Ann Arbor Summer Festival

The Ann Arbor Summer Festival is an annual display of performing arts, outdoor entertainment and community spirit in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Each year, the three-week event offers dozens of performances, events, activities, exhibitions, parties and more, with eclectic music, dance, theater, film, visual arts and family fun.

Ann Arbor Summer Festival
DatesDaily from the 2nd Friday of June to the 2nd Sunday of July
Location(s)Ann Arbor, Michigan
Years active1984–2019; 2021–
Websitewww.a2sf.org/
Food vendor booths on East Washington in front of Rackham building

History

The Ann Arbor Summer Festival was incorporated in 1978 as a town and gown nonprofit organization and presented its first full season in 1984. The Festival was created to support two concurrent and complementary performing arts programs, one indoor and one outdoor, on the University of Michigan campus. The Mainstage series occurs in the Power Center for the Performing Arts and Hill Auditorium, and includes ticketed performances of music, dance, theater and comedy that are national and international in scope. The second series, Top of the Park, takes place directly outside the indoor venues and is free to the general public.

Early Festival seasons emphasized classical music and theater but have since become more popular and diverse in nature, encompassing a breadth of performance genres. Top of the Park was initially developed as a gathering place for patrons before and after the indoor performances and featured live entertainment and refreshment sales. Top of the Park soon began to attract audiences on its own and is now one of Ann Arbor's favorite community events featuring an eclectic mix of performances by local and regional artists. A selection of classic, children's and popular films are screened at dusk. Attendance at Top of the Park averages 1,500 people per night.[1]

There'll be no festival in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic was to blame; the 37th was deferred to 2021.

References
  1. "Ann Arbor Summer Festival Poster" (PDF). MLive. Retrieved 4 May 2013.

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