A Musical Circus: Leelanau UnCaged Preps 10th Installment Of The Popular Street Festival

Who would have thought a festival inspired by the work of a radical avant-garde composer would become a northern Michigan staple?

Launched in 2013, the Northport-based Leelanau UnCaged was conceived in part as a tribute to John Cage, a 20th century composer known for his unorthodox and often atonal works – most famously 4’33”, a piece where the musicians onstage play nothing on their instruments and instead sit in silence for four minutes and 33 seconds. Though Cage’s music might be an acquired taste for many, the festival he inspired has become one of Leelanau County’s most popular annual events – an early fall celebration that will commemorate its 10th installment next weekend.

Had it not been for COVID-19, Leelanau UnCaged would have marked its 10th anniversary two years ago. But two back-to-back cancellations kept the popular street festival…well, “caged” as it entered the 2020s. After roaring back to life in 2022, the festival is officially celebrating the decade mark this year, and organizers say it will be the biggest and best incarnation yet.

“What has changed the most is the size and enthusiasm of the crowd, and the expense of putting it on,” UnCaged board member Susan Ager tells the Leelanau Ticker. “Our first year, we paid no one. The second and third year, we were…I wouldn’t say ‘stingy,’ but cautious about our money. Eventually we decided we had to pay musicians the going rate, which was only right.”

While putting on UnCaged in 2024 is dramatically more expensive than it was in 2013, Ager sees paying performers what they’re worth as a moral responsibility for a festival that started as a way to highlight northern Michigan’s talented musicians, dancers, and artists.

UnCaged didn’t start until 2013, but the seeds for the event were planted in the mind of founder Andy Thomas all the way back in 1970. Then a 19-year-old sophomore at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, Thomas was in the audience when Cage came to town and staged one of his famous “Musicircus” events in the Macalester fieldhouse.

The concert was worthy of the “circus” description.

“The entire building was filled with musical groups playing simultaneously within five feet of each other,” Thomas has said of the Cage performance. “Classical, folk, rock, jazz, blue grass, bag pipes, and cellos all rang out in the cavernous building. It had a lasting effect on me.”

43 years later, Thomas had the idea to stage something similar in Northport – an event that would act as a cultural supercollider by juxtaposing a wide variety of art and music in a crowded space. It wasn’t just the busyness of Cage’s Musicircus events that Thomas took to heart, either. He also adopted the other rules Cage had put in place – that admission always be totally free or that food and drink be abundantly available.

No pay for musicians was another Cage rule, but – as Ager notes – it’s one that the UnCaged board has seen fit to break in the years since. Heading into 2024, Leelanau UnCaged organizers say the budget for performer pay now approaches $19,000 each year.

This year’s 11-hour festival schedule will include 33 performances across six stages. Five of those stages are dedicated to music, and will see performances from local artists like East Bay Drive, Trillium Groove, Elizabeth Landry, and Broom Closet Boys. According to George Powell, who assists with the music booking, it takes approximately seven months for the UnCaged team to “assemble and coordinate” the multi-band, multi-stage lineup.

The sixth stage will be dedicated entirely to dance – a “big first” for Leelanau UnCaged, according to Ager. Previously, UnCaged dance performances took place right on the street, not on a proper stage.

“Dance has always been mentioned on our posters,” Ager says, referencing UnCaged’s “music, art, dance, and food” billing. “But thanks to the passion of board member Karen Cross, a dancer herself, a donation was secured from the Leelanau Township Community Foundation to pay for a stage and its setup, and to cover the expenses of dancers and sound people.”

Dance highlights include Anishinabek dancers and singers from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, a performance from the local professional dance collective Traverse City Dance Project, and a “percussive dance” showcase from Nic Gareiss, named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in 2019.

Just last year, UnCaged became its own nonprofit organization after years of operating under the umbrella of other entities – first the Village of Northport, then the Northport Arts Association. The newly-formed 501c3 has a mission “to operate and perpetuate” the festival and to “maintain a tradition of free public admission.”

Beyond carrying things forward, though, what’s next as Uncaged enters its second decade? Ager, who serves as secretary on the UnCaged board, refers that question to a trio of younger members who have recently come aboard: Scott Cain, Jonah Powell, and Brian Hafner.

“As we celebrate our tenth year, we must take pride in our legacy while maintaining energy to keep UnCaged going,” the trio shares in written statement. “Our goals are to recruit young talent and leadership, as we’ve begun this year; to work on a success plan; and to ensure long-term financial stability. Most importantly, we want to adapt, innovate, and stay relevant.”

The 10th Leelanau UnCaged will kick off at 11am next Saturday, September 28, and is set to run until 10pm. More information can be found here.