Question of the Week: What’s your favorite Michigan music festival?
Local Spins’ Question of the Week (Feb. 10, 2022)
What is your favorite Michigan music festival and why?
This week’s winner: Email subscriber Robert Hausler, who responded to the Question of the Week and was entered into a drawing for a Local Spins gift pack. Sign up for email updates and the weekly newsletter here: https://localspins.com/subscribe-local-spins-mailing-list/
THE READER RESPONSES:
Christine Matthews – My favorite festival is the Nor-east’r Festival in Mio, Michigan. It is an intimate experience, with all of the elements of the big festivals: great music, workshops for everyone, a variety of art and craft items, great festival food, and happy, friendly, people. Family friendly, where you can feel safe with your kids running around. I love that they give away so many guitars to kids for free. My second favorite is Wheatland – I grew up going to this festival, starting with the very first one in 1974. My parents were among the group that organized it. I have only missed two since!
Daniel W Dawe – Electric Forest Festival. Such an economy booster for the area.
Mary Schumaker – Hoxeyville, great music, food and property.
Ken McCart – I have to say Sterlingfest (Sterling Heights) hands down. I love the outdoors stage and the beautiful scenery of Dodge Park where we grew up playing at our family reunions, The area for the attendees is plentiful and roomy and there’s always plenty of parking, Always the best local bands, And just really good people all the way around the festival, Thanks for your question I just love the world that’s involved in music.
Chris McGorey – Without a doubt, Nor-East’r Music & Art Festival is my favorite Michigan festival. I’ve attended about three times, and am happy that they’ve resumed this year, I’ll be there in June.
Helen and Rich Emerson – Beaver Island Music Festival. The remoteness and the whole community involvement is awesome. It’s a pretty big production that the Burtons and the many many volunteers pull of every year!
Mamie Graziano – Earthwork Harvest Festival, because the people, both on and off the stage, are full of loving energy. It’s a community, like Bliss used to be.
Robert Hausler – I love the Nor-East’r Music & Art Festival. I have been there since its inception. They bring in great musical acts from all over. The people are fantastic.
Lee Chase – The Woodtick Festival in the western UP is well run, casual and always has a delightful UP goofiness to it. A close second is Cowpie.
Sarah Pohutsly – Nor-East’r Music & Art Festival
Virginia Detwiler – Beaver Island Music Festival 💜 because it’s on Beaver Island!
Buffy Carr – Nor-east’r Music And Art Festival, because of its focus on education (college scholarship program, Guitars For Kids program, as well as workshops at the event), and because it is such a family friendly event on a nice green, shady venue with multiple stages & buildings too. No. 2 pick is Wheatland’s traditional weekend event, because it is of reasonable size & focused on education, as well as very family friendly.
John Harvey – Tamarack Music Festival because it’s the best tiny fest in the mitten.
Naomi Braun – My favorite Michigan Music Festival is Nor-east’r Music & Arts Festival in Mio Michigan held the second week of June annually. This is the most family-oriented festival I have attended and love the fact that they also give away more than 1 dozen guitars and ukulele’s to kids every year and 2 or more scholarships to student in the Northeastern part of northern Michigan. With a two-year absence due to COVID we can hardly wait to attend this coming June. A great line-up in store. I also love the wooded setting which is a perfect location for this festival.
Dottie Jackson – My favorite music festival that I’ve had the pleasure of attending for four years now is the Nor-East’r Music & Art Festival in Mio, a Northern Michigan city. We’ve loved that we were able to camp on the grounds enabling us to enjoy music any time of day. The venue is a lovely open fairground and the staff is always welcoming, friendly, & helpful. The musicians brought in for the weekend are fabulous and each play a few times over the weekend. The event is tastefully planned & never disappoints.
Michael Packer – The Saugatuck Music Festival (Past) – MC5, Procol Harum, Muddy Waters. John Lee Hooker, Amboy Dukes, Rotary Connection, Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Bob Seger, Frost, The Stooges, Big Mama Thornton
Ed Landefeld – Nor-East’r Music & Art Festival. Local, relaxed and entertaining.
Stephen Aldrich – Detroit Jazz Festival would be my pick. I’ll pass on anything that books the same, slow, hippie crap that plays here repeatedly. Great if you missed the 70’s, otherwise.
Genna Giacobassi – Hands down, Nor-East’r Music & Art Festival. Craig Carrick and crew are fantastic. A great vibe, intimate, connecting and in every way, superb.
Steve Sly – Don’t see the Kalamazoo Blues Festival on the list. Hope it is coming back this year.
Julie Lord – My favorite music festival by far is the Nor Eastr Music Festival in Mio, Michigan. It is a smaller venue but packed with artists from all over. It is well organized and has just the right amount of people that attend. It has local vendors that sell their crafts and they have a giveaway for many of the children, they receive guitars and encouragement to start their own music.
Eric Janetsky – My favorite festival is the Nor-East’r Music and Arts Festival held annually in Mio, MI. This is such a great festival for families and people of all ages to attend. There locally, regionally and nationally acclaimed artists performing as well as work shops hosted by the musicians themselves. Camping is also a part of the experience and is included in the price of your ticket.
Lisa Jacob – My picks would be: 1. Nor-east’r Music & Art Festival. I may be a little biased because I’m on the board but I have only been involved for the last couple of years. I didn’t even know this great event existed until I attended by chance and have been hooked ever since. 2. Nor-east’r Music & Art Festival. My second choice as well because it’s a hidden gem that needs and deserves to be recognized by a great public platform such as Local Spins.
Christine Matthews – My favorite festival is the Nor-east’r Festival in Mio, Michigan. It is an intimate experience, with all of the elements of the big festivals: great music, workshops for everyone, a variety of art and craft items, great festival food, and happy, friendly, people. Family friendly, where you can feel safe with your kids running around. I love that they give away so many guitars to kids for free. My second favorite is Wheatland – I grew up going to this festival, starting with the very first one in 1974. My parents were among the group that organized it. I have only missed two since!
Jen Janetsky – Nor-East’r fest in Mio, MI is my favorite fest in Michigan. Much smaller than Wheatland, but packing talent on three stages all weekend, Nor-East’r sounds like heaven and feels like home. We’ve gone for years now. Our kids have grown up going. We can’t wait to get back there after two years lost due to COVID. And the line-up for 2022 is AMAZING!
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