Last weekend’s cozy music festival in Free Soil left attendees raving about the regional bands and solo artists, as well as the atmosphere of the third-year event. The recap at Local Spins.
Campfire Sing-Alongs: A scene from Forest Trail Music Festival. (Photo/Sean Miller)
The post-festival Facebook comments said it all when it comes to last weekend’s Forest Trail Music Festival held in Free Soil:
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• “Absolutely an amazing weekend. The music was on point. The people were so kind,” raved Bryan Cramer.
• Gary Skory noted that the Cameron family who host the festival two hours north of Grand Rapids work “350 days a year” preparing for an event that “just doesn’t get any better” with “strong camaraderie, perfect weather, awesome and talented music. … All in all, it was a grand weekend and a memorable festival. Life is good.”
• “So many talented musicians, great people, new friends,” wrote Marc Soles.
Amid 20 regional acts pumping up the bill over three days, Local Spins writer (and musician) Sean Miller culled some highlights from the third-year festival:
Saturday Night Headliner: The Accidentals (Photo/Sean Miller)
• Grand Rapids’ Nicholas James Thomasma kicking things off with a solo set on Friday;
• West Michigan’s The Wild Honey Collective bringing up the tempo with traditional and original folk and Americana tunes;
• All the way from Canada, The Steel City Rovers enchanted the crowd with various traditional Celtic and bluegrass tunes on Friday night;
• Comstock Park’s Beaver Xing led nightowls in songs around the campfire late Friday night;
• Folk-rock band Cold Leather Seats launched Saturday morning with a set of covers and originals;
• Chloe Kimes and her band brought a full set of bluegrass and country music straight from Nashville on Saturday, with Sav Buist of The Accidentals even joining her band for the last two songs of the set.
• Jack Senff & the Rolling Hill Band warmed up the stage for Traverse City-bred alt-folk band The Accidentals with an eclectic Americana and singer-songwriter set list full of originals on Saturday evening. And The Accidentals lived up to their crowd favorite status when they closed things out on Saturday night.
And as an added special touch, Miller noted that the festival honors each artist, performer and band with their own trail marker sign throughout the festival grounds.
PHOTO GALLERY: Forest Trail Music Festival
Photos by Sean Miller and Jonathon Alfano
