Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts: Recalling the notable performances, people, food and art

With the popular downtown Festival pulling the plug after 55 years, Local Spins asked its readers to recall their favorite highlights from the iconic Grand Rapids event.

 

For 55 years, Grand Rapids’ Festival of the Arts created lasting memories for performers, fans and volunteers alike.

So when Festival announced earlier this month that it had ceased operations — citing fundraising and volunteer recruiting issues, among other things — many longtime Festival devotees responded with sadness, disappointment and anecdotes about their special Festival experiences.

Local Spins’ “Question of the Week” recently asked readers for their favorite festival memories, and it’s clear that downtown Grand Rapids in early June will never quite be the same. (Revisit past Local Spins coverage of Festival online here.)

Check out some of their responses below. Have your own Festival milestones to treasure? Scroll down to add them to the COMMENTS section.

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FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS MEMORIES

Arthur Veneklase – Cabbage Crik on Calder Stage, noon on Sunday every year.

Robin Connell – 2016. Walking over to the bleachers in front of the Calder stage to hear Northview HS jazz band. I could hear a tenor sax solo and thought “Wow! What a beautiful tone and phrasing like Dexter Gordon”. I finally got close enough to see our son was the sax player! I was so surprised. He was one of 2 bassists in the band. He had been studying sax for a few months but I had no idea he had been playing the sax solos when he wasn’t playing bass On a tune. I loved seeing my students playing on the various stages, too.

Stephen Aldrich – Infections closing Calder Stage, ’81, set interrupted by the real Boxcar Willie jumping on stage, then also being invaded by that guy who used to faux- nail himself to crusifixes, and hang over the S-curve at rush hour. I solved his problem with a handy mic stand. Because of the disruptions, we went over the time limit, and the crowd was very active, as it was prolly the 1st time many were seeing Punk Rock, so the power was cut. We have this all on tape, and I would love to release it someday.

Don Stover – 1988. I was running sound for Pro Audio at the Outer Fringe Tent. I was getting through just fine changing over the entertainment, but then, two youngsters came up behind me while I was mixing a band and they asked if they could assist with the change overs. I said yes. Gave them both an idea what was to happen from time to time. They were both incredible help as at the time I did not have any other individuals to assist. (A game, sorta, for all sound engineers, was to come as close as possible to being on time at the end of the night, quite a challenge, but if you worked Festival, you could do anything). Their names were Randy DeBoer and Kevin Hoekstra, they did become very seasoned professional stagehands with IATSE Local # 26, touring with the Broadway shows all over the United States. It was during this time that Ralston Bowles gave out Kazoo’s to everyone at his performance to all play the theme from 2001, A Space Odyssey. It was something to hear all of the Kazoo’s playing. I also won the People’s Choice Award for the picture of a massive lightning bolt I took while living in Denver Colorado. I became an IATSE Local #26 Stagehand in 1989 and worked a great career for 27 years until receiving a shoulder injury in 2015. Who knows what other careers were created by Festival of the Arts participation? Not Proofed, Carry On..

John Zysk – I met this wonderful girl named Rebecca last year after I was feeling down from running into my old girlfriend and Rebecca turned me on to Amos Lee and Chris Stapelton and, now I’m happily married to a wonderful lady who loves them both also. Thank you, Rebecca. When you find someone who has similar tastes in music and loves to explore the new, it’s golden

Chris Kramer – Honestly, the music and the dancing take second to all the food. So many cultures represented.

Karen Dunnam – Pulling 18 hours of shifts as a stage emcee. I got paired with a professional broadcasters (hi Shelley Irwin! hi Bill Steffen!) and lesser luminaries, all fun to work with. A 2016 tale from a stage emcee: A terrifically fun moment from the weekend. We’re supposed to chat with the performers before they start setting up. We have a printed hand-out, but there’s always more to know and share. For instance, the group Slugspoon, a brother & sister rock band, had a third person on drums. I had all three people’s first names. As soon as they got their stuff onto the stage, the drummer comes over and says, “no one ever announces the drummer’s name. I’m Brian Morgan.” Okay then…I read off the two sibs’ names, Ray and Julia, and then gave a huge build-up. “And… on percussion… BRIAN MORGAN!!!” He stood up and threw his hands in the air in a victory pose, then returned to setting up the drum set. And I went to on-mic babbling, describing how the PA pros need to check every line and every mic, we can hear this through the stage monitors, and in a moment, they will begin checking the mics of…”our drummer… BRIAN MORGAN!!!” I then had the crowd try saying “BRI-AN! BRI-AN!” Riffed on how he’s been the principal percussionist in a number of notable ensembles around town, very well-known, yadda yadda. (He was eating this up.) And of course, as soon as the checking and tweaking was completed, I launched into the final. “Here they are. Please give it up for Slugspoon with their drummer, BRIAN MORGAN!”

James R. Murphy Jr. – I had a great time playing there in the ’80s. The Soul Cousins closed out the night on a Saturday night at the area that is now Rosa Parks Circle. I don’t think it was that, then. Phil Jones was playing with us, and someone took a picture that hung inside Rainbow Music for years. That was my favorite, but I played there in’82, and I had to assemble a band to do it. That was my first real band with drums. I started playing in the singer/songwriter era, and since that’s what I was, I mostly played solo and always played acoustic. That changed because of Festival.

Jim Bayes – Everyone in my family has played Festival, individually and together. It was a fantastic experience.

Samuel Reed – Make way for Art Prize.

John Sinkevics – The Honeytones played Festival 15 years in a row in all sorts of weather and relished the opportunity to play in front of big crowds and new fans. Lots of memories and funny anecdotes. One of my favorites is playing on the City Stage in 1995 in the pouring rain the last year before our drummer Stevie Ray Ellis moved out of state. He was protected by the overhang, but guitarist Charley Honey and me (keyboards) were getting drenched. The fans who didn’t flee popped open umbrellas or were huddled under a small tent. At one point, I looked down and saw the big electrical outlet where my keys were plugged sitting amidst a fast-growing puddle and thinking, ‘That’s probably not a good thing.’ When we wrapped our set, I picked up my trusty Yamaha DX7 keyboard, tipped it sidewise and torrents of water just poured out of it. (Amazingly, it still worked.) It was wonderful — like a Nine Inch Nails-in-a-festival-downpour moment.

Martha Porter – Watching my sister dance. 1983.

Scott Dittenber – PotatoeBabies

Rev Charles Preston Smith (of PotatoeBabies)– In 2024, PotatoeBabies were the very last performance in the 55-year history of Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts. My childhood, teen and young adult memories are filled with the excitement of the annual event. Like most Festival visitors, never knowing what goes on behind the scenes was part of the joy and mystique of the event. Over the years, learning what went into making Festival such a special event for everyone was eye opening if not overwhelming.

Tom Morefield – For me it was early on like 25 years ago, worked one of the food booths for our church. What a blast! but hard work to keep things humming along.

Giles Baltevitch – By far, my favorite memory was sitting in the dark watching short films and documentaries.

Dane Dana – Eating elephant ears and looking at art.

RH Bear Berends – Seeing Jay Round year after year (25+ I bet) with his big old smile behind the tech board at the Outer Fringe/Acoustic Stage. You knew as a performer that even with the quick changeover, Brother Round had you covered. Bravo Jay, nice legacy my friend.

Michael Grant Leavell – Cabbage Crik

Bobby Hurd – Me and Bill Steffen. Trisha Johnson, Stacey Weinberg, Rae Bunce, Mark T. Dykstra, Linda Diaz, Eva Tejeda, Dane Dana, Steve Katerberg, Thelma York Johnson, Howard Parks, 13 On Your Side, WOOD TV8, FOX 17, Star 105.7, Maranda, Mary Rademacher, Rochelle and the Spoilers, Aziza Poggi-Ortiz and Aria Flame, Jonathan Beaver and Stacy Noonan of Beaver Xing, Rev Charles Preston Smith, and The PotatoeBabies, Leonardus Bootius Maximus and Mary Kay, Nicole Brimmy Spade, Jeff and Wendy Winston, and Amanda Le’Anne Brunzell.

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