The annual music festival staged in the heart of an island in northern Lake Michigan oozed lots of charm and lots of intriguing music. The recap with photos at Local Spins.
Island Dance: Community, kindness, music and fun at Beaver Island Music Fest. (Photo/Kevin Alan Lamb)
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In Beaver Island lingo, all of those “gone boodling” last weekend had plenty of riveting musical entertainment to accompany their refreshments.
More than two decades in, the Beaver Island Music Festival strutted its unique Lake Michigan-fueled charm for several days of camaraderie and live music churned out by bands from across the country and the region.
Attendee and photographer Kevin Alan Lamb of This is a Good Sound provided Local Spins with a recap of another magical week of music:
“Beaver island is disconnected from the rest of the world. It’s like this ‘Truman Show’ place where everyone waves when they drive by. It’s a beautiful little time capsule in the middle of Lake Michigan,” says Stephanie Williams, drummer of the Kansas City roots rock band Katy Guillen & The Drive, which performed at the festival.
Largely inhabited by the Irish, with roughly 600 year-round-residents, Beaver Island is the largest and only inhabited island in an eight-island Great Lakes archipelago. With a unique and complicated history involving holy tablets, a Morman theocracy, and the assassination of a king (King James Strang), time slows down on Beaver Island where her natural beauty knows few rivals.
Each year on the same weekend, a couple thousand people travel by ferry and puddle-jumping-planes to indulge in the enchanted wonders of Beaver Island and its family-friendly music festival.
Produced by executive director Carol Burton and her family on their property in the heart of Lake Michigan, BIMF was founded in 2003 by a small group of people who had a vision. Their vision was to bring talented musicians and artists to make “Music in the Woods” to the island.
‘Spreading Love and Energy’: BIMF (Photo/Kevin Alan Lamb)
“I’m proud of my family, my children Nathan, Cameron, Emily, Elsie and Olga. Living out here has kept us close,” says Carol Burton. “That’s what the island can do is keep you grounded to see what’s important like family, love, and kindness.
“As far as the music festival, it’s our way of spreading that love and energy to help show that we can all be part of this together. Life’s too short to argue and think about what could have been. I’ve always tried to pay attention to what could be.”
Brady Lott of Flint’s alt-pop/rock Heat Above said the festival experience on the island “brought us closer as a band, but also as friends. I think there’s something deeply inspiring and spiritual about this island, and I would love to come back.
“I was moved by the sense of community that I felt at the music festival in particular, but also all around the island as people would recognize us and compliment us, and it felt very genuine. I haven’t had an interaction here that felt forced or uncomfortable.”
Noted Adrian Krygowski of rogue-folk music duo and band Adrian and Meredith: “The life of a touring musician is a grind. It is canceled flights, late hotel check-outs by cleaning crews, and hauling gear from location A to B. Weekends like Beaver Island where we can enjoy life like the other attendees: going swimming in Lake Michigan, eating ice cream at Daddy Franks, and shopping on Main Street are what keep us going.”
Throughout the weekend attendees and artists enjoyed live music during the day in town at venues like Wild Strawberry Cafe, Shamrock, Whisky Point, Print Shop Museum, Breakfast Club, and Daddy Franks where a couple hundred people gathered on Saturday, and partook in what was likely their first clogging workshop amidst a performance by Adrian and Meredith.
“There’s a sense of community and generosity here that’s unmatched,” said Miki P of Katy Guillen & The Drive. “If the rest of the world lived like the folks on Beaver Island, it’d be a pretty perfect place.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Beaver Island Music Festival 2024
Photos by Kevin Alan Lamb
