The Veltway is the live music, food and entertainment district in the Berwyn and Oak Park community.  More specifically the Veltway is the epicenter for many of the areas musicians, culinary artists, Graphic designers and photographers.  The area features nightly music entertainment in the three iconic music venues along the strip; FitzGerald’s Night Club, The Friendly Tap, and Wire. These venues host local and touring acts from around the country.  This strip has exciting and emerging dining enclaves including the award winning and critically acclaimed,  Autre Monde Cafe which boasts a great patio and delicious Mediterranean fare, or Big Guys Sausage Stand, and neighborhood classics such as “Chicago’s Best” featured, Gina’s Italian Ice, as well as classic Italian cuisine at Capri Ristorante, and Salerno’s just east of Harlem in Oak Park.  Additionally, Oak Park’s Kinslahger Brewing Company  just opened  its doors in the spring of 2015,  it is a very welcomed addition to our community.  This area is a unique and vibrant entertainment corridor for the area and the surrounding communities.

“Beale Street in Berwyn”

The Veltway Corporation’s objective is to establish an entertainment corridor that rivals the notoriety of “Beale Street” in Memphis, or Frenchman Street in New Orleans, and to establish a community-wide arts and music festival designed to attract artists and patrons from across the country.  To facilitate the growth and public cognizance of this corridor, The Veltway Corporation was founded in 2014.  The Veltway Corporation is a non-for-profit corporation established with specific objectives of broadening the recognization and public support of the artists and businesses along Roosevelt Road, The Veltway Corporation produces and co-supports many community events such as, The Green Mile Pub Crawl, Make Music on The Veltway, and The annual Zombie Walk and Pub Crawl. The Veltway Corporation works in close alliance with The Berwyn Development Corporation, Why Berwyn, Berwyn Arts and Music, and The Oak Park School of Rock. Our initiatives are attained through volunteer efforts and sponsorship fees.

“Community purpose and Support”

Recognizing that music and the arts are the central impetus for our organization and our re-emerging Roosevelt Road Community, The Veltway Corporation formed The Veltway Music Collective.  The Veltway Music Collective serves to build on our local artists community that provides the backbone of our corridor.  The music collective hosts a showcase series and other special events throughout the year to link new and emerging artists with our local music venues in order to establish a confluence of individual artists and businesses through promotional events, and online marketing.  The Veltway Music Collective Series receives its funding from donations and admission fees for Showcase events.  We cumulate funding to cover operations costs for our programming and to provide instruments and scholarships for low-income students, who could not otherwise afford music instruction.  The Veltway Music Collective maintains an ongoing instrument drive where the public can donate used instruments to be refurbished and donated to aspiring students.

The Veltway Corporation is a registered 501c3 not for profit company.  Our initiatives are dependent on volunteer efforts, sponsorships, and charitable donations.  Please support The Veltway Corporation and our Veltway Music Collective initiatives with a tax-deductible gift! Using this form you can donate using your credit card or PayPal account.  We process all  payments securely through PayPal. You may select a one-time or recurring payment, or you may also choose to donate in someone’s honor.