Photo: Vincent Brady, Blissfest Music Organization | Digital Art: Stephanie Thwaites
Camping Festivals Bring Community, Artistic Expression to Michigan Outdoors.
Story By: Elizabeth Roersma
“WHERE’S MY MOSH PIT?”
The words were yelled from a stage at around 2 a.m. on a warm late June morning in 2023, and I heard them over the crowd of dancing, cheering people.
Amid the flashing lights and digital animals on a screen behind him, DJ Diesel—who is most well-known as Shaq or Shaquille O’Neal—was onstage at Electric Forest, a four-day music festival in Rothbury, MI.
He shouted at the crowd about mosh pits and unbelievably made a basket with a toy basketball someone had sent up to the stage, thrown into the crowd to someone holding a mini-basketball hoop on a stick—one of the totems used by festival-goers to find their friends in the crowd.
“I MADE IT!” his joyful deep voice filled the entire field while people cheered and screamed.
While not all the artists are retired sports stars, Electric Forest boasts a broad range of international artists and performers who show up to play the main stages as well as the smaller stages and surprise sets throughout the venue.
This is just one of the unique experiences I’ve had since 2018 when I started going to summer camping festivals such as Electric Forest, Blissfest, and Wild Zen Yoga Festival.
Photo: Elizabeth Roersma | Electric Forest
Photo: Elizabeth Roersma | Electric Forest
I found these festivals at a time in my life when I was rebuilding.
My first husband died at 34 from cancer, and in the years after, I was traveling, taking on a new career as a massage therapist, and exploring this new life that I was not 100 percent sure I wanted.
It was a hard time, to say the least, but also a time when I was open and willing to try new things, such as festivals.
When I was invited to attend my first Electric Forest, I hesitantly agreed. After two nights in the venue, experiencing the community and artistic expression found everywhere onsite, I felt like I had discovered a new world. It was a healing and beautiful experience, seeing life from a different perspective and giving me hope for what was possible.
It got even better the next year when I began working as a massage therapist and was invited to volunteer at Blissfest Music Organization. If one festival was good, then why not two?
While my experience at Electric Forest felt like an exotic vacation—an adult summer camp with a 24-hour concert, where everything was a wonder, new, and different—Blissfest felt like home. The woods, the fields, and the people felt like they were just waiting for me to arrive and join them.
At this point in 2019, I was planning to fill 2020 with even more festivals. I could not get enough of the feeling of connection and community.
Then the COVID pandemic took away my festivals, and I was devastated.
Luckily, in 2021 my friend invited me to be a part of her yoga festival, Wild Zen Yoga Fest. It was small—only one day and about 100 people—but it brought back a small piece of what I had felt in previous years. If two festivals were good, why not add a third?
By 2022, my festivals were back in full swing, and for the next few years, I worked or volunteered at Electric Forest, Blissfest, and Wild Zen Yoga Fest consistently.
Photo: Vincent Brady | Blissfest Music Organization
Living the Festival Life
Now, for about two weeks out of the summer, you can find me with dirty feet, living out of a tent or hammock, drinking water from my reusable water bottle, and massaging all the other sweaty, smiling festie people. I am lucky enough to enjoy it with friends and family and have gained several new communities of amazing people.
It’s not always an easy time. An occasional thunderstorm will pop up and cause a very wet journey back to the car. There are always miles of walking, so you need a plan and good shoes. And sometimes, you might happen upon a porta-potty that needs a little TLC.
But for every moment of discomfort, there is a gorgeous morning with hot air balloons flying over a field of tents, or a glorious moonrise in the bowl of a farm surrounded by trees, or the sweet singing of a favorite band surrounded by fans who feel like family.
For me, festivals always give more than they take, and it is always worth it.
I am not the only one who feels this way, as thousands of people share in these festivals and more every summer in Michigan. Some travel a great distance, and for others, it is right next door.
Festivals like Blissfest—which is in its 43rd year—span generations and bring families together to share memories.
Photo: Vincent Brady | Blissfest Music Organization
Photo: Vincent Brady | Blissfest Music Organization
Photo: Orson Humphrey | Blissfest Music Organization
Photo: Brockit Inc | Blissfest Music Organization
Photo: Brockit Inc | Blissfest Music Organization
Photo: Vincent Brady | Blissfest Music Organization
Friends and families gather year after year, building their campsites and adding to their experience of community amongst Michigan’s fields, farms, and wooded areas. The sites go from vacant fields and woods to teeming with campers in a matter of hours.
“That’s 100 percent part of the experience,” said Caroline Barlow, artistic director/co-director of Blissfest Music Organization, of the campsites and camaraderie. “People feel like it’s a second home.”
In the woods, you can see colorful tapestries and tents strung through the trees. In the fields, RVs and campers sit side by side with tents and canopies that serve as bedrooms, living rooms, and kitchens during the event. Walking through the campgrounds, you hear the hum of conversation and sometimes an acoustic guitar and singing from festival-goers.
There is even a library for those who want to get some reading in or find a new book.
Blissfest is an event people can enjoy as individuals or as a family, with many children’s activities and family-friendly offerings. The festival features a diverse array of music, as well as vendors, food trucks, workshops, and healing modalities. It is also located on the North Country Trail and a short distance from Lake Michigan.
“Most of us already know that Northern Michigan is one of the best places to be in the summertime,” Barlow said. “We’re one place where you can have three days in Northern Michigan, enjoying 200 acres with the water just three miles away. We have fields and woods, and you can get sunshine and the wooded trail experience.”
Plus, of course, the music.
More than 100 performers participate across 10 stages throughout the venue during the second weekend in July, engaging more than 4,500 weekend ticket holders, 500 Saturday ticket holders, 200 volunteer coordinators, and 600 volunteers who help the event run smoothly.
“We thrive on innovation, and it’s very quirky,” Barlow said. “Our lineup doesn’t look like just any festival, and we love it.”
Beyond the music and activities, the festival is intentional about its impact on the surrounding land and environment, Barlow said.
Vendors have guidelines for dishware they can bring for guests, the Emmet County Recycling program runs the festival’s waste management system, and compost and recycling are promoted to continue reducing waste. The farm where the event takes place has tested well-water with pumps all over the property to keep people hydrated and to discourage bottled water use. Reusable bottles and receptacles are sold and encouraged as part of the festival.
There are also solar panels throughout the property, used for the solar shower and to help power one of the stages.
The site itself is managed with an eye toward ecology and preservation.
“Instead of building fences and structures, we have orchards, grapevines, and asparagus,” Barlow said. “We find new ways to contribute to the ecosystem.”
There are also conservation easements around the property with no building permitted.
Photo: Vincent Brady | Blissfest Music Organization
Photo: Vincent Brady | Blissfest Music Organization
A More Intimate Festival Experience
A few weeks after Blissfest, I get to go to a smaller, more intimate festival focused on yoga, movement, and healing. Wild Zen Yoga Fest takes place in Trufant, about 45 minutes north of Grand Rapids.
What started as a one-day event during the COVID pandemic has grown into a full weekend in July, filled with movement, healing modalities, nourishing food, and familiar community.
With a background in counseling and therapy as well as yoga, founder Carrie Labarge wanted a weekend that included healing modalities and workshops to help people see yoga as more than just movement.
“People have the fun and feeling of a festival and the healing of all the experiences the vendors and workshops offer,” she said.
The festival takes place at the Smiling Acres Music Festival Grounds, which also hosts the Smiling Acres Music Festival earlier in the month. The site has added improvements over the years to enhance the experience. Now, with a solar shower and an onsite functioning kitchen, the festival offers guests more amenities and nourishment than it was able to before.
“Being a lifetime Michigander, we have four months of time to soak up summer in as many ways as we can,” she said. “It’s one experience where you can get your feet in the grass and really tap into nature for three days.”
Those attending the festival can also bike the nearby roads or access a nearby lake to paddleboat or kayak.
This year, the goal for the growing festival is 200 attendees, up from 150.
“I feel like it’s just getting better every year,” Labarge said.
Offerings include yoga, nature hikes, sound healing, cacao ceremonies, breathwork, somatic movement, massage, reiki, acupuncture, art, clothing, healing vendors, and more.
The days start with vibrant sunrises and end with sunsets over the tree line, with the stars highly visible over the farm on a clear night. A large fire pit is the center of the evening, where songs and camaraderie continue into the late hours.
“You don’t have to be a yogi to come,” Labarge said. “I just want people to be able to come enjoy themselves and experience mindfulness and movement and community—enjoy summer in Michigan and really come away feeling connected with self-discovery and feeling refreshed and nourished.”
Find Your Festival Community
Whether it is roaming the rows of pines and listening to festival favorite Dixon’s Violin at Electric Forest, seeing Michigan artists like The Crane Wives and May Erlewine during intimate sets at Blissfest, or moving my body in somatic dance just before sunset at Wild Zen Yoga Fest, I get to experience the joy of being present in the community of others in the great Michigan outdoors.
If this piques your interest and you want to find out more about getting your feet in the grass and filling your head with the sights and sounds of a summer camping festival, check out the following websites or search for the many festivals in Michigan. You may find yourself a new community of camaraderie and connection.
About the Author
Elizabeth Roersma is a writer and massage therapist who discovered festivals in her late 30s. You can find her and her massage table at festivals throughout Michigan during the summer. When she is not writing or massaging, she is often running or hiking or listening to music with her husband, family, and friends. She loves being outdoors in Michigan any time of year, but has a soft spot for walking and running in the crisp autumn leaves or along the shore of Lake Michigan.
