The University of Michigan’s University Musical Society (UMS) will cap its April residency at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse with a joyful, puppet-filled processional through Ypsilanti on April 19. The processional is a collaboration with Ypsi’s Riverside Arts Center (RAC) and the team behind Ann Arbor’s FestiFools. 

The celebration kicks off at 4 p.m. at RAC, 76 N. Huron St. in Ypsi, where participants can choose one of FestiFools' large puppets to parade through town at 5 p.m. alongside the Detroit Party Marching Band. The procession will end at the Freighthouse, where a community gathering will feature live music by Michigan jazz quartet Djangophonique.

"We wanted to make sure that this processional really celebrates the city and sprinkles some music and joy around both downtown and Depot Town," says UMS Community and Audience Programs Manager Justine Sedky. "It brings me a lot of personal joy to get to do this kind of fun, joyful, celebratory work in Ypsi as often as I do."

FestiFools founder Mark Tucker says he and the FestiFools team have been looking forward to a collaboration with RAC and UMS "for some time now." After meeting with Sedky, they identified the spring Freighthouse residency as a perfect opportunity to collaborate and bring a taste of FestiFools to Ypsi. He says he’s excited to see FestiFools' "menagerie of puppet heads" in Ypsi.

"Ypsi is such a creative town filled with so many artistic and arts-supportive community members," Tucker says. "I imagine that the event will be a magical and amazing experience for everyone."

Sedky says UMS has had a relationship with RAC for years now, but UMS has been wanting to collaborate with the art center more frequently and in more meaningful ways. With the Freighthouse residency now in its fifth iteration, Sedky wanted to work with RAC to build a community event that focused on the joy of creating and interacting directly with the arts.

"Over the years, we’ve been looking for ways to deepen UMS’ relationship with RAC and truly collaborate on something," Sedky says. "We landed on this idea of a closing party and centered the concept around the idea of celebrating both Ypsilanti and the arts."

Sedky also hopes that attendees can come together joyfully as a community despite political "uncertainty" and "doom and gloom." She wants the processional and the following celebration at the Freighthouse to be an opportunity for folks to come together and celebrate one another, recognizing the importance of a tight-knit and uplifting community.

"The spirit of gathering, laughing, taking pleasure in something together like a concert or a dance, is feeling extra powerful to me right now," Sedky says. "We have to keep celebrating our lives, our cities, and our artists."

The spring UMS Freighthouse residency kicked off April 3, with events planned throughout the month. The UMS Downtown Ypsi Processional and Community Party is scheduled for April 19 starting at 4 p.m. To RSVP or to see a full schedule of UMS Freighthouse events, visit the UMS website.

"The concerts and events that we present in the Freighthouse are great, but they are nothing without the audience of Ypsi residents who come out," Sedky says. "In a way, I see this as a moment to really say thank you to Ypsilanti for joining us every April and September, and I hope that people leave feeling like the arts in Ypsilanti are worth celebrating for the sake of celebrating."

Rylee Barnsdale is a Michigan native and longtime Washtenaw County resident. She wants to use her journalistic experience from her time at Eastern Michigan University writing for the Eastern Echo to tell the stories of Washtenaw County residents that need to be heard.

Photo courtesy of UMS.