When Graham Parsons, lead singer of Kalamazoo band The Go Rounds, addressed the crowd before his set Saturday, it was from a stage at the farm where he grew up.

His parents were in the audience. And he had even eaten a wild strawberry off the gravesite where he buried his dogs from childhood.

“You’ve just got to know that this is everything here,” he told the crowd.

Over the past dozen years, many of those in the crowd who did not grow up there have come to forge their own connection with the place. The 12th annual Farm Block Fest and Reunion, held at the Parsons’ farm in Allouez Township, drew people in for three days of music, arts and workshops.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Lalo Cura, top, and Ohmme, left, were two of numerous acts that drew crowds Saturday on the middle day of the 12th annual Farm Block Fest and Reunion. The festival, held at the Parsons family farm in Allouez Township, benefits the Dan Schmitt Gift of Music and Education Fund.

The festival is a fundraiser for the Parsons family’s non-profit, the Dan Schmitt Gift of Music and Education Fund. It is dedicated to Dan Schmitt, a musician and friend of Graham’s who was killed in a car accident.

“He was a close part of our family and friend of our family, so we decided to start doing this,” said Graham’s father, John Parsons.

The non-profit provides free after-school music lessons for children at the Calumet Arts Center. Twenty-two students took part this year; the youngest student, Matthew Labovsky, was scheduled to play at the festival Sunday morning.

It’s providing help to children in other places as well, including Kalamazoo and Delta Junction, Alaska.

The aid is not confined to music. Students also receive outdoor education classes in areas such as making apple cider and maple syrup.

“This is such a beautiful farm, and we’ve been here for 35 years, and we have learned some things,” said John Parsons, who also taught in the Calumet school system. “We make our own cider, we make our own maple syrup, we have our own garden where we grow all of our food, and we like to pass that on to kids and teach them about it.”

Crowds cheered and danced through a range of styles Saturday night, from Ohmme’s precise harmonies and guitar devastation to Heavy Color’s span from tranquil saxophone to pulsing electronics.

The supportive fans were a draw for musicians, many making a return trip. They also enjoyed getting to swim in Lake Superior.

“The sound system’s great,” said Sarah Cohen, who played Saturday with The Antivillains. “They put a lot of money into the system and the quality of the bands … the crew’s respectful, everyone works really hard, and nobody’s drunk at the wheel.”

After the Go Rounds set, they stuck around to lead a rotating cast of festival acts through covers: several from the Talking Heads, then winding through songs from Peter Gabriel or Fleetwood Mac.

Singer Molly wowed the crowd with a potent performance of Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman,” after which the band came offstage and the sound system came on. Even at 1:45 a.m., the crowd would not budge.

“We can do one more, but we’ve got to make it short,” Graham Parsons said. “And you’ve got to make a ton of noise, right now.”

After one more song, with Molly leading the crowd in a rousing call and response, the crowd reluctantly trickled out.

The Nina Simone cover was “out of this world,” said Josh Tripp, of Bloomington, Indiana. He found out about the festival while running sound for festival act Kansas Bible Company at their show on Monday. He had run into someone he played music with several years ago. And after Kansas Bible Company’s horn attack had maxed out his system, Tripp was eager to hear them again.

Though they remained his favorite of the acts, Tripp was impressed by all of Farm Block.

“There’s a lot of festivals, but anything on a farm is going to be awesome,” he said. “Super-special. And everyone loves the family so much here.”