March 19, 2024

Northern Exposure

How early festivals paved the way for today’s nonstop party calendar
Sept. 14, 2014

Northern Michigan loves a party: food, music, and hobbies are all fair game here.

But decades before the packed movie theaters, snowy beer tents and bayside concerts, other fests blazed the trails.

GOIN TO THE FAIR

Northern Michigan’s original festival – the Northwest Michigan Fair – just celebrated its 106th birthday.

Originally begun to promote agriculture and horticulture in the Grand Traverse region, the fair has alternately been at the Civic Center and what is now Thirlby Field, but in 1975 it moved to its current location on Blair Townhall Rd.

Today the fair wrestles with the rate of growth with the expansion of the 4H and Northwest Michigan Livestock Council, said Scott Gray, president of the fair’s board of directors.

"Most people do not know that we are becoming a year round venue," Gray said.

Used for horse shows, graduations, weddings, and concerts, the fair is also in demand for storage, BMX track, fire training, and more, he said.

"We are also looking for new events for our facility in the off season," said Gray.

CHERRIES JUBILEE

The National Cherry Festival is the king of festival tourism in Northern Michigan, whose residents began officially blessing its blossoms in 1925.

The "Blessing of the Blossoms Festival" launched on May 22, 1925 when Traverse City businesses partnered with the local cherry farmers to promote the growing industry.

In 1926, Hawkins Bakery in Traverse City baked a huge cherry pie and presented it to President Calvin Coolidge. The 3-ft.-wide pie was stuffed with more than 5,000 cherries and had to be loaded into a car through the windshield.

The 1929 festival was so successful that General Chairman Larry Larsen and his committee decided to make its next fest a three-day affair. President Herbert Hoover attended the opening day ceremonies.

In 1931 the Michigan state legislature passed a resolution making the Cherry Festival a national celebration.

Keeping with the traditions, today the festival continues to provide parades, the Prince and Princess program, orchard tours, pie eating and pit spitting. In the past 30 years they added air shows, concerts and more free family fun activities.

Trevor Tkach, the festival’s executive director, says that finding a good balance is his challenge year to year.

"Maintaining tradition while staying relevant and giving people more of what they want," he said. "[We also try to find] ways to provide more free and affordable fun for kids and families."

TIME FOR WINE

In 1985, when there were only four wineries on the Leelanau Peninsula, Cris Telgard and some friends had a conversation that changed Leland’s June vibe for good.

"The Leland Wine and Food Festival grew out of conversations between Bruce Simpson [of Good Harbor Vineyard], Larry Mawby, my wife Kathy, and myself," Telgard said.

Others in the original planning included managers of the Leland Lodge at the time and the winemaker from Leelanau Cellars, he said.

Telgard, whose family opened The Bluebird Restaurant & Bar in 1927, had gone to the Monterey Wine Festival a few years previously and was "impressed."

It was a starting point to what would become Leland’s signature event.

The group started meeting regularly, deciding that the second Saturday in June was the quietest weekend, and also a time when "decent weather was likely," Telgard said.

"Our goal was to expose Michigan wine to consumers and to people in the restaurant and retail wine business, most of whom were pretty ignorant about Michigan’s young, but developing, fine wine industry," said Telgard, who recently handed the festival’s reins to Kate Vilter, owner of the Riverside Inn. "I guess we were a little ahead of our time with the focus on locally sourced food and wine, something that’s huge now."

BAYSIDE FUN IN PETOSKEY

Not content to stay idle, Petoskey launched its own festival in 2002 to attract tourists and rally the locals.

"The location was easy: What better focal point than our beautiful waterfront?" said Marcie Wolf, co-coordinator of Petoskey’s Festival on the Bay.

The entertainment tent on Friday night is always the largest draw, Wolf said.

"Just before sunset, the Petoskey Steel Drum Band performs before a huge crowd, and this year showed record numbers in attendance for this performance," she said.

Next year they look forward to more music by local musicians.

"Verizon sponsored a new Promenade Music Tent this year, which featured some great very talented musicians throughout the weekend," Wolf said. "This proved to be a popular hot spot for festival-goers!"

BEAVER ISLAND CELEBRATES

Beaver Island’s Music Festival had humble beginnings 12 years ago, but it hasn’t slowed down the stream of visitors to its summertime party.

"[It started] on a trailer in our back yard with a group of friends and a band called Simplicity," said Carol Burton, founder of Beaver Island Music Festival. "The people who attended raved so much about the unique location and what a great time they had off the grid in the middle of the woods, that we decided to do another event."

This year’s fest included 15 acts, vendors, and family camping, with the overarching goal to create opportunities for artists in a natural setting celebrating music, art, and renewable energy, Burton said.

"Our main goal is to bring attention to the beautiful world that we live in by uniting all of these talents and people," she wrote on her website.

Allison Beers is the owner of Events North, a meeting and event agency, and a frequent writer for meeting and event industry publications.

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