Courtesy Photo The Way Down Wanderers perform at an event held by the Thunder Bay Folk Society, which recently received a $3,200 grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

The Thunder Bay Folk Society has been awarded a grant of $3,200 from the State of Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. The grant was awarded through the MCACA peer review process and was one of 561 applications to compete for MCACA fiscal year 2019 funding.

Organizations receiving a MCACA grant award are required to match those funds with other public and private dollars. Local support of the project included the Northeast Michigan Community Foundation, The First Federal Community Foundation, Skyline Event Center (Mr. Sy Yoder), and many local businesses and indivduals. The Thunder Bay Folk Society also receives significant volunteer support from its many community members.

The Society is run by a nine-member board. Current board members are: Lee Kitzman, Jim Bartz, Don Krajnik, Jerry Broad, Joan Prentice, Tina Honecker (secretary), Peggy Schmidt (treasurer), Andrea Schmidt (vice president) and Bonnie Bartz (president). An annual meeting is coming up from 3 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 11, at the Eagles Club on M-32. The purpose of the meeting is to bring the membership together to hear annual reports and elect four new board members. A potluck and open mic is planned for the meeting time. For details of the meeting, please see the website at thunderbayfolkfest.org.

The Society puts on the Thunder Bay Folk Festival annually the last full weekend of September at the Alpena Antique Tractor Showgrounds on French Road in Alpena. This is a weekend-long event featuring live music presented by both local musicians and bands around the state of Michigan. It features not just music, but many educational workshops, art and food vendors, a fire-lit drum kiva, a mind/body tent, children’s activities and onsite rustic camping.

The festival provides a significant positive impact for the local community. This impact extends beyond a quality arts and cultural experience, it has also been shown to improve employee retention, business retention, cultural tourism, and other forms of economic impact such as the educational impact the Folk Society has on the community.

Community support of this effort, both monetarily and in the form of volunteerism is vital for the continued success of the Thunder Bay Folk Festival. A complete list of grant awards around the state is available on the MCACA website at www.michigan.gov/arts.