Cornerstone Festival Photos

During the late ’90s and early ’00s, JPUSA’s Cornerstone Festival was the absolute highlight of my year. Every July, my friends and I would join thousands of others on a huge campground located just outside the little town of Bushnell, Illinois for a week of unbearable heat, unpredictable weather, smelly outhouses — and hundreds of amazing bands making music on the fringes of Christendom.
Some of the best concerts I’ve ever seen — and indeed, some of the best times I’ve ever experienced — took place on that campground surrounded by cornfields, and I know I’m not alone in that.
The following posts contain hundreds of photos that my friends and I took during those heady days. It serves as a tribute to both the Festival itself and its goal of celebrating outsider Christian art as well as the many, many bands that played its various stages (both authorized and unauthorized). While many of those bands have long since disappeared, it would be a true shame if they were completely forgotten.
Cornerstone Festival 2007 Band Photos
A collection of band photos from the final Cornerstone Festival that I attended, featuring Starflyer 59 and State Bird.Cornerstone Festival 2002 Photos
Featuring The Elevator Division, Goat Explosion, Havalina, mewithoutYou, Roadside Monument, and more.Cornerstone Festival 2001 Photos
Featuring Starflyer 59, The People, and campground photos.Cornerstone Festival 2000 Photos
Featuring Fine China, Joy Electric, Soul-Junk, SS Bountyhunter, Unwed Sailor, and more photos of the Cornerstone grounds.Cornerstone Festival 1999 Photos
Featuring Appleseed Cast, Ester Drang, Havalina, Pedro the Lion, and Cornerstone’s goth tent.Cornerstone Festival 1997-1998 Photos
Featuring Starflyer 59, Danielson, and various shots of the Cornerstone Festival campground.
Unfortunately, I lost a lot of my Cornerstone photos when our basement flooded several years ago, and the only digital versions I have of those lost photos are really small and poor resolution. Otherwise, I’d have even more photos for you.
If you have any Cornerstone photos that you’re willing to share on Opus, let me know. Also, I’ll admit that my memory is a little fuzzy after two decades, so please tell me if any of the band photos are mis-labeled.