MARQUETTE, Mich.—The third annual Upper Peninsula Folklife Festival will be held Friday and Saturday, Sept. 10-11, at Northern Michigan University. It will include traditional music, dancing, craft demonstrations, workshops and ethnic foods. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated. Most events will take place on the University Center lawn.

The festival kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday with a Funky Folk Dance featuring the PasiCats and Conga Se Menne. Saturday’s activities run from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. The headlining act will be Song of the Lakes, one of Michigan’s most respected folk acts and a replacement for Frigg, a Finnish group who couldn’t obtain visas in time for the event. Song of the Lakes will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday.

            The festival is presented by the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at NMU. There will be dozens of arts and crafts demonstrations, performances by folk artist from throughout the region representing different ethnic and cultural groups, two large demonstration tents, two performance stages for dance and song, a large dance floor and a chalk art area where people can create their own art. At the DeVos Art Museum, there will also be an exhibition of folk art by the late Neil Haapala and a children’s craft area. NMU’s Dining Services will provide ethnic food tents and a beer tent. 

            Dance stage performers include the NMU International Dancers, Summer Cloud: Anishinaabeg singers and drummers, Marquette Folk Dancers, Wil Kilpela and Friends, Maple Sugar Folk, Tanya Stanaway and Bette Premo and the Front Parlor Dance Band. Song stage acts include a rhythm bone workshop with Randy Seppala, Lumber Jakki, Dave Berry, Red Tail Ring, Bill Jamerson and Trees.

A detailed schedule can be found at www.nmu.edu/beaumier.