Local Spins chats with Shagbark fest honcho Farmer John Crissman about taking 2025 off amid challenges facing festivals. On the flip side, our podcast features artists playing a host of August festivals.
Festival Founder: Farmer John Crissman on stage at the 2024 Shagbark Music & Arts Festival. (Photo/Anna Sink)
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This weekend traditionally would have marked the return of the much beloved, grass-roots music festival taking place on Shagbark Farm in Alaska, Mich., about 17 miles southeast of Grand Rapids.
The one-time Cowpie Music Festival – which transitioned a couple of years ago to the Shagbark Music & Arts Festival – oozed a distinct Mitten State flavor, packed with eclectic Michigan artists and a few national acts while drawing a devoted clan of attendees charmed by the unique site’s meadows, fields and stages.
But like many other music festivals stung by the COVID-19 pandemic and soaring production costs, farmer owner and event organizer “Farmer” John Crissman struggled through an anemic 2024 with sagging, disappointing ticket sales, blazing hot weather and stiff competition from other entertainment events.
So, Crissman was forced to place the festival on hiatus for 2025, joining other celebrations across Michigan and the country that have either folded up their tents or opted for a break as they re-evaluate their future.
Hopes, Dreams, Obstacles: Farmer John Crissman (Photo/Anna Sink)
“I joked for years that it takes a lot of money to make a little bit of money in the music business and it ain’t no joke anymore,” Crissman said bluntly.
“It’s gotten to the point where you’ve got to be really, really well-heeled and have the backers, because you can’t count on everything just coming together.
“Putting the festival together was great. It’s just having the money to do everything. And the advance ticket sales were meager at best, and along with the festival starting, it was also 95 degrees and 85 percent humidity and who wants to go out with that? The toughest part is just getting people to come.”
Adding to that challenge: competition from other events.
“There are so many other festivals that are coming on and there used to be a little reverence in the business where we’re not going to take that weekend – that’s Farmer John’s weekend or we’re not going to take that weekend because it’s Jake’s weekend. Suddenly, it’s just a no-holds-barred (atmosphere).”
And consider this: A recent report published in The Washington Post noted that statistics show Americans now spend 99 more minutes at home each day than they did in 2003. Overall, 30 percent of Americans now spend time communicating or socializing in person, a 27 percent decline over 2014, based on information in the American Time Use Survey.
That “homebody” effect coupled with rising ticket prices and a flood of in-home entertainment options has, in part, depressed movie attendance and led to canceled concert tours.
A GROWING ROSTER OF FESTIVALS ON THE BUBBLE?
In recent years, several regional festivals have called it quits, from northern Michigan favorites such as Hoxeyville Music Festival and Earthwork Harvest Gathering to Detroit’s MoPop, Grand Rapids’ Festival of the Arts and the Upper Peninsula’s Marquette Area Blues Festival.
This summer, major events such as Jackson County’s Faster Horses Festival and Gaylord’s Big Ticket Festival have “paused,” opting to skip 2025 as they, too, evaluate the future.
In addition to financial concerns, some organizers have cited difficulties in securing enough volunteers to handle the myriad tasks involved in setting up these labor-intensive events.
But Crissman said the main issue comes down to expenses and ticket sales: Higher production costs and prices for basic supplies have skyrocketed over the past few years.
“That sort of made me decide that maybe I just need to cool my jets and take a year off,” he said, adding that he won’t make a decision about bringing the festival back in 2026 until after this coming winter.
A Magical Place: Shagbark Farm (Photo/Anna Sink)
“Everybody has the magical place and I don’t want to take away from anybody else’s magical place, but mine’s pretty magical, too,” he pointed out.
“I don’t want it to just sit there and not be used for that (festival). … It’s my faith, it’s my hope, my dream and my perseverance. I just hope that by spreading good karma, that good karma will come back.”
Fortunately, many of those “magical places” continue to push on and create enticing environments for music lovers in 2025, and August still boasts the busiest month of the season with more than 20 music festivals taking place across Michigan. View the full list in Local Spins’ Michigan Music Festivals Guide 2025.
So this week’s special “Festival Edition” of Local Spins’ Michigan Music Showcase spotlights tracks from some of the artists performing at several of these upcoming festivals, including Grand Haven’s Walk the Beat, Ypsilanti’s Fun Fest, Grand Rapids’ Breakaway Music Festival, Bridgeton’s Fest of All, Battle Creek’s Caribbean Festival, Howard City’s Tie Dye Festival, Free Soil’s Forest Trail Music Festival and the Detroit Jazz Festival. Scroll down for links to info about some upcoming festivals the weekend of Aug. 14-17.
Listen to the radio show podcast below with music from Candid Antics, Dani Darling, The Smokin’ Dobroleles, Greensky Bluegrass & Billy Strings, Myron Elkins, Delato, Eric Engblade, Roots Vibrations, Common Molly and Nick Collins.
The Michigan Music Showcase airs at 11 a.m. Fridays and 5 p.m. Sundays on WYCE (88.1 FM) and online at wyce.org, and on Interlochen Public Radio at 7 p.m. Saturdays.
PODCAST: Local Spins Michigan Music Showcase (8/8/25)
FESTIVALS: AUG. 14-17
Aug. 15-16
Breakaway Music Festival
Belknap Park, Grand Rapids
https://www.breakawayfestival.com/festival/michigan-2025
Aug. 15-16
Fest of All
Bent Arrow Deer Ranch, Bridgeton
https://www.festofallmusicfest.com/
Aug. 16
Battle Creek Caribbean Festival
Base Bar & Grill, Battle Creek
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566441697727
Aug. 16-17
AfroFuture Detroit
Bedrock’s Douglass Site, Detroit
https://www.detroit.afrofuture.com/, https://wl.seetickets.us/event/AfroFuture-Detroit-2025/638711?afflky=AfroFutureDetroit
Copyright 2025, Spins on Music LLC
