The 21st Annual Ford Arts, Beats & Eats presented by Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort returns to downtown Royal Oak beginning Friday, August 31 – Monday, September 3 for another year of family-friendly entertainment. The Labor Day festival will feature chart-topping musical headliners, one of our nation’s top Juried Fine Arts Shows, more than 50 restaurants and caterers with delicious food offerings, and family fun and entertainment.
The Beats
The national and local star power at this year’s festival will feature more than 200 bands and musical acts on nine performance stages, providing attendees with an exciting entertainment line-up for the entire weekend. This year’s national acts include AWOLNATION, Eddie Money, 38 Special, Everclear, The Spinners, Gin Blossoms, Matt Nathanson, Ben Folds, Chris Janson, and more.
Local talent featured this year includes Sean Blackman’s In Transit, Roots Vibrations, Raion Taiko Japenese Drumming, The Aston Neighborhood Pleasure Club, Staffanie Christi’an, Nina & The Buffalo Riders, among others.
The Eats
Festival-goers will find a food oasis on the streets of downtown Royal Oak with more than 50 of the area’s most popular restaurants, top caterers and food vendors offering up delicious fare and delectable treats. There will be something for everyone to enjoy from sweet to savory, including mouth-watering BBQ, fresh seafood, vegetarian and other healthy food options, and decadent cakes, ice cream and more.
Leading this year’s restaurant lineup are Lockhart’s BBQ, located in downtown Royal Oak, which serves southern-style barbeque with side dishes that are as memorable as the meat; Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, which offers fresh seafood, steaks cooked to perfection; Imperial Ferndale, known for its unique food options and expansive drink menu; Café Muse, which was voted “best sandwich in Oakland County” by a local newspaper’s reader poll.
The Arts
The Juried Fine Art Show that will spotlight many talented artists from across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. This year’s festival patrons – from art collectors to aficionados – will have the opportunity to peruse original works of art and purchase their favorite at more than 130 artist booth spaces.
This year’s Juried Fine Art Show will have participating artists vying for cash awards totaling $7,500. The show will feature art in a variety of mediums, including ceramics, digital art, drawing, fabric/fiber/leather, glass, graphics/printmaking, jewelry, metal, mixed media 2D, mixed media 3D, painting, photography, sculpture and wood.
Michigan Craft Beer Experience
A first-of-its-kind, five-year partnership with Michigan-based Imperial Beverage will make Michigan’s most popular craft brews the official beer at the festival this Labor Day weekend and in the coming years. For the first time in the festival’s history, the event will offer a taste portion of selections from Short’s Brewing Company, Lagunitas Brewing Company, and Old Nation Brewing at every beverage booth on the festival site. In addition, the festival has organized a new Beer Garden to introduce new products to attendees. The beer garden will be located in the parking lot off 6th Street and Washington Ave. and will feature craft “one-offs” from Short’s, Lagunitas and Old Nation brands.
Three-Night Silent Disco
Event organizers are bringing an entirely new experience to the 2018 Arts, Beats with Silent Disco Presents, a three-night dance party for festival-goers of all ages beginning Friday, August 31 to Sunday, September 2. More than just an experience for the ears, the silent disco is a massive dance party where people are dancing and having fun in an environment that is completely silent of music.
With 300 headphones on site, this year’s first-ever silent disco will offer attendees their choice between two colored channels with music provided by world renown DJs, including DJ DomiNate from Traverse City (Mashup, House Party & Old Skool) and Detroit’s own DJ Psycho (Techno, Mash Up).
Breakfast Club Art Fair Makes Its Debut
A new art fair featuring 20 artists from the Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club will make its debut at the corner of 7th St. and Washington Ave. The well-established group of professional and emerging artists has grown to be recognized and invited to venues throughout southeast Michigan, including the Detroit Institute of Arts. Many of its members have received a number of awards and have been prominently recognized for their individual works of art.
Importantly, it is an enthusiast group that frequently gathers to sell, share and raffle art while promoting local special events and activities. Festival attendees will have a chance to immerse themselves in the new art fair to ogle, buy and mingle among its many talented participants.
Fun Family-Friendly Entertainment
Event organizers are proud to continue the tradition for providing fun family-friendly programming and entertainment. This year’s event will feature award-winning artists and performers, as well as exciting interactive educational activities that kids of all ages will enjoy.
Families can watch acts like Kevin Kammeraad & Friends. Kammeraad is an award-winning artist and performer who inspires imagination through poetry, puppetry and music; performances by Raion Taiko with Godaiko Drummers, an authentic Japanese drumming ensemble; thrilling and engaging narratives from Storyteller Judy Sima, Storyteller Ivory D and Storyteller La’Ron Williams. The Michigan Science Center also will host a collaborative “tour of science” using exciting, hands-on demonstrations from experiencing the power of air pressure and to learning to defy the mysterious power gravity.
Oakland Community College Student Performances
The festival music line-up will feature performances by Oakland Community College (OCC) students, highlighting the college’s new partnership with Arts, Beats & Eats. On the OCC Cultural/Acoustic Stage, Chef Athena Bolger CCC, FMP, will demonstrate infusing tasty spirits and how to build them into perfect cocktails. Alongside Chef Bolger, award winning Chef, Doug Ganhs, CEC, and his amazingly talented protégés will demonstrate how to create vibrant hand carved fruit and vegetable centerpieces to brighten up your table.
The OCC theatre program will add to the line-up on Saturday and Sunday, presenting 20 actors in a 45-minute show, covering three short, very funny and poignant one-acts and two preview scenes from an up-coming production. On the Kids Stage, the OCC graphic design program is facilitating a performance in the spirit of 1960’s Pop Artist Claes Oldenburg utilizing 8-foot wood planks. Attendees will experience exaggerated scale by working as a team, assembling the structures on stage. Students from the college’s music department also will perform on the R&B/Jazz Stage Friday morning.