Buses by the Beach’s Bus Benefit moves to Smiling Acres for 2024 musical revelry

The Memorial Day weekend festival will unfurl outside Trufant with regional stars such as Desmond Jones, Roosevelt Diggs, Nicholas James & The Bandwagon and more.

 

The popularity of Buses by the Beach’s annual Bus Benefit and music festival has led organizers to move the Memorial Day weekend event 70 miles inland to the more spacious Smiling Acres outside Trufant.

Staged for a dozen years at Camp Blodgett in West Olive along Lake Michigan, this weekend’s 2024 celebration and fundraiser will instead unfold with performances by more than a dozen regional acts at Smiling Acres, which hosts several summer festivals including Smiling Acres Music Festival in late June.

“Buses By the Beach has always focused on our goal which is raising funds to support The Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors. Our previous location required enormous effort to create enough usable camping space to accommodate our growing community,” said Beth Smith, of the Buses by the Beach board of directors.

“We had reached capacity and made the decision to seek out a better-suited venue to welcome more attendees. Smiling Acres is a beautiful location that allows us the ability for future growth to continue to support The Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors.”

Indeed, after a $40,000 donation last year, Buses by the Beach’s annual benefits over the years have raised nearly $300,000 for the organization that’s dedicated to empowering people affected by a burn injury.

Of course, the festival is also about the camaraderie of Volkswagen bus owners and music lovers, with three days of performances by regional favorites.

This year’s festival boasts sets by Desmond Jones, Roosevelt Diggs, Nicholas James & The Bandwagon, Pocket Watch, Silver Creek Revival, Hannah Rose Graves Band, Grace Theisen, Short Panic, Round Creek String Band and The Incantations. Plus, the Woods Stage will host acoustic performances by Loren Johnson, The Rusty Shovels, BNSN and a “mystery” headliner.

“If I had to describe Buses By the Beach in one word, I would say ‘community,’ so the highlight or rather the great anticipation, is getting back together and reconnecting with our family,” Smith said.

“It is our joy and passion to be together and experience the love and music and community that we have built over the last 21 years. It is an exceptional event where you come away feeling like you have just grown your chosen family by hundreds.”

Smith conceded that “people are resistant to change,” so moving from a familiar site to a new location has its challenges, but she’s confident members and festival attendees will adjust.

“Buses By the Beach hasn’t always been in West Olive so our Volks have felt changes in the past and rolled with those changes the way Bus Volks always do, with support, love and excitement,” she said. “When your family outgrows its space you gotta move to a new place.”

Smith noted that board members “spent a lot of time doing our due diligence to find the venue that would not only meet our capacity needs but also be a venue whose owners understood and embraced our vision and goals. We found that with Nate and Rhonda Drews at Smiling Acres.”

Weekend tickets with camping are $140 and available online here. Day passes are $65; non-VW bus passes are $30.

View Local Spins’ past coverage of Bus Benefits online here.

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