Dunegrass revelers prepare to party again

Empire folk festival brings in nationally known acts
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
Just when it looked like Empire’s eclectic annual music festival might brown and die like an undernourished field during a scorching August, the Dunegrass Festival suddenly has a new lease on life. Stephen Volas and Jeremiah Sequoia (great name!) of Grassroots Productions in nearby Beulah have teamed up with the Vanderberg family in Empire, which founded the festival 12 years ago, to bring us this year’s two-day extravaganza on Friday and Saturday, August 5 and 6.
“I talked with Mike about taking this from a regional festival that it always has been and turning it into a major headliner,” Volas recalls. “We’d stick with local artists, but also attract Midwestern hits. Dunegrass had never made money in the past, and the financial burden on the community had grown too great, but the expectations this year are for a sell-out.”

So kick off your office shoes, fill up your coolers and picnic baskets, and drive over to the Village of Empire for two days of great tunes, dancing in the field, or just napping on a blanket. Tickets cost $50 for a two-day camping pass, $45 if you just want to party until dusk, or $25 for a one-day pass. Children under 12 get in free. Buy your tickets locally at Deering’s Market in Empire, Cedar City Market in Cedar, Kejara’s Bridge in Lake Leelanau, East Shore Market in Beulah or the Cabbage Shed in Elberta. Or find them online at www.jambasetickets.com.
Dunegrass follows a host of other rockin’ music festivals in northern Michigan, including Bliss Fest in Cross Village, Spirit of the Woods in Brethren and Hiawatha in Marquette.
But the acts Volas, Sequoia and Vanderberg have put together this year are out of this world. You’ll hear the hot local bands, The New Third Coast, heartfelt songs inspired by the beauty all around us; Claudia Schmidt, the self-described “creative noisemaker; and K. Jones & the Benzie Playboys, northern Michigan-style Cajun music (no, really!), Friday, followed on Saturday by Cabin Fever (dance an Irish jig) and the Neptune Quartet, which would make Frank Zappa and Hank Williams smile.
From outside of town Grassroots Productions is bringing in Leadfoot, a bluegrass band from Chicago; the Rastafarian boys Rootstand; a southern rock group named Mr. Blotto (Friday); followed by incredible songwriters from Grand Rapids named Potato Moon; the Two High String Band; Delta blues master Chris Smither; Hot Tuna (the remnants of Jefferson Airplane); and to send everyone home happy, Vince Welnick, who played with the Grateful Dead in the early 1990’s and hopes to reincarnate Jerry Garcia’s spirit on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Sound like too much to handle? Treat yourself to a bratwurst or a chocolate-covered cheesecake at one of the vendor stands. Or jump into a game of hacky-sack with the Deadheads, and then trek down to Empire’s public beach for a jump in Lake Michigan’s holy waters. But whatever you do, show up and get ready for a good time in the Dunegrass.