MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) – The annual Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival got started Friday night. The first performance was the ‘Get Acquainted Dance’ with Brittany Haas and Nic Gareiss.
The three-day festival features a full lineup of performers, with live music resuming on Saturday around noon and continuing until midnight. Headlining this year is ‘Tony Trischka’s Earl Jam.’
Hiawatha also features workshops, vendors, food, crafts and a designated area for teens. The festival director says people look forward to Hiawatha all year long.
“It’s such a great weekend, it’s such a weekend filled with experiences, and I know I’ve said this multiple times to people before, but somebody told me that coming to Hiawatha Festival is like coming home and some people call it Christmas in July,” Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival Director Candice Blackstone-Larson said.
This is the 45th year for Hiawatha, which wraps up on Sunday.
Nearly 1,000 volunteers help make the festival possible. Peter Dzanbozoff has been volunteering for Hiawatha for 24 years.
“This is just the most wonderful festival I have ever been to. This is like coming home every year. It’s a family. I come here and I see people that I haven’t seen since last year and it’s just, ‘Hi happy Hiawatha’ and I give them a big hug and it’s just so much fun,” Dzanbozoff said.
Volunteers help set up the stages, tents, benches, craft areas and direct traffic. Blackstone-Larson says the volunteers work for days to make it all happen.
“Hundreds and hundreds of hours go into putting on this festival and for the vast majority, 99% of it is all volunteer work. There are only a few of us who are paid staff, so, without our volunteers and their dedication to the organization, we wouldn’t be able to do the festival that we do,” Blackstone-Larson said.
Each year, the Hiawatha Board recognizes a volunteer of the year. One of this year’s winners is Lee Ossenheimer, who’s been a volunteer for fifteen years. Now, his son is a volunteer as well.
As for Dzanbozoff, his start with Hiawatha wasn’t under the most traditional circumstances.
“I went to college here, at Northern, I graduated in ’86, in 1985 I came down here and snuck in, it was one of the first years they had the festival here and I snuck in and thought, ‘oh, this is great, I’ve got to come back and do this,’ and I’ve been doing this for years and years now and I just love it,” Dzanbozoff said.
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