Upcoming Festivals
Fall Festival - Chicago - 2019
Spring Festival - Tempe AZ - 2020
BQPA Fall Festival - Chicago - 2019
This event is ALWAYS the first (1st) weekend after Labor Day.
When: Sept 4, 5, 6 & 7, 2019
Where: Best Western Hotel
4400 Frontage Road
Hillside,IL.60162
708-544-9300(Ph) 708.544.9310(F)
Room Rate $89.25 per night
Free buffet breakfast every morning
Shuttle to/from O'Hare airport ONLY
Please call or e-mail the hotel direct when making your reservations by July 28,and be sure to tell them that you are with the BQPA/Pioneers in order to get the rate of $89.25. If you wait until after July 28, the room rate goes to $101.15. You can cancel 24 hours before arrival.
A lot of people come on Wednesday and get a head start, why not see if you can do so too?
There will be golf on Thursday and Friday.
Dave Brady is our golf chairman and can be contacted at;
847.259.3338 or 847.707.2182 or
If you are planning on golfing, PLEASE sign up with Dave as early as possible so he will have a good idea as to how many tee times we will need for each day. Let Dave know if you will play both days or just one. Details follow:
Fresh Meadow Golf Club
2144 S. Wolf Rd
Hillside, Illinois 60162
708-449-3434
Thurs Sept 5 has 3 tee off times starting at 8:30 am
Friday Sept 6 has 3 tee off times starting at 9:00 am
$25 for golf with a cart
We will choose foursomes when we get there.
Dave Brady
847-259-3338
This will be our 8th year at this hotel and all of our members really enjoy this venue! The hotel staff really go out of their way to please us. So if you have not been to the Chicago BQPA/PIONEERS in a while, do yourself a big favor and come on out, you'll be very pleased you did, I guarantee it.
Chicago Festival Chairman
Gerry Carroll
3224 Sarah Street
Franklin Park,Il. 60161
630.675.4694 (C)
Talent Chairman
Raymond Schwarzkopf
Golf Chairman
Dave Brady
Directions from Midway Airport to the hotel
For you people that will be flying into Midway airport for the Chicago festival, here are the directions from Midway via Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).
After collecting your luggage, look for and follow signs “TRAINS TO CITY –CTA”. It is a fairly long walk-probably five minutes or more (depending on age). Enter Orange Line MIDWAY station of CTA and get on train marked LOOP toward downtown. Get off at HAROLD WASHINGTON LIBRARY (State and Van Buren streets) downtown. Descend to street and walk a block West to Dearborn Street and turn North. Look for a stairway down from sidewalk to the BLUE LINE. It’s in the first block, but if is closed there are more entrances in the next blocks north. Take a train to “FOREST PARK” which will be the end of the line (Des Plaines Avenue).
Call the Best Western Hotel at 1-708-544-9300 and they will send a shuttle to pick you up.
The fare is reasonable. Last time we checked it was under $3, but may go up between now and September. I recommend buying a fare card and loading it with enough money to get to Hillside and back to the airport for your return trip. If you use a fare card, you can get a transfer from the Orange line to the Blue line for $0.25, rather then pay another full fare. Please check with the station agent at the Midway station before buying the fare card to verify the amounts.
Spring Festival - Tempe AZ - 2020
We will be back at Tempe Inn & Suites in 2020.
Tempe Inn and Suites, 1651 W. Baseline Rd, Tempe.
Dates are Wednesday, April 1 through Saturday, April 4, 2020.
Room rates are $85 (+17% tax). 2 Bed & sofa bed suites $95 +tax. 1 Bed & sofa bed suites $90 +tax Call for reservations at 480-897-7900. Identify "BQPA/Pioneers". Reservations should be made by Feb 28, 2020. Cancellations can be made 24 hours prior to scheduled arrival. Please get your reservations in early!
(You may want to request a room/suite that is not directly adjacent to the parking lot. A couple folks had some noise issues in 2019. Non-perimeter rooms should reduce or eliminate this issue.)
Complimentary Wi-Fi and parking. Free shuttle from airport. Call hotel (480-897-7900) for pickup. Free hot breakfast buffet, Host Happy Hour, (free beer,wine,soda) Big pool, Hot tub, and many options for Lunch available within walking distance (1/2 block). Joe's Crab Shack and Mall across street. Dinner available in hotel snack bar area or choose a nearby restaurant. Refrigerator, microwave, and coffee maker in room.
Golf will be available on Thursday and Friday.
Contact Barney Griffin at 480-430-9162 or email barng1@yahoo.com after January to get into a foursome and tell him your preferred voice part so he can make up a quartet to sing on each tee box.
Tentative schedule of events:
Thursday, April 2, 2020
Golf: Contact Barney Griffin at 480-430-9162 or email barng1@yahoo.com after January to get into a foursome and tell him your preferred voice part so he can make up a quartet to sing on each tee box.
Board meeting, 3:00pm
Friday, April 3, 2020
Golf information above.
Pick-up quartet contest, 8pm.
Saturday, April 4, 2020
Thanks to Charlie Nardin, we will once again be having dinner at The Four Peaks Brewery. Our group we start being seated at 5:00 PM. Our space will be reserved until 6:30 and that has been plenty of time for us to have a drink, something to eat and sing a few songs. Asin the past we need to be gone by 6:30. We have estimated 30+\- to attend.
The Parade of Quartets show, 8pm.
And there will always be three other singers available to bust a chord just about any time you desire.
The final schedule of events will be posted as we firm up golf information.