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Eisley - Cornerstone 2010 (photo from Cornerstone Festival)

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If you’ve been missing Cornerstone and wonder what the farm looks like now, here is drone footage of the former Cornerstone Festival grounds, taken May 2020. Most of the buildings are gone, but you can still see the main roads that went passed the Encore stages, toward the food court, and down to the lake and main stage area. (video by: Heart of America FPV)

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Mutemath - Cornerstone 2005 (video by Eternal Rock)

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Walking down the road from the food court towards the Encore stages - Cornerstone 2006 (photo by Andrea Blake)

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The Chariot - mainstage at Cornerstone 2006 (photo by Andrea Blake)

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Mainstage view at Cornerstone 2006 for mewithoutYou’s performance (photo by Andrea Blake)

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Bradley Hathaway - Cornerstone 2006 (photo by Andrea Blake)

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A walk through the Cornerstone Festival grounds in 1985 (video by drex7777777)

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The Deadlines - Cornerstone 2000

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Excerpts from a blog by Jay Newman. Click through to read the entire post! http://badchristian.com/searching-for-cornerstone-festival-in-2015/

“I stood among the cornstalks as they danced in the wind, swaying as though they knew they were rooted in hallowed ground. I stared at them for what must have been hours, moving down the rows as the ghosts of dancers past glided between fields. I came here to see what it looked like now – to see if there was anything left. Over there was where we always camped. And behind me was the food court and Gallery stage. Down the way, past the lake, was where they used to have the Main stage. All of this used to be Cornerstone Festival. Now it’s only corn.”

“For three decades Cornerstone was one of the major Christian music and arts festivals. But it always stood alone within that category. You can listen to veterans of the fest talk about it, read memorials on their blogs, and while no one can quite put their finger on why, everyone agrees this place was different. Ask any of the bands that played. They’ll tell you... The appeal transcended the typical draw of a festival and brought people from vastly differing demographics ­ from gutter punk to pop mainstream and everything in between. This was a place of belonging. There were a lot of reasons for this and I’m sure you can find many who have articulated it better than I can. But the hard reality is that place is gone.”

“Cornerstone is our heritage, but Audiofeed is our future. I am making an appeal here. To all of you who loved Cornerstone, the tens of thousands who attended and felt something like home there, I want you to know you have a new home. The word has been slow to get out but it’s growing. You can go to Bushnell, Illinois and stand among the ghosts – but all that’s really there now is corn. But if you come to Urbana, Illinois on July 1st-­4th , you might find something you recognize even though you’ve never seen it before. Come and see.”

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A bunch of us Cornerstone people will be at Audiofeed Fest again this summer - I hope to see you, too! 

audiofeedfestival.com

If you’re planning on going, let me know!

-Andrea 

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Email: Update from Chicago

Cornerstone Festival directors Genesis and Scott sent out an email to update everyone on what they've been up to in Chicago. Read below.

We hope you had a good summer this year! We have some exciting news we wanted to share with you about our ongoing effort to continue the spirit of Cornerstone Festival in Chicago. In February, we finally finished the renovation process on what we are calling The Wilson Abbey, which is a three story building that now houses our church, our coffeehouse Everybody’s Coffee, and a Black Box Theater space. Check out the virtual tour! The Auditorium in The Wilson Abbey, a 500 person capacity music venue, is where we have church every Sunday. It has also hosted concerts with many artists, including festival favorites the 77’s, Ashley Cleveland, Glenn Kaiser Band, and The Crossing, as well as Ami Moss and the Unfortunate, and Leper and Exegesis.  Our coffeehouse, Everybody’s Coffee, features fair trade, organic coffees and teas, as well as homemade baked goods and treats. It is a great venue for live music performances, and we have had art shows and cultural events in it since we opened. Everybody’s Coffee has become a meeting place for our neighborhood and a continuation of our mission to bring good art, thoughtful conversation, and a sense of community wherever we are. In addition to both of these things, we have a smaller venue, The Theater, adjoining Everybody’s Coffee, which can seat around 60 people for concerts, movie screenings, seminars, and parties. We have done all of those things in that space weekly, and The Theater has become another way we connect to people from across our city.  In all of our planning and walking forward in this new mission, we remember the witness of those of you who came to Cornerstone year after year and shared your vision with us of how to carry forward the work of the Gospel in big and small ways, reminding us to include the outcast, build an intelligent faith, and serve the people we come into contact with. As always, God has been faithful and we are honored to be able to be a part of this new endeavor.  We invite you to stop by and enjoy a concert and some great coffee, or join us for church! Please check out our website, for more details on what we’re doing. If you have a band you’d like to book in Chicago at The Wilson Abbey, please go to Sideyard Chicago. -Genesis Winter and Scott Stahnke former Cornerstone Festival Co-directors

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Article: Why the Church Needs AudioFeed

This is a great article about the people and spirit of Audiofeed and its parent fest, Cornerstone Festival. 

An excerpt from the blog post "Why the Church Needs AudioFeed" by author and speaker Preston Sprinkle about his experience at Audiofeed Festival 2014.

The thing that encouraged me the most was the intellect and passion among the participants. It’s a counter-cultural crowd, but you only become counter-cultural by thinking outside the box, asking hard questions, and not being satisfied by recycled answers. It’s not uncommon, as a speaker, to get questions about apocalyptic readings of Revelation, reader-response hermeneutics, or various theories of the atonement from a dude wearing black eye shadow and spikes. This is why I came back to AudioFeed this year. The festival reminds me that the kingdom of God is pushing forward through all types of people who live out their faith in nontraditional ways. And most of the people who attend this festival have a massive, cross-shaped heart for people. Yes, it’s true. Many of them have problems with patriotism, militarism, capitalism, suits and ties, combs, and the traditional evangelical church. But walk around and talk to them. Get to know their stories. Have a 5 minute conversation with a stranger and he’s likely to give you the shirt off his back. Even if you’re a suit-and-tie wearing CEO of a large company that served in Desert Storm. Disagreement doesn’t interrupt love.

Read more: http://facultyblog.eternitybiblecollege.com/2014/07/the-audiofeed-festival-2014/

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Happy Father's Day weekend to all you Cornerstone dads! 1987 and 2008

29 Years of Cornerstone Festival (photo sources: Tombstone73 and vanessa.kim)

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Cornerstone people - join your family at Audiofeed Festival this summer! They just posted the schedule on their website and the list includes Listener, Flatfoot 56 (with a themed show), '68, Levi the Poet, War of Ages, My Epic, Timbre, speakers Shane Claiborne and Preston Sprinkle, and many more Cornerstone favorites. There will also be a ministry tent with worship, devotions, and speakers each day, not to mention the Asylum tent's full schedule of activities. Check it out www.audiofeedfestival.com

Band schedule is up and posted to www.audiofeedfestival.com/lineup/! We are just 3 weeks out! :) #afeed14 #audiofeed #festival

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Unofficial Cornerstone Guide Tumblr Meetup at Audiofeed

Continuing the tradition we started at Cornerstone Festival, I would like to host a tumblr meetup on the first official day of Audiofeed Festival this year! If any of you will be making the journey to Champaign/Urbana, I'm planning to have a get-together on Thursday, July 3rd, time and exact location TBA. We can grab a lemon shakeup and reminisce about Cornerstone, and maybe even watch a show together. 

Will anyone be joining me?

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God Bless Mama Linda

Many of you may know or have heard of Mama Linda. For years, she has housed and fed touring bands and was a part of our Cornerstone Family, taking care of bands at the fest and also hosting a pre-fest hog roast. When Cornerstone ended, she stepped up to help keep the family together with Audiofeed Festival. She has been a blessing to many with her service and hospitality.

On Saturday night, May 10, her house and almost everything she owned was lost in a devastating fire. This family who has given so much to so many, now needs our help.

A Facebook page has been set up to support the family and coordinate donations at God Bless Momma Linda and Family and a GoFundMe page is collecting monetary gifts for her at Let's give back to Mama Linda.

Please keep her family in your prayers.