Judy Garland Festival 2024 Events
Pre-Registration for Festival Starts Friday, April 19th, 2024
Michelle Russell
Michelle Russell grew up in Southern California in a show business family. Singer, actress and director, she is also the author of nine books, four about Judy Garland and her family history including:
- From Tennessee to Oz, The Amazing Saga of Judy Garland's Family, Vol 1 (1793-1869)
- From Tennessee to Oz " ", Vol 2 , (1870 - 1945)
- Musical Memories: Songs the Gumm Family Song
- The Gumm Family Souvenir Songbook
Her pursuit of information about Judy and the people who knew her began when she left home at the age of eighteen. In her talks, she will speak of the adventures she had looking for the real person and discovering the great performer she never met.
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!
Live History
Live History is an international touring theater company. It is a site specific escape room theater company that performs various immersive and interactive bespoke historical theatrical productions with the performance tailored to the clients specific request.
For the Judy Garland Festival 2024, Live History will send four actresses to Grand Rapids for 2 different performances and mysteries, they will be in costume for the "Wizard of Oz" Interactive Mystery and "Judy Through the Eras" Interactive Mystery. The shows are immersive theatrical experiences, where audience interaction is needed. The audience participates as if the actors are as real as they are, and they are not “pulled onto a stage” or singled out. They create safe spaces to be immersed; you won't want to miss this unique experience! There are not set times that this will take place, the actresses will be in character throughout the day and the experience will take about an hour to complete.
2024 Festival Sponsors
Paul and Joan Herrick
Gerry Devito
Donations From:
Target
Country Kitchen
Benders
Michael Vaughn
Chandler Insurance
Austin's Millers Roofing & Siding LLC
Acheson Tire
Charles & Judith Sherman
Forest Lake Restaurant
Rapids Printing
Hopkins Electric
L&M Fleet Supply
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