The festival taking place about two hours north of Grand Rapids will feature sets by The Accidentals, Cold Tone Harvest, Chloe Kimes Band, Nicholas James Thomasma and more. Get details at Local Spins.
Forest Trail Fans: Many will be back for the third-year festival this weekend. (Photo/Noah Cameron)
A music festival that started in the midst of the COVID pandemic is set to return Friday (Aug. 26) for its third year, boasting a lineup jam-packed with talent from across Michigan, including The Accidentals and Cold Tone Harvest.
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
The Forest Trail Music Festival, set on the Cameron Family’s property in Freesoil, started in 2020 with about 100 people and has since grown to more than triple that attendance.
This year, they expect much of the same and welcome the growth.
“In 2020 obviously, the COVID-19 pandemic was happening and there were no other festivals going on. They all shut down and we all grew up going to festivals like Hoxeyville and Wheatland and so we figured we would have our own party, call it a music festival and now here we are,” said one of the festival’s founders and masterminds Noah Cameron.
Save this schedule on your smartphone.
“We had a great turnout that first year, so we decided to keep moving forward with it all. Once the social distancing guidelines eased up we had quite a few more people come out.”
Aside from this year’s festival, the Cameron family also hosted a summer music series for the first time. The series kicked off in early June with Ontario-based Celtic-music group Steel City Rovers and just culminated with Ann Arbor’s Erin Zindle & The Ragbirds.
The festival features a smorgasbord of Michigan-born and -bred acts including Third Coast Swing, Chloe Kimes Band, Nicholas James Thomasma, Eric Engblade, The Smokin’ Dobroleles, Cole Hansen, Beaver Xing, the aforementioned Cold Tone Harvest and The Accidentals and others.
“We’ve really tried integrating more into the Michigan music scene,” said Cameron.
“We reached out to a lot of people, but actually had a lot of area talent reach out to us as well and I think this year’s lineup is really solid.”
Cameron, a drummer, knows what it takes to be a performing and working musician. He believes the state’s music scene and the passionate people behind it have really made the Forest Trail Music Festival thrive.
“I think a lot of our growth and success comes down to the passionate people behind it,” he stated.
Cole Hansen (Photo/Jill Szyszko)
“Our original intention with this was really to fill a void during the pandemic, but also to fulfill a dream my brother and I had.
“It has been happenstance that it’s worked out but all of the people behind it are what make it successful.”
The upcoming festival kicks off Friday and runs through Sunday. Those who purchase an early entry add-on can enter the festival site Thursday.
General admission tickets are $75 for the weekend; single-day passes are $30. Get tickets and info online here.
Copyright 2022, Spins on Music LLC
