The three-day LivelyLands music festival kicking off tonight (August 20) is poised to show off Leelanau’s countryside in the dreamiest way possible — with the first artist starting at the “golden hour,” plus a homegrown barbecue dinner, local libations, more live tunes until twilight, and optional camping under the stars. It’s all set on a 20-acre campground, vegetable and flower farm off M-72 near Empire.

And indeed, LivelyLands is a dream come true for founder/executive producer Emily Lively, who announced joyfully this June that the Kickstarter campaign to help bring the 2021 festival project to life was backed in full, totaling $18,346 in pledges. “It was so amazing after all this hard work and the last four years, to feel like we could really make things happen and pay the artists what they deserve.” After Kickstarter fees, Lively says, “100 percent went to artists’ pay or the production team pay.”

The 2003 Glen Lake grad studied music business at Texas State University and made Austin home for 15 years, much of it as a staffer at the South by Southwest (SXSW) cultural festival. In the summer of 2017 — with the help of a few Austin music-scene friends who caravanned home with her — she founded LivelyLands at her family’s farm in Burdickville. The next year it hopped to the field next to Dave’s Garage in Empire; the 2019 iteration of LivelyLands took place at the current site, then owned by the Eagles club.

Afterward, Lively was approached by the club, which said it was selling the property. Lively, her musician/electrician husband Robert Chacon and her parents, Kelly and Jim Lively discussed the opportunity and purchased the 20-acre site to use as a rustic campground (now called Backyard Burdickville), to host LivelyLands and other events, and to farm some of the land.

Lively says her goal for moving back to Leelanau County and finding a permanent home for a “boutique” music festival is to “build community and create a place where folks can escape to a cute Michigan town, eat good farm-grown food, and connect with nature as you listen to amazing music.”

The music roster includes artists from across different genres, from folk and Americana to jazz, rock and bluegrass. 

The 2021 LivelyLands lineup is headlined by Traverse City-based singer/songwriter Joshua Davis, and Laura Rain and the Caesars, a Detroit-based soul/r&b band. Others include Dana Falconberry, Emma Cook, Crys Matthews, and Evie. Typically, artists hail from far-flung corners of the country so “touring artists make and kindle connections with each other and can cultivate a northern Michigan following,” says Lively. “That is something we pride ourselves on; however, this year we’ve stayed a little more regional.”

Opening the festival Friday is singer/songwriter Dana Falconberry. “I used to listen to her in Austin on college radio. She has a song called ‘Leelanau’ and she grew up coming up here,” says Lively. When Falconberry and husband Jonathan Boyd recently relocated their vegan spring roll business, Roll Model, from Austin to the commercial kitchen at the nonprofit community center Grow Benzie, “a mutual friend connected us. She’s an incredible musician and I was kind of a fan girl booking her,” Lively laughs.

The close-knit production team includes behind-the-scenes stars: For instance, Cary Caldwell, who worked alongside Lively as planning manager and security liaison at SXSW. He coordinated security for VIPs including the Irish Prime Minister, the Crown Prince of Norway, and former First Lady Michelle Obama. He’s now executive director of 212 Music Group, based in New Zealand, and flew in just for LivelyLands.

“We have 50 years of experience on our production team,” Lively notes. “There is so much comfort there. But let’s be clear, we never want to be a 30,000-person festival. We are only on 20 acres.”

The Lively family is also all hands on deck. At the time of our interview, flower farmer and designer Kelly Lively — also Emily’s mom and co-investor — was prepping dozens of cabbages for slaw for Friday’s welcome barbeque dinner. Jane Lively, Emily’s sister and farmer at The Lively Farm and CSA in Burdickville grew those cabbages, along with “98 percent of the produce” that will adorn the local beef burgers served on Saturday, and the breakfast tacos on Sunday.

“We have the farm and are trying to be as hyperlocal as possible, so we will have burgers and picnic items,” says Lively. “We are also saying bring your cooler if you want to bring your cooler. We want it to be affordable and easy for locals.” To adhere to liquor laws, carry-in beverages are not allowed (save for water) but local beer and wine will be available, “served at the original Art’s Tavern bar, which came with the property.”

Lively also notes that LivelyLands is a family-friendly festival (kids under 12 are admitted for free). “We want families, we know music is good for kids. Emma Cook, [another Glen Lake grad] is coming back from Vermont to do a kids show Saturday at 11.” Saturday’s official show starts at 1pm and runs until 9:30pm. Sunday there will be a donation-based acoustic music/yoga session in the morning, with brunch at noon. “What we are hoping to give people is this space where they can feel a lot of community, and they can unwind,” says Lively.

She adds that for next year, the Backyard Burdickville/LivelyLands grounds “just had township approval to go up to 40 campsites [this summer it’s limited to 25]. And we’re just waiting on the township and some other parts of our approval process to go through to add indoor concerts in our indoor theatre, and small weddings and barbeques, so we can be an event center year-round on a smaller scale in addition to our three larger concerts a year.”

Lively shares two last-minute lineup changes: Amber Hasan is joining Mark Lavengood and Seth Bernard on Friday; Kalamazoo-based cellist and vocalist Jordan Hamilton was in a car accident Wednesday and will no longer be performing. “Funds for his set will be donated to him, and we are looking into options to do a fundraiser to support his recovery,” says Lively. Stage manager and Austin artist Jason Weems will be performing in a duo with Bernard in Hamilton’s stead.

Online ticket sales are now closed; day passes are available onsite; and as of press time there are three rustic campsites available at the door. Find full details on festival protocols on the LivelyLands Facebook page. 

Pictured: The LivelyLands 2021 production crew, which includes farmer/sister Jane Lively; flower farmer/mom Kelly Lively; strategist/dad Jim Lively; MC/stage manager Jason Weems; sister Annie Lively; production assistant Gibson Davis; festival manger Cary Caldwell; artist liaison Anna Heystek; operations manager Honora McCormack; founder and executive producer Emily Lively; co-producer Robert Chacon.