The Loosestrife Festival

In 1964 Sarah Dimmers, president of the Hillsdale County Historical Society, envisioned a festival planned around the bloom time of purple loosestrife, a vivid purple weed whose spikes rise from wetlands in a carpeted mass. Nothing came from her dream, but in 1980 Geneva Gates wrote an opinion piece in the Hillsdale Daily News in which she echoed Sarah's thoughts. Entitled "Thank Mrs. Stock for Loosestrife," the article explained how Mrs. Alexander Stock, daughter-in-law of F.W. and Wilhelmina Stock, had first planted the lovely weed in Stock's Park in 1884. Geneva called loose-strife "one of our county's most valuable—and taken for granted—attributes." She thought a festival to honor it would be a great idea.

Geneva Gates spoke to a more responsive audience. In 1981 planning began for the first three-day Loosestrife Festival. With Parke Hayes and Milt Ferguson as co-chairs and Dick Ennis as secretary-treasurer, a year-long organizational effort ensued. They outlined an extravaganza that would challenge the Holland Tulip Festival, an event that was invoked numerous times to encourage Hillsdale County residents to think big. 

They did. Edith Ash, Faye Winters and Kathleen Dawley spent endless hours in Kathleen's house researching the history of the county. They read almost 40 books that Kathleen thought were important. Historical accuracy was essential to them as they wrote the script for the pageant they created, which they called "Pottawatomies and Pioneers." As Kathleen's life was coming to a close, she continued to help with the writing—almost to the day of her death. The women wrote in a narrative style, planning to have the actors pantomime the action as it was read so that memorization for the planned cast of over 100 wasn't an issue. The size of the cast was an issue, though. Each of the three years that the pageant was presented as part of the Loosestrife Festival found the organizers begging for actors. In the end, most of those on stage portrayed multiple characters. The Sauk Theatre in Jonesville generously appropriated $1,000 to help with the production costs.

The first festival was planned to take place at the Fairgrounds on July 30 and 31 and Aug. 1, 1982. At the request of the Chamber of Commerce, the Exchange Club took the lead in organizing it. After the first planning meeting in February 1982, 15,000 copies of a four-page promotional folder were distributed throughout the tri-state area. (This quantity was an overreach. After the festival several thousand still had not been picked up at the various stores where they had been placed, a factor that led, in part, to the final indebtedness of the festival.) 

Volunteers came forward to chair the various activities … which were impressively wide. Button sales and a fashion show hosted by the Hillsdale Daily News helped with the funding. A "Hillsdale Purple Loosestrife Baby Picture Contest" gave people a chance to vote with a nickel for the cutest boy and cutest girl. The proceeds of the contest went toward purchasing new children's books for the library. There was one parade through the streets of Hillsdale and another at a stately pace around Baw Beese Lake. The latter was led by a pontoon boat filled with an "authentic Dixieland Band” and included the Sheriff's Marine Patrol officer. An arts and craft show, historical and wildlife tours on school busses with guides, a Loosestrife Queen, a road run called the "Loosestrife Limp," a poster contest for students in K-12, rental booths, a car club gathering, totes made at Key Opportunities and several concerts at the Fairgrounds Band Stand were lined up. In a bit of over-the-top enthusiasm, engaged couples were invited to apply to be married during the festival. The Hillsdale City Council even got in on the act and named an area of land it owned south of the St. Joe River and north of Steamburg Road as the "Loosestrife Recreation Area."

The organizers of the festival shared an ambitious anticipation of the vast crowds that would attend. Parke Hayes wrote a letter to the Hillsdale Daily News in which he gently reminded the citizens of Hillsdale County that visitors to the festival would be potential customers and possibly would choose to relocate to Hillsdale County either as a family or to open a business. The organizers saw the festival as a money-maker for Hillsdale County, substantially adding to its economy. To deal with the expected crowd, a three-day brunch was set up in the 4-H Building, and several concessionaires sold snacks and full meals. Sure that local motels would quickly fill up, homeowners were encouraged to open their homes in a kind of limited bed and breakfast, with the suggested cost to a “guest” of $20. Helen Willson, who was in charge of this part of the festival, reported that there was "disappointingly little response to the 'bed and breakfast' lodging plan." Perhaps most of the visitors planned to stay only one day. At any rate, the dreams of the organizers were realized, and the festival attracted 15,000 visitors in the first year. 

Letters to the editor in the Hillsdale Daily News following the festival included generic congratulations for how well the three days had gone, while Geneva Gates called it a "rousing success." And there were also the inevitable complaints—most from people who had done nothing to support the festival. They groused about problems with specific events, the lack of people interested in the tours and other aggravations. Grumblings about the festival celebrating a noxious weed also surfaced. It was pointed out that loosestrife crowded out native cattails and sedge. No birds ate the seeds; no animals ate the plants. It was spread by wind, water and inadvertently by animals and birds when they picked it up on their bodies. As a counterbalance, the beekeepers in the county staunchly defended loosestrife. They placed their hives near it and benefitted financially from the darker, more flavorful honey.

Despite the complaints, the original organizers were enthusiastic about the next year's festival and began planning in the fall of 1982. Milt Ferguson and Dick Ennis were co-chairs for the second year, the call for volunteers went out and new events were planned. But it was not nearly as successful as the initial festival had been. The weather for the 1983 Loosestrife Festival was disastrous, with threatening weather and tornado watches throughout the three days, effectively keeping people away. Opposition to honoring loosestrife rose again. A letter to the editor of the Hillsdale Daily News in the fall of 1983 urged the people of Hillsdale County to read an article in the Audubon magazine that assailed the weed as a scourge "before we make fools of ourselves" with a festival to glorify it.

The Loosestrife Festival organizers limped through a third year and finally called it quits. An inability to mobilize the many committed volunteers contributed, but the final straw was the irony of honoring a weed that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said "aggressively displaces vegetation necessary for several forms of native wildlife" and was "uncontrollable once established." The Loosestrife Festival began with the best of intentions to bring visitors, interest and financial success to the county. It ended with a whimper.