Peace Fest comes to Waterford this weekend

They started coming in January. And they never stopped. Every month or two, it seemed another postcard would arrive heralding that day in June when Peace Fest would take over the L.A. Cafe in Waterford. It was a four-color print job on good card stock, with an image ostensibly painted by Mark Arminski. 

The text gave the times and dates, the admission, described it as "ART-MUSIC-WEIRDOS-FUN" featuring "over 100 artists and 12 local bands." 

We've been getting the postcards for six months now and we now realize that we still have very little idea what to expect, other than the fact that it's free, weird, somewhat psychedelic, and features Mark Arminski. 

The biggest mystery of all was how a festival with a budget for four-color postcards six months in advance could be so vague about what's going to happen. Luckily, the internet can come to the rescue.

The local bands will include: Divided by Zed, Arnold, Slowfoot, Sandy Mulligan & the Gypsies, Rowdy-O-Rilley, the White Lightning Supremes, the Surfing Pharaohs, Sweet Melissa, the Neckbones, Sam VanWagoner, Inner Itch, the Vinyl Experience, Gary Musgrave, Sail, Overdrive, and the Barry Brothers. 

Using decades' worth of intuitive power acquired attending all sorts of fringe events, we're guessing that this is a hippie-oriented small arts festival, with lots of people selling trippy art and rocking out to the finest collection of open-mic performers this side of Pontiac. If you're in the area, and a fan of music-oriented Detroit art, or just want to get a taste of vintage 1960s counterculture, you can't beat the price.

Peace Fest takes place 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, June 4-5, at 5815 Dixie Hwy., Waterford. See Peace Fest's Facebook page for more info.