By Jeremy Gragert
For the Chippewa Valley Post
COMING SOON: A full report from the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival in Eau Claire this past weekend (Aug. 12 and 13), reflecting on the festival’s role as a place where people from the Chippewa Valley, past and present, can reunite.
The festival has already become an annual reason to come together, sometimes from across the country, for friends, family, UW-Eau Claire alumni, musicians, and people simply falling in love with Eau Claire. With so many local residents attending Eaux Claires, it was not uncommon for people to find neighbors they hadn’t seen since the first festival a year ago, despite living in the same neighborhood. Others came from a distance to connect.
Daina Booker, of Janesville, has found Eaux Claires to be the best annual opportunity to reunite with her UW-Eau Claire college roommate from over 20 years ago, who still lives in Eau Claire.
It’s a “can’t miss” opportunity, Booker said, in fact one that takes precedence even over other reunions.
“I am actually feeling a bit guilty, because I’m missing my family reunion this weekend,” she confessed.
Photos by Jeremy Gragert, for the Chippewa Valley Post. The home page photo was taken early on Saturday afternoon, as crowds started to swell and Mavis Staples played on the festival’s largest stage, Lake Eaux Lune.