Ann Arbor Summer Festival

On our off travel week, we decided to get out in Michigan for a change, heading to the Ann Arbor Summer Festival this evening with our friend, Steve.  I think we've hit this festival once before unknowingly walking through it, but this time, we actually made a valiant effort to enjoy some of the atmosphere.

The Ann Arbor Summer Festival is an exhilarating celebration of performing arts, outdoor entertainment, and community spirit.  As a boutique music and arts festival, the three-week gathering offers dozens of performances, activities, exhibitions, screenings and more, with eclectic music, dance, comedy, film, street arts, and family fun.

Founded by Eugene Power, and established as an equal partnership between the City of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, the Ann Arbor Summer Festival presented its first full season of events in 1984. Early festival seasons emphasized classical music and theater, but have since become more popular and diverse in nature, encompassing a breadth of performance genres.

Today, the Ann Arbor Summer Festival produces two concurrent programs, one indoor and one outdoor, at various venues and public spaces across the University of Michigan campus and in downtown Ann Arbor. The indoor Mainstage series includes ticketed performances of world-class music, dance, theater, and comedy. The outdoor program, Top of the Park, is held along a beautiful campus green and offers admission-free concerts, movies under the stars, open-air spectacles, family attractions, and more.

We spent a few hours under the sun listening to some of the live music before heading over to Ashley's for dinner (and to sample some of the new additions to the beer list) and to the Jolly Pumpkin to try some of their Oro de Calabaza, a Franco-Belgian tradition of strong golden ales, a gold medal winner as well!