Dunegrass Festival springs from one unique family

By Nadine Gilmer
Sun contributor
Empire is home to many colorful and interesting families, and a walk down Front Street reveals as much. But the Vanderberg family, the founders of the Dunegrass Festival, just might take the cake. Nestled between the town’s eclectic shops and popular library, their front yard has featured eye-popping sites through the years: a graffiti-painted school bus, intricate snow sculptures, even a teepee. The latest is a hole, which was once a driftwood sculpture, and will soon become a waterscape. The Vanderbergs have never failed to surprise their neighbors.
“We’re experimenters,” says Mike, who with his wife Carol has three daughters. “We try not to leave a big imprint, but bring new things to light.” And the Vanderbergs definitely pull that off. From alternative schools, to the Sleeping Bear Dunegrass & Blues Festival, they illuminate new acts for the entire community, and region. “We specialize in taking our talents and expanding, and creating whatever we want with our parents as our base,” says Alice, 21, the second daughter of three. Her 15-year-old sister, Ashley, takes it a step further. “Everybody in Leelanau County knows where I live,” boasts Ashley. Their house is “the safe house. It’s where everybody goes when they need somewhere to stay.”

Over the years the Vanderbergs have harbored all sorts of people in their “safe house” and treated them like a family. This house is the center of activity for “the pod,” as Mike puts it. Amelia, 24, the oldest daughter, explains that the idea of the pod “springs from dolphins’ family groups. It’s called a pod because once a dolphin is part of a pod it never leaves.”
Mike and Carol Vanderberg, who were high school sweethearts, moved to Empire in 1980 from Bay City to run the town drugstore that Mike bought. “We’ve known each other for 40 years,” explains Carol. More recently, Mike has worked at Deering’s Market, and he now runs a production and recording studio out of the Blue Heron across from the town hall. The Vanderbergs have owned the Blue Heron since 1987 and have used it for many interesting endeavors. It was an alternative school for a while, an art gallery, a shop, and now a studio.
But by far, the Vanderberg’s most popular venture has been the Dunegrass Festival. “Back in ’92 we started thinking about having a festival,” remembers Mike, “Back then there wasn’t really a place for local artists.” After pondering the idea, he called a few of his musical friends together, and their brainstorming and initiative gave birth a year later to the annual, popular music festival that draws thousands of revelers to Empire the first weekend of August. “I didn’t think anybody would come,” admits Carol. “I wanted nothing to do with it, and the first day it happened I looked over the hill and saw 800-1,000 people.” Since that day 15 years ago she and the three girls have played a huge part in the festival. “(We were) licking stamps for hours,” Alice recalls about the days before more households had computers. “If I had a box of memories, Dunegrass would be a BIG part of it,” says Ashley.
What Mike calls “a good idea that turned out well,” has ballooned in size since the early ‘90s. “The first year was less than 1,000 people, but last year total attendance was 6,000, and this year we expect more.” Dunegrass has grown from a one-day festival to a four-day event, and it keeps expanding. “We try to bring new things every year,” says Mike. For instance, the past three festivals have all featured beautiful sand sculptures that last for months, built by artists from Florida. Check out the festival’s website, www.dunegrassfestival.com, for a list of bands, and events, between August 2-5.
The Vanderbergs have Grassroots Productions to thank for the expansion of Dunegrass and opening it up to more national acts over the last couple years. According to Carol, “(Grassroots Productions) does the booking and advertising, and we take care of everything in Empire.” Putting the festival together now requires five people working fulltime and 200 to 300 volunteers every year.
“Through Dunegrass I feel like we’ve been able to bring together a crowd of people for a good cause,” says Mike. “The universe is a much better place for having Dunegrass (despite that) we’ve never made money on it, but that’s not its purpose.” Carol boils the festival down to “a party for 2,000 or so of our closest friends.”
Every year the Vanderbergs seem to touch more and more people, from their immediate family, to the pod at their home, to the Empire community, to thousands of Dunegrass revelers. As Mike says every summer as the festival nears, “this year is going to be huge.”
“Almost too much for Empire to handle,” Ashley responds. And yet, it always does.