How It All Began

The Elk Rapids Film Festival didn’t start with a vision. It started with too many drinks.

For years, Scott and Dan “Dusty” Graves had vacationed with their friend Robert “Roscoe” McLeod in the small lakeside town of Elk Rapids, Michigan. One summer, fueled by camaraderie and questionable decision-making, Scott and Dan came up with an idea: start a film festival. The origins of the exact moment are sketchy at best. What isn’t sketchy is what happened next: their wives unanimously declared it “the dumbest idea ever.”

Naturally, this meant it had to happen.

2014: The Pioneers

In the summer of 2014, Scott and Dan—armed with nothing but determination and a copy of Old School—launched the inaugural Elk Rapids Film Festival. Roscoe couldn’t make it that first year, but the two pioneers pressed on, battling mosquitoes and doubters alike. They screened “Boobs Over the Lake” (as it would forever be known) and proved that sometimes the best ideas are the ones people tell you won’t work.

A cultural movement was officially born.

The Early Years: Finding Our Feet

Roscoe joined the following year, and the founding trio was complete. The festival spent its early years learning to walk. Neighbors and The Hangover in 2015. Step Brothers, Wedding Crashers, and Superbad in 2016—a ridiculously strong year that saw Dusty introduce the first official festival t-shirt, transforming a casual gathering into a branded event. By 2017, Talladega Nights had cemented itself as an instant classic, and the festival had found its voice: comedy, friendship, and a whole lot of Will Ferrell.

But the wives? They were still skeptical.

2018: The Hedge and the Turning Point

Everything changed in 2018. Bonnie delivered a legendary recommendation with Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, officially introducing “The Hedge” into the Academy vocabulary. The year ended in the festival’s first-ever tie between Mike and Dave and Anchorman—a testament to the quality of films and the growing investment from everyone involved.

By 2019, the kids were joining in for What About Bob?, and Hot Tub Time Machine provided references that would echo for years. The festival was no longer just for the guys. It was becoming a family tradition.

2020: The Coup d’État

Then came 2020. COVID-19 threatened to cancel everything, but the Academy refused to let the tradition die. Facing uncertainty, they pivoted to the classics—and the wives seized the moment. Erin, Bonnie, and Nancy staged a programming coup, overriding the vote and introducing the “Tom Cruise” genre. Top Gun won the summer festival, and the first-ever outdoor screening cemented a new era.

The wives didn’t just tolerate the festival anymore. They owned it.

That winter, a surprise session featuring Dumb and Dumber and Pop Star (with a scene the men were grateful the women and children missed) proved that the festival could thrive year-round.

The Early 2020s: Growing the Crew

Somewhere in the early 2020s, Roscoe’s brother Scotty joined the crew, becoming an integral part of the festivities and proving that the best traditions are the ones that grow organically.

2021: Jaws on the Lake

If 2020 saved the festival, 2021 launched it into legend.

The summer of 2021 saw the meticulously planned screening of Jaws on a water trampoline—an engineering feat that elevated the festival to a new level of cultural importance. The night was marked by epic laughter, over-served participants, and the undeniable sense that something special was happening. Jaws was the clear winner, but the real victory was realizing the festival had truly come of age.

That winter, the surprise session introduced the iconic scripture, “you touched my heart,” from Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, proving that great quotes could come from anywhere.

The Golden Years: 2022–2025

What followed was a string of legendary seasons:

2022 brought the immediate Hall of Fame induction of Top Gun: Maverick, complete with a party-bus ride to a private Traverse City screening and Dusty’s dedicated Top Gun mustache. The year also saw the reunion of Men 2 Boyz for their White on White album—a moment of pure festival magic.

2023 pushed boundaries with the Yacht Rock theme, culminating in a screening of Caddy Shack on a rented yacht in the Elk Rapids marina. The “very aggressive” nautical attire worn by Roscoe, Dusty, and Scotty nearly incited a local brawl, but Walk Hard emerged as a surprise winner in a season defined by heavy “hedging” and lake day trips.

2024 celebrated the 80’s Revival with vintage attire, a custom mix tape, and the debut of Todd Aldrich’s lakefront performances, ending with a Jimmy Buffett tribute. The year introduced the Annual Shrimp Boil tradition and saw Road House narrowly defeat Back to the Future for the crown. It was also the year of dissolving bathing suits—a story best left to those who were there.

2025 marked the dawn of a new era. In late 2024, the Holcombs had secretly purchased Solset, a house in Elk Rapids, telling no one until Todd Aldrich played a surprise opening set. What friends thought was a rental was revealed as the festival’s permanent home. The 2025 festival became a tribute to Will Ferrell, complete with custom Ron Burgundy orange bathrobes that set an impossibly high bar for future attire.

The Tradition Today

Over a decade in, the Elk Rapids Film Festival is no longer just an idea their wives thought was dumb. It’s a beloved tradition that brings together three families, parents, brothers, extended friends, and anyone lucky enough to be invited. Planning starts every January because the anticipation is half the joy.

It’s a week in July where the outside world fades away, replaced by laughter, cinema, and the kind of friendship that only grows stronger with time. It’s screening films on water trampolines and yachts. It’s party buses to private screenings. It’s bathrobes and bathing suits and too many drinks with the people who matter most.

The wives were wrong. It wasn’t the dumbest idea ever.

It was one of the best.

Looking Forward

As the festival enters its second decade with Solset as its permanent home, the Academy looks ahead to new themes, new moments, and new memories. The 2026 theme—Women in Film—celebrates the brilliant comedic genius of the women who’ve made cinema what it is, proving that the festival has always understood that the best stories are the ones that make us laugh, think, and feel.

The Elk Rapids Film Festival isn’t just about movies. It’s about showing up, year after year, for the people and the place that make summer complete. It’s about never being too old to have terrible ideas that turn out to be great ones.

And it’s about knowing that as long as there’s a lake, a screen, and a group of friends willing to laugh at anything, the festival will always have a home.