“It’s a three-day celebration of culture, tradition and community,” said Lora Helou, communications manager for the MSU Museum and festival associate director. “What we really hope to do is have a central showcase for traditional arts. … It’s really a showcase for arts and culture.”

The festival — put on with direction from the MSU Museum — featured a variety of musical styles from 17 musical groups and artists to amuse and entertain many generations of concertgoers. With a diverse blend of music ­— ranging from blues and bluegrass to Cajun and Celtic — the festival certainly provided a hefty buffet of music germane to many sets of interests.

The event featured four stages — three for music and one for dancing — along with a variety of food vendors and a Green Arts marketplace for vendors to showcase their environmentally friendly products. With a wide variety of music events in the area during the summer, Helou said the Great Lakes Folk Festival offers a hearty blend of folk music to satisfy the appetite of fans of the genre and many others, as well.

“There’s just not many events around the country that have this eclectic mix,” she said. “I think that’s what resonates with people when they come here. They’re getting exposure to something they haven’t seen before, and they really, really like that.”
 
Fantastic Folk
As musical acts rotated from stage to stage throughout the weekend, fans were treated to an assortment of musical styles from many different countries and cultures.

Taking the stage several times throughout the weekend was Chinese pipa player Gao Hong. With experience performing throughout Europe and her native China, Hong, a musical performer, composer and resident of Northfield, Minn., gave the crowd a taste of her traditional Chinese music, along with stylings in many types of jazz.

As her second time playing at the Great Lakes Folk Festival — Hong said she enjoys playing and telling her stories to an engaged area crowd.

“It’s harder to describe, but this type of music always tells a story,” Hong said.

For this year’s edition of the festival, Helou said the organizers tried to bring back artists who had played the show to turn back the clock of the festival’s heritage.

“The musicians we have here — it’s not pop music, it’s not ‘American Idol’-type music where there’s going to be household names,” Helou said. “But we really strive to go deep into a lot of different cultures and bring those artists here.”
 
Bucket Brigade
To make the event possible, it takes an army of close to 400 volunteers canvassing the grounds to make sure business runs smoothly.

Although attendance to the event always has been free, a certain group of volunteers dubbed the Bucket Brigade hangs around for attendees who wish to offer donations. As artists perform on stage, the Bucket Brigade walks around and waits for people to approach them with donations, which are critical for putting on the festival each year.

Kathi Ruble, a Haslett resident and volunteer at the festival, said she enjoys the atmosphere, which makes it easier to walk around and collect donations. Despite not sharing an interest in some of the music on display, Ruble said she attends each year and relishes the opportunity to be a part of it.

“I absolutely love it,” Ruble said. “Even though there’s music I’m not really fond of, it’s nice to see the big groups of people.”
 
Fan Frenzy
For Boyd Addlesperger and his family, traveling to the Great Lakes Folk Festival is a family tradition.

Addlesperger, a resident of Lexington, Ohio, said he, along with his wife and daughter, have made the annual five-hour trek to East Lansing for more than 11 years to take in the Great Lakes Folk Festival, and, before that, the National Folk Festival. Although he and his family share different tastes in music, Addlesperger said it’s an enjoyable staple his family has crafted during the past decade.

“It’s entertainment you’re not going to hear anywhere else near where we live,” Addlesperger said. “We live in a small town without a university, so it’s kind of nice to come up and see young people and good restaurants and fine music.”

Others, such as East Lansing resident Travis Honeycutt, attended the festival to take in the music and be close to friends.

As he took in the festival with several of his friends, Honeycutt said the festival encourages a great deal of creativity, and he wanted to be a part of that.

“It feels like home, and music brings people together,” Honeycutt said. “True music is kind of like a samurai’s version of a soul, like the sword is their soul. When you really play, it’s exactly who you are when you’re playing — it’s really nice.”