2007 Hillsdale County Peace & Music Festival
August 11, 2007

On August 11, 2007, the Hillsdale County Coalition for Peace & Justice presented the Sixth Annual Peace & Music Festival in Carl Fast Park in Jonesville, Michigan. From noon to 6:00 p.m., visitors to the park browsed the tables of numerous local groups and organizations and enoyed the socially aware, political and peace-themed free entertainment provided by a variety of performers.

Along with music were free face-painting, balloon animals, a sidewalk art show and free films in the nearby Jonesville Middle School gymnasium.

As always, the Coalition staffed a table to provide information to visitors to the Festival, beginning with Coalition member Bonnie DeRose (left image, second from left). Later in the day, fellow Coalition member and Hillsdale County Green Carolee Ball (right image below) took her place behind the table.

The afternoon's first musical performers were Marty Danekind (below, right) and Kevin Haberkamp (left), a fellow member of his group, the Should Be Banned. Marty's appeared numerous times at the Hillsdale Annex, and his distinctive vocal style and the band's blend of blues and folk make them a local favorite.

All three active local political parties were represented this year at the Peace & Music Festival. The Hillsdale County Greens, Hillsdale County Democratic Party and Republicans Against the War all staffed tables.

At last year's Festival, Doug (yours truly, below left) and Randy Baker (right) staffed a table for the Green Party of Michigan. This year, they represented the newly formed Hillsdale County Greens. The HC Greens offered plenty of Green Party reading material (including the latest issue of the Green Party of Michigan's quarterly publication, Green Light, anti-war postcards, buttons, ice cream and a repeated showing of the anti-war documentary Why We Fight.

The table representing Republicans Against The War was staffed by Hillsdale Coalition for Peace & Justice members Bev Brown (below, left image) and Amy Brown (not related). The Democratic table was staffed by a couple of nice older ladies, one who actually visited the Green table and chatted for a while. She almost purchased an "Impeach Bush & Cheney" yard sign from me, but eventually decided against it.

The document I'm holding in the Green Party picture above is the certificate I received (much to my surprise!) from the Peace Coalition, along with seven others, after Marty finished his set. It reads, "for your commitment to Peace and your on-going participation in the Saturday Vigil at the Hillsdale County Courthouse." The awards were presented by Carolee Ball of the Peace Coalition who, along with her late husband Bob, is the namesake of the Ball Peace Award (more on that later!)

First to receive her certificate was Grace DeRose-Wilson (below, left), followed by Liese Szarafinski (center) and Sarah DeRose-Wilson (right).

Receiving their certificates next were Sessily Szarafinski (below, left), Hanna DeRose-Wilson (center) and proud mother Katja Szarafinski (right).

Last (but certainly not least!) were Isaiah DeRose-Wilson (below, left) and Gene Wilson (right -- no relation). Then I received my award (and had to put my camera down!)

"For Outstanding Efforts in the Causes of Peace and Justice.": The winner of the 2007 Ball Peace Award was Peace Coalition President (and fellow Green!) Richard Wunsch (below)! It was quite a trick to keep the award a secret from its recipient, but after all of Richard's hard work, I'm sure it was a nice surprise!

Peace Coalition member Peter Cromwell (below) once again did a fine job as Master of Ceremonies for the 2007 Peace Fest, as well as organizing and setting up (and tearing down!) the stage equipment.

With the awards presentations completed, the music resumed with Chairman Ralph taking the stage. Ralph's whimsical lyrics have made him another local favorite. Though he now lives in the Grand Rapids area, he returned home to take his place as a regular at the Peace Festival, and we're always happy to have him!

Aside from the local political parties, other organizations were represented at this year's Peace & Music Festival, including Pax Christi of Michigan. Mike Gajda (below) is currently trying to form a local chapter of this Catholic group.

Another religious group represented at the Festival was the Hillsdale / Lenawee Open Circle, a Pagan church. We are happy to have such organizations at the Festival, as it helps demonstrate the religious and social diversity of our area that may otherwise go unrecognized. Doug Toms (below, left) and Phil (?) (below, right) staffed the table. Throughout the Festival, Phil also gave massages to visitors.

Another welcome addition to the Festival this year was NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Included at their tent was the current ballot petition for the reform of medical marijuana laws, sponsored by the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care, to protect Michigan's medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail.

Returning this year to the Festival were Kaja Szarafinski (below, right) and her "Veggies For Peace." Lots of delicious vegetables, herbs and flowers were available at Katja's stand, and at very reasonable prices. I enjoyed two very large (and very tasty!) tomatoes for a buck! Try getting that sort of deal at Wal-Mart! Enjoying the afternoon with Katja was her brother, Dietlief(?) from Germany (a nice guy who I had the pleasure of meeting at one of our Saturday vigils).

Brett Smith (below, left) also returned this year, bringing his creative balloon art to Festival visitors. New to this year's Festival was the face-painting of Debbie Morris (in face paint, right), who "left her mark" on many of our visitors.

Autumn (below, left), one of the hard-working volunteers at the Hillsdale Annex, shows off Debbie's handywork. Next to Debbie's table on the ground lay an array of attractive and colorful quilts (below, right). I'm assuming they were created by Debbie for sale, but I neglected to ask.

The afternoon's music continued with Murrow's Boys (James Murphy, Greg Marten and Ken Marten, below), a bluesy acoustic trio named in honor of the late, great CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow. Love that harmonica, Ken!

The theme for this year's Peace & Music Festival was "A Walk In Their Shoes," a visual display that tried to represent, with empty pairs of shoes, the hundreds of thousands of lives destroyed (on all sides) in the conflict in Iraq. Information and images were centerpieces of each element of the display (shown below).

The next musical entertainment was an a cappella performance by Sharon Renier who, aside from having a lovely voice, was the 7th District's Democratic Party candidate for U.S. Congress in 2006, losing to war supporter Republican Tim Walberg. Sharon also offered a variety of veggies for sale at her own table, so the vegetarians among the crowd were well-represented!

Along with social interest groups, there were also a number of commercial interests present at this year's Festival. The Games Reality staffed a table, and Amelia Games (below, left) pulled double duty by also staffing the local Chamber of Commerce Classic Car Raffle.

A local State Farm Insurance agency (below, left) was also present at the Festival, as was a vendor offering native South American jewelry (right -- sorry, didn't get the name):

The Sticks & Stones Shop (out of Indiana, I believe) was at the Festival offering Native American wares, as well as hand-crafted furniture!

A local restaurant, Saucy Dog's Barbecue, offered visitors delicious barbecue sandwiches, ribs and hot dogs. Aaron Trombley (below, left) and owner Wayne Babcock (right) filled many a plate for hungry Fesival patrons (including yours truly).

The next musical performer was Richard Sies, who offered a dramatic change of pace with his Scottish bagpipes. A crowd-pleaser, Richard drew a whoop from a sympathetic audience when he dedicated an old Scottish classic, "The Ass In The Graveyard," to President Bush.

Sidewalk Art Show

A new feature of this year's Festival was the Sidewalk Art Show, courtesy of the lovely walkways of Carl Fast Park and Debbie Morris' big pieces of colored chalk! Click the image of the budding young artist below to start a slide show of the artwork left by Festival visitors.

Next in the lineup of musical entertainers was Bob "The Lone Rider" Teller, a local rock & country musician, singer and songwriter who is also active in the Hillsdale Annex. A dedicated performer, Bob can often be found on the Annex stage, honing his craft.

After Bob came guitarist Brian Anderson. I was quite impressed by his playing, and made a point of shaking his hand and expressing my appreciation to him afterward. I hope he comes back next year!

Another new feature of this year's Festival was the opportunity given to visitors to "imPEACH" President Bush. That is, for the price of a dollar, to lob three peaches at the Commander-In-Chief. Needless to say, by the end of the day, Bush was pretty well covered in bits of fruit.

Last to perform were Shekina Errington (below, left) and Gary Logan (right).

Though Gary and Shekina officially closed the Festival, their presence here meant much more. They were both good friends of Tom Silvia (aka "The Subliminal Kid"), a friend of the Hillsdale community who passed away on August 3 from a heart ailment. Tom was a personal favorite of many of the Hillsdale Annex's patrons, and his monthly themed shows were always highly anticipated. Tom had a way of interacting through his music, stories and personal anecdotes that easily made friends of everyone in his audience.

After the crowds, vendors and tablers had drifted away, those of us remaining gathered together to remember Tom and his music. Tom was, among many things, a poet and Jose, another of his good friends, shared some of his own poetry with us as a tribute. Then, Gary and Shekina offered a musical tribute.

In the waning moments of our celebration of Tom's life Richard Wunsch, my brother Randy and I joined together to sing Tom's signature song, "Last Train Out Of Town," accompanied by Gary and his guitar. It was a heartfelt and, at times, difficult performance, but I think Tom would have been proud.

This year's Peace & Music Festival was dedicated to his memory. He and his music will live on forever in all our hearts.