Festival season is almost upon us.

This weekend will see the beginning of Dowagiac’s Dogwood Fine Arts Festival. For two weeks, the festival will bring fine arts — from circus performances to authors to classical and rock and roll music — to the city of Dowagiac.

For me, Saturday’s opening act of the Dogwood Festival signals the beginning of one of the busiest times of the year: festival season.

Spring and summer in southwest Michigan are chock full of fun community events. In addition to the Dogwood Festival, May will see the Niles Renaissance Fair and the 17th annual Niles Family Fun Fair.

July will see Dowagiac’s annual Summer in the City festival and the Cass County Fair. In August, Buchanan will once again host its Thrill on the Hill event, and Berrien County will host its always-anticipated Berrien County Youth Fair.

This list also doesn’t account for the many other activities that come along with the warmer weather. I would run out of room on the page if I tried to list them all.

Though this might be one of the busiest times of the year for us at the newspaper as we try to cover every event possible, it is one of my favorites.

For their sizes, our communities host more festivals than most, and it is exciting to see that momentum and vitality in our small towns. These festivals are so important to our communities because they provide us with fun activities, unique experiences and a place for us to make memories. They also draw visitors from out of town and give local businesses an economic boost.

Most importantly, in my eyes anyway, is that these festivals and events bring people together and give a town a sense of community. Almost every festival I’ve gone to in southwest Michigan has been a place that is warm and welcoming. They are places where people stop being “people who live in southwest Michigan” and become “southwest Michigan people.”

I, for one, am looking forward to seeing all that come back to town this festival season, starting this weekend with the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival. I’m also excited to see what the rest of the festivals will bring. It should make for a fun, exciting spring and summer.

SARAH CULTON, is the managing editor at Leader Publications. She can be reached by phone at (269) 687-7712 or by email at sarah.culton@leaderpub.com