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Music Festival draws record crowd

SILVER – The 12th annual Porcupine Mountains Music Festival attracted a record number of nearly 2,000 people.

One hundred and fifty volunteers helped make the unique music festival go off without a hitch over the weekend at the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park Winter Sports Complex.

“This was our biggest crowd,” said Cheryl Sundberg, festival director. “Every year you see the same people and they bring people with them. It spreads out. It’s like a family reunion. The hard part is getting them here. Once you get them here, they’re coming back.”

The music festival featured 21 different regional and national acts, several playing more than one set.

“We pick people who do original music,” Sundberg said.

The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band closed the festival Friday night with a spirited performance.

“He really got the crowd going,” Sundberg said.

“We really strive for a varied lineup” she added. “We want a nice mix.”

Randy McAllister provided just that Sunday night when the band performed before the last act.

“It’s a Texas thing,” said Ken Waldrop, who was the emcee for the event.

McAllister drummed on the stage, he drummed on the frame for the stage’s cover, and he wowed the crowd when he walked up the hill among the attendees singing a cappella.

Then came the Scottie Miller Band to close out the show Sunday.

“Scottie’s very well known for his musicianship,” said Mary Bartlein, of Armadillo Sound, who’s worked for the festival since its inception in 2005. Bartlein said Scottie did a really great show, “There’s so much magic that happens.”

Papa Mali, Seth Walker, The Way Down Wanderers, Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellys, The Stray Birds, Laney Jones & the Spirits, The Whistle Stop Revue, Seth Bernard & May Erlewine, Tracy Grammer, Jack Klatt, Vox Vidorra, Doug Otto & Hurricane Harold, Fauxgrass, Conga Se Menne, Frogleg, John Craigie, Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank, and Yvonne & Paige Blake also performed during the three-day event.

In addition to these main stage acts, numerous musicians performed on the stage of the festival’s laid-back acoustic Busking Barn, where each day began with the Boe Harbison Tribute Jam.

“I don’t think it would be the same if you had just one stage,” Bartlein said. “This is an event I’d want to come to,” she added, if she wasn’t already working at the festival. “The feedback from all the artists is so positive. They’re in a fast-paced world, but to be in these surroundings is wonderful.”

Ryan Peterson, of Ontonagon, started the busking barn concept in 2006. His mother, Gail Peterson, has attended the event since then and was proud of her son’s achievements, humble as they were back then.

“He started out by the big trees over there,” she said, pointing to a grove of trees near the chalet.

“He was one of our first buskers,” Sundberg said, noting it took a few years to house the event in a nearby building.

No one went hungry at the event, to which many brought their own adult beverages.

A delicious variety of food and drink was available for purchase in the ski chalet. In addition to burgers, fries and onion rings, the menu included walleye and steak sandwiches and several wraps like the oriental wrap with crispy chicken on a big bed of fresh spinach and julienned vegetables.

Sundberg and other festival workers will wrap this year’s festival up and take a few days to decompress before meeting to talk about what worked and what didn’t as they begin planning next year’s event.

“We already have performers sending us stuff for next year,” Sundberg said.

For more information about the event or to donate toward next year’s festival, visit www.porkiesfestival.org or call (906) 231-1589.

“People can make tax-deductible donations to the cause,” Sundberg said.

The Friends of the Porkies Music Festival is supported by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Midwest, Porcupine Mountains Convention & Visitor Bureau, WUPY 101 FM, The Wolf 97.7 FM and local businesses and individuals.

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