Rising Stars: Meet Mark Lawson of Midland, Michigan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Lawson.

Hi Mark, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Mark and Tracey Lawson’s private backyard paradise started when we purchased our home in 2012. It’s dubbed the Beach Side Cafe’, The name pays homage to a bachelor pad that Mark and his best friend John Tuttle had back in 1989. Mark and Tracey’s favorite place to visit is the Sunset Pier in Key West, Florida. There’s a really cool colorful theme down there, and a super cool stage they built in 2016. We decided to theme our backyard after the Sunset Pier, and build a replica of the stage in our own private backyard. The stage was completed in 2019, and we hosted our very first band called Miranda and the M80s. We’re going into our 7th year of hosting local and Michigan bands. Last year we had 4 bands and hosted our daughters graduation party. Our parties have about 200 people in attendance. When we’re not busy hosting parties, we are always out on a musical tour supporting live music and the venues that host them. We are locally dubbed as “Lawsons On Tour”. We let the local venues and bands promote on our private group Facebook page, which has more than 2,500 members from all over the place. The members consist of family, friends, and musicians we have met along the way in life. To join the private page, a series of questions must be answered. Members of the page are automatically invited to our parties every year.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
To build a paradise like this, it just takes time, money and a lot of creativity. (We like to do our own work). Aside from the stage which is a replica, everything else in our backyard is custom designed by us. We have a huge bar with three TVs, grilling station, mini-golf course, disc-golf course, two water features, and a sweet clubhouse for our six grandkids. Everything is Key West beach-themed. There are also a lot of other cool visual items that have made their way into our backyard over the last 13 years. Some of the items are what we have found along the way, and other items have been donated to us by friends and family. It’s been fun to see everything develop along the way.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Both Mark and Tracey have many years of experience in the restaurant/customer service business. Currently, Mark is a Sales Consultant at Midland Ford Lincoln, and Tracey helps people with housecleaning needs. When we’re not working, we love to volunteer our time to benefits and fundraisers. We really love to help people in need. We are huge givers, and care about everyone. We’ve opened up our place for really close friends in the form of benefits to help out the families. We also support local food trucks who provide delicious food during our parties, and we will traditionally collect non-perishable food items for Hidden Harvest food pantry at one of our parties.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
We are very blessed to have many friends, and an awesome family. We always give without expecting anything in return. Many of our friends recognize that, and out of nowhere we will be blessed back. When we have bands come play for us, everyone is very generous with donations that go directly to the performers. We always have to emphasize that this is just our private backyard, we’re not a business. We LOVE to share our place with everyone. It’s always fun to see people’s reaction when they see it for the first time…it’s quite extreme and one of a kind. There’s a sign just before you walk through the whiskey barrels the says, “CREATE THE THINGS YOU WISH EXISTED”. We are happy to be an inspiration to others, and to make them happy through LIVE MUSIC and visual relaxation in our little paradise.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/386037914846534