Charlevoix & Petoskey · Small town
Bay View
A Victorian summer community beside Petoskey for history lovers and concertgoers, a National Historic Landmark with music and lectures you can attend.
Music · Heritage · Bay View
Bay View Music Festival
A summer music festival in Bay View, billed as the longest continuously operating chamber music festival in the country, with Sunday vesper concerts.
Bay View’s summer music program has deep roots. The Sunday vespers began in the 1800s as families gathering to sing hymns at the end of the day; now they are a weekly concert series.
You do not need to be a Bay View cottager to go. Buy tickets through the association’s box office, and look for the free opening vesper concert in June.
What to expect
The festival runs from mid-June to mid-August with resident faculty and visiting artists, and its programs range from chamber music and opera to jazz, folk and indie bands. Sunday evening vesper concerts play Hall Auditorium; in 2026 the season-opening vesper concert was free with no ticket required. The public is welcome.
Location
Where Bay View Music Festival happens
4 places on an OpenStreetMap map
The pin marks the town; check the organizer for exact venues.
About Bay View
Nearby attractions
Straight-line distances, not driving distances.
Historic site
Bay View Association
A Victorian summer community above Little Traverse Bay and a National Historic Landmark, with summer concerts and lectures open to the public.
Under a mile away (straight line)
Attraction
Crooked Tree Arts Center
Petoskey's arts center in a restored 1890 church on Mitchell Street, with free galleries, a 220-seat theater and classes year-round.
About 1 miles away (straight line)
Trail
Little Traverse Wheelway
A paved, non-motorized trail along Little Traverse Bay linking Charlevoix, Petoskey and Harbor Springs, much of it with open views of the water.
About 1 miles away (straight line)
Places to stay nearby
Inn · Mid-range
Bay View Inn
On Woodland Avenue in Bay View, on Little Traverse Bay
A Victorian country inn from the 1880s in the Bay View Association, run for more than 60 years by Stafford Smith and his family before new owners took over.
Inn
Terrace Inn
On Glendale Avenue in Bay View, near Petoskey
A historic hotel in the Bay View Association that opened on June 1, 1911, and still houses the 1911 Restaurant.
More events in and around Bay View
- Bay View Fourth of JulyBay View's old-fashioned Fourth morning: a children's bike parade, a parade through the cottage streets and a reading of the Declaration of Independence.
- Blissfest Music FestivalA three-day folk, world and roots music festival with camping at the 200-acre Festival Farm outside Harbor Springs, held the second weekend in July.
- Boyne City Fourth of JulyA two-day Fourth in Boyne City with an art fair, a raft race on the Boyne River, a kids' bike parade and fireworks over Lake Charlevoix.
- Boyne ThunderA July weekend of high-performance powerboats in Boyne City: a poker run of about 150 miles across northern Michigan waters and a Friday night street party.
- Charlevoix Venetian FestivalA July festival in Charlevoix built around an evening boat parade, a street parade and fireworks over the harbor.
- Charlevoix Waterfront Art FairA juried one-day art fair in East Park on the second Saturday in August, running since 1958 and one of the oldest in Michigan.