Summer is almost here and that means that festival season will soon be in full swing! And now that Governor Gretchen Whitmer is planning to relax more restrictions come June 1, festival organizers in West Michigan are doing their best to accommodate more people, and to continue to make everyone feel safe while giving us all a sense of the return to normal life.
David Abbott is the executive director of the Festival of the Arts. He says there were so many things organizers were required to be cautious about, that even with a restructure and a brand new plan created for June there were so many challenges in place. But now he says, things are starting to feel more like normal festival seasons.
"Everybody is happy with the announcement yesterday, it totally changes how we can totally approach everything now, says David. "Providing masks in a bag, hand sanitizer in a bag and surely we'll still do that but now the restrictions have been lifted."
From June 4 through the 6, artists from across the state will paint live in downtown Grand Rapids, and live music will be heard all along Monroe Center.
"Now that the pandemic is lifting for outdoor restrictions, it kind of feels so much like our original story, explains David. "We're encouraging people to come downtown to see the art so we are happy and proud that we're able to do this this year and know that its just the beginning of the way to really celebrate getting back to the festival of the arts for the whole community."
Also coming up in downtown Grand Rapids, the Grand Rapids Asian-Pacific Festival will take place at Calder Plaza June 11 and 12. But despite lifted restrictions, organizers like Ace Marasigan, of the Grand Rapids Asian-Pacific Foundation says, for this event they are asking attendees to wear their masks.
"It's hard for us to police who is fully vaccinated and who is not," explains Ace. "And we don't want to be that person who has to kick people out because they aren't able to provide verification that they are vaccinated. So we have decided that it's way better for us to have a universal rule just asking people to wear their mask."
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