Dockside Sessions celebrates a joyful inaugural season on the Grand Marais Harbor
Press release written by Barbara Jean Meyers, Executive Director of North Shore Music Association, in collaboration with the North House Folk School and WTIP North Shore Community Radio
Three Wednesday nights. Three incredible bands. A harbor full of friends, neighbors and visitors. And even a few otters swimming by.
The inaugural season of Dockside Sessions, a new summer concert series presented in partnership by North Shore Music Association, North House Folk School and WTIP North Shore Community Radio, wrapped up August 19 after three evenings of live music on the Grand Marais harbor.
From Chastity Brown opening the series, to Molly Dean, to a packed final night with Bad Bad Hats, the community showed up in a big way.
Blankets and lawn chairs filled the North House commons as people gathered along the water to listen, visit, picnic and take in summer evenings on the shore of Lake Superior. Boats came and went from the harbor. Otters made appearances. Kids wandered and danced. Friends found friends. Visitors stumbled upon the music and stayed. It was exactly the kind of gathering the three organizations had hoped to create.
The setting proved to be part of the magic. Musicians performed from the hand-built timber frame stage constructed by North House Folk School students, with the Grand Marais harbor and Lake Superior stretching out behind them. Artists throughout the series remarked not only on the beauty of the setting, but on the warmth of the welcome they received from the community.
Dockside Sessions grew from a shared belief among North Shore Music Association, North House Folk School and WTIP that we can do more for our community when we work together. Each organization brought something different to the table, and together—with the community showing up in such a big way—we created something that felt deeply rooted in this place. Music was at the center of it, but so was gathering: friends and neighbors finding one another, visitors being welcomed in, and all of us sharing these beautiful summer evenings together on the harbor.
The partners behind Dockside Sessions extend a huge thank you to everyone who made this first season what it was—to the musicians, volunteers and crews who made each evening happen, and especially to everyone who came down to the harbor, pulled up a chair or spread out a blanket, and shared these Wednesday nights with us.
The series was made possible with generous support from the Cook County Community Fund, Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation, Visit Cook County, and the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, along with the many supporters of North Shore Music Association, North House Folk School and WTIP.
And this is only the beginning. Dockside Sessions will be back next summer, with more music-filled Wednesday nights on the harbor in the works.
Stay tuned!
Photos by WTIP’s Chuck Olsen below:
WTIP Staff August 27, 2026
