When Sara Kane-Smart took over as director of Walk the Beat White Lake prior to last year's festival, she was told one advantage was that the weather was always good for the third Saturday of July-based event. So naturally, she's now 0-for-2 in the weather department; 2025's festival was beset by rain, and Saturday's fifth annual Walk the Beat White Lake took place during air quality alerts stemming from smoke that sailed over from wildfires in Canada.
However, the worst of the issue had subsided by the morning of the festival, and the board agreed at that point to go forward with outdoor performances. And although two musical acts scheduled to participate ended up canceling due to the concerns, Kane-Smart said the event still "was awesome."
"One of my smart-aleck friends sent along something about 'Fire and Rain,' the James Taylor song," Kane-Smart chuckled, noting the weather issues she's faced as director. "We had some of our artists move inside because they were asthmatic. For 12 of the 13 venues, we had indoor options, so we had a plan. It was a rain plan until it became an air quality plan."
The fan vote resulted in two Walk the Beat mainstays and one newcomer placing in the top three to win cash prizes. Izzy Joy, who Kane-Smart said won the Walk the Beat fan vote last year at the Grand Haven festival, was the highest vote-getter Saturday. Second place went to newcomers the Grand Rapids School of Rock, and third place was last year's winner, Asamu Johnson and the Associates of the Blues.
As first-place winner, Izzy Joy is able to choose between a cash prize or recording time at Third Coast in Grand Haven. The second and third-place winners each received cash prizes.
Because Izzy Joy won the Grand Haven festival last year, she was already ticketed for a float in the Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival in August, meaning the School of Rock will also be in the parade as the second-place finisher.
The newcomers' placement was a pleasant surprise for the festival not just because they were a new band this year, but also because their assigned location was Covell Park, a venue Kane-Smart said had not been as successful drawing attention in past Walk the Beats. However, with that also being the location of the instrument petting zoo, where kids were able to try musical instruments, that changed this year.
"I think it brought out a new variety of festival goers," Kane-Smart said. "They had drums and guitars, and kazoos to give away. I don't know how much the parents liked it, but we had free kazoos and popcorn for the kids. It was a fun atmosphere over there...We had the second-most people at that venue at 2 p.m. when the School of Rock was there and the fifth-most attended venue at 4. It really made a difference, so I hope to repeat that."
Kane-Smart credited volunteers and the White Lake community for continuing to make the Walk the Beat festival a success.
"We have some really great volunteers on our board and on the day of the event," Kane-Smart said. "Also, our community is just amazing. Businesses were offering up space for us for a rain day and opening their doors for us. We have more businesses that want in. We'll have to figure out how we want to proceed. It's been a really big success, and that's because of the community and the people that live here."
