🎙️📣HELLO Carbondale!
Off the Rails 2026 is loading… ✨🎸 🚂
Quick update for music lovers & downtown wanderers 👇
The Robbie Stokes Memorial Stage is (almost) READY & The New Era Events Plaza project keeps rollin along! We’ve got an update for show dates that are ready for you to plug into your caendar!
🗓️Don't miss out:
FREE, FAMILY FRIENDLY, FUN!
Sat. Aug 15 // Carbondalien Music Festival 🎶
Sat. Aug 29 // Off the Rails 🚂
Fri. Sept 4 // Lost Cross 40th kickoff 🍻
Sat. Sept 19 // Hemp, Hops & Shrooms 🌿🍄
Fri. Oct 2 // Off the Rails 🎤
Fri. Oct 16 // SIU Homecoming Music Street Festival 🥳
Same Vibes + Big things happening downtown = a NEW ERA! 🖤
more details + lineup announcements coming some day in the future..... stay tuned 👀
#carbondale #middleofeverything #community #livemusic #offtherails #musicstreetfestival #foodtrucks #SIU #freeconcert #ThisMustBeThePlace #godawgs
🌿🍄✨ 🎶🍻🌟
’Twas the night before Hemp, Hops & Shrooms, and all through the Strip,
The city was buzzing, community drip!
From 3 to 6, come learn something new,
Terpenes, mushrooms, and cannabis too.
🍄 Demos cooking, fiber, and grow
🌮 Food trucks & vendors with flavors to show
🧗♀️ A rock wall for kids, treasures to find,
Science and fun for the whole family combined
🎤 At 6 PM, Sturg & Friends hit the stage
🎸 At 7:30, Colt Ball & Git Down engage
Bring chairs, bring your crew, BYOB too,
Under the stars, there’s plenty to do!
📍 Downtown Plaza | Sat, Sept 20 | 3–9 PM
🎟 Free • Family-Friendly • Music • Food • Fun
✨Innovation, education, community in bloom!
We’ll see you downtown for Hemp, Hops & Shrooms! ✨
👏Carbondale, we can not thank you enough!
Throughout this Concert Series you all showed up and showed out to support local businesses and live music here in Southern Illinois. 🙌🤘✨
We are so grateful to have such a vibrant and strong community that helps bring these events to life! 🙏🥳❤️💪
#southernillinois #community #carbondale #offtherails #livemusic #familyfriendly #siu #local
Save the Date, Southern Illinois 🌿🍄🍻
Hemp, Hops & Shrooms Festival returns to Downtown Carbondale on Saturday, September 19, 2026! 🎶✨
Get ready for another unforgettable day of live music, educational experiences, local vendors, food trucks, fermentation fun, and community vibes at the New Era Events Plaza.
Mark your calendars now..... you won’t want to miss Year 5 of this beloved Southern Illinois festival.
📅 Saturday, September 19, 2026
⏰ 3-9 PM
🎟️ Free, family friendly, fun!
📍 Robbie Stokes Memorial Stage at the New Era Events Plaza! ✨
🎉Celebrating a milestone & showing support for a small business here in Carbondale! Saluki Smash celebrated their ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY/ Ribbon cutting ceremony yesterday and we couldn’t be prouder of their hard work and dedication providing services to our community. 🙌👏
“At Saluki Smash, we offer the citizens of Carbondale an opportunity to release your anger, stress, and whatever might be on your mind in a safe and regulated environment. It’s all the full-blown, smashing rage without the worrisome police visits, court dates, and counseling meetings that result from “hulking out” in public. Set up a time to visit our rage room today! All customers must be 18 years or older with a valid I.D.”
As you can see here from William Lo and Mayor Harvey’s experience VS the DEVAs, everyone has their own “Saluki Smash” style- no matter how you roll, you’ll have a good time here! 😎🤣💥
Cheers to many more years on the strip and welcome to the extended network of the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce commUNITY. 🥳🎉
Did you know you can rent kayaks & paddle boards at Cedar Lake?! What an awesome addition to an already incredible location. THIS is your sign to go!! #southernillinois #kayakadventures #aerialvideo
Some moments feel bigger than an event… they feel like a passing of light from one generation to the next. ✨🌏
Thomas T.K. Zung stood beside Buckminster Fuller as visionary ideas for Spaceship Earth were brought to life! Now, decades later, he’s still sharing that same spirit of possibility with the world.
Here in Carbondale, the city of Bucky Fuller, we witnessed something incredibly special: wisdom, humility, imagination, and hope all in one room. From the dedication of the Geodesic Tensegrity model to his powerful reflections on Bucky’s life and legacy, Thomas reminded us that bold ideas are not relics of the past… they are invitations for the future.
“Humanity has the option to make it.” Buckminster Fuller 🚀
And voices like Thomas Zung remind us why we must keep trying.
What a gift to gather with thinkers, dreamers, students, artists, and changemakers from around the globe right here in our little Southern Illinois community. The energy of Fuller Futures Festival is only just beginning, and already it feels transformational.
May we continue building a world worthy of future generations. 🌞
🎥 @darkhorse.films
#southern #carbondale #godawgs
Summer starts at Cedar Lake! 🌊
Just five minutes south of Carbondale, Cedar Lake is the perfect place to soak up the season! From stunning shoreline views and peaceful coves to kayaking, fishing, and relaxing days on the sand. 🛶🎣🏖️
And the wait is almost over…
📍Poplar Camp Beach at Cedar Lake officially opens for the 2026 season on Friday, May 22!
Bring your family, grab your friends, and make plans for lake days, sunshine, and unforgettable memories all summer long. 🌅
🕚 Open daily: 11 AM – 7 PM
💲 Admission: $2.50
See you at the lake! ☀️
🎥 @darkhorse.films
🎶☀️ Brown Bag Concerts are back for 2026..... taking the music on the road! ☀️🎶
This year, Carbondale Main Street is popping up at different Downtown Carbondale businesses each week so you can enjoy incredible local music while supporting your favorite local spots!👀💛
🕛 Every Wednesday | 12PM–1PM
📍 Downtown Carbondale
📱 Can’t make it in person? Tune in LIVE on Carbondale Main Street’s Facebook page!
Grab your lunch, bring a friend, and spend your Wednesdays soaking up downtown vibes and FREE live music 🎸🎤🎷
🎶 May 13 // Snowbird Street Band
📍 Tres Hombres | 119 N Washington St.
🎵 May 20 // The Ol’ Fishskins
📍 So Ill Syndicate | 215 S Illinois Ave.
🎤 May 27 // Bill Harper
📍 Booby’s | 406 S Illinois Ave.
🥁 June 3 // The Hornworms Marching Band
📍 The Big Chill | 508 S Illinois Ave.
🎷 June 10 // Carter & Connelley Quartet
📍 Artspace 304 | 304 W Walnut St.
🎸 June 17 // Isaiah Cunningham & the System
📍 Booby’s | 406 S Illinois Ave.
🎶 June 24 // Cash & Company
📍 Italian Village | 405 S Washington St.
CONGRATULATIONS SIU GRADUATES!! 🥳🥳🥳
We’re so thrilled that you chose to have your educational adventure here at SIU in Carbondale, IL! 🐾🏡🎶🌳
We so hope you’ve enjoyed your time here in Carbondale. We’ve seen so much Saluki success, both far and wide and right here at home!
From this pack of Salukis here at city hall, we wish you the very best wherever your journey leads you next!!
Never forget….once a Saluki, always a Saluki!! GO DAWGS!!
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#congrats #graduation #salukis #SIU #godawgs
Fuller Futures brought the right people together at the right moment to imagine what’s possible for SIU, Carbondale, and the Fuller Dome Home.
Pictured here are Dean Hong Cheng and plenary speaker Thomas Zung, both of whom recognize the importance of Carbondale in the Buckyverse.
Education has always been at the heart of this work. What felt especially powerful during the festival was the discussionn around curriculum and the excitement for hands on learning. That was where we saw the most student engagement (in our dome building workshop, SIM Center and World Game programs).
We saw students and visitors leave inspired. At the closing, people shared one word to describe their experience. Words like hope, renewal, nourished, expansion, solutions, connections, education.
The event is over but it feels far from an ending. It feels like something opening.
#FullerFutures #SIU #Carbondale #BuckminsterFuller #Education
Arts N Crap Springfest 2026 is in full swing at The Thrift Shop in Carbondale, IL!
60 vendors are in their parking lots off of 51, and the store is open as well.
Food, clothing, art, activities, music, dress up contest, a Giant tortoise…this is a prime example of a Carbondale event!
Across the street at the pavillion is also Art on the Square!
Arts N Crap runs til 7pm or sold out!
#thrift #southernillinois #southernillinoistourism #carbondale #illinois
