Kidz Beat
The “Kidz Beat” music tent, open 4-7 pm Friday and 1-7 pm Saturday, is designed to allow interactive music exploration for parents and children from toddlers to early teens.
Activities available include face painting, chalk art, crafting your own musical instruments, an “instrument petting zoo” provided by Meridian Winds on Friday and Elderly Instruments on Saturday, and performances that solicit active audience participation. No musical talent is necessary, just a love of music and a willingness to have a little fun.
Ride the river boat taxi to BluesFest on Saturday and take advantage of free rides for children 10 and under.
Happy Hour
From 4-5pm on Friday, there will be FREE admission to the beverage tent (for those age 21+). Come on out with friends or come make new ones and enjoy happy hour with the blues sounds of The Hoopties featuring Twyla Birdsong.
Green Initiative
In 2009, BluesFest became one of the first festivals in Lansing to make a concerted effort to reduce our overall impact on the environment by implementing a volunteer Green Team and committing to sustainable practices. BluesFest partners with The Sweaty Mouse Green Team & Schupan Recycling Services to provide waste and recycling solutions, water-bottle reduction strategies, and effective planning to reduce printing and single-use or disposable products. All festival attendees are encouraged to bring their own refillable beverage containers and use the free watering stations provided by the Lansing Board of Water & Light.
MICA Stage
BluesFest will offer attendees an educational experience, thanks to the MICA Stage’s performers and instructors. Michigan Institute for Contemporary Art (MICA) is a non-profit organization acting as a catalyst for quality arts programming, historic renovation and community development. Educational opportunities in the arts are the focus of the MICA Stage. See more on our performers page!
Dylan Miner Show
Experience the hand-made found object artwork of Dylan Miner, inspired by indigenous visuality and challenging late-capitalist consumption.
Miner is an artist, activist, and historian who was raised in rural Michigan and spends his time traversing the contested and colonial borders of North America. His work has been exhibited around the country, including at the National Museum of Mexican Art, the Institute of American Indian Arts, and the United Nations. He was recently awarded an Artist Leadership Grant from the National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian Institution). He is Michif (Métis) and presently an assistant professor at Michigan State University.
MICA Gallery (1210 Turner St.) will be open during the festival for viewing of this show. MICA Gallery’s regular hours are Monday-Friday, 9 am-5 pm.
Old Town Nightlife
After the final note on Turner Street, Old Town invites you to continue to celebrate at one of its nightlife spots. Spiral (Center & Clinton) showcases a DJ, while Grand Café Sir Pizza and the Unicorn Tavern offer live music within walking distance of the festival on E. Grand River.
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Welcome to BluesFest 2011
The Old Town BluesFest is a two-day FREE music festival that brings national, regional, and local acts to an audience of roughly 15,000 people from across Michigan and nearby states.
BluesFest’s music truly is living music, history in the making. Each artist at the festival is asked to play an original composition, something that hasn’t been played at any other festival.
