Great Lakes Folk Festival organizers estimated that between 100,000 and 120,000 people ventured into downtown East Lansing for the three-day event in its first year. And city officials say that’s good news.
That number is close to the almost 120,000 festivalgoers who ventured into the city for the National Folk Festival when it rounded out its three-year stay last year.
“I think it’s very comparable,” said Becky Lesmez, a volunteer for both festivals. “Basically, this year it seems there’s fewer artisans and it’s more concentrated on music and that’s a good thing.”
The festival is organized by the MSU Museum and East Lansing officials. When the city was home to the National Folk Festival it brought musicians from around the nation to perform while ethnic foods were sold from carts and artisans displayed their work.
Although the national event has since moved on to Bangor, Maine, East Lansing festival organizers are trying to replicate the success it brought to the city. Organizers spent about $900,000 to achieve some of the success of the National Folk Festival, which cost $1.1 million last year.
Jose Lopez, owner of Lopez Bakery, 2011 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing, served attendants Mexican baked goods near the Abbott Road Stage. He said the National Folk Festival attracted more people, but he’s hopeful of the growth of the Great Lakes Folk Festival.
“Business was slow this year for us because of overall low-attendance.” he said, “But we’re glad to be here. This is still a good festival.”
Still, the Great Lakes Folk Festival wasn’t an exact carbon copy.
This year’s event did not have a stage at M.A.C. Avenue, and although the stage near City Hall had more seats than last year, it hosted less performers.
“A lot of people baked out on the asphalt at M.A.C. Avenue last year and we didn’t want that this year,” festival spokeswoman Lora Helou said. Helou also serves as MSU’s Museum information officer.
She said the major differences between festivals were the absence of the stage and the addition of a special area called Masters of the Building Arts, where artisans developed sketches into three-dimensional works of art with the use of glass, wood, metal and brick.
“For all intensive purposes, it’s really, really similar (to last year),” Helou said. “But our Museum became affiliated with the Smithsonian last year, so we created the Masters of the Building Arts program.”
Although the artists may not have been the same as at the national festival, this year’s event did not let concertgoers down, community events spokeswoman Kelcey Anderson said.
“It’s a great lineup with the same variety of the past,” Anderson said. “It’s really in the same spirit of the National Folk Festival.”
The Great Lakes Folk Festival was even able to land two performers who will be at this year’s national event - Liz Carroll and Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas.
Still, it was the variety that drew Lansing resident Anna Werner to the festival.
“I really like ‘Teddy Boy’ Houle and I’m really interested in European folk music and folk music with European connections,” Werner said, who was watching a band at the City Hall Stage.
Werner attended last year’s festival and was so pleased with the new festival that she already is making plans to come again next year.
“It’s pretty similar,” Werner said. “But there’s less food vendors.”
East Lansing Mayor Mark Meadows agreed with Werner and said the Great Lakes Folk Festival was a success.
“I feel just as excited about this as when we had the National Folk Festival,” Meadows said. “I think it’s a great successor to some of our prior festivals.”
Kristofer Karol can be reached at karolkri@msu.edu.
