Regional and national stars have been booked to perform along the shores of Lake Leelanau in northern Michigan. See the full summer schedule.
Fountain Point Player: Mark “Huggy Bear” Lavengood performs during the concert series on June 28. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
The location is pure northern Michigan and the concert lineup has plenty of Michigan charm, too.
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The 2018 Fountain Point Summer Concert Series is chock full of familiar Michigan favorites, from the season-opening show starring The Accidentals to return appearances by The Ragbirds, Appleseed Collective and Abigail Stauffer.
The Setting: Concertgoers at Fountain Point in 2017.
But there are new musical faces on the docket this summer, too, along with the same scenic setting that distinguishes Fountain Point Resort along Lake Leelanau north of Traverse City.
“The comment I got most after the 2017 summer was, ‘You have to do this again,’ which is so good to hear,” said Maria Ulrich, concert
coordinator for Fountain Point.
“I am so glad that so many people enjoyed watching great shows in an amazing place. Someone described concerts there to me as the perfect staycation. … It feels like enough of a trip to put some distance between you and your daily grind. When you get there, you can kind of just let everything else in your life fade away because the place is just magical.”
Some might say that applies to the music lineup, too, with acts performing for fans seated on the lawn along the lake.
The 2018 Schedule
This year’s 17-concert lineup – with shows taking place on Thursdays and Sundays – launches on June 17 with Traverse City alt-folk heroes The Accidentals, who also kicked off the 2017 series.
“The Accidentals like to use Fountain Point as kind of a home base. They always bring 110 percent to everything they do, so you know it will be a great show,” said Ulrich, who toured with The Accidentals in 2016 as their sound technician and created “a very special bond” with band members Savannah Buist, Katie Larson and Michael Dause.
But this year’s Fountain Point series also features a wide range of first-time performers, including Saginaw bayou-folk band The Barbarossa Brothers, Grand Rapids indie-soul and experimental rock band Earth Radio, Michigan native and Nashville-based pop singer-songwriter I Am James, and award-winning Canadian fiddle-and-step-dancing siblings The Fitzgeralds.
“The Fitzgeralds are a group of siblings from Canada. Playing the fiddle is difficult. And step-dancing is difficult,” said Ulrich. “And when you can do them together and make it look so fluid and natural, there are going to be dents in the lawn from where people have to pick up their jaw.”
The 2018 bill also features popular Earthwork Music singer-songwriter May Erlewine, Traverse City pop-funk outfit Benjaman James and Grand Rapids bluegrass favorite Mark Lavengood.
The Fitzgeralds
Season passes for the series cost $95; household passes for two adults and any children under 15 are $190. Tickets for individual concerts are $10-$25 for adults; admission for children 15 and younger is $5. Tickets are available online via mynorthtickets.com or by calling 1-800-836-0717. Details online here.
For a concert series, Ulrich called it “the most beautiful setting anyone could wish for” and “what ‘up north’ has always been about. Even all of us who live ‘up north’ need to get ‘up north’ sometimes, and that is what the Fountain Point summer concert series is.”
The Accidentals, as usual, have a busy summer ahead, getting it all started next week in Grand Rapids for the Local Spins Summer Kickoff taking place at 5 p.m. Sunday, May 27, outside HopCat-Grand Rapids following the Beer Me! HopCat 5K. Get details about that online here.
Copyright 2018, Spins on Music LLC
