Board Members
Diane Teddy - President
Diane has a background in several organizations as District President, Secretary, Chairmanships, Customer Service, and Secretarial/Administrative positions. She also has a background in choir, musical theater, and public television.
She loves music, singing, theater, camping, and discovering weekend music festivals. She also loves meeting people and is interested in the Folk Society Festival Operations.
Alisha Allen - Vice President
Alisha is a Social worker with Child Protective Services.
Peggy Schmidt - Treasurer
Peggy has been a Thunder Bay Folk Society board member since 2018 as the treasurer. She has a dual BBA degree in accounting and management.
She has been married for 32 years to her husband, Dennis, and together they have three grown children.
Andrea Schmidt - Secretary
Andrea’s love of music stems from her parents listening to it while she was growing up. She has been on the board for three years and has enjoyed it very much. It was an easy decision to choose to run for another three years.
Besides music she enjoys chillin’ with her lab and camping. Her regular job is working in Accounting at a local Alpena, MI business.
Mark Addington - Membership
Mark has served on other boards over the years and he is familiar with Roberts Rules of Order. He has been part of the Thunder Bay Folk Festival since the first event in 2015.
He began managing the Merchandise Tent for the Folk Festival in 2016. In 2019, he was elected to the board and accepted the weighty position as Chair of the Membership committee.
He has not found a musical style he does not enjoy. His tastes range from Bach to Zydeco. His father listened to what is now called Classic Country, Mom loved “Classical” music (every Saturday was “Live From the Met” opera on WIAA Interlochen). Christian Hymns were also a staple in his home. He continues to love music, especially when it is live and brings the community together.
Stephanie Prince - Program Chair
Stephanie has been an active supporter of the Thunder Bay Folk Festival since the first year. She is very interested in participating in the Festival’s future success. She has many connections with the community, musicians and potential volunteers, and ACC’s Granum Theatre.
Jeannie Mausolf
Jeannie is retired and enjoys all genres of music. She has sung and played guitar for both Country and Bluegrass bands in the past.
She volunteered at the annual Thunder Bay Folk Festival for several years and is now the festival Vendor Coordinator.
Her job is to recruit vendors for the annual Folk Fest and to make sure she has a variety of Vendors, place them in the proper location and explain the rules of the festival.
She is a great addition to the Folk Society board.
Laura Frawley
Laura has been involved with the Thunder Bay Folk Society in the past.
She was on the Board of Directors, assisted with obtaining workshops for the annual festival, booked local musicians, and she initiated the Stage in the Woods addition to the festival.
She feels the Folk Society is a great organization and puts on a nice, family-friendly festival that brings people to the area and is part of enhancing NE Michigan and part of the blossoming seen in the music scene in the area.
She says, “After the last few years, we all need music!!”
Michael Clarren
Michael has directed 3 Separate Film & Video Festivals based in Ann Arbor Michigan, co-directed multiple Avant Garde Michigan based music festivals, produced & managed thousands of individual events in theater, dance, spoken word, video, computer, satellite, sound, sculpture, & multiple forms of art.
He is proficient in all aspects of production & conference design & implementation, from site design layout operation recording distribution & archiving among other things. He lives for live production support
He has also been engaged in multiple area festivals from volunteer, stage sound, light, communication, security, nutrition, accessibility & sustainability etc.
He has managed multiple configurations of support talent, from pairs to hundreds, from children to elderly to the multiple abled.
He is also a Raw Vegan Vegetarian & whole food nutrition Chef, and has designed accessible kitchens for a variety of settings permanent & portable.
Breanna Schmanski
Breanna has been a part of many festivals in Michigan and around the United States.
She has worked as a food vendor and all the way up through Production, Artist relations, VIP, Vendor Coordinator, Box Office and Project Management.
She is interested in building a festival in Alpena, her hometown. She has lived in Alpena all her life and says a festival of this nature is so valuable to this community. She would like to utilize her event background in festivals and wedding planning.
Warren MacNeill
Warren has been involved with music festivals in the past as Head of Security for Harvest Gathering in Lake City.
He feels he can bring a different perspective to the festival.