German Flavor Added to Beer Festival

Have band will travel. Frohliche Musiker Blasorchester, a local German polka band, will bring its interactive performance style to Dow Diamond on Saturday, August 17. The 14-musician brass and woodwind band, led by co-founders Sara Beth Keough and David Valasek, will be a headliner at the 3rd annual Great Lakes Beer Festival.

The group has performed across the state at breweries, community events, Oktoberfest festivals and even private parties, but the Dow Diamond venue will mark its first ballpark gig.

“Anybody who wants a German polka band, we’re for hire,” Keough says. “We will travel wherever people will hire us to play.”

Keough and Valasek both were introduced to music as young children but it wasn’t until Keough, a graduate student at Virginia Tech University looking to make some extra cash, first joined a German Polka Band. Valasek, meanwhile, grew up in a polka family and, after starting out on the accordion, switched to drums when he was 10 years old.

The two met during Oktoberfest 2007 while performing with John Leiprandt’s German Connection at the Stein Haus in Bay City. Years later when the Stein Haus closed and with it the band jobs, Keough and Valasek did what any self-respecting musicians with a passion for creating a fun atmosphere with authentic German music would do: they formed their own band.

“We’re not getting rich,” Valasek says. “What audiences will see at the Great Lakes Beer Festival is 14 musicians all having a great time sharing our enthusiasm for traditional polka music.”

Keough has been playing trumpet, piano and guitar since she was 6 years old and grew up to be a well-traveled international citizen that has worked and lived in places all over the world. She is currently a geography professor at Saginaw Valley State University where her scholarly achievements have earned her awards and accolades.

Valasek, a former band director at Nouvel Catholic Central High School in Saginaw (among his many other teaching and performing credentials), has performed as a xylophone soloist, percussionist and timpanist with symphony orchestras.

Co-founder, Sara Beth Keough performing with Frohliche Musiker Blasorchester.

Co-founder, David Valasek performing with Frohliche Musiker Blasorchester.

At the Great Lakes Beer Festival, the band will perform from 1-4 p.m. It is not your typical polka band experience.

“The difference is we actively engage our audiences during our performances and get people dancing,” Keough says. “The audiences are part of our performances. We don’t want them passively sitting there. The more engaged the audience is and the more they participate, the better time everyone has.”

Concerned about your polka dance steps? Don’t be because Keough and company have you covered.

“Sara Beth does a great job providing impromptu polka dance clinics,” Valasek says.

“If there is a group that wants to learn to polka, I’ll teach them right there during our performance,” Keough says. “Polka dancing is easy because people are drinking.”

And there will be plenty of beverages to choose from at the popular Great Lakes Beer Festival which showcases the finest of what Michigan’s craft breweries, distilleries and cideries have to offer.

“We feel like FMB is a big get for us,” said Ed Fritz, Great Lakes Beer Festival Event Director. “The band will be a fun addition to the festival. Empty Canvas, another interactive band, is also part of our musical entertainment lineup, which only adds to the excitement for this year’s event.”

The 2024 Great Lakes Beer Festival will be held at Dow Diamond in Midland on Saturday, August 17th.

For more information or to purchase tickets please visit greatlakesbeerfestival.com.