The unique festival and band competition returns to Grand Haven’s East Side on Saturday, pumping up more than two dozen locations. The schedule and details at Local Spins.
Heating Up Grand Haven Again: Walk the Beat returns to the East Side of the lakeshore city on Saturday. (Photo/Jeff Brinn)
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For the past decade, Grand Haven’s unique, summertime Walk the Beat festival and band competition has pumped up the lakeshore city with afternoon performances by dozens of regional artists at a variety of oft-unusual locations.
But for the first time this year, the city has approved Walk the Beat’s request to close off the the Beechtree Street corridor to vehicle traffic, thus further encouraging participation from festivalgoers who will stroll from venue to venue to catch live music by 56 different acts.
“I can’t wait to see how the street closure positively affects the event,” said Becky Newman, president of the Spread the Music Foundation (dba Walk the Beat) and director of the Walk the Beat fest.
“It will be much better from a safety standpoint, but also, visually: It will look really cool, looking down the middle of the street, and seeing bands preforming, people having fun instead of traffic. It should also help people get back and forth from either side of the street to hear all the music. This will be a marquee event for the East Side of Grand Haven.”
Returning Act: Asamu Johnson and his band will play Sporty’s Bar. (Photo/Jeff Brinn)
That marquee event has attendees traveling between venues while text-voting for their favorite performers. The winning act and vote-getter will win 40 hours of recording time at Grand Haven’s Third Coast Recording Co. as well as a paid $1,000 performance at next year’s Coast Guard Festival parade. Concertgoers, meanwhile, get a chance to win a host of door prizes along the way.
As always, the event has attracted well-known and established Michigan acts such as Asamu Johnson & The Associates of the Blues, Daves at 7, Dunegrass, Resurrection Blues Band, Feeding Grizzlies and Spike the Media as well as a variety of up-and-coming bands unfurling rock, folk, jazz, hip hop, pop, Americana, soul, bluegrass and more.
“I personally like the huge variety of musical acts — many genres, different experience levels, first-time performers and old favorites,” Newman said, adding that the event supports a good cause.
“The funds we raise go toward our Repeat the Beat program that gives instruments, music lessons and music scholarships to kids in need. It’s one of the few programs that focuses on individuals versus school programs or bands.”
Festivalgoers can also browse an artisan market at Bolt Park from 1 to 5 p.m.
Saturday’s event — with performances taking place outside everything from ice cream shops to car-repair outlets — also boasts several after-shows starting once the festival is completed at 5 p.m.: Joe Danicek at Clover Bar, Dank Hill at Unicorn Tavern, Josh Dunigan Drum Circle at Paradigm Wellness and Funky Brewster at Burzurk Brewing.
More info online at https://www.walkthebeat.org/grand-haven-2.
GRAND HAVEN WALK THE BEAT: THE 2024 SCHEDULE
