There are Michigan roots in the Hoxeyville festival

By Analiese Grohalski
Western Herald

This summer, the Hoxeyville Music Festival will see its eighth year of festivities, with music ranging from local Michigan bands to national bands.

The festival was built strictly on Michigan music and a lot of touring artists, according to Bear Yovino, member of the Hoxeyville board.

After the second year of the Rothbury Festival, the second largest festival in the United States, Hoxeyville began having more national artists play as headliners. One of the first national bands that headlined Hoxeyville was Boombox, a national electronic band.

“That’s one thing about Hoxeyville is that they’re going to keep their Michigan roots and see the type of changes that are happening that will lead to better things,” Yovino said.

It’s not going to be as big as Rothbury, he said, but just trying out a little bit of what Rothberry has brought to the community.

A few headliners at the festival are Keller Williams, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Steve Kimock & Crazy Engine. Multiple other bands will be playing at the festival to create what Yovino calls an amazing lineup.

Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe is more of an old school electronic band that’s still got it, Yovino said.  The Jerry Garcia Band, who played alongside with The Grateful Dead, will also be playing at this year’s festival.

“A lot of people know the Jerry Garcia Band,” Yovino said. “However they headlined at Hoxeyville last year so Melvin Seals will be the main name, outside the Jerry Garcia Band.”

Hoxeyville not only has the lineup, but two stages for them to perform on, a capacity of 6,500 and plenty of other activities to do, when not listening to the bands. Hoxeyville is featuring handcrafted brews, which will be served in a micro beer festival format, in their “Beer Fest Tent.”

Venders will also be set up around the festival, featuring artisans, craft and food from the local community.  There is also a focus on specialty foods, grown organically. The Hoxeyville Farmers Market with baked goods and produce will be hosted at the festival also, according to the Facebook fan page.

If activities are more your style, the festival is located by the Pine River, a stream full of trout and perfect for paddle sports and numerous  mountain biking trails, plus disc golf.

“I know this year that the entire disc golf course will be available to play at night, as well as during the day, somehow they’re going to have it illuminated,” Yovino said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be glow in the dark items or lights throughout the woods, but regardless you’re going to be able to play disc golf all day and all night.”

Weekend early bird passes for Hoxeyville are available for $89 and RV tickets go on sale May 1 — the tickets are on a first-come first-serve basis.  Children ten and under get in free.  Tickets are available at Hoxeyville.com or the Hoxeyville fan page on their Facebook page.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Apr 21 2010. Filed under A & E. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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