Saturday’s annual gathering along the river in Grand Rapids boasts performances by regional acts, including Molly, Evolucion, Seth Bernard, Fauxgrass, Dede & the Dream and more. See the full schedule.
Returning to the River: The Grand River Water Festival takes place Saturday at Riverside Park. (Photo/Local Spins)
Call it a celebration for conservation: The Grand River Water Festival once again aims to keep the educational and diverse entertainment flowing all day Saturday with appearances by DeDe & the Dream, Fauxgrass, Evolucion, Peter “Madcat” Ruth, Seth Bernard, Molly, Hawks & Owls and more.
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Returning to Grand Rapids’ Riverside Park, 2001 Monroe Ave. NW, the ninth annual festival will bring together music, environmental conservation themed speakers, informational displays, a kids’ tent and a beer garden presented by Creston Brewery.
The free, family-friendly event drew about 3,000 attendees in 2017, and Jason Wheeler, one of the festival organizers, hopes that number will be even more impressive this year.
The festival focuses on celebrating organizations that have strive to optimize clean water across Michigan, as well as educating people on how they can get involved with clean water efforts.
Wheeler recommends that attendees should come “for the music and to be a part of celebrating and learning about a great cause.”
One of this year’s goals was to increase the cultural diversity represented at the festival. Organizers found that one of the best ways to do that was by including an even wider range of performers representing different genres. For 2018, that includes folk, country, bluegrass, Cajun, blues and world beat music, all performed by Michigan musicians.
Hawks & Owls (Photo/Kendra Kamp)
Wheeler’s progressive bluegrass band, Fauxgrass, will play the festival for the fifth time. And chief organizer Bruce Ling’s Hawks & Owls string band has performed at every one of the events, which are equal parts celebratory and educational.
(Tune in to Local Spins on WYCE at 11 a.m. Friday on 88.1 FM when Ling will be a special in-studio guest.)
Sponsors include Orion Construction, Creston Brewery, CW Family Foundation, LGROW and The Wege Foundation, with Local Spins serving as a media sponsor. More information available online at grandriverwaterfestival.org.
VIDEOS OF SOME FEATURED FESTIVAL PERFORMERS
Copyright 2018, Spins on Music LLC
