After the one-day Jan. 13 festival was scrapped due to a snowstorm, the Wheatland Music Organization found a way to line up nine Michigan bands for a February soiree.
Closing Out the Main Stage in February: CrossBow (Photo/Anna Sink)
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You just can’t keep a good festival down.
Wiped out by a nasty snowstorm earlier this month, the Wheatland Music Organization’s day-long Winter Wheat has now been rescheduled for Feb. 18, a Sunday afternoon affair rolling out on two stages at The Intersection in Grand Rapids.
Nine Michigan bands in a slightly re-worked, rootsy lineup will perform starting at 1 p.m. with the event’s traditional open jam – hosted by singer-songwriter Nicholas James Thomasma – taking place inside the smaller Stache venue.
That will be followed by Lynn Thompson & The Moonshine Runners, Hearth & Hymn, Nicholas James Trio and Blue Water Ramblers.
The main showroom stage will kick off with The Round Creek String Band at 1:30 p.m., followed by Roosevelt Diggs, Josh Rose & The Founding Fathers, Full Cord Trio and CrossBow.
“The doors will open at 12:30 p.m. The event will run through 8 p.m., so people can get home in plenty of time if they have to work Monday,” noted Marilyn Hummel, one of the organizers of Winter Wheat.
Happy to Rev Up Winter Wheat: Lynn & The Moonshine Runners (Courtesy Photo)
A few changes change from the postponed Jan. 13 event: Cajun/Zydeco band K. Jones & The Benzie Playboys will not be performing. Hummel said some members of the popular northern Michigan band, which always ignites upbeat dancing at the event, will be out of state in Louisiana come February.
In addition, the festival was unable to reschedule original performers The Gasoline Gypsies, Megan Dooley Trio and Abigail Stauffer.
But one of the “new faces” added to the Winter Wheat mix for the rescheduled shows is thrilled for the opportunity to entertain fans with their “mountain music.”
“We are super excited to perform at the Winter Wheat festival,” said guitarist Lynn Thompson of Lynn & The Moonshine Runners, which will play The Stache stage. “I’ve always wanted to play … but it’s difficult to get an in. We are really looking forward to it.”
Thompson said fans can expect to hear “our best heavy-duty, mountain-music songs,” including tracks from a new album slated for release this spring.
“This CD is a little different from our last three – a little more diversity if you will,” Thompson said. “Being a songwriter all my life, I’ve never stayed in one vein.”
Winter Wheat is an annual fundraiser for the Wheatland Music Organization, which not only hosts the iconic Wheatland Music Festival outside Remus every September but also operates a variety of music education programs.
Tickets for Winter Wheat are $30 in advance, and are available online at sectionlive.com and online at Wheatland store. Admission is $35 at the door day of show. Previously purchased tickets for the Jan. 13 event will be honored for the new date.
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