Stepping Into Chicago Homecoming: A Weekend at the Mecca
Kicking off the first day of the Chicago Homecoming on Tuesday at Kelli’s Chicago with great nachos, warmed my heart. I have been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. Already, I’m seeing other out of towners who are here revved up for the weekend.
Although the flyer highlights a four-day weekend event from August 28 – August 31, the Chicago Homecoming started on Tuesday and there are a host of workshops, day sets, night events, bus tours, and more. Check out the website, at Chicagosteppershomecoming.com for all the details. I am looking forward to this weekend at Hyatt Regency McCormick Place & Convention Center in Chicago.
I had to understand the story behind the culmination of this weekend. I believe it’s a one of kind event collaboration to create a grand opportunity for steppers from everywhere to make it to the Mecca and meet many of the people in Chicago who don’t travel but are great dancers, influencers and legends in the Chicago Stepping community. This is going to be a grand affair. Let’s dive into my interview with Iary Israel.
How did the Chicago Homecoming come to life? What was the vision?
It was 2022 when we (Delores and I) were doing our final Stepaganza, and a young lady who had come from Chicago, Mona Clough, approached me. She had come to St. Louis on a bus with a group of people from Chicago, and evidently she had enjoyed herself. She liked the lay of the land – what we were doing in St. Louis. Her husband, Keith, did not come with her in 2022, but she convinced him to come in 2023.
In 2023, Keith and Mona mentioned they had a little network with the McCormick Place in Chicago, and they thought it would be a good idea if I could join them to bring an event to Chicago. They were just breaking into the promoting game. I said, “Give me some time.” 2023 passed, and Keith called me again. He gave me another year and eventually I said, “I’m just not ready to do anything like that anymore. I’m pretty much done.” Keith said, “I already signed the contract.” They would not let him out of the contract. I said, “Give me two weeks. Let me put this creative mind together and see what the concept is going to be over the weekend.”
How did you come up with the name Homecoming?
I thought it would be a great time at the McCormick place near downtown, just south of downtown, since there is a convention center down there. Why don’t I just call it a homecoming and kind of force everybody’s hands to come home from Chicago. And even those who are not from Chicago who are in the culture, in the dance community, they have to come because Chicago is where Steppin’ started. It’s coming to the Mecca or the promised land of the origination of the dance. And so it is the Homecoming and we got the ball rolling. I added Keith Hubbard and Ken Bedford onto the team, and that’s how it came about.
What are some elements of The Chicago Homecoming that will remind steppers of Stepaganza?
The first thing is obvious. You Can’t Beat Free. You get in the hotel, you pay the admission or the hotel room rate and get two free all-access bands to everything. I used to have workshops at the latest step of dances, but When we sold so many rooms, the hotel said, “Oh, my God, you guys are selling so many rooms. You have open access to any room that you want in this hotel – any ballrooms, anything.”
I called some of my friends, my associates in the stepping arena to see if they would like the time to do some workshops. I called my Lifetime Achievement Award buddies and hired a lot of them. I picked individuals who the out-of-town community don’t have access to, because these instructors don’t travel. I really want steppers to get to know some of these iconic steppers out of Chicago so they are doing the workshops for me.
What about the Homecoming is different from Stepaganza?
Well, Stepaganza didn’t have everything all at one place. Remember, for Stepaganza we had to venture out with four hotels. Our convention center wasn’t attached either. The events for Chicago Homecoming are centrally located. You don’t have to go out if you don’t want to. All four days except for the cookout on Sunday, is contained inside of the buildings attached to the McCormick Place Convention Center. We’re going to have day parties, evening parties, after sets, workshops all under one roof.
I saw Ken Bedford’s reel about the Cookout on Sunday and Willie Chatman’s Bus Tours. Tell us more about that.
We always had a cookout. Ken Bedford is known for his cookouts – Dancing Under the Stars and The World’s Largest Cookout. We called Ken Bedford. Instead of us trying to put on this thing, let’s go to the expert of cookouts and have him join the team. We wanted to have a cookout that Sunday so the out-of-towners can experience it as well.
Willie Chatman, DJ Sam Chatman’s cousin saw that touring this venues around the city, whether they exist today or not, would be essential for particularly the out-of-towners to experience some of the culture and get some narration from the people that was there back in those days. So said to Willie, “Hey, you put it together.” We attached it to the weekend.
Why collaborate for the Homecoming Weekend and will this happen again?
It’s going to come to the point where people are going to have to start getting together and throwing things in a collaboration. I’m not basically beyond joining forces to bring an event that we can actually do bigger and better together. A lot goes into an event behind the scenes, the financial burden is really, really something to behold. For Stepaganza, Delores and I didn’t have to deal with unions and stuff like that. For this event, the unions have to touch everything. Everything in the building and all the contracts. They must be a part of it. I don’t think this event will happen again, down in that area.
And remember, there was a three-year contract. We got three-year-old prices. We signed a contract. It was $149 per night. Next year, I know you don’t think we’re going to get the room for $149, especially with how many we sold. We sold almost 2,500 room nights. The hotel is going to be like, uh-uh, we can’t give them that for that price anymore. Yeah. I don’t think I want to burden the people by going up so high on the hotel even with free passes. They already have to pay for their parking. So it’s a one-time shot, and we’re happy about it. We accept that it’s a one-time deal.But we’re going to make it the biggest deal that we possibly can.
What other expenses should patrons expect for the weekend besides getting into the event and paying for accommodations
It’s just the parking. Just the parking. Okay. $28/day. The parking is typically $50, but since we got such a big group, they gave us a group rate of $28 a day. Ones in the hotel who have a car or vehicle, it’s $28, and they have in-and-out privileges, just a straight $28. But if you’re not in the hotel and you want to come to multiple things that day, you’re going to have to pay $28 each time. So that’s the extra expense.
We don’t have reserved tables. We don’t have expense of the workshops. We don’t have the expense of paying for after parties, day parties, or any of that stuff. All of that is free. The only expense for you is the $70 all-access badge if you’re not in the hotel. And basically, if you’re in the hotel, the only expense you have is the parking.
Can we bring in food and decorations for birthday celebrations?
At first, we had on the flyer that they could bring in food and cake. But we moved from the smaller ballroom where the ceilings are lower. But with the turnout, we moved in the biggest ballroom – the Lakeside Ballroom, which is off Lake Michigan. That eliminated us bringing in our own food and cake because of the high ceiling and if one balloon floated up to the ceiling, they would charge us for the lift to get it down,
There are going to be food vendors inside. We have an open cafe and a cashless bar set up for us. Everything is cashless. You’re going to have to have a debit card or credit card to buy things in there.
Tell us about the documentary behind the Chicago Homecoming
The group decided that since this was going to be a one-time, historic affair so it should be documented and recorded by professionals. We hired and paid professionals to come in for all four days. Thursday and Friday they’re going to take impromptu videos and do interviews. They’re going to edit it and I guess put it on a DVD or YouTube. Then we’ll be able to share it with the people.
You’ve interlaced through your promotional materials is recognition of all layers of contributors to the Chicago Stepping community. Why?
I got that idea because when we were doing Stepaganza and gave Lifetime Achievement Awards, we weren’t just recognizing steppers. We awarded historical influencers, DJs, media who were 20+ years in the game. We gave Lifetime Achievement Awards to all different aspects of stepping, not just the dancers. So, we want all aspects to be recognized if they were in the game for a certain number of years. I translated that over to giving recognition to all the current active groups in the country and media and instructors throwing classes, stepper sets, and events. We put everybody down that we could think of and anybody that we didn’t think of. These are noted in alphabetical order so groups and individuals can easily find their spot in the tribute.
Special Guests at the Chicago Homecoming
I want everybody to know that this is going to be a special event. We were thinking bigger and better. I got a message from my Poppy, and she suggested to contact the mayor’s office, to see if the mayor would be interested in coming. I did just that, and the mayor has accepted our invitation. He’s going to be there to give a welcoming address for about five to ten minutes at the event address at 9 o’clock p.m. Saturday night.
We also have arts to add to entertainment for Friday and Saturday. Invited artists will come in and sing at our events. One gentleman, we hired him to sing and track walking songs. He’s going to do all the walking songs live. It’s going to be the classics, like the Stylistics. He’s a former member of the group Blue Magic. People are going to be so shocked and so amazed at his voice, his range and everything. He’s going to sound just like the recording. We’re probably going to be walking, you know, two or three times during the nights on Friday and Saturday. On one of the walking segments, he’s going to sing live.
Thank you from Iary Israel
And I want to thank you for interviewing us. I was trying to get Mona and Keith. I wanted to give them some media coverage because they’re doing a hell of a thing. They’re doing great things with MDK and this event. And I think they deserve their recognition as well.