Little Bit of Willow Ranch Event History

The Michigan Peace Fest originally started as a networking event for local musicians and a birthday celebration for its founder, Bim Willow.  After 16 years, the event has moved from its bent willow stage serviced by an extension cord to Willow’s house.  Now music is unleashed from a professional stage with movie screens on each side in a meadow, surrounded by woods and manned by a skilled sound crew.  Last year we added a shower house and flush toilets.  Last year, we additional parking areas were bulldozed.  Even after the improvements, the venue is still ‘down home’ and ‘non-commercial’ -- and that’s just the way Willow plans to keep it.  Many attendees have been coming back for the entire 19 years.  Successful band members who started playing here when they were teenagers, now return annually to ‘play’ homage to The Willow Ranch and everyone who encouraged them along the way.  The music is ALWAYS exceptional -- the camping, wooded and rustic -- the 1,000+ crowd, an extended family.  At the end of it all, every last paper and cigarette butt is cleansed from the land, leaving only the beaten grass and blackened fire pits to bare witness. So that being said, won't you join our Willow Ranch Family in celebration! Don't forget to checkout our Photo Gallery (maybe you'll see yourself) and our Event Guide for 2010!