Traverse City Microbrew and Music Festival

I caught up with Sam Porter of Porterhouse Productions and asked him to fill us in on the Traverse City Microbrew and Music Festival that he has planned for Saturday, August 29 at the Grand Traverse Commons.

Where’d the idea come from?
It really came from the community. I had organized beer festivals out West, and people knew that and asked me to do one here. Then I spent a lot of time researching the community, asking people what they thought, and everybody gave the idea a big thumbs up.

Why at the Grand Traverse Commons?
It’s a large facility capable of holding thousands of people. And it’s a unique design. It can accommodate more than one stage, and is large enough to allow lots of little things to be happening. Brewers will be like mini-craft beer bars in the woods. And people will be roaming among the big, old trees.

You’ve got a lot of music lined up, tell us about it.
Music is what I’m really good at. We’ve brought in a bunch of artists, all different flavors of music. Buckwheat Zydeco—really the James Brown of that genre. They’re so much fun, and they will close the night. Caravan of Thieves has a gypsy jazz sound, very energetic. Clumsy Lovers are like an oompah rock bluegrass band. You can’t help but dance to them. Will be a lot of head bobbing going on. Delilah De Wild is Michigan honky-tonk country rock. One of best bar bands in the state. She’s a great performer. And some wonderful singer songwriters filling in. Luke Winsolow King and Mike Moran and Levi Brittion are hero singer songwriters around here.

Where will the beer be coming from?
We’re getting brewers from all over the Midwest. I asked the brewers guild if it would be okay to bring in brewers from beyond Michigan and they said heck yeah, do it. I worked closely with Scott Graham, director of the brewers guild.

Get tickets to the Traverse City Microbrew and Music Festival at porterhouseproductions.com.

Jeff Smith is editor of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine