One of the best parts of this year at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival was the presence of so many young women on the Land. Their energy is amazing! I've got to hand to Lisa Vogel, the festival owner/director, for her foresight in bringing in performers who would appeal to this next generation. There for awhile the majority of women at festival were pushing middle-age, but at my first festival in 1994, Tribe 8 appeared and every year since then the numbers of punk rock, spoken word and hip hop womyn artists has grown. And so have the numbers of festi-goers in their late teens, 20s and 30s. I love it! In fact, my "Michigan Moment" (highlight) came at the Saturday Night Stage when I was up dancing on my own and four young women got up from their beach chairs to dance with me. Their grins and sweet energy will stay with me for years!

This photo was taken during Friday evening's Femme Parade. On Thursday there was the Butch Strut, but on Friday the girlie girls put on their "best" and paraded from Triangle all the way to the Kitchen tent. Fest is a lot about silliness!