If you can make the mental leap and take the gardener's perspective when it comes to the cowpie, then the pie is becomes a vital building block. That means the Cowpie Music Festival is truly the most vital live music event in our state, as it seeks to highlight not only what we have, but nurture -- through careful planning on the organizer’s part -- how we cultivate our area’s talent. We even are seeing their program including more national acts, too, at a ticket price of about one dollar a band!
Situated on160 acres of rolling farmland in Caledonia and just minutes from downtown Grand Rapids, the Cowpie Music Festival is a program of the nonprofit Michigan Heritage Music Association. This group contributes to high school music programs, award scholarships, and works with numerous other charities, thanks to the success of this annual event.
While the festival was founded on blues, it has expanded over the years to include Michigan acts performing in many genres -- country, folk, bluegrass, rock, Americana, jam bands, West African drum, rockabilly, zydeco, surf, ska, Celtic, jump swing, big band jazz, roots-rock, rock ‘n roll and reggae, to name a few. The bonus of all this expansion is less pigeon-holed programming, and a chance to share with others the diverse array of music from our state.
“This year, weekend pass holders will have a chance to see 43 bands in 17 genres with 226 musicians on two stages over two days,” says Cowpie director Dave Deavers, “which gives attendees plenty of choices and encourages inclusivity more so than exclusivity.”
Deavers also notes that one will be able to hear all the acts through a new addition this year.
“We are also pumping the sound through the [mainspeakers] of the alternate stages during changeovers,” says Deavers. “What that means is that if you park your butt or blanket in front of one stage, you will hear 40 minutes of every band on that stage, and also 20 minutes of every act on the other stage! We're talkin' non-stop tunage all day and night!”
This festival has camping as well, and is presented as family-friendly -- unusual for most festivals these days -- with plenty of activities for the little ones.
Finally, they really put their money where their mouth is when it comes to advocating artist's right, as well as offer first class treatment of their artists. Amenities include air-conditioned backstage tour buses for dressing rooms, catered meals and unlimited craft beers and beverages. They even have a special reserved camping area with its own security so that the guest artists can intermingle at The Musician's Village, where the bands can network and jam as they collaborate in a near-perfect, Eden-like setting.
This event is also supported by three Michigan micro-brews who all have pledged their support of LGBT equality rights in Holland, Mich. So for the first time, I can publically say to drink up your Founders, Bells and New Holland (the most recent supporter) without the guilt. Treating people and artists fairly are values we can all get behind, and it's what make Grand Rapids so wonderful these days with so much talent seeking to be a part of our music scene.
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