Ukulele Carnival Details – Two Harbors Ukulele Group

Carnival Details

2025 Online Registration

Online registration for the 2025 Carnival should open in May 2025.

2024 Carnival Concerts

The 2024 Carnival featured concerts by some very talented people.
See the Ukulele Carnival Schedule page for concert times.

Thursday, August 15, 2024

The evening concert featured THUG, Lil Rev, Webb-Tigert, Ukester Brown, Petey Mack, and Dean Johnson.
Because of the rain, the evening concert was moved to the main building at the Lake County Fairgrounds.
The Simple Supper dinner will still took place at the United Church of Two Harbors at 5:00 p.m.

Friday, August 16, 2024

Two mini concerts – Dean Johnson and Ukester Brown
Webb-Tigert performed in concert in the evening.

Saturday, August 17, 2024

Two mini concerts – Petey Mack and Katy Vernon
Lil Rev performed in a multi-instrumental concert in the evening.

2024 Strum Sessions

In our strum sessions, we played from The Daily Ukulele (yellow book) and The Daily Ukulele Leap Year Edition (blue book), These are both really great books compiled and arranged by Liz and Jim Beloff. I would highly recommend that you purchase them. We often end up playing from Petey Mack’s Singalong book at the Campfire Strums. I would recommend downloading a copy from the link.

2024 Carnival Workshops

The 2024 Carnival featured workshops by some very talented people. It was a great chance to increase your ukulele skills.
See the Ukulele Carnival Schedule page for workshop times.

Lil Rev presented a Beginning Harmonica workshop.
- You needed a 10 hole diatonic harmonica in the key of C.
- You were able to preorder a harmonica from Lil Rev when you registered for the Carnival (prior to 07/15/2024),
Lil Rev also presented a workshop on Essential Strums & Strokes and another workshop Hot Licks for Ukulele.
Tobin Sobaski, THUG’s amazing lead ukulele player, presented a wonderful workshop on Chord Extensions for the intermediate level player.
Lisa Webb and Bob Tigert presented three workshops: Bass Players Rule!!!, Vocal Technique and Your Uke, and Owning the Song – The Art & Purpose of Song Arrangement.
Ukester Brown presented a workshop/mini concert: Elements to Make a Song Your Own.
Chris Russell presented and intermediate checklist workshop, four beginner classes, and new this year: two intermediate classes.

Carnival Clothing

You were able to pre-order T-Shirts and Caps online when you registered.

T-Shirts

New design for this year!

Material is 100% cotton (not preshrunk). Shirt styles are the same for men and women.

Colors: Maroon, Royal Blue, Gray

Price: $15

Caps

The cap uses a velcro strap in back to adjust the size. The front is embroidered.

Price: $15

Food

Thursday 5:00 p.m.: United Church hosted their Simple Supper again this year before the Thursday evening concert.

Friday 7:15 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.: Community Partners provided cinnamon rolls, donuts, and coffee. This was a fund raiser for their program, which helps older adults age successfully and live independently.

Friday 11:30 a.m.: The Two Harbors High School football team prepared hot dogs and brats for lunch. This was a fund raiser for their program, and they have done a wonderful job in past years.

Friday 5:00 p.m.: The Two Harbors High School football team prepared a spaghetti dinner for us again this year. This was a fund raiser for their program, and they did another wonderful job.

Saturday 7:15 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.: Community Partners provided a biscuit with sausage gravy, fresh fruit, and coffee. This was a fund raiser for their program, which helps older adults age successfully and live independently.

Saturday 11:40 a.m.: Na-cho Bizness was back again this year with their popular Mexican cuisine.

Saturday Night Catered Dinner

This is the 8th year we offered a catered buffet dinner at the Carnival. This year we brought in a catering service from Duluth: Sarah Mae’s Catering. THUG had eaten their delicious food at a couple of our past gigs that they had catered. We were finally able to schedule them to cater for us this year! Their food was fabulous!

Dinner started at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, 08/17/2024 in the main building at the Fairgrounds.

Menu: Roast turkey, baked ham, mashed potatoes with gravy, seasoned dressing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, creamy coleslaw, whole cranberry sauce, and dessert.

Price: $20

Sunday 7:30 – 9:00 a.m.: Community Partners provided muffins and coffee. This was a fund raiser for their program, which helps older adults age successfully and live independently.

Lodging

There are several motels and campgrounds in the Two Harbors area. The best place to start is by going to the Two Harbors Chamber of Commerce website, which has a listing of local lodging.

If you like camping, I would encourage you to camp with us at the Carnival site at the Lake County Fairgrounds. See below for more information.

Carnival Camping at the Fairgrounds

One of the reasons we moved the event to the Lake County Fairgrounds was to increase the room for much more camping.

The Fairgrounds charged us $10 per week per camper hookup. Our suggested donation for camping was $10/night with electric hookup, and $5/night for non-electricity. The extra donated money helped fund the Carnival.

Be aware that the electrical system will handle lights and refrigerators only; no air conditioning.

You have to reserve your camping spot when you register online. Please do not contact the Fairgrounds directly; they cannot handle your request.

2024 Campfire Strum

We again hosted a strum session around the campfire on Saturday evening after the open mic session. We started inside the main building for the open mic, and then moved outside to the campfire. There’s something about playing and singing with friends under the stars with a campfire crackling in the background that is magical.

M.U.G. (Massed Ukulele Group) Music

One of the benefits of attending the Carnival is the opportunity to play and sing with 200 or so other ukulele players. We do that in strum sessions but also with our Massed Ukulele Group music.

Each year we have different presenters select and teach M.U.G. music that we will all play during the Saturday afternoon concert. It really is something special to be a part of this group experience!

We had a couple M.U.G. rehearsals scheduled for Saturday morning to clarify and fine tune things.

2024 Beginner/Intermediate Classes

Chris Russell brilliantly taught a series of progressive beginner classes at the 2024 Carnival. Chris is a music educator with 28 years of teaching experience. This was a great opportunity to start learning the ukulele with four lessons over a two of days.

Chris also taught two intermediate classes this year at the Carnival, creating an opportunity to advance your ukulele playing and get answers to your questions.

2024 Open Mic

There were open mic opportunities for you and your group to try your hand performing a song or two. There were open mic opportunities on Friday, August 16th at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday, August 17th at 8:00 p.m.