Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


The largest free veteran outreach event in the country returns to the Fowlerville Fairgrounds this weekend.

Vet Fest takes place this Saturday from noon to 3pm and is a free event for all active duty, retired, or military veteran families.

Veterans can enjoy a day of camaraderie while learning about a wide variety of veteran-specific resources. The event is family-orientated and veteran’s family members can enjoy food, bounce houses, live music, backpack and school supply giveaways, celebrity appearances, and more. All veterans in attendance are also eligible to win a wide variety of valuable prizes.

Vet Fest is said to be more than just a celebration - offering a day of connection, support, and gratitude for the military community.

It’s all put together by VETLIFE. Co-Founder Josh Parish tells WHMI they’ve worked hard to make the event bigger and better every year. As part of it, an under-served part of the veteran community is always honored. Parish said he’s really proud that this year at 2pm, every Vietnam and Vietnam-era veteran and their spouses will be specially honored and presented with recognition pins.

Parish commented that spouses and dependents don’t get enough recognition or the recognition they deserve; and they really want to spotlight how important a veteran’s family is in the process of leaving the military to the transition to civilian life. He said “the transition is not just hard for the veteran, it’s hard for the family as well, so the cohesive unit needs to be there” – adding he thinks that’s why Vet Fest and VETLIFE have grown so exponentially - because they involve the family in the process.

Parish says the reason VETLIFE exists is because there is a fragmented resource transition model where veterans are expected to come to the government to search out their benefits and get connected. He says the problem is that a large amount of veterans have absolutely no idea what their benefits are or where to go to get them. Parish said what VETLIFE, its Battle Buddy app, and what Vet Fest does is bring the resources specifically to the veteran.

Registration is required. More information is available in the provided link.