar Visitors Center

110 Southwest Washington Street
Peoria, IL 61602

For tickets: https://309tix.com/events/naughty-to-nice-bus-tour-9-27-2024

Live at the Five Spot: Galactic Cowboy Orchestra
September 27, 2024~ 6:30-8:30pm

Tickets in Advance Online: $8-members, $12-nonmembers + fees
(until 5pm day of event).
Tickets at the door*: $12-Members, $16-nonmembers
(Tickets for walk-ins will be available until max capacity is reached)

Water and pop for $1.00 is offered at the bar.
Attendees may bring their own food and drink or bring in food and drink from the Rhythm Kitchen.

About the band: Galactic Cowboy Orchestra
Since 2009, Galactic Cowboy Orchestra has created intensely energetic Jazz/Rock/Bluegrass Fusion characterized by sophisticated harmonic, dynamic and technical complexity based on forms derived from classical and jazz music and requiring performers of considerable training and skill. It sounds serious, but when paired with four fun-loving musicians (John Wright – Bass/Vocals, Lisi Wright – Violin/Vocals, Dan Neale – Guitars/Vocals, Mario Dawson – Drums/Percussion) who don't take themselves too seriously, a unique bit of magic is the result. The band writes and performs music that has been recorded in numerous fine albums. For fans of King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Dixie Dregs and Bela Fleck & the Flecktones. To hear their music, visit www.galacticcowboyorchestra.com

For tickets: Tickets309tix.com/events/live-at-the-cac-five-spot-galactic-cowboy-orchestra-9-27-2024-162249

Peoria's biggest and best farmers market!  Featuring over 100 local vendors selling fresh produce, local meats, eggs, cheeses, breads, flowers, and baked goods!  Local artists, musicians and demonstrations each week!

Join us every Saturday morning 8 am - noon in the 200 block of Water Street.

For more info: https://www.facebook.com/PeoriaRiverFrontMarket

Learn the basics of setting up a pottery wheel to throw, the proper tools needed, how to prepare the clay through a process called "wedging," centering, throwing on the wheel and how to clean up.

We give a demonstration of how to throw a pot.  Next, we let you try by yourself for a short period of time.  Then we give assistance, as needed, to create your own piece which can literally exist forever (unless it is heated to 2500 fahrenheit:). You get to choose the glaze color of your piece.

This class qualifies a person to attend open studios and work independently. 

Materials and firing is covered in the cost for one piece (approximate maximum size-up to 6" tall x 6" width x 6" length).

Everyone keeps one piece. Additional pieces of equivalent size are $5 (covers material and firing costs).  These are paid for after the pottery session, if you create more than 1 piece you wish to keep.

Specialty Items are also available for additional cost.  These require additional time, material, and firing.

Pieces are kept at the studio for finish work, glazing and two kiln firings, and are picked up at a later date. When finished, everything is food-safe, dishwasher-safe, microwave-safe.

Ages 5+

No experience necessary

Pre-registration and pre-payment required.

Please Fill out the form and submit to register for a Wheel 101 class.  If you have a group of people, all paying together, please use one form.  If you are coming with others, but paying separately, please fill out separate forms.  After you submit the form, you will receive a confirmation email and invoice within a day.  When the invoice is paid, your spot will be reserved.

To register: https://www.wheelartpottery.studio/events/wheel-101-class

It's our 62nd year of bringing original art to Central Illinois and we want you to be a part of the celebration! As one of the oldest art organizations in the country, the Peoria Art Guild Fine Art Fair is nationally recognized.

Saturday: 10 am - 5 pm
Sunday: 10 am - 4 pm
ADMISSION
$10 per person per day.
Children 12 years and under free
Free passes for members!
Not a member? Join here- https://www.peoriaartguild.org/membership

Join us for a weekend of creative fun. Experience art from 130 juried fine artists on Peoria's Riverfront. Participate in the interactive community mural. Bring your children to the Kid's Art Festival where they can create their own masterpieces. Food, beer and wine stations will be set up throughout the fair.

For more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/288908033916620

Enjoy a tour and tasting with a BLACK BAND team member in our restored historic space in Peoria’s Warehouse District.

As you explore the distilling process from grain to glass, you will learn about mash bills, still technology, distillate selection, barrel aging and more. Please bring your photo ID and plan to arrive 15 minutes before your tour begins.

For more info & to register: https://www.exploretock.com/blackbanddistillery/event/483954?date=2024-07-27&size=1&time=20%3A00