Music fans from all around the area flocked to downtown Champaign this past Friday and Saturday to experience the sights and sounds of the 2010 Champaign Music Festival.

Part of Champaign’s 150th anniversary celebration, the festival brought thousands of cheering fans to the streets of Champaign to enjoy music from rock, blues and funk to gospel and dixieland jazz.

The festival began Friday night with a “music crawl,” where musical performances took place in 11 different venues around Champaign’s downtown. Saturday brought around the traditional music festival style with 19 different musical acts playing on three different stages throughout the day in the streets of Champaign.

Residents also had the opportunity to explore downtown’s different stores and businesses during the festival. On top of this, the festival included fun for the kids with an instrument petting zoo, karaoke stage and a game truck featuring the hit video game “Rock Band.”

Of course, the main attraction for the entire festival had to be the musical acts. Josh Houchin, stand-up bass player for The Prairie Dogs, was just one of many musicians prepared to have some fun with the crowd Saturday.

“It’s such a great honor to play here in a well-publicized event,” Houchin said. “Champaign has such a great crowd and community supporting us, and it is really fun to play for something like this music festival.”

The theme of community was not something that was noticed solely by the musical acts. Music fans and residents of the Champaign-Urbana area alike were proud of the atmosphere and community on hand at the festival.

Tina Richardson, resident of Champaign, was just one of many people that felt the exciting community atmosphere.

“I love it out here right now,” Richardson said. “The music, the people, the entertainment. This is all a real treat. It’s really great to see this in a community like Champaign. A festival like this is a great opportunity for people to come out and enjoy the town and the people that live together in it. It’s just a real pleasure.”

The festival was not only a great way to meet new people and share the music with other members of the community, but it also turned out to be a way of catching up with old friends. Rita Moore, a resident of Urbana, found time to talk to people during the festival that she had not seen in some time.

“There are people I’ve run into that I haven’t seen for many months,” Moore said. “It’s nice to be able to have an event where the community comes together and gives people like me the opportunity to see friends that I haven’t seen in a while. The music is great, but the camaraderie it brings is even better.”