Judy Garland Festival 2025 Events
Registration for 2025 Festival
John Kelsch
John Kelsch was born in Bismarck, ND and is a graduate of New York University and the University of Minnesota. He has been involved with developing the Judy Garland Museum for nearly 40 years! He is a natural historian and the current museum curator. John will share his vast knowledge of MGM Studios beginnings and the signing of Judy Garland.
He will also provide Special Access Guided Tours of the Judy Garland Gallery, her childhood home, and take you for a white glove experience through our archives.
John Fricke
John Fricke is a respected pop culture historian of film and stage musicals and their creative participants. More specifically, he is widely regarded as the world's preeminent Wizard of Oz and Judy Garland author, authority, and lecturer. As a Preeminent Garland historian, best-selling author, Emmy Award-winning documentarian, and Grammy Award-nominated journalist JOHN FRICKE returns to Grand Rapids to emcee our 2024 festival weekend; John will be on-site at the festival from Thursday through Sunday morning breakfast. He is an avid museum cheerleader and always makes time to talk about Judy Garland to those he meets! You won't want to miss your chance to meet John Fricke!
Marjie Shrimpton
Actor, singer, dancer, and producer
Marjie Shrimpton is an actor, dancer, singer, and producer based in New York City. Born and raised in Grand Rapids, she got her start performing at the Reif Center as a young girl surrounded by reminders of Judy Garland's legacy. Since then, Marjie's work has been seen at theaters, film festivals, and venues around the world, including New York Musical Festival, New York Live Arts, Museum of the City of New York, Theaterlab, Berkshire Theatre Group, Sounds of the City, Baruch Performing Arts Center, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and many others.
In 2018, Marjie created her solo cabaret honoring Judy Garland, What Would Judy Do? After a sold-out debut in NYC, she brought the show back to her home stage at the Reif Center, followed by more sold-out performances at Bryant-Lake Bowl in Minneapolis and The Laurie Beechman Theatre in NYC in 2019. She is thrilled to be a part of the 50th Judy Garland Festival, celebrating Judy and accessibility for all!
2025 Festival Sponsors
$5,000 - EMERALD SPONSOR
$2,500 - GOLD SPONSOR
Paul and Joan Herrick
$1000 - SILVER SPONSOR
$500 - BRONZE SPONSOR
Past Events
Beyond the Lions, And Tigers, And Bears, Oh My!
The Judy Garland Festival 2023
It was hard to top the Judy Garland 100th Birthday Celebration in 2022 the year before, but the 2023 festival was still delightful. Friends gathered for another weekend of Judy Garland fun. We kept things light and simple this year and tried a few new things including Judy Bingo at Klockow Brewing, "Easter Parade" high tea at the Gilbert Mansion Bed and Breakfast, and an intimate performance in the Judy house with local Minnesotan, Jennifer Grimm.
Judy Garland 100th Birthday Celebration June 9th-12th, 2022
Thanks to all who came out to celebrate the extraordinary life of Judy Garland on the 100th Anniversary of her birthday as we remembered and honored the Grand Rapids, Minnesota gem. Your participation and support are greatly appreciated by the Judy Garland Museum®. If you couldn’t make it this time, we look forward to seeing you at our next event!
The celebration hosted events for all ages including movie showings, meet and greets, special access guided tours, a 5k, and Judy’s 100th Birthday Fundraising Dinner, and a FREE outdoor showing of the "The Wizard of Oz" on a huge jumbo screen.
The Judy Garland Festival June 20-22, 2019
To kickoff the 2019 Judy Garland Festival we showed Judy’s first talk show appearance from December 1962. John Fricke presented the film clips and anecdotes he created for the 2014 Turner Classic Movies Festival in Los Angeles. It's a motion picture history of Judy from childhood to maturity, in glimpses of her work with everyone from Fanny Brice and Mickey Rooney to Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, and Maximilian Schell. John Fricke presents backstage and behind-the-scenes memories from Judy's concert era, as written by the fans, friends, and strangers with whom she met and mingled across those years. Plus: recollections from those who have offered remembrances or thoughts about her across these past five decades
Wizard of Oz Festival 2018
A cast of adults and children took the audience back to the time the Gumm family (Judy Garland's family) lived in the little white house in Grand Rapids. The songs they sang and stories about what happened while they lived here.
Embark on the unique items related to Judy Garland that have never been seen by the public. During the last twenty-three years, the Judy Garland Museum has received some lovely and unusual items related to Judy and her family history. Hear the stories behind them, as only museum director John Kelsch can tell.
Wizard of Oz Festival 2017
Perfect for the whole family! Historian/documentarian John Fricke entertains with behind-the-scenes stories and video about the making of The Wizard of Oz. Learn how some of the special effects were accomplished–decades before the existence of computer imaging! Hear about the bloopers that crept into the finished film, so that you can watch for them in Friday night’s free screening.
John Fricke is regarded as the preeminent Judy Garland and MGM Wizard of Oz historian and has written seven books on these topics. He’s the recipient of Emmy Awards as co-producer of the PBS American Masters and A&E Biography Garland documentaries, and a Grammy Award nominee for his liner notes on the Capitol CD, Judy Garland: 25th Anniversary Retrospective. John has appeared as a programmer and co-host on the Turner Classic Movies network and at their Los Angeles Film Festival. In addition, he’s been interviewed on The Today Show, CNN, Entertainment Tonight, The Joan Rivers Show, National Public Radio, and Sirius Satellite Radio, and has become a regular at the Judy Garland/Wizard of Oz Festival. We are happy to welcome him back this year.
The Wizard of OZ Festival of 2014
The Wizard of OZ Festival of 2014 corralled in 1,093 people dressed in their best Wizard of Oz costumes and gave them the claim to the Guinness World Record