Kemmering, Catherine

The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival is the oldest and largest continuing outdoor women-only festival. It was founded in 1976 by Lisa Vogel, her sister Kristie Vogel, and friend Mary Kindig who conceived the idea of organizing a women's outdoor music festival after attending the outdoor Midwest Women's Festival and the in-door Boston Women's Music Festival. To help create the Michigan festival, Lisa, Kristie and Mary formed the We Want the Music Collective. The collective raised money, booked performances, distributed information and tickets. The first festival took place on August 20-22, 1976 in Mt. Pleasant, on the 120 acres of land rented by the Collective. Singer-songwriter Holly Near and singer Teresa Trull were among the first Michigan Womyn's Music Festival performers. While the organizers expected about 1,000 people to attend, the first Festival was attended by approximately 2,000. After the first year's success, it was decided to extend the length of the Festival to 4 days. The length of the festival was extended to 5 days by 1986. Between 1977 and 1981 the Festival was held in Hesperia, Mich. In 1982 the Festival moved to a 650-acre location between Hart and Ludington in Oceana County, Mich.

The week-long Festival has grown in number of attendees and diversity of performances, activities, and educational and vocational workshops. Over the years the festival has become ethnically diverse and includes "Womyn of Color"-only space and a "Jewish Womyn's Tent." The festival is family friendly and provides childcare, including a camp for boys aged 5 to 10 (boys aged 4 and under are allowed within the festival). Women volunteers serve as builders, electricians, sound workers, mechanics, security guards, make meals, and provide daycare during the festival.

After the festival, volunteers dismantle constructions, completely remove all non-organic materials from the land, and bury electrical boxes.