From Aug. 26 to 28, you can find music lovers flocking to Michigan’s largest stateå park for the Porcupine Mountain Music Festival. Over the last 15 years a collective of volunteers, organizers and music lovers have collaborated to create the Porcupine Mountains Music Festival. Much like the rest of the world, this festival has been on hold for the past two years over pandemic-related concerns.

Since 2005, the festival has achieved great success by drawing world-class acts to a winter sports complex on the south shore of Lake Superior. After making history as the first music festival staged in a Michigan state park in 2005, the gathering has continued to be celebrated and grow in attendance over the last 15 iterations.

The festival features a main stage, Peace Hill, which is outdoors. The other performance spaces offer unique opportunities for performers and attendees to connect. The interior performance space located in the chalet, and a busking barn with daily jam sessions offer chances for Q&A sessions with performers and workshops.

The music is wide-ranging, far-reaching and eclectic as ever this year.

This year’s Friday headliners JigJam, a quintet of Irish and Scottish multi-instrumentalists with a shared connection to Irish traditional music and a blend of Americana and bluegrass styles take the stage at 8:30 p.m. they will be holding a Q&A session in the chalet at 6 p.m. before they perform. In past years they’ve made their rounds of the Irish-American music circuit having headlined at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado and the Milwaukee Irish Fest as well as having performed around Ireland and the United Kingdom.

The festival also features Slambovian Circus of Dreams who return for their eighth appearance at the festival, International Bluegrass Music Association’s 2022 Entertainer of the Year nominee, The Po Ramblin Boys and Lilli Lewis, a classically trained opera singer who has been given the title of Folk Rock Diva and received glowing reviews from NPR and The New York Times.

Because the festival is within the boundaries of the state park a Michigan recreational passport is necessary for entry. Two-day passes are $95 and available at the gate or online. A one-day pass is available at the gate and will cost $50.

The festival takes place at the Winter Sports Complex of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park near Silver City and Ontonagon at 36606 Carp Lake Tower Road, Ontonagon, MI 49953. The Porcupine Mountain Music Festival is supported by the Friends of the Porkies, a nonprofit organization and the Michigan Arts and Culture council among others. More information is available at porkiesfestival.org.