Wheatland Music Festival

Wheatland Music Festival
Genre Traditional arts and music
Date(s) Second weekend in September
Frequency Annual
Location(s) Remus, Michigan, United States
Inaugurated 1974
Website

Wheatlandmusic.org

Facebook page

The Wheatland Music Festival is a music and arts festival organized by the Wheatland Music Organization, a non-profit organization specializing in the preservation and presentation of traditional arts and music.[1] Community outreach services include programming for Senior facilities and schools across mid-Michigan, year-round instrument lessons, scholarship programs, Jamborees, Traditional Dances, and Wheatscouts - a free program educating children through music, dance, storytelling, crafts and nature. Each year, the organization holds its annual Traditional Arts Weekend the weekend of Memorial Day, and its annual festival during the second weekend in September in the unincorporated community of Remus in the state of Michigan, in the United States.

[2] The first Wheatland Music Festival was held August 24, 1974.

History

In the early seventies a small group of Mt. Pleasant Food Co-Op (now the GreenTree Cooperative Grocery) members and local musicians were staging free concerts and benefits around the Big Rapids and Mt. Pleasant, MI areas. Common sites were city parks and public halls. Proceeds enabled the food co-op to pay rent and utilities. Meanwhile, founders of the Wheatland Music Organization were organizing about two conerts a month during the summer.

The First Wheatland Bluegrass Festival was held as a benefit for the Mt. Pleasant Food Co-Op, August 24, 1974. It was a one-day event held on the Rhode family farm, located four miles east of Remus on M-20. June Rhodes' utility room became festival headquarters, her backyard was the backstage area, and her sister-in-law's yard across the road was the parking lot. The flatbed trailers were in place along with the first-aid tent, a sound system, and a hotdog stand.

Several hundred people attended the First Wheatland Festival. Perhaps the single most important attendee was the local postmaster. Before the first festival was even over he had already offered the use of his farm for the next year. The one improvement he could offer was a hayfield instead of corn stubble and dirt. All in all he knew just what the festival idea needed.

Who was that postmaster? And why would he want hundreds of strangers sleeping across his 160-acre backyard? What would his wife have to say about this? Mark and Gladys Wernette were contemplating taking a big step towards an uncertain future. But like their parents, Mecosta County's Alsatian pioneers, Mark and Gladys were committed to what they thought was their civic responsibility and offered to lend a hand.

By 1975 Wheatland was born. Elections were held and the board of directors was established. Many of the first directors are still active in the organization. This can be attributed to their faith in each other, their commitment to community service, and passion for preserving and presenting traditional music and arts.[3]

Timeline

1970s

[4] 1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980s

1980

1981

1982

1983 Land purchase: WMO puts $100 down on Gunnison Property

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990s

1990

1991

1992

1998

2000s

2001

"2014" whoo-hoo!! 40th. Anniversary Wheatland music festival. "Carry it on" dance project. To hopefully another 40 years.

Performers By Year

2010s

[5] 2013

2012

2011

2010

2000s

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1990s

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

1994

1993

1992

1991

1990

1980s

1989

1988

1987

1986

1985

1984

1983

1982

1981

1980

1970's

1979

1978

1977

1976

1975

1974

References

  1. ↑ www.wheatlandmusic.org http://www.wheatlandmusic.org/about-us/our-mission/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ www.wheatlandmusic.org http://www.wheatlandmusic.org/about-us/wheatlands-history/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ↑ http://www.wheatlandmusic.org/
  4. ↑ www.wheatlandmusic.org http://www.wheatlandmusic.org/wheatland-timeline/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ↑ www.wheatlandmusic.org http://www.wheatlandmusic.org/past-performers/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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