| Wheatland Music Festival | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Traditional arts and music |
| Date(s) | Weekend after Labor day |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location(s) | Remus, Michigan, United States |
| Inaugurated | 1974 |
| Previous event | 2023 |
| Next event | 2024 |
| Website | Wheatlandmusic.org |
The Wheatland Music Festival is a music and arts festival organized by the Wheatland Music Organization, a non-profit organization specializing in the preservation and presentation of traditional arts and music.[1] Community outreach services include programming for Senior facilities and schools across mid-Michigan, year-round instrument lessons, scholarship programs, Jamborees, Traditional Dances, and Wheatscouts - a free program educating children through music, dance, storytelling, crafts and nature. Each year, the organization holds its annual Traditional Arts Weekend the weekend of Memorial Day, and its annual festival during the second weekend in September in the unincorporated community of Remus in the state of Michigan, in the United States.[2] The first Wheatland Music Festival was held August 24, 1974.
In the early 1970s a small group of Mt. Pleasant Food Co-Op (now the GreenTree Cooperative Grocery) members and local musicians were staging free concerts and benefits around the Big Rapids and Mt. Pleasant, MI areas. Common sites were city parks and public halls. Proceeds enabled the food co-op to pay rent and utilities. Meanwhile, founders of the Wheatland Music Organization were organizing about two concerts a month during the summer.
The First Wheatland Bluegrass Festival was held as a benefit for the Mt. Pleasant Food Co-Op, August 24, 1974. It was a one-day event held on the Rhode family farm, located four miles east of Remus on M-20. June Rhodes' utility room became festival headquarters, her backyard was the backstage area, and her sister-in-law's yard across the road was the parking lot. The flatbed trailers were in place along with the first-aid tent, a sound system, and a hotdog stand.
By 1975 Wheatland was born. Elections were held and the board of directors was established. Many of the first directors are still active in the organization. This can be attributed to their faith in each other, their commitment to community service, and passion for preserving and presenting traditional music and arts.
With the 47th annual festival being deferred to 2021, officials blamed the COVID-19 pandemic as the result of 2020's cancellation.
2021 festival and lineup were announced in June 2021, however due to rising rates of COVID-19 the 2021 festival was cancelled on August 11, with the next festival deferred to September 2022.
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1983 Land purchase: WMO puts $100 down on Gunnison Property
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"2014" whoo-hoo!! 40th. Anniversary Wheatland music festival. "Carry it on" dance project. To hopefully another 40 years.
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