Ferndale Friends Event Previews – Winter 2019
WINTER 2019 | MAGIC BAG
AntiFreeze Blues Festival
THE 25TH ANNUAL ANTI-FREEZE BLUES FESTIVAL is a local, Ferndale-based, two-day festival organized by the Detroit Blues Society. The festival home has been the Magic Bag, where Willie Wilson has been the MC 
for each year’s celebration of traditional and new blues music.
The two-day event usually has a four-five band lineup for each day, and is strong in supporting our local Kings and Queens of the Blues. Last year’s lineup did not disappoint. Friday night featured Eliza Neals & The Narcotics along with Big Ray and The Motor City Kings, Jason Bone & Big Al Grebovic and Benny Reeves. Saturday night had Tosha Owens & Bobby Murray, RJ’s Soul Blues Gang and Jeff Grand & Johnny Walker. Headlining was harp master James Montgomery with the Detroit’s own guitar god Jim McCarty and his band Mystery Train. The tickets were $25 and a portion of the proceeds have historically always gone to support the Detroit Blues Society.
From watching the lively guitar antics of Detroit’s very own Jim McCarty who always draws a crowd, to the heart filled vocals and smile of Tosha Owens, the Anti-Freeze Blues Festival brings a mix of local and few international headliners together for two nights of blues bliss.
Past years’ line-ups have included Lazy Lester, Ana Popovic, Jim McCarty, Nikki 
James and the Flame Throwers, Al Hill and the Love Butlers, Johnnie Bassett and the Blues Insurgents featuring Alberta Adams, Madcat Ruth, Harmonica Shah, Gary Rasmussen, Larry Mc-Cray and many many more! In 2000 the event featured the beloved Pinetop Perkins, may he rest in peace.
The Detroit Blues Society was started in 1985. For more information on how to join, go to www.detroitbluessociety.org. Past blues board members have included R.J. Spangler, Nikki James, Tom McNab, Luther Keith and many more committed to the blues volunteers. See you next year in January for the 25th Annual Anti-Freeze Blues Festival!
WINTER 2019 | DOWNTOWN FERNDALE
Ferndale Blues & Music Fest
ONE OF THE LONGEST-RUNNING AND POPULAR WINTER EVENTS in Southeast Michigan is the Ferndale 
Blues & Music Festival. This great, nine-day event has been held every year since 2001. Founded by Craig Covey along with Monica and Larry Mills, the event was created to bring music to the community in the dead of winter, to promote the downtown and its businesses, and to raise money for important local youth programs.
Each year, the Festival features up to 70 con-certs and events at a dozen or more venues over the course of nine or ten days. The Music Festival grows in stature and popularity each year. Expenses are kept low. 
Ferndale’s nightclubs, restaurants, comedy clubs, coffee-houses, churches, schools and community centers are all invited to be part of the event. More than 25,000 people attend each year and more than 500,000 people see the promotions and news coverage. The festival runs the last week of January to the first weekend in February. Watch for details about 2018.
RENAISSANCE VINEYARD CHURCH
Ferndale Warming Center
THE FIRST WEEK OF EACH NEW YEAR, the Ferndale Warming Center opens to serve our local homeless neighbors. The Warming Center is a program of the Renaissance Vineyard Church, operated in partnership 
with the South Oakland Warming Center. Located in the RenVC building at 1841 Pinecrest (at 9 Mile, behind the Payless), the Warming Center is truly a community-wide effort, providing loving help to any homeless who come – typically ranging from 75-100 women and men. Our goal is to serve our guests with hospitality and dignity, providing a friendly smile, hot meal, and a safe place to sleep with warm blankets. We also offer access to a free clothing closet, and other kinds of limited services when available. We usually open our online volunteer sign-up as Thanksgiving approaches. To learn more about the program and how you can get involved, please call the church office at 248.545.4664 or visit www.renvc.com.
