Dancers and listeners enjoy the music of Stone Soup, a jazz and blues band from Detroit, during the Bayside Music Festival in downtown St. Ignace in front of the marina Saturday, August 15. Music from four live bands filled the air Saturday, August 15, for the first summer music festival in downtown St. Ignace. The Bayside Music Festival was a great success and organizers will certainly consider making it an annual event, Chamber of Commerce Director Janet Peterson said Monday. The festival took place from 4 p.m. to dark along North State Street near the city marina.

"Overall, people that were here had a good time and things went well," Mrs. Peterson said.

Four bands entertained the crowd with music that ranged from country, Irish folk, to jazz, blues, and funk. The bands who played were Chasin' Steel from Marquette, The Pub Runners from Gaylord, Stone Soup from Grosse Pointe, and Soul Purpose from Detroit.

State Street was closed to traffic from Truckey to Spring streets to accommodate the crowds.

The St. Ignace Recreation Department organized children's games similar to those at the Fish Feast in July, and six area restaurants provided barbeque-themed cuisine choices, along with a beverage tent. One of the biggest hits, the slow-smoked pig roast dinner, sent powerful fumes of roasted pork adrift over the waterside festival.

"We ended up with a pictureperfect day and evening for an outdoor event," Mrs. Peterson said.

This beautiful weather probably created the slow start she noted from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., since she speculated visitors on Mackinac Island likely waited longer to return to the mainland, but it also made a perfect setting for the event, she said.

Downtown Development Authority Director Deb Evashevski said she expected about 800 to attend when first planning the event, but estimated the final turnout at more than 1,500 people.

"It went awesome," she said, "more than exceeding our expectations. Everything went smoothly. It was perfect."

The Chamber of Commerce had no estimate Monday afternoon on total attendance, although they are counting revenue earned through the sale of $2 wristbands to those 21 and older. A count of this portion of Saturday's crowd was not complete Monday.

All of the proceeds from the $2 fee, along with 10% of revenues collected by the vendors, will go into a special events fund to help pay for local events next year like Fish Feast and the Music Festival.

"I think it will be a no-brainer to continue putting money into both Fish Feast and this event," Mrs. Peterson said.

While looking out into the crowd, she said she recognized a lot of familiar faces of St. Ignace residents, but also saw a lot of people enjoying the music who she did not recognize.

"It definitely brought tourism here," she said.

Mrs. Peterson said moving the party from the dock to the street and changing the menu from fish to barbecue helped to differentiate the Music Fest from the Fish Feast.

"It was just so different with it being in the street," she said. "People seemed to be having a really good time."

One thing organizers said they may adjust next year would be to widen the outdoor viewing area in front of the musicians. Mrs. Peterson said she noticed that later, when temperatures cooled, the crowd flooded the street area, and there wasn't quite enough room to accommodate it.

Some people suggested that the stage be moved to the other side of the fenced-off area so the sun wasn't as bothersome. These and other minor changes will be made to the festival next year.

The evening finished up with one of the weekly fireworks displays over Moran Bay at dusk. These fireworks are funded by the Festivals and Fireworks Committee, which has pushed the weekly campaign as an effort to bring people to St. Ignace and keep them here into the evening hours during the tourist season.

Vendors See Strong Future for Music Festival

Dennis Goodwin, owner of the Pines Trading Post and a vendor at the festival, said he enjoyed the festival and did a good business, especially since his pig roast seemed to "steal the show" of the food choices.

"I guess a lot of the tourists had never seen an old-fashioned pig roast," Mr. Goodwin said. "We had about 10 to 15 people come in the store Sunday asking if we had any more pig for sale. We sold out of the entire pig Saturday."

He said the event helps directly with sales, indirectly by promoting the businesses and drawing visitors to town, and just provides a good time and a chance for his employees to get out of the store and have some fun.

"On a scale of one to ten, it was a ten," Mr. Goodwin said of the music festival. "Little events like that through the summer will really help to pull us through this recession thing. It really made St. Ignace look good."

Other organizers and vendors agreed that the music festival would grow to be a success for St. Ignace. Mark Sposito, restaurant co-owner and vendor at the festival with his wife, Cathie, said the music festival may eventually become even bigger than Fish Feast.

"Number-wise, we were pretty close to Fish Feast already this year," Mr. Sposito said. "I think, overall, everyone had a great time."

He said business at his restaurant, Mackinac Grille, was up noticeably over the weekend when compared with any other year.

"Any festival never takes away from our restaurant business," Mr. Sposito said. "It always just increases our business."

Those involved in planning special events and festivals throughout the year in St. Ignace, including Mr. Sposito, have already begun to consider plans for next year's music festival.

"We will start making plans right away for next year," he said. "We may look into getting a big name entertainer next time."

"This event is definitely going to be annual," Mrs. Evashevski said.

As the fireworks began at dark Saturday, the final band, Soul Purpose, continued to play during the display, to an enthusiastic response from the crowd, who danced to "Mustang Sally" as the fireworks burst overhead. It providing a climactic end to an evening of music, food, and fun.

The festival was funded with contributions from the St. Ignace Downtown Development Authority, Visitors Bureau, and Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. The state's $1,800 grant was awarded because of the festival's promotion of the arts and education through local music and through dancing lessons offered by Renee Vonderwerth of St. Ignace.

Drawing more people into town during the tourist season is the festival's main goal.

"When everyone knows we have good events in St. Ignace, that will be a reason for people to be here," Mrs. Peterson said. "Based on how things went Saturday, I just can't imagine why we wouldn't do it again next year."