Breaking News from M33 Access

Thousands enjoy two-days of concerts, festival
at 9^th Annual M33 Access fundraiser

Glenn Wilson, president and CEO of M33 Access, the high-speed Internet company, addresses the gathering crowd at the start of the inaugural M33 Access Rocks Rose City Battle of the Bands, which staged its semifinal round on Friday, July 18. Seven bands performed, all playing to rave reviews by judges. They were followed by the first of three spectacular fireworks shows of the weekend and a concert by Led Zepagain, the Led Zeppelin tribute band that rocked the stage before thousands late into the night.

ROSE CITY – Heavy rain and threats of more severe weather throughout the region kept attendance down, but that didn’t stop M33 Access owner Glenn Wilson from declaring his company’s 9th Annual Festival and Concert Fundraiser a resounding success.

“With all the pre-event hype about our concerts and festival, we really went a long way in promoting our community as well as our company throughout the state and beyond,” Wilson said. “And in the process, we made a lot of new friends and strengthened some other partnerships.

“This was our first attempt at a two-day event. We learned much in the process, but all in all there’s a lot to feel good about when it’s all said and done.”

At press time, final attendance figures weren’t yet available, though it was clear that several thousand attended both days. Nor were the receipts completely tallied to determine how much money will be going to the various charities, youth groups and service organizations that helped make the event possible. Among those groups: The American Red Cross, which helped by providing more than 140 of the nearly 500 volunteers needed.

“I’m not sure if people even realize what a massive undertaking this is,” Wilson said. “But we sure appreciated the efforts by so many – especially Ogemaw County Sheriff Howie Hanft.

We’re greatly indebted to him for all his guidance as we’ve grown the event over the past few years.”

The Festival’s main fundraiser, the raffle of two vehicles to benefit the West Branch Little League, fell short of the 4,000 tickets that needed to be sold in order to present the vehicles. Instead, it became a 50/50 raffle, and Mike Kennedy won the big cash prize estimated by Hanft to be about $5,000. Sherry Grouer, of Lapeer, won the vacation trip to Hilton Head, SC, and Brian Cline, of Prescott, won the vacation trip to the Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Split Rail, a five-piece group of local musicians, won the inaugural M33 Access Rocks Rose City Battle of the Bands, beating out nearly two-dozen other bands in a competition that has been waged online and on-stage for more than four months. Downpour, a Tawas group, was runner-up. They split $4,000 in cash and prizes. Finishing behind them were Hung Jury, led by raffle-winner Cline, and White Horse, a group of five youngsters who recently graduated from Ogemaw Heights High School.

“From a sheer marketing perspective, this might have been one of the best things we’ve ever done to promote the company and what we do,” said Wilson, who founded the high-speed Internet and telephone service provider nine years ago. “Plus, we made a lot of new friends in the process.“

And that, of course, is why we do this. It’s our way of trying to give back to a community that’s been so good to us over the last nine years, our way of saying, ‘Thank you, Northern Michigan.”
 

Couples find ‘love connection’ at annual M33 Access Festival

 The reason for her gratitude: At the company’s annual Festival and Concert Fundraiser in 2007, she met the man she would marry nearly a year later. Her name was Sue Brown then, and she came to the Festival alone when her son cancelled at the last moment. She was wandering the 63-acre Festival grounds by herself when she ran into an old acquaintance, Duane LaPere, a man she’d met several years earlier when she was working at a convenience store in West Branch.

“It was meant for us to be together, I guess,” Sue LePere said. “I just thank M33 for us running into each other like that.”           

And the best man at the wedding, Harold Isaac, even provided the perfect wedding gift: a high-speed DSL Internet subscription – from M33 Access, of course.           

 This year, the Internet service provider is taking the “love connection” business a step further, lending its stage for a wedding at the inaugural M33 Access Rocks Rose City Battle of the Bands concert fundraiser on July 18. Michelle Verville will wed Robert Weirauch II (whose friends know him as Bob Wyrock) in a ceremony just before the Friday night fireworks display.

Weirauch is a drummer in one of the competing bands, Split Rail. Verville manages the band. The couple lives in Oscoda.

“This is my dream come true. It truly is,” said Verville, whose promising a “rock-theme” ceremony.

 For information and tickets, visit http://festival.m33access.com/ or phone: (989) 685-3027.

Sue and Duane LePere (inset, above) were wed in June after meeting at last year’s M33 Access Festival and Concert Fundraiser. This year, Michelle Verville and Bob Weirauch, (right) both of Oscoda, plan to wed on the M33 Access stage just before a fireworks show and concert by the band Led Zepagain on July 18.

Battle of the Bands prelims raise nearly
$1,000 for area youngsters

ROSE CITY – The finals of the inaugural M33 Access Rocks Rose City Battle of the Bands is set after preliminary rounds over the weekend raised nearly $1,000 for area youngsters.

“From the quality of all our bands to the huge number of people who attended the event to their kindness and generosity on behalf of our kids, I couldn’t be more proud of the way things went – especially for the first time trying to do something like this,” said Glenn Wilson, president and CEO of M33 Access, the high-speed Internet service provider.

The two-day battle, waged May 23-24 at the Badlands Entertainment Complex in Rose City, drew about 200 people on Friday night and more than 400 on Saturday night.

“It surpassed anything we’ve ever done, for sure,” said Bruce Badgely, owner of Badlands.

The battle of the bands began with 21 bands, whose number was reduced to 11 semifinalists after more than 18,000 votes were cast online. Six bands performed on Friday and five on Saturday. The seven finalists were determined by votes taken at the door and by judges’ evaluations of their performances.

The finalists will perform at the inaugural M33 Access Rocks Rose City Concert headlined by Led Zepagain, a Led Zeppelin tribute band out of Southern California, on July 18 on the M33 Access stage. The champion and runner-up will perform the following day at the company’s annual concert fundraiser.

The finalists: Cygnus, from Bay City; Downpour, from Tawas; Grounded, whose members hail from Alpena, Oscoda and Mikado; Hung Jury, with members from Hale, Prescott, West Branch and Mayville, Split Rail, with members from West Branch, Rose City, Standish and Oscoda; Strawberry Jam, with three of four members from Detroit and the other from Roscommon; and White Horse, a West Branch band of graduating seniors from Ogemaw Heights High.

Their efforts helped to raise $933 for the All-Ages Recreation Program, which has for 29 years provided educational and recreational programs for Rose City-area youth. The program is designed with many activities to give at-risk youth a safe place to go verses being left on their own while parents are working, according to program chairperson Gloria Neubecker.

The battle of the bands continues with online voting on the seven finalists beginning Saturday June 1 through July 16. For more information, visit www.m33access.com, or phone (989) 685-1020.

Rock ’n’ Roll up your sleeve!

M33 Access adds massive blood drive to annual

Festival and Concert fundraiser

ROSE CITY, MI – Visitors to the 9^th Annual M33 Access Customer Appreciation Day Festival and Concert Fundraiser will be asked, cajoled, challenged, encouraged and otherwise invited to take part in the event’s first-ever blood drive with a target goal of 500 pints, making it one of the largest one-day campaigns ever in Michigan.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to be doing this,” said Glenn A. Wilson, Sr., the company’s founder and CEO. “This Festival has taken on a life of its own in the past few years, evolving from a big company picnic to a giant community fundraiser.

“This blood drive merely personifies what the festival has become – a family oriented event to gather a bunch of great people, have a wonderful time and in the process do some really nice things to help others. And what nicer thing can we do for others than to roll up our sleeves and give the gift of life.”

The blood drive is one of several new additions to the July 19 event at the company’s headquarters in this Ogemaw County village. Several activities designed to improve the health and welfare of children will be unveiled in the coming weeks, Wilson said.

Last year’s event raised more than $20,000 for local charities and youth groups. This year Wilson hopes to top $30,000.

The drive will be conducted by the staff from Michigan Community Blood Centers Northwest Region, headquartered in Traverse City. Blood collected at the drive will benefit Michigan patients directly, including many in Northern Michigan, since Michigan Community Blood Centers’ top priority is to make sure blood is available for patients in local hospitals.

“It’s a huge undertaking,” said Sharon Childs, director of donor services and recruitment. She estimated it will take a staff of upwards of 60, about half of them nurses, from Michigan Community Blood Centers facilities in Saginaw, Grand Rapids and Traverse City, to help reach the goal of 500 pints.

Staging a blood drive in conjunction with this type of event is unprecedented for Michigan Community Blood Centers in Northern Michigan, and it’s been a long time coming, Childs said.

“When I worked for the Saginaw Valley office, that was an industrial area and big industry was the base of our donor program,” she explained. “When I came north, we didn’t have that industry. Where do we need to go to find the people, especially in the summer? They congregate in the summertime to celebrate at festivals like these. So I’ve always said we need to go to these big events and have a blood drive.”

Which explains why the invitation from M33 Access, whose annual event has drawn crowds approaching 7,500, was greeted so enthusiastically, Childs said.

“This is the only time I’ve encountered another organization who said, ‘Wow, this might be a great way we can help in our community.’ So we said, ‘Hey, let’s help them pull this off.’ We’re very excited about it.”

Founded by Wilson in 1999, M33 Access provides high-speed Internet connectivity to families, businesses and schools using wireless broadband and dial-up connections. Its network, covering more than 10,000 square miles in northeast Michigan, is among the largest wireless ISPs in the world.

Established in 1955, Michigan Community Blood Centers is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit blood bank that provides 100 percent of the blood supply for hospitals in four major regions in Michigan, with a total population of 1.5 million. It also supports military, disaster-related and other national blood needs on request. For more information, visit www.miblood.org.
 

Win a new truck or mini-SUV at annual
M33 Access Festival Fundraiser

For the second straight year, M33 Access is hoping to present the keys to two new vehicles to lucky raffle winners at the 9th Annual M33 Access Customer Appreciation Day Festival Fundraiser on July 19.

Led by Ogemaw County Sheriff Howie Hanft in a partnership with the Rose City-based high-speed Internet service provider, the raffle will benefit the Little Leagues of West Branch and Rose City.

“Last year we were able to raise more than $20,000 for several deserving charities and youth groups, and this year we hope to top $30,000,” said Glenn A. Wilson, Sr., founder and president of M33 Access. “But it wouldn’t be possible without the help and leadership of people like Sheriff Hanft, who cares so deeply about our youth and our community.”

Wilson also praised the Don Nester Auto Collection, with dealerships in Roscommon and Houghton Lake, for providing the vehicles – a 2008 Chevy Colorado pickup and a 2008 Dodge Caliber – at favorable prices.

Tickets are $10 each, six for $50 and 12 for $100, and are available now by calling (989) 685-1020, visiting the Web at www.m33access.com, or stopping by the company’s offices at 380 Borden Road in Rose City.  More info
 

M33 Access Adds Second Day to Annual Customer Appreciation Day Festival and Concert Fundraiser

What was once a pleasant little company picnic open to the public has become one of the largest charity fundraisers in Northern Michigan – and the tradition continues this summer at the 9th Annual M33 Access Customer Appreciation Day Festival and Concert.

And this year, it’s a two-day celebration. Mark July 18-19 on your calendar and plan to attend a Friday night concert and a day-long family celebration Saturday featuring fun for the whole family, food and drinks, a classic car show and a stage show headlined by the return of a pair of bands that dazzled last year’s crowd of about 6,500, and the best fireworks show north of Bay City.

“We’re also going to have another raffle to win two brand new vehicles, and with more time to sell tickets this year we’re confident of present two sets of keys to the winners,” said M33 Access President and CEO Glenn A. Wilson, Sr. “But that’s just the beginning.

“We have a whole list of new promotions this year, some of them right off the charts in terms of how they’ll benefit our community, and we’ll be announcing them as soon as we have all the details in place.”

The Friday night show features a Battle of the Bands followed by a concert by Led Zepagain, a tribute to the famed 1970s rock group, Led Zeppelin. Saturday night’s stage show begins with the winners of the Battle of the Bands, followed by encore performances by 25-Cent Beer, a renowned country group out of Bay City, and LIVE WIRE, the AC/DC tribute band that rocked Rose City last July.

Last year, the Festival helped to raise more than $20,000 for a variety of local charities and youth groups, including the Little Leagues of West Branch and Rose City, the American Red Cross, the Ogemaw County Humane Society, the Fairview High School girls’ basketball program and others.

“That’s our goal this year, though I’m confident we’ll do better than that in the end,” Wilson said.

“If we do this thing right – and believe me we’re trying to make it better every year – then everybody wins. Some people like to think it’s just one big party out here. And we do manage to have a good time. But the whole point behind it is to try to raise some money for so many good and important causes in the communities we serve.”

Information on how to get tickets is available at the company’s festival Web site. Visit www.m33access.com to connect to it. All festival reservations and transactions will be conducted through this site.