Most musical series and festivals in the Blue Water Area don't aspire to anything more than to entertain guests and perhaps raise a little money. The organizers of Yale Musicfest 2006 hope to do both, of course, but the annual event has the additional goal of helping people understand mental illness and disabilities.

Sponsored by Integrity Clubhouse, a Yale rehabilitation program for adults recovering from psychiatric disabilities, the festival is more than just a show for its members. They actively participate in putting it on.

"We have members of the club serving as food vendors," said Lynn Vinson, executive director of Touchstone Services, which runs the program. "They do the promotion, the preparing and the cleanup work."

The third-annual event will feature several returning performeres, includign folksinger Dan Hazlett and classical guitarist William Henry Russell. Mew to the event are Celtic group Ourselves, singer songwriter Brian Linne and a two-hour set by local classic rock band Voo-Doo Doctors.

"We're all excited to do this one," Voo Doo Doctors bassist Al Langolf said, "because it's a fund-raiser for the mentally handicapped. Whatever we can do to help them, we're there to help them."

The clubhouse this year will have the St. Clair County Parks and Recreation Commission's Showmobile, a portable stage, on site for the nine bands and solo performers.

Vinson said the event always is well attended by the club's membership but hasn't drawn as many outsiders as hoped in the past.

"There's a lot of good music people could enjoy," she said. "We're really hoping to do a better job spreading the word this year."

"It's an opportunity for the members to highlight their skills and invite the community to their clubhouse and see what it's all about," Vinson said. "We see it as a way of reducing stigma."

She believes the festival has achieved that goal among those who have experienced the event.

"I think it's been a benefit to the community and to us as well," she said.