Making an Elf at the Michigan Renaissance Festival

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Making an Elf

Making an Elf, photo by corinne.schwarz.

The Michigan Renaissance Festival is underway in Holly. It happens weekends & Labor Day through October 2nd from 10 AM – 7 PM, rain or shine. They explain:

For 32 years, the Michigan Renaissance Festival has provided Holly with a unique venue that regularly attracts more than 220,000 visitors from Michigan and surrounding states. When the Festival first began back in 1979 on the grounds of Columbiere in Clarkston, Michigan, the Renaissance Festival attracted under 11,000 patrons during our 5 weekend event. Years later the Festival found a more permanent home where it currently stands, just 12 miles south of Flint on Dixie Highway. The pageantry of a 16th century village is evident in the wide variety of activities.

Entertainment is not only featured on sixteen stages, but in the lanes and on an interactive level with the patrons. From peasants to royalty, the people of the village of Hollygrove visit with guests to provide a day to remember! Highlights include the thrilling full contact joust with armored knights and horses, the intensity of the Human Combat Chess Match and the hilarity of acts like the Washing Well Wenches, Ded Bob and Ample and Trite. The Realm is filled with amazingly talented artisans who offer their unique wares and often share their skills in craft demonstrations. Beautiful glassware, crafted leather, exotic jewelry and Renaissance clothing are just a few examples of the masterpieces that can be found in the marketplace.

Visitors are advised to skip breakfast and save their appetite for the fresh baked goods, soup in a bread bowl, Scotch eggs, apple dumplings and of course, the famous turkey legs that are cooked over an open flame. The array of foods is overwhelming and sure to satisfy any cravings! It is truly fun for the whole family since the Renaissance Festival also offers games, human-powered rides, and a Children’s Realm that features a castle playscape as well as free activities for younger visitors.

Check it out background big and in Corrine’s Mich Ren Fest slideshow.
Also see the photos on the Michigan Ren Cen Facebook!

Traverse City Film Festival: Be Your Dreams

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Traverse City Film Festival Opening Night 2011 - 6 by Mark O'Shaughnessy

Traverse City Film Festival Opening Night 2011 – 6 by Mark O’Shaughnessy, photo by tcfilmfest.

All week I’m working on the Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF) through Absolute Michigan. One of the neat features of the festival is nightly free movies on the BIG screen along Grand Traverse Bay. On Tuesday night and thanks to George Lucas, TCFF had an unprecedented showing of The Empire Strikes Back. I say unprecedented because this just doesn’t happen with Star Wars. However, festival co-founder Michael Moore asked, and Lucas said OK. That’s kind of been how TCFF has gone over 7 years. Nothing about it, from convincing the community that a festival celebrating film would fly in Traverse City to producing an almost 100% volunteer run festival, has been likely or easy. It has been fun & exciting though!

You can get a flavor of the action in Traverse City’s thank you to Lucas.

Mark O’Shaughnessy is one of the many photographers working the Traverse City Film Festival. Check out the epic battle that ensued and more shots in the July 26: Opening slideshow.

Yippee!

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Yippee!

Yippee!, photo by jimmb1.

Hope you get a chance to have this much fun sometime soon!

Check it out background big and see the likely cause of this photo in Jim’s slideshow.

More fun stuff on Michigan in Pictures…

Mud Bogging, Minus the 4×4

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Mud Races

Mud Races, photo by StormchaserMike Photography.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, it turns out that you haven’t.

Mud Day is an annual affair held in early July at Hines Park in Westland. The recipe for fun is simple – 200 tons of dirt, 20,000 gallons of water and a bunch of people who care more about fun than fastidiousness.

Here’s a nice news report on Mud Day.

Check this out bigger and see a lot more in Mike’s massive 2011 Wayne County Parks Mud Day slideshow.

Can’t Help Falling in Love … with Michigan events!

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Michigan ElvisFest 2007

Michigan ElvisFest 2007, photo by Wigwam Jones.

Michigan boasts an amazing variety of events in July and every month, from ElvistFest in Ypsilanti (this weekend – July 8 & 9) to Hiawatha in Marquette, the Great Lakes State will get you all shook up!

Our Absolute Michigan July Calendar has a whole slew of them and links to many more including a number of chances to win FREE tickets!

Check this photo out king-size and see a whole bunch more in Wigwam Jones’ awesome MichiganElvisFest 2007 – Elvii slideshow!

Surf Michigan!

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Kitesurfer in Michigan Surf

Surf_3883, photo by ON THE MOON STUDIO.

The Great Lakes are receiving more and more attention as a surfing destination, and hot spots like Frankfort, Marquette and Grand Haven (where this kiteboarder is tearing it up) are becoming destinations for kayakers, surfers, paddle boarders and kite boarders.

We have some great videos at Michigan: Great Lakes Surfing Capital on Absolute Michigan. See more surfing on Michigan in Pictures. There’s also Northern Michigan Surf on Facebook and in the Surfing slideshow from the Absolute Michigan pool!

Check this out background big and see more in Paul’s slideshow.

Rothbury, Electric Forest and a Ticket Giveaway Explosion

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Rothbury - Out of This World
Rothbury – Out of This World, photo by tinmantaber.

In which the author explains how Rothbury & Electric Forest led to a giveaway of 72 tickets…

I’m not sure if this qualifies as a commercial, but you should know that Electric Forest Festival is a sponsor of Absolute Michigan. Plus it’s kind of long. Sorry. ;)

Over Fourth of July weekend in 2009, I was part of the Absolute Michigan crew that went to the Rothbury Music Festival (click for our coverage). Two others on the crew were Richard Taber (who took this photo) and Ryan Thompson (who’s in it). I still don’t know how they thought of it, but it’s a classic!

While Rothbury has yet to return, a new festival by the same producers called Electric Forest starts this Thursday in Rothbury and runs June 30 – July 4.

I really enjoyed Rothbury and the incredible art and entertainment that went far beyond my previous experience of music festivals, so I was really excited when Electric Forest agreed to sponsor Absolute Michigan. Part of their sponsorship was a pair of tickets that we gave away at the end of May to Mark L of Detroit. The excitement that folks felt about a chance to win tickets made me think that there might be a way to do more giveaways, and after a few weeks of calling around, we’ve got 25 pairs of tickets (and counting) that we are giving away or have given away in our “Festival Summer” promotion.

These are great events of all kinds like the incredible Maker Faire Detroit at the Henry Ford, the delicious Taste of Kalamazoo and the venerable Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival in Marquette, and I felt pretty good about that. Then one of the event organizers asked me how many pairs I wanted, and I thought “Why not give away some more?” I asked for four and now eleven festivals & events have given a second pair of tickets that we’re going to give away on July 4th, hopefully to a person or persons as crazy & fun as Ryan and Richard.

Check it out background bigtastic and in Richard’s Rothbury Festival 2009 – Greatest Hits slideshow. Many more shots in his Rothbury collection and definitely see the slideshow on the Rothbury website.

More from Ryan at ryanthompson.org.

Spin Cycle: Catch SuperDre@ Electric Forest

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Spin Cycle

Spin Cycle, photo by TerryJohnston.

Grand Rapids DJ SuperDre is one of the Michigan musicians who will join a fantastic lineup at the Electric Forest Festival in Rothbury June 30th – July 3rd. Absolute Michigan is partnering with Electric Forest and will be at the festival with interviews, blogs and more.

We are interviewing all the Michigan-based acts, and here’s our interview of SuperDre aka Andrea Wallace. It includes a cool video so definitely check it out and consider Electric Forest or one of the other great Michigan festivals & events we are giving tickets away to through Festival Summer giveaway!

You can see this bigger and check out more photos in Terry’s DJ SuperDre slideshow.

Festival Summer starts with Electric Forest

Posted on by farlane

Huge Crowd at The Dead Concert, Rothbury 2009, photo by Ann Teliczan

I’m not sure if this qualifies as a commercial break, but in addition to Michigan in Pictures, I also work to promote the enjoyment of Michigan through Absolute Michigan. We have just kicked off a summerlong campaign we’re calling Absolute Michigan’s Festival Summer. The goal is to give away as many tickets as possible to Michigan festivals and events all summer long. After just a week of reaching out to folks who make these events happen, we have tickets for a half dozen music festivals and events  including a pair of June ones – the Leland Wine & Food Festival (Michigan’s oldest – Jun 11) and the Lake Michigan Shore Wine Festival (Jun 18) with more on the way!

This weekend we are giving away a pair of weekend passes to the first-ever Electric Forest Festival (June 30 – July 3) in Rothbury, Michigan. That’s about a $500 value and we’re happy that Electric Forest is sponsoring Absolute Michigan in part by providing a pair of tickets for us to give away to our readers. The festival is headlined by String Cheese Incident, Tiesto, Pretty Lights, Bassnectar and REO Speedwagon, but for my money, a big part of the experience are some fantastic acts from Michigan (Greensky Bluegrass, SuperDre, Macpodz and the Ragbirds) as well as from points near and far that many of you (including me!) have never heard of.

All you have to do to enter is to join the Absolute Michigan email list – do that and get all the details in our interview of Rothbury and Electric Forest founder Jeremy Stein!

The photo above was taken by Ann of the great blog Michigan Sweet Spot. Ann went to Rothbury in 2008 and 2009, and she has some cool shots and recollections at Rothbury in her blog along with lots more Michigan photographic goodness.

Be sure to check out the work of another Anne, her 360 degree Rothbury panoramas include ambient sound and are a real treat and she has a nice slideshow too. Speaking of slideshows, here’s one from the Absolute Michigan team at Rothbury 2009.

 

Frankenmuth Dog Bowl

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Champion coming!

Champion coming!, photo by Frankenmuth Fun.

Frankenmuth invites you to Dog Bowl 2011, the Midwest’s largest Olympic style event for dogs. This annual event takes place Memorial Weekend (May 28 & 29) at Frankenmuth River Place and includes events for dogs including agility competitions, dock dives, dog disc competition, fashion shows, canine cruise and (of course) biggie dog & weiner dog races! The event is FREE – there’s even a hot air balloon show – and you can click the link above for all the details!

Check this out bigger than a beagle and also see their huge 2008 Dog Bowl and 2009 Dog Bowl slideshows!