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Beaver Island Music Festival, 2006

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeEvent
Dates2006-07-21 – 2006-07-22
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Event
Dates
2006-07-21 – 2006-07-22
Kind
Music festival
Followed by
Beaver Island Music Festival, 2007
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
music-folklorecelebrationtourismcommunity
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

The Beaver Island Music Festival’s fourth held edition ran July 21-22, 2006, on the Burton family property, described by a September 2006 Beacon retrospective as having grown “from one band and a flatbed trailer to fourteen acts on two stages filling the air with sweet music over two days.” The same column marks this as approximately the fourth anniversary of the Burtons opening their property to the festival, consistent with the 2003 founding year recorded on the festival’s hub article, and names all fourteen acts across the two days, closing with the report that the festival “raised One Thousand Dollars for the Beaver Island Volunteer Fire Department.”1

A separate, earlier fundraising and preview event – billed as a “sneak peek” dance on June 2, 2006, featuring Rootstand and Prisoners of Paradise – is attested in April and May 2006 ads and should not be confused with the July festival itself.2

Program

An advertisement in the June 2006 issue lists the announced lineup “on [unspecified] stages”: SIMPLICITY, PRISONERS OF PARADISE, TAGBIRDS (likely an OCR misreading of “Ragbirds”), LLE, ED PALMER, HOGAN SAYS, ERNIE DOUGLAS, WHAT FOUR, NATIVES OF THE NEW DAWN, BACK FORTY, P.A.U.L AND THE HARPER WOODS HEROS, BEANS, ERIC GLATZ, NICK RAYMOND WITH COLD STEEL RAIN, and SOWA BROS.3

The September 2006 retrospective column, read in full, names fourteen acts across the two days, matching the column’s own count of “fourteen acts on two stages.” Friday: What Four (opener, “pop-rock”), Beans (a “swashbuckling” set built on a running pirate bit), Simplicity (a Bob Dylan acoustic tribute), The Ragbirds (“flat-out stole the festival”), P-a-u-l and the Harper Woods Heroes (blues rock), and Back Forty (“foot-stomping, hand-clapping, yodel-yelling”). Saturday: Sowa Brothers Band (“making their second appearance on the BIMF stage”), Hogan Says (original rock and jazz), Eric Glatz (guitar), Beans again, in an encore joined by “old pals Fin and the Whistler,” The Ragbirds a second time, Ernie Douglas (performer, MC, and “raffle arbiter,” drawing the crowd into his “Coyote Suite”), Ed Palmer and friends (described as “long-time Island star and native son” Ed Palmer, playing despite technical difficulties), L.L.E. (“BIMF returnees”), Prisoners of Paradise (“took up right where they left off last year”), a second, electric set from Simplicity, and Natives of the New Dawn, closing the festival with a set blending hip-hop and 1970s soul that the column calls “a tribute to growing up in Michigan.” The column credits Dan and Carol Burton and “all the volunteers” for the two days, and states that “the like-minded souls of the BIMF raised One Thousand Dollars for the Beaver Island Volunteer Fire Department.”1

Evidence limits

The June 2006 ad’s “1TH ANNUAL” numbering is an OCR artifact and is not legible as a specific ordinal in the held text; it is quoted here as printed rather than corrected to a guessed number. The announced-lineup ad (June) and the post-event retrospective (September) name overlapping but not identical acts — Nick Raymond with Cold Steel Rain appears in the June ad but not in the September retrospective’s fourteen-act roster read for this article, so the act’s actual appearance is not independently confirmed. No ticket price for the July festival itself (as opposed to the June 2 preview dance) was found in the issues read for this article.

Open questions

  • What does the June 2006 ad’s garbled “1TH ANNUAL” numeral actually say on the original page scan?
  • Did Nick Raymond with Cold Steel Rain perform, given the act is named in the June ad but not in the September retrospective’s fourteen-act roster?
  • Is “TAGBIRDS” in the June ad an OCR misreading of “Ragbirds,” or a distinct, differently named act?

See also

Footnotes

  1. Beaver Beacon, September 2006, “Observations from the Advice Booth” (Bayard Kurth III). ↩ ↩2

  2. Beaver Beacon, April-May 2006, “Beaver Island Music Festival Fund Raiser” advertisement. ↩

  3. Beaver Beacon, June 2006, “July 21 & 22 Beaver Island Music Festival 2006” advertisement. ↩

Sources

  1. A contemporary visitor reply identifies the Beaver Island Music Festival as Friday and Saturday, July 21–22, 2006. This is community calendar corroboration, not evidence of attendance or the complete program.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 00 · t000624
  2. "Observations from the Advice Booth," Beaver Beacon, September 2006 (byline Bayard Kurth III).
    Retrospective column, read in full: "Man, has the Beaver Island Music Festival grown up. From one band and a flatbed trailer to fourteen acts on two stages filling the air with sweet music over two days." Friday: What Four, Beans, Simplicity (Bob Dylan acoustic tribute), The Ragbirds, P-a-u-l and the Harper Woods Heroes, Back Forty. Saturday: Sowa Brothers Band ("making their second appearance on the BIMF stage"), Hogan Says, Eric Glatz, Beans (encore, joined by "old pals Fin and the Whistler"), The Ragbirds (again), Ernie Douglas ("performer, mighty master of ceremonies, raffle arbiter"), Ed Palmer and friends, L.L.E. ("BIMF returnees"), Prisoners of Paradise ("took up right where they left off last year"), Simplicity (a second, electric set), and Natives of the New Dawn, closing the festival with a set blending hip-hop and 1970s soul. These fourteen distinct acts match the column's own "fourteen acts" count. States "the like-minded souls of the BIMF raised One Thousand Dollars for the Beaver Island Volunteer Fire Department." Credits Dan, Carol Burton, and volunteers, and photographs by Dick Burris. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2006-09_Beaver-Beacon
  3. The held fifty-two-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2006-09_Beaver-Beacon
  4. Advertisement, "JULY 21 & 22 BEAVER ISLAND MUSIC FESTIVAL 2006," Beaver Beacon, June 2006.
    Full-page ad reads "1TH ANNUAL" beside the dates (an OCR rendering that is illegible or garbled as printed -- possibly "4TH ANNUAL," consistent with a 2003 founding, but not read here as a confirmed numeral) and lists a lineup: SIMPLICITY, PRISONERS OF PARADISE, TAGBIRDS, LLE, ED PALMER, HOGAN SAYS, ERNIE DOUGLAS, WHAT FOUR, NATIVES OF THE NEW DAWN, BACK FORTY, P.A.U.L AND THE HARPER WOODS HEROS, BEANS, ERIC GLATZ, NICK RAYMOND WITH COLD STEEL RAIN, SOWA BROS. Tickets on sale via BIMF.NET, 231.838.2883, and Island Energies Gas Station. "TAGBIRDS" is presumed to be an OCR misreading of "Ragbirds," per the same band's appearance in the September retrospective, but is quoted here as printed. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2006-06_Beaver-Beacon
  5. The held forty-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2006-06_Beaver-Beacon
  6. "Beaver Island Music Festival Fund Raiser," Beaver Beacon, April 2006 and May 2006 (advertisement).
    Advertises a pre-festival fundraiser/preview dance on "JUNE 2ND, 2006," 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., "tickets only 20 bucks, includes souvenir T-shirt and a surprise goody, first 200 guests only," featuring "amplified acoustic performances by Rootstand and Beaver Island's own Prisoners of Paradise," billed as "your chance to get a sneak peek into this summers Beaver Island Music Festival." Tickets via PayPal and Island Energies Gas Station from May 1, 2006; details at BIMF.net or 231-838-2883. This is a distinct pre-festival fundraiser event, not the July festival itself. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2006-04_Beaver-Beacon
  7. The held forty-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2006-04_Beaver-Beacon
  8. "Beaver Island Music Festival" community calendar entries, Beaver Beacon, January-July 2006.
    Recurring calendar line across the January, February, March, April, June, and July 2006 issues gives the dates as "July 21st-22nd" (some issues render 21st only), alongside Museum Week (July 17-22), Baroque on Beaver (July 29-30), and Bite of Beaver (October 7). No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2006-07_Beaver-Beacon
  9. The held forty-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2006-07_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island Music Festival, 2006”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-music-festival-2006/, accessed [date], citing T. Scott, reply in “When is the best weather to visit beaver island..,” Beaver Island Forum, June 16, 2006. (and 8 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-03. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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