The Countdown continues to Hiawatha Traditional Music Fest

The 35th Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival, featuring music,  dance, crafts, food, and fun for the whole family, will take place Friday, July 19th through Sunday, the 21st.  This year’s anniversary also includes everyone’s favorite babysitter, a swimming area with a lifeguard, on the newly reconstructed lake at Tourist Park in Marquette.

The festival’s main stage roster includes eleven accomplished local,
regional, and national performers. Bonsior Catin, a band of women from
Lafayette, Louisiana, plays an energetic, passionate, heart-felt mix of
Cajun styles.  Solas is Seamus Egan’s dynamic, acoustic Irish music group;
and Craver, Hicks, Watson & Newberry from Raleigh, North Carolina, will be
playing old time mountain songs.  Other important acts on the Hiawatha stage
include song writers John Gorka and Antje Duvecot; the Costabella Cloggers;
bluesman Charlie Parr, and the Royal Garden Trio, a swing ensemble from Ann
Arbor.  Jonathan Rundman, an Ishpeming native, plays in Kiavama, a Finnish
music duo, and the Door Cats are a local band from Marquette.

The 35th Hiawatha Festival begins with a Get Acquainted Dance on
Friday night at 7:00 with sets by Craver, Hicks, Watson & Newberry; the Royal Garden Trio; and Bonsoir Catin. A full schedule of activities begins in earnest on Saturday morning at 10:00 AM and continues through Sunday
until 10:00 PM. Workshops each day will include a mix of local and main stage performers. There will also be a Children’s Area with music and crafts, special activities for teens on Saturday night, and a variety of food vendors as well. Another festival tradition is the Artists in the Round
art and craft show and sale, coordinated by the Oasis Gallery in Marquette. This year, there is also a Youth Artists Corner where young people, ages 7 – 17, will sell their handiwork.

To learn more about the festival or to order tickets on-line, visit the Hiawatha Music Co-op website at www.hiawathamusic.org
<http://www.hiawathamusic.org/> . Weekend tickets, camping registration, volunteer sign-up forms, and information about Hiawatha Music Co-op memberships are also available through the Music Co-op office at 129 W. Baraga Suite B, located just west of the Marquette Food
Co-op and the U.P Children’s Museum. Pre-Festival ticket hours are noon to 6
p.m., Monday through Thursday, through July 16th.  Or you can call the Music Co-op at 906-226-8575 or e-mail  <mailto:info@hiawathamusic.org>
info@hiawathamusic.org. Advance ticket sales will  end at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 16th.