MARQUETTE, Mich.—A Funky Folk Dance featuring U.P. Gumbo will be held at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21, at the Ore Dock Brewing Company on Spring Street in Marquette. Admission is free and limited to individuals 21 and older. The dance is part of the Upper Peninsula Folklife Festival at Northern Michigan University and being held in conjunction with NMU Homecoming week activities.

U.P. Gumbo is a Marquette-based folk group specializing in the dance music of the Missisisipi Delta and the New Orleans region. Its music is infused with the sounds of the Delta Blues, Zydeco and early rock and roll. Band members are all long-time fixtures of the Marquette music scene, including Bill Hart on resophonic guitar and vocals,  Dan Flesher on upright bass and vocals, Warren Hantz  on keyboard, dobro and banjo, and Randy “Da Bones Man” Seppala on percussion. 

The dance is co-sponsored by the NMU Alumni Association and funded in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs. The U.P. Folklife Festival is an eight-month series of cultural events featuring folk artists reflecting the traditions of the region. It is sponsored by the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at NMU.