Grassers & Keggers: A Michigan Rite of Passage

For anyone growing up in a Mid-Michigan small town or village, we all basically shared many of the same rituals and experiences.

Like what? Like hangin’ out at the downtown party store, going to the high school games and after-game dances, camping out in the woods, driving around or riding bikes, playing softball in the backyard, etc.

But there was another part of growing up that many of us experienced.....grassers.

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For the uninformed, ‘grassers’ - a/k/a ‘keggers’ - were parties thrown at night out in someone’s field, away from the prying eyes of parents. Sometimes partying on some farmer’s field would be trespassing, but if you had a classmate who lived on a farm or out in the country, you had it ‘made in the shade’. The difference between a grasser and a kegger? While grassers were out in a field, keggers could be anywhere.

These grassers included a bonfire and a few pony kegs of beer – whoever purchased them always seemed to be a mystery. Whoopin’, hollerin’, blaring a radio, dancing, (if it was a smaller party, sometimes a little nudity would find its way in), drinking cups of beer.....and possibly hooking up and heading off into a place in the field where it was good and dark.

It seemed there was always a kegger going on somewhere/sometime during summer vacation; growing up in Stockbridge and surrounded by field after field, I knew there were plenty of places – well-known and secret – where a grasser could be found. An invite to one of these was a badge of honor – but usually, it got around by word-of-mouth, and more people than were wanted would show up.

There still may be a few grassers held here and there, but they mostly seem to be replaced by gaming. Even though I agree gaming is safer where you can keep an eye on your kids, it’s also sad that socializing with others has gotten so plastic.