http://web.msu.edu/mfest94/index.html (World Wide Web Directory, ~04/1995)
Michigan Festival 1994More than 350,000 people visit the 10-day Festival each year on the Michigan State University campus and downtown East Lansing. They experience their choice of more than 200 performances and activities. There is something for everyone at the Michigan Festival. While adults enjoy music from around the world and the diversity of Michigan tradition, children experience a wide range of performances and activities designed to delight and educate. Kids 10 and under are admitted free to all Festival activities.
The Michigan Festival began as a celebration of our state's 150th birthday in 1987. Community leaders, active in the arts and enthusiastic about the development of a large celebration of Michigan's performing and cultural arts, envisioned an annual summer festival that is now a lively reality. Since 1987, festival-goers have experienced a rich variety of performers and activities.
Child enjoying hands-on activities
"Cookie Monster" and "Gordon" (Roscoe Orman) of the popular public television series "Sesame Street" will bring more family fun to this year's Michigan Festival in apprearances celebrating the 40th anniversary of WKAR Television and the 25th anniversary of "Sesame Street." "Cookie Monster" will appear Aug. 6 and 7 at the Children's Stage and Orman will join the fun Aug. 13 and 14. "Cookie Monster" also will join "Buttons the Michigan Festival Bear" in the Children's Parage the morning of Aug. 6.
Michigan Writers Day is set for Saturday, Aug. 6 at 6 p.m., and will take place at scenic Beal Gardens on the Michigan State University campus. The theme for Michigan Writers Day is to celebrate the "significant and indispensible contribution of Michigan Women to the Arts." The program will feature the talents of Diane Wakoski and Janet Kauffman.
The "MSU on View" tent is an opportunity to get acquanted or reacquainted with teh University. It showcases performances reflecting the diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds of MSU students, alumni, faculty, and staff. It also provides general information about the Festival and the University, including a display that gives an overview of the University's 14 colleges and its Outreach Programs.
One of the many Folklife Performers
The MSU Museum Festival of Michigan Folklife is the daytime centerpiece of the Festival, and is the state's largest annual museum exhibit of Michigan's living cultural heritage. Each year, more than 100 storytellers, craftspeople, musicians, cooks, and dancers converge for this unique festival, representing Michigan's diverse regional, occupational, and ethnic traditions. An annual theme focuses on a sampling of that diversity. This year's theme, Rural Traditions, presents a cross-section of Michigan's contemporary folklife as it has been shaped by its agricultural heritage.
