Hundreds of teens from Kent County and beyond are expected to gather at Kent District Library’s Kentwood (Richard L. Root) Branch on June 12 from 2:00 to 8:00 PM for Kentwoodpalooza, a festival-style celebration of the arts, the end of school and the beginning of Summer Reading @ KDL.
“We wanted to host an event that would introduce teens to their library so they could see it as a welcoming environment, a place where they could hang out during the summer months,” said event organizer Greg Lewis, a teen librarian at the branch. “The City of Kentwood and area businesses have been very supportive, and since KDL has embraced this we have people coming from all over.”
Supported this year by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts and sponsored by the Friends of the Kentwood Library, activities at Kentwoodpalooza include live music; workshops with local musicians, writers and other artists; plus poetry, teen film festival screenings and free food. “Now that we’ve been doing this a few years, Kentwoodpalooza is becoming known as a summer event area teens look forward to – performers too,” Lewis said. “This is a great opportunity for teens to show what they can do and to learn from some of the area’s most well known performers and artists.” 
Schedule:
1:00 p.m. — JibberJams Crane Wives drummer Dan Rickabus will lead a round of intelligent silliness for all ages. This energetic, engaging interactive performance by a local musician features original songs and improvisation performed in the universal language of jibberish.
1:00 p.m. – Ongoing. Watch local artist Barbara Williams collaborate with about a dozen East Kentwood High School National Art Honor Society students on the creation of a large mural that will hang inside the library when completed.
2:00 p.m. — Kent County Teen Film Festival Encore. If you missed seeing these short films by teens on the big screen in February, watch them now and talk with a few of the young film makers about how they created their masterpieces.
2:00 p.m. — Guitar Workshop with Justin Dore. Join Big Dudee Roo’s lead guitarist in exploring different playing styles of and what makes those styles unique. Find out what it means to be a lead guitarist and hear the dos and don’ts of joining a band. Also, get some practice techniques and hear about the history of the instrument and notable guitarists.
3:00 p.m. — Songwriting Workshop. Max Lockwood, lead singer and songwriter for folk rock band Big Dudee Roo, will perform some of his songs, discuss the songwriting process, share ideas for building a song from the ground up and show how to put together all the elements of a song.
5:30 p.m. — Writing Workshop. Published writer, poet and creative writing instructor Hazel Foster will explain how to take working drafts from revision to publication, addressing revision strategies, submission etiquette, venues for publication and how to survive rejection.
6:30 p.m. — Poetry Reading and Awards Ceremony. Winners from the Kent District Library Teen Poetry Contest will share their poetry.
4:00 — 8:00 p.m. Live Music on the Amphitheatre
4:00 p.m. — December Assembly (Electronic Alternative)
5:00 p.m. — Phantom Ivory (Alternative)
6:00 p.m. – Virgo (Alternative Rock)
7:00 p.m. — Big Dudee Roo (Grunge Folk Rock)
