MARQUETTE – The “big bear” of Upper Peninsula festivals returns for its twelfth year after an extended hibernation due to the Ore Dock Brewing Company’s expansion kicking off in 2025. Ore Dock Brewing Company’s Festival of the Angry Bear is a spirited street festival that has become an annual spring tradition in downtown Marquette.

Since its founding in 2014, the annual festival has grown into a weekend long celebration as thousands of enthusiastic (and often fur-clad) celebrators gather to “wake the bear” and shed their winter fur in downtown Marquette.

“We’re so excited to be waking the Bear this year,” says curated events manager, Amanda Courchaine. “With our expansion project in its final stages in Spring of 2025, we needed to focus on that. Now that things are underway in that realm, we feel ready and excited to execute the Festival of the Angry Bear and get this party going.”

There is still a lot of planning to execute before any big announcements are made, but the team at the Ore Dock Brewing Company will be updating as they can. So be sure to mark your calendars, make your travel plans and get ready to wake the bear on Saturday, April 11.