PARKAPALOOZA 2025 • End of Summer Celebration Returns to Haithco Park September 7th

When it first formed back in 2005 the Dstreet Music Foundation began their journey armed with admirable vision and multiple missions focused upon strengthening the fabric and expanding the impact and importance of our musical scene here in the Great Lakes Bay Region.

Originally conceived by co-founder David Dauer and joined by Ed Kerns and Dennis Beson (both original members in the popular cover band The Sinclairs back in the late ‘80s & early ‘90s) specific goals ranged from  assisting musicians in need due to unexpected illness, to strengthening the importance of musical education in our schools.  Equally important was the desire to expand the exposure of talented bands and musicians  to rural parts of the region who rarely have an opportunity to experience the transformative power music carries to congregate and pull a community together.

One of the signature and landmark events DStreet established to further these goals is an all-day free music festival known as PARKAPALOOZA, which brings together regional talent, sunshine, and civic mindedness into a perfect ‘end-of-summer’ celebration.    

Through this annual festival Dstreet has been able to successfully sponsor two major programs: The Band Wagon, which takes donated used musical instruments and refurbishes them to allow economically challenged families with talented children to further their musical explorations; and the  Dstreet Musical Scholarship program, which allows talented and musically engaged children to further their education in either college or trade school endeavors.

Since its inception Parkapalooza has hosted an estimated 30,000 visitors, showcased nearly 60 great musical acts, and donated over $10,000 to a number of worthwhile charities.

For many years this incredible gathering converged on the banks of Sanford Lake at Sanford State Park, but as it did with many of us the year 2020 dealt a severe blow to Dstreet when they were hit with the double whammy of the Sanford Dam breaking and taking out Sanford Park during the floods, coupled with the Covid pandemic which caused them to suspend the festival for two years before moving it to Freeland’s Hayes Park in 2022, only to skip it again in 2023 in order to reorganize and re-think the best way to evolve this landmark end of summer celebration.

Last year Dstreet  welcomed an influx of new blood and new Board Members and were able to re-package the festival at Saginaw’s Haithco Park, which is conveniently located right off I-675 on 2121 Schust Road.  The new festival site worked out so well that is now preparing to bathe the region in good vibrations once again this year at Haithco on Sunday, September 7^th  for PARKAPALOOZA 2025, which promises even more events and activities for patrons to enjoy between the hours of 12:00 Noon - 7:00 PM.

This  family oriented celebration will include live music, food trucks, games, and is entirely FREE to the public.  Performing bands will consist of Major Chords for Minors Students kicking things off at 12:00 noon; Major Chords for Minors Teachers performing at 1:00 PM; The Band Roulette All-Stars, which is headed up by Jeff Poirier and a litany of A-Class musicians taking the stage at 2:00 PM, the Women of Country Trio featuring Amy Petty, Laurie Middlebrook, and LoraDale at 3:00 PM; Pride & Joy - an R&B group in the vein of Stevie Ray Vaughan gracing the stage at 4:00 PM; the classic hits variety band Off Tempo at 5:00 PM, with the group The Wildlife, featuring award-winning songwriter, multi-talented instrumentalist, and  Dstreet board member Andy Dalton closing out the festival at 6:00 PM.

This year as the Dstreet Music Foundation moves close to its 20^th Anniversary of making our community a stronger and more joyous place to live, we recently sat down to discuss this year’s festival with new board members Judy Alarie, who is the organization’s  Band Wagon organizer and champion, and Kristine Schock, who is organizing a Musician’s Swap Meet at this year’s Parkapalooza, and also owns and operates Rock Solid Music along with her husband Jeff.

REVIEW:  As an organization Dstreet has been around for two decades and for 17 years Parkapalooza has served as its signature event.  What prompted the two of you to become involved with Dstreet and what can people expect this year in terms of your entertainment line-up, activities, and vendors?

Judy Alarie: Laurie Middlebrook-Spear introduced me to Dstreet Music Foundation.  We met through a mutual friend and she told me about Dstreet.  She suggested I come to a meeting to see what they were all about, and I was hooked.  I loved the idea of getting instruments into the hands of students who are in a financial situation that can't afford to buy one, that allows them to and encourages them to play an instrument.   I have two grown children that played while in school.  I saw first-hand how much they enjoyed playing. I want other students to experience that, too.

This year at Parkapalooza we are going to have the students of Major Chords for Minors take the stage at Noon to perform followed by some of the teachers from Major Chords.  We have genres of, blues, country, to classic hits.  There will be a corn hole tournament, a music swap meet sponsored by Rock Solid Music of Midland, face painting and games for the kids.  Food provided by Maria's Kitchen, BBQ, Baked Goods and Pizza.

Kristine Schock: Getting involved with Dstreet was a natural progression for me. My husband and I purchased Rock Solid Music about a year and a half ago. Over the past year, we have had several people stop by the store to ask where they can donate instruments. By becoming a board member with Dstreet we can help by getting those instruments into the Band Wagon and into the hands of those who would like to play them.

I also enjoy being a part of the musical community in the Tri-City region. Having the opportunity to help plan music-related events is exciting to me. I just joined Dstreet last month, so I don't have a clear picture yet of what my exact role will be, but I look forward to helping and figuring it all out.

We are excited to be partnering with Major Chords for Minors this year. We will be showcasing the talents of the students and their instructors. We look forward to another great performance from The Classic Women of Country, and also a special treat from Jeff Poirer for all the Band Roulette fans out there. Overall, we are so grateful to all the musicians for donating their time and talent.

REVIEW: As Dstreet's Band Wagon organizer and champion, seeing as Band Wagon is such a signature component of D-Street, can you tell me how the program is evolving and how many kids you've been able to assist this year?

Judy: Dstreet Band Wagon is evolving through social media, attending events where we are able to hand out fliers about what we are all about, contacting music teachers throughout the area and beyond and good old fashion word of mouth.   Since I've come on board about a year ago, I have put about a dozen instruments into students hands.  It's been very gratifying to say the least. 

We encourage people that have instruments that are sitting around in their closet not being used, to donate them to Dstreet.  When a request comes in from a student for an instrument, I go through our inventory list of instruments to see if we have one available.  If we do, I will take it to Herter Music Center and have them prepare it for playing condition and get it into the students’ hands.  We ask that the student take care of the instrument and keep it in good playing condition.  Once they are finished playing the instrument, or graduate from high school, they return it back to Dstreet so it can be put into another student’s hands to play.

REVIEW:  Kristine: It's my understanding you are organizing a Musician's Swap Meet at this year's event. Can you tell me how this will work and what some of the goals and objectives are with this new feature?

Kristine: We are hosting a Musicians' Swap Meet in the parking lot from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. We are starting this event just a little earlier than the Parkapalooza event to hopefully help with congestion in the parking lot. This will allow participants and vendors to get set up before the rest of the community joins us on this day.

The Swap Meet will work similarly to a "Trunk or Treat" event. Participants will be assigned a parking spot where they can park their vehicle, and they will have the ability to work out of their trunk/hatchback.  Participants can also bring tables to display their items.  At this event, you can buy, sell, and trade musical gear, instruments, and merchandise.

While I cannot take credit for coming up with this idea, we were approached by a friend/customer of ours who had suggested that we host a Musicians Swap Meet. Our building and parking lot are insufficient for an event like this, but after discussing the idea with Kevin and Laurie Spear (Members of D-Street),  they offered to let us host it at Parkapalooza this year.

I wanted to find a way for this to not only benefit the participating musicians but Dstreet as well, and came up with the idea to sell spaces ($20.00) to the event, which in turn would provide donations to Dstreet. I have a section of the parking lot at Haithco Park in mind for the Swap Meet that has approximately 50 parking spots. My hope and goal is to sell each one of these spots to participants who are looking to sell their items at this event. If we accomplish this, we will raise $1000.00 for Dstreet which could turn into a scholarship for one of our budding musicians in the community.

REVIEW: For the last few years Dstreet has been rebuilding and re-defining itself while staying true to its founding principles, so can you tell me what talents and resources you are focusing upon to realize your own goals with expanding Dstreet’s impact and reach to new audiences and supporters?

Judy: I don't have any musical talent, but I enjoy all types of music.  My main focus is to get Dstreet Music Foundation's name out there any way I can.  I assist with promotional posts on social media, focusing on scholarship opportunities, events being sponsored by Dstreet, stage rental, and loaning instruments or requests from the public for used instruments for our band wagon.

As of late, the instrument requests have been coming in at rapid speed.  Our band wagon is slowly depleting.  Which is a good thing, but we need people to donate those instruments that are just taking up space on their shelves, floors and put them in the hands of students that want to fulfill their musical journey.

Kristine: As I mentioned before, joining Dstreet just felt like a natural next step for me. Working at the store each day and being involved in the music community, I hope to help by promoting events and getting the word out about the bandwagon and scholarship opportunities. There are people of all ages and backgrounds who are interested in getting involved, but don't always know how to find those opportunities. The more information we can share, the more we can work together full circle and complete Dstreet’s mission of producing low or no-cost concerts throughout the community, promoting musical education through scholarships and training events, and providing musical instruments to economically challenged kids.

Rock Solid Music is excited about partnering with Dstreet for the Swap Meet this year, and I know Dstreet is equally excited about that partnership, in addition to also working with Major Chords for Minors this year.  Any time we can lock arms with each other, we can find growth, new audiences, and supporters.

I  want to encourage people to come out and enjoy the day! Haithco Park is beautiful and provides a great atmosphere for this event. The kids will have fun, the music will be great, the food will be tasty, and it's a great way to wrap up Summer with one last hurrah!