* REVIEW: Over 1 Million People Attended Arts, Beats and Eats *

PHOTO BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com

Saginaw Street is filled with people during Chrysler Arts, Beats and Eats.

by Jason Rzucidlo americajr@americajr.com

WATCH: Highlights of the 2008 Chrysler Arts, Beats and Eats Festival with Interviews [Quicktime Required]

PONTIAC, Mich – More than a million people took the streets for the 11th Annual Chrysler Arts Beats and Eats festival in Downtown Pontiac. The weather was great for the entire weekend. Also, with high gas prices, more people are attending the festival instead of traveling out of state on Labor Day Weekend.

According the festival producer Jon Witz, the estimated attendance for the weekend is 1,050,000 people.

I attended Chrysler Arts, Beats and Eats on Saturday for the country acts. I saw performances by Billy Currington, Stephen Cochran, Marcel and Hunter Brucks. AmericaJR.com's Gloria Rzucidlo attended the festival on Friday, opening day. Our own Vince Dery covered the festival on Monday, the last day.

"Times are a little tough here in Michigan so it's nice to bring a lot of entertainment together," said Jon Witz. "Some people aren't able to make that vacation so they're hanging out with us here. It's awesome. We always try and keep it fresh."

New additions included a Guitar Hero competition was held with $4,000 in cash and prizes, a blog cafe for people to offer feedback and the festival. Those who blogged received food and beverage tickets. A new environmental section was added to the festival. It promoted more earth-friendly ways to get to Chrysler Arts, Beats and Eats. Witz said the festival is reducing event programs to save on ink and paper. A food drive was also added for the Lighthouse of Oakland County.

"I've been here the past five years, every year," said Gwen from Troy. "I personally love the art. The sculptures and the different types of mediums people use."

Over 150 bands performed at the festival throughout the weekend. Fifty restaurants brought their specialties to Chrysler Arts, Beats and Eats this year. Over 100 artists displayed their works at the festival.

WDIV Local 4 hosted a "Deal or No Deal" competition on it's stage. The TV station gave away a vacation to Cancun, among other prizes.

"We come for many, many years," said Ed Sajak of Novi. "Basically we always come Monday to see the country/western music perform on the big stage. This year, they kind of changed things around and moved country to Saturday. It so happened it didn't interfere with anything else we had planned."

 

PHOTO BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com

Contestants play "Deal or No Deal" on the Local 4 stage.

 

PHOTO BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com

Billy Currington performed Saturday on the Million Dollar Madness stage.

 

::: RETURN TO OUR COVERAGE OF 2008 ARTS, BEATS & EATS :::