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KEEP ON ROCKIN’ IN THE FREE WORLD

Four decades later, Hiawatha continues bringing people together

Festival goers shop around the merchandise booths at the Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival in Marquette Friday night. Booths at this year’s festival include jewelry, ukuleles, apparel and local food from vendors such as Copper Crust Co., Irontown Pasties and more. (Journal photo by Trinity Carey)

MARQUETTE — When a group of friends shared an idea to bring traditional music to the Upper Peninsula after being inspired by the Wheatland Music Festival, little did they know an event thousands look forward to every year would be the result.

Forty years later, the Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival has made its mark on people of all walks of life as they gather the third weekend in July for a family-oriented, music-filled event to camp, sing, play music, dance and be a part of a unique community that was started by a group of dedicated individuals with a strong passion for all of the above.

The festival is put on by the Hiawatha Music Co-op, which was formed amidst several “big sauna parties in Deerton,” longtime members have stated. After brainstorming for months, the co-op held its first two-day festival at Munising’s Bayshore Park in 1978. From there, the festival became a full-weekend event and moved to the Champion horse pulling grounds until, in 1984, the co-op collaborated with the city of Marquette to use its Tourist Park campground, which is where Hiawatha has been held since.

To prepare for its 40th anniversary, a committee consisting of several longtime members was created to come up with special ways to celebrate the big year. To show appreciation for its partnership with Northern Michigan University, the Hiawatha Music Co-op planted 40 trees in NMU’s Outdoor Learning Area in May to extend a thank you to NMU for being longtime friends of the festival. The event was a collaboration between the co-op, NMU’s Sustainability Advisory Council, student leaders associated with GTU and EcoReps, and the Marquette County Conservation District.

To acknowledge the city’s role, a special picnic table was donated to Tourist Park Tuesday with a plaque from Hiawatha. There has also been an archive tent set up all weekend, showcasing poster and T-shirt designs from over the years, vintage postcards, special beer steins and more.

Tom Dummer, a 40th anniversary committee member and festival co-founder, said Pat Rousseau of Munising first proposed the idea of having a traditional music festival in the area.

“Pat Rousseau and a bunch of other people had gone to the Wheatland Music Festival and were very inspired and felt that the U.P. could use something like that,” he said. “It was just this ragtag group of people and we decided to call ourselves the Hiawatha Music Festival Co-Op. We never thought this would have the longevity (that it has) but now us kids that first went to Hiawatha, have kids that are going to Hiawatha that (also) have kids who are going.

“We were with some friends last night and our son was talking about how important this community is to him and you know, as a parent, to connect with a teenager and to hear him talk about how our friends are also his friends … it was just a really magical moment hearing him talk about this community that he’s closer to than his extended family because he’s spent more time around them.”

Founding member and first co-op president Shelley Youngman said Hiawatha is one of the things in her life she feels most proud of, even calling Marquette the “home of her soul.”

Shelley and her husband, Frank Youngman, of Jive at Five — a band that has played the festival for years — haven’t missed a Hiawatha since its initiation and consider the festival a reunion of sorts.

One of Frank’s favorite memories over the years, he said, was when the northern lights appeared from the sky while he was playing with his then-band, The Lost World String Band.

“We were playing in Champion one year, closing out the night and we were playing late because in the early days, no one was really keeping track of time, so we played until about 1 a.m. and the northern lights came out,” he said. “So we shut down all the lights on the stage and we kept playing as the northern lights were behind us. At some point, we just turned and put our backs to the audience and kept playing, just so we could watch the northern lights with them.”

About 30 years ago, Frank started the popular children’s parade, which takes place every Sunday during the festival.

“In the beginning, I used to spend much of the weekend in the kids area helping them make instruments. I’d bring supplies, bottle caps, wood,” he said. “My whole belief has always been, for a festival to survive, you’ve got to have a good kids area because if the kids aren’t happy, nobody’s happy. They are the future of this because it becomes a part of their life story and then they come back and volunteer. Many of those kids that have been in the parade are professional musicians. Josh Davis (of Steppin’ In It) is one of them.”

The Youngmans both agree that Tourist Park is the perfect setting for the festival.

“It’s a big part of what makes it so nice for families. You’ve got the playground, it’s very civil, has showers, a lake,” Shelley said. “There’s always been an emphasis on family and children and I think that’s really grown over the years.”

Katrina Keough, current president of the co-op, is the child of a founding member and has attended Hiawatha her entire life.

“Coming from a festival perspective, Hiawatha has really embraced the family dynamic,” Keough said. “As we all grew up (her and her siblings), there’s been a multigenerational attendance year after year. There’s something for everybody. If you want to enjoy a bonfire and drumming circle, you can camp in Area D, or there’s designated areas that are a little more quiet. Kids can run around and ride their bikes and feel safe, and all the while, everybody’s getting a very immersive experience.

“It’s always been kind of our outlet,” she added. “It’s a great place for people who may not play often because everyone is so welcoming. No one is judged or criticized. Throughout the day, there are pockets of live music at different campsites and people can move and merge between them. It’s all very open and people want you to jump in or someone will also join and help you if you want it.”

As appearances by The Bone Tones, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Foghorn Stringband, The Steel Wheels, Steppin’ In It, Black Jake and the Carnies, and more, have had attendees boogying over the course of the weekend, hundreds, maybe even thousands, of stories have also been shared — some pertaining to people present and others about those who have passed away.

“Chuck Ganzert, who was a professor at NMU, first came up (to Hiawatha) to play probably in the early-to-mid ’80s and was really taken by the festival,” Dummer said. “Years later, he had a job opportunity and thought this is a cool community … and as soon as he moved up, he became involved with Hiawatha and got a lot of students involved. He was kind of the driving force behind the Hiawatha Music Committee (which chooses the bands for each festival) for probably 15-plus years and passed away unexpectedly two years ago. We’ve lost some good ones and we’ve gained some good ones.”

The thousands of hours that the co-op, a nonprofit organization that is mostly volunteer operated, has put into Hiawatha each year, has not gone unnoticed.

Today, state Rep. Sara Cambensy and state Sen. Tom Casperson plan to attend the festival to help celebrate Hiawatha’s 40-year anniversary and offer a certificate of state recognition to organizers.

Jaymie Depew can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206. Her email address is jdepew@miningjournal.net.

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