Bear Creek

"Bear Creek" is Gary Plazyk and Rob Middleton

We perform music and songs from the 1800's, plus sea shanties and children's songs

• Instruments: The instruments you are likely to hear us perform on include: guitar, fiddle, penny whistle, hammered dulcimer, concertina, hurdy gurdy, and didgeridoo, plus a grab bag of musical toys including jaw harp, clackamore, limberjack, spoons, and kazoo.
• Events: Bear Creek has played at many events in northern Illinois, including:

- the Woodstock Farmers Market

- the Downers Grove Farmers Market

- the 2007 Woodstock Folk Festival children’s stage

- the 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Marengo Settlers Days “Saturday Night on Main Street”

- the 2007 and 2008 Boone County Conservation District Autumn Pioneer Festival

- the 2008 Boone County Boone County Conservation District Holiday Walk

- the 2007 Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair

- the 2006 Riverside Art Festival

- the 2006 Marengo Food Pantry Volunteers Benefit Luncheon

- numerous Civil War reenactments. 

• Invitation: Audience participation is enthusiastically encouraged! Please stop by to say hi, and sing a song or two with us.

View our 2009 schedule. (If you are interested in seeing where we were in 2007 or 2008, view our 2007 schedule or 2008 schedule.) If you are interested in getting e-mail updates to our schedule, please send Gary your e-mail address.

Bear Creek on Google Street View

Some interesting news - one of our Bear Creek performances at the Woodstock Farmers Market in the summer of 2007 was captured on Google Street View! Gary's hat & suspenders and Rob are clearly visible, and our friends Neal, Amy, Izetta, Mary, and Brenden show up, too. Thanks to our friend Kent Fishburn for spotting it. We're on the corner of Johnson and Van Buren, when we played on the southwest corner of the Woodstock Square (before the music was moved into the square onto the bandstand in 2008). Go to "Street View" to find this (there are two different camera angle views). Check it out at: http://tinyurl.com/bu5ug6 (a high-speed Internet connection really helps)

Highlights of 2008

As many of you know, Gary plays the hurdy gurdy and is interested in its use in the American West during the 1800’s (really! – those saloons you see in the cowboy films were called “hurdy gurdy houses” and a dancer was called a “hurdy gurdy girl” – search the web or see: http://www.hotpipes.com/hggirls2.html and http://www.phantomranch.net/folkdanc/articles/boysnite.htm ). Anyhow, we have been involved with a group of hurdy gurdy players in the Chicago area, and helped present a hurdy gurdy workshop at the 2008 University of Chicago Folk Festival. For pictures and more details, see: http://dennis.sherman.googlepages.com/midwesthurdygurdyassociation

We again had a great time playing at the 2008 Boone County Conservation District Autumn Pioneer Festival. We were joined by our friends Amy Beth and Neal Brown. See photos here. For more information, see the BCCD web site. (Thanks to our friend Ray Beth for the photos of the band.) This was also Rob’s first performance after his double bypass surgery, just three and a half weeks earlier. WE ARE GLAD TO HAVE YOU BACK, ROB!!!

Highlights of 2007

We had a great time playing at the 2007 Boone County Conservation District Autumn Pioneer Festival. It was our first time there, and we found it to be a delightful event. We were joined by our buddy Wes, on bodhron. See photos here. For more information, see their web site.

The Civil War reenactment at the Lehmann Mansion in Lake Villa, Illinois, is one of Gary’s favorites, since it was the first one he attended and was the cause of his getting involved in reenacting. We had a great time in 2007 hosted, as usual, by our friends Shari and Barb at the Crescent City Benevolent Society site. See some pictures of this event. (Thanks to our friend Erik Whalen-Pedersen for the photos.)

The 2007 Wauconda, Illinois, Civil War reenactment had an interesting twist: the civilian encampment was organized as a Civil War era agricultural fair. This gave focus and excitement to the displays for visitors and participants alike. See photos here. Congratulations to the organizers for doing a great job! For more information, see their web site.

We were honored to be invited to play at the grand re-opening of the Isle a la Cache Museum in Romeoville, IL on June 8, 2007 - see photos here. It's a beautiful museum! For directions and more information, see their web site.

Highlights of 2006

Rob and I always have a great time playing at the farmers market in Woodstock, Illinois (see our photos at the bottom of the page). In August 2006, we especially enjoyed it because the weather was perfect, and we were joined by our friends Dawn, Mary, and Neal. See some pictures of this event. (Thanks to Erik Whalen-Pedersen for the photos.)

If you have a broadband Internet connection (or are very patient on a dial-up connection), the Northwest Herald did a nice video of the 2006 Marengo Civil War reenactment, including interviews with our host Shari and me, and showing the kids playing (with me playing hammered dulcimer as the background music - you might recognize Red Haired Boy and South Wind).

Publicity Kit

Here are links to some of our publicity material:
Bear Creek ad
Performer biographies

Thanks for coming out to see us!

Contact us by e-mail: Gary and Rob. -- This page is maintained by Gary Plazyk.