JadeW

Geneseo’s longest-running festival starts tonight and one of the city’s newest residents is pumped about helping kick it off.

Country singer-songwriter Ryan Bizarri will be performing at Geneseo Brewing Co. (102 S. State St.) at 7 p.m. to kick off the 55th-annual Geneseo Music Festival, all weekend, mainly at Geneseo City Park.

A 48-year-old Moline native, Bizarri moved from Coal Valley to Nashville, Tenn., 20 years ago, and moved back with his wife and daughter, to Geneseo in spring 2022.

“We got a daughter Taylor, she was a junior coming in here and we wanted her to kind of have some Midwest roots and it’s just really great to be back here,” Bizarri said on Thursday.

She just graduated Geneseo High School and will attend Black Hawk College in the fall. Taylor also is an accomplished musician, her proud dad said.

Bizarri really enjoyed his Nashville life, which included co-writing a 2014 hit for Rodney Atkins, “Eat, Sleep, Love You, Repeat.”

“That was a dream come true. Rodney played it at the Opry, WLLR played it; lots of people played it,” Bizarri said. “They made line dances for it. And my phone rang off the hook more after that happened. So it was, it was quite a trip.”

“Nashville was awesome and Nashville is like a slot machine,” he said. “You can keep pulling that lever and you might lose a few times, but you’re gonna win eventually. I had such a great dose of success and fun and experience that, it made sense to come back here.”

“I’m excited to kind of get my feet into some of the breweries and still maintain my Nashville business,” Bizarri said. “I’m excited to bring my original songs to the Quad Cities and Geneseo, and share the stories.”

“I just kind of flipped the side of things, just waking up to the Midwest sunrise and occasionally getting back down to Nashville,” he said.

In 2010, Bizarri recorded his album, “If I Was a Song” in Nashville.

“It was the coolest experience ever, having the best Nashville musicians play on it and mixing and mastering it with a guy who actually produced Rick Springfield,” he said. “I’m so proud of the songs on that disk. Most of them have all won some kind of award. I did that in like 2010 and then fast forward to 2023. I’m overdue for another one.”

For six years in Tennessee, Bizarri worked as a Realtor, but he’s not doing that in the QC. “I don’t know if I could handle it. It might be rougher than the music business,” he said.

He was one of 10 nominees in a Country Music Television nationwide songwriting contest in 2010 — a finalist for the CMT Listeners’ Choice Award for emerging songwriters.

Since 2003, he said the QC live music scene and craft breweries have exploded.

“It’s a fun experience. You can go try new things and meet new people and even the musicians I’ve seen around town are just, they’re blowing me away,” Bizarri said.

The full schedule for Geneseo Music Festival is:

Friday, June 16

• 6 p.m.: 2023 Geneseo Music Fest begins and Food Trucks open
• 6 – 8 p.m.: Geneseo Rotary Ice Cream Social – Geneseo City Park
• 6 p.m.: Kiwanis Annual Doo Dah Parade – Downtown Geneseo
• 6:15 p.m.: Geneseo Panic! – City Park Bandshell
• 7 p.m.: 2023 Geneseo Music Fest Queen Pageant presented by Geneseo Rotary – City Park Bandshell
• 7 — 10 p.m.: Ryan Bizarri – Geneseo Brewing Company

Saturday, June 17 City Psrk Bandshell

• 7 a.m. – 10 a.m.: Maple City 4 Run presented by Geneseo Rotary Club
• 10 – 11 a.m.: Jazzercise Strength 45 in the Park by Jazzercise
• 11:30 – 2 p.m.: Musical Memories Recital
• 2:30 — 3:30 p.m.: GHS Cheer Clinic
• 4 – 5 p.m.: Shaun Easton & Friends
• 6 – 8 p.m.: Josh Duffee’s Big Band Orchestra

Saturday June 17

• 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.: Geneseo Farmers Market – North City Park
• 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.: AETA Tractor Display – North City Park
• 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.: Sundance For Our Soldiers Miniature Equine Express Therapy Meet Team Arena – North City Park
• 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.: Family Fest (inflatables & more) presented by Geneseo Park District – Geneseo City Park
• 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.: Geneseo Music Fest Art & Craft Fair – Geneseo City Park
• 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.: Pony Rides by Tri-Co Equestrian Center, LLC – $10 per ride – Geneseo City Park near the intersection of State & North Streets
• 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.: Party on the Patio – In-A-Godda-Da-Vida Music
• 11 – 1 p.m.: FFA Ag Alumni Lunch Cookout – Geneseo City Park
• 12:30 p.m.: FFA Pedal Tractor Pull – Geneseo City Park
• 5 – 7 p.m.: Ice Cream Social – Geneseo Art League – Geneseo City Park
• 5:30 p.m. — 8:30 p.m.: Lee Blackmon – Sugar Maple Golf Club
• 8 – 11 p.m.: X-Krush – Central Bank Pavilion
• 8 p.m.: Outdoor Movie Series – Sing 2 presented by the Geneseo Park District Foundation – Geneseo Park District Athletic Field

Sunday, June 18

• 7 a.m. – 11 a.m.: Father’s Day Fly-In Breakfast – Gen-Airpark
• 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.: Geneseo Music Fest Art & Craft Fair – Geneseo City Park
• 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.: Sundance For Our Soldiers Miniature Equine Express Therapy Meet Team Arena – North City Park
• 10:30 a.m.: Sunday Morning Church Service – First Lutheran Church – Live Music from the River City 6 – Geneseo City Park Bandshell
• 11 – 1 p.m.: Father’s Day Parade Staging – Geneseo High School Parking Lot
• 1 p.m.: 2023 Geneseo Music Fest Father’s Day Parade – State Street/Downtown Geneseo
• 2:30 p.m.: River City 6 – Geneseo City Park Bandshell

For more information, visit the festival website HERE.

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