Well, this one topped the charts –  Mighty Uke Day was a huge hit, for sure! We had a bit of rain, but it didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of our attendees; the streets of Old Town were full of smiling ukulele people.

Because of the precipitation, we moved our Friday Flash Mob into the usually quiet confines of the Downtown Lansing Public Library. On very short notice, we packed the library lobby and entertained the patrons and staff with a rousing set of music.

We broadened our Friday workshop offerings to six sessions with Ukulenny, Cynthia Lin, Abe Lagrimas Jr., James Hill, and Joel Mabus. After a dinner break, everyone headed to Dart Auditorium for our evening concert with Lenny, Joel, and Cynthia. It was a fun evening of music topped off by Cynthia hula dancing with Abe and Lenny backing her up.

Saturday just keeps getting more action-packed every year! The morning started with a huge group strum at the Crossroads Church, which also served as the host venue for our Featured Performer Stage. When it finished, folks stayed to listen to the Featured Performers or headed out to learn at our workshops and enjoy the open mic and other activities.

One of the highlights of the day was Ukulenny’s Motown Strum with help from Cynthia, Abe, and our own Steve Steverson (Szilagyi) on bass. Lenny picked out a variety of great Motown cuts and had the crowd strumming and playing like they were at Hitsville USA.

Saturday evening’s concert may have just been the finest ever at Mighty Uke Day. Karla Kane with husband Khoi was a refreshing new face and voice to the festival and Abe Lagrimas Jr. wowed everyone with his technical expertise and soulful playing. And, what can be said about James Hill and Anne Janelle that hasn’t already been said; without a doubt they are two of the best songwriters and performers on the scene today.

We expanded our Mother’s Day Acoustic Afterglow show to allow for a larger audience, but we still kept it as a nice, intimate way to decompress after a busy weekend. We all enjoyed the relaxed give and take with James and Anne and were treated to a couple of “deep cuts” from them which we don’t usually get a chance to hear.

Along with our headlining acts, we had a variety of great music at our Featured Performer and Open Mic stages. Some of you are seasoned performers and some were playing in front of an audience for the first time, thank you so much for sharing your talents and tunes with all of us. Thanks to Mike Dyer for running sound all day at the Featured Performer Stage and to Chuck Deyo, John French, and Cindy McElroy for keeping the open mic running smoothly.

We had a lot of help in putting MUD 8 together and I know I’m going to forget someone, but I’d like to try and give thanks to folks who made the weekend so special.

We couldn’t have put this all together without our volunteers, stationed at the workshops, various stages, MUD HQ, and other areas. Thanks for donating your precious weekend time, I hope you had some fun during and outside of your shifts.

Our MUD Committee was a big help in making this year’s festival work. Thanks to Jon Benallack for his graphic arts skills, management at Dart Auditorium, and photography; Cindy McElroy for the MUD banners hung around Old Town and hosting the green room; Steve Szilagyi for proofreading our communications with the press, photography, and being the MUD “designated bass player” (aka Steve Steverson); Chuck Deyo for organizing the open mic and doing whatever else needed to be done; Larry Cooley for his financial guidance and volunteer organization; John French and Chuck (Punch Drunk) for conducting the Two-Chord Group Strum and playing for the concert attendees while they waited to get in; and Sara Wagner for her work as our “Tent City Mayor”and working with Rhea Van Atta and Joy Szilagyi at the Dart Auditorium merch table.

Sponsors old and new donated instruments and other items for our silent auction along with other contributions. After all was said and done, we raised over to $15,000 to go towards our Music is the Foundation school and community music programs. Thanks to Kali the Wonder Dog for funding the Beginning Uke Workshops, Dave’s Ukes for their incredibly generous sponsorship of the Featured Performer Stage, GHS Strings for their sponsorship of the Ukulele Care workshop, and Rhea Van Atta and the Old Town General Store for sponsoring our performer and volunteer Green Rooms. Silent auction instrument donations were provided by Kala Brand Instruments, Ohana, Mainland Ukes, Lanikai, Butterfly Ukes, and Dave’s Ukes along with painted ukes and other artwork from Cindy Mielock, Calla Vandenberg, Hedda Doyle, Nia Whittaker, and Olivia Gorman. And, and a big thank you to our VIP ticket-holders who gave a little extra to help the cause. A huge thanks to Daedalian Lowry and our media sponsor, WLNZ Radio 89.7 from Lansing Community College. Their participation allowed us to return to Dart Auditorium for our evening concerts, by far the nicest venue we’ve used. Big props to Melissa Kaplan, Bob Fernholz, Julian, Chase, and Steve at Dart for their organization and expertise.

Other friends of MUD 8 include: Slick Shirts, MICA Gallery, Mother and Earth Baby Boutique, Absolute Gallery, Old Town Commercial Association, Red Cedar Friends Meeting House, Dean Transportation, CATA, Tony Coleman and Margaret Meagher of Tiny Goat Films (who started it all with the “Mighty Uke” documentary), Urban Beat Events Center, Diane Sanborn and the Cosy Koi, and our “home away from home” Sir Pizza.

Mighty Uke Day has strong supporters in the local press including Holly Nobles from the Lansing State Journal, Sarah Spohn from The Palm, Karen Love and Jack Robbins from WLNZs “Coffee Break”, and Tim Barron from Tim Barron’s Radio Michigan – thanks for helping us get the word out and covering our funky little festival. Thanks also to Stan Werbin and Elderly Instruments for helping spread the word via their email list.

And, of course, we couldn’t have a festival without you, our attendees. There’s nothing better than seeing a few hundred people packing Sir Pizza and Dart Auditorium, walking around Old Town, jamming, and just having a great time overall. I hope you all had as much fun as it looked like!

You can find photos and video at our MUD Homepage, keep checking back as new items are being added as they become available.

We are always trying to make Mighty Uke Day better, so if you would take a moment to fill out our post-festival survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6PWV9HP. We value your input and take it into serious consideration when planning future events.

Mark your calendars for Mighty Uke Day 9, which will be held May 10 -12, 2019 in Old Town. Keep up-to-date on details as they emerge via our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mightyukedayfestival/ and sign up for our “News from the Great Uke State” newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/Asfwr – there’s always some ukeing going on in Michigan!

Peace, love, and ukulele,