Hi friends. I’m here to fill you in on Mittenfest IV, also known as four-of-the-best-days-of-my-life, also known as holy-cow-am-I-ever-tired, also known as Lovefest 2009-10. I quite literally do not know where to begin. Four days, forty bands, a million kind words said about 826, and no fewer than eight hundred hugs.

I have loved Mittenfest since it began, but this year was really something else. There was an OUTPOURING of love and support for what we are doing. It was amazing. It was overwhelming. It was really, really special. Thank you to all the bands who donated their time and expertise. Thank you to the hundreds of people who packed the Elbow Room to capacity every night.

Maybe I should have started here, but check this out:

That’s right. Mittenfest IV made $12,000. Last year, we made $4,500, and that’s right about where we budgeted it for this year. My friends, I don’t need to tell you, but I will: That is AMAZING. That is Andy Garris presenting me with the best-looking check I’ve ever seen.

In the coming week, we’ll have tons of pictures, a video that’s eight minutes and twenty-six seconds of Mittenfest, featuring every band that played, and more goodies.

Of course, I cannot end this without thanking some VERY key people. Brandon “BZ” Zwagerman, Mittenfest founder, did a tremendous amount of work booking bands and marketing the event. Andy Garris, Elbow Room owner and all-around-great-guy, gave us the full door proceeds, and has been so relentlessly supportive of us over the years I’m getting a lump in my throat just thinking about it. Chris Bathgate was responsible for the coolest decorations and best sound I’ve ever seen and heard at the Elbow. Angela Duncan donated her talents as a designer. Beezy hosted a special brunch for us (please eat at Beezy’s, 20 N. Washington in Ypsi, it is deliiiiiiiiicious!) and caused a thousand more people to fall in love with her. VG Kids donated amazing t-shirts, so amazing, in fact, that we sold out of them. Quite Scientific Records bookended the event with champagne toasts.

And, of course, HUGE THANKS to our sponsor, the Detroit Red Wings. They auctioned off super-cool merch and donated the proceeds to us.

And I’d like to give shout-outs to the people who spent about forty hours at the Elbow Room this weekend right alongside me: Jason DePasquale, Andy Garris, Linda Jordan, Jeremy Peters, and Brandon Zwagerman. Ohhhh Mittenfest V, I cannot wait to meet you!