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July 27, 2006
Dunegrass Festival ’06 tops the charts
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
This region has hosted some pretty bitchin’ musical acts over the years, but never have we seen a lineup this juicy: Electric Hot Tuna, Song of the Lakes, the Neptune Quartet, Steppin’ In It, Seth Bernard & Daisy May and wait, listen to this, Greg Brown and Iris Dement! Do not miss this year’s Dunegrass Festival, August 4-6 in the heart of Empire.
Jeremiah Sequoia and the crew at Grassroots Productions took over the Dunegrass Festival last year and brought it back from the brink of closing down, and now they have one heck of an encore on tap. Rest assured, the Village of Empire will be the envy of folk and bluegrass lovers all over the country.
Photos by Kali Coles
That’s right, Greg Brown, one of the most popular male folksingers in America, will visit our town — he of the kindred Midwestern spirit with the Ozarks voice, the poet’s tongue and child’s demeanor. Short of Bob Dylan, himself (pre-1965), what more could we want?
Music aficionados should also recognize the other names on tap for the three-day festival (check out the lineup at www.dunegrassfestival.com). Electric Hot Tuna played here last year. The Neptune Quartet and Song of the Lakes are well-known northern Michigan bands with mileage and charisma. Seth and Daisy and the boys from Steppin’ In It have wowed every crowd they’ve met in Michigan.
Throw in the local gangs Cabin Fever, the New Third Coast and K. Jones and the Benzie Playboyz and you’ve got a small-town aura that connects this star-studded festival with past Dunegrass blasts.
Last year’s highlight Vince Welnick, who passed away earlier this summer, will be remembered during the final act on Friday night with a Tom Constanten & Friends Tribute. Tom and Vince both played with the Grateful Dead during the famed band’s early days (As we speak Vince is up in heaven jamming with Jerry!). And Saturday night runs late with Electric Hot Tuna and Cornmeal jamming late into the night.
But for folk music lovers, Sunday is the day. Settle into a lawn chair or picnic blanket, chow down on some of the great, and healthy food the vendors sell, and enjoy Seth and Daisy (played Empire’s Asparagus Festival in May), Song of the Lakes, the Neptune Quartet, Iris DeMent, Steppin’ In It, and Greg Brown.
Tickets are more expensive this year, and that reflects the quality of the music. Pre-sold weekend passes cost $75 ($90 at the gate), Friday and Saturday only $45, Saturday and Sunday only $55, Friday only $25 ($30 at the gate), Saturday only $30 ($35 at the gate), Sunday only $30 ($35 at the gate). Weekend camping passes cost $15, $10 for Saturday and Sunday, and $5 for Sunday only. Buy tickets locally at East Shore Market in Beulah, Cedar City Market in Cedar, the Cabbage Shed in Elberta, Deering’s Market in Empire, Kejara’s Bridge in Lake Leelanau, Café Bliss in Suttons Bay, or Horizon Books and Oryana Natural Foods in Traverse City or visit www.dunegrassfestival.com.
Posted by editor at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)
Lake Street Studios bring back performance with Arts Collage
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
The action is returning to the Lake Street Studios. On Saturday, July 29, the Studios, across from Cherry Republic on Glen Arbor’s Lake Street, will hold their first ever Arts Collage, featuring visual arts, wine tasting, readings, live music, multimedia entertainment and even a “performance philosopher.”
The Studios’ Center Gallery is known for its art openings every Friday of the summer, but the Arts Collage offers visitors a chance to learn more about the process. Stop by between 12-4 p.m. for the visual arts program (free admission) and watch the experts in action to learn about blacksmithing, glass bead making, fiber arts, ceramics, pastels and painting. Meanwhile, just up the street the Cottage Book Shop will host youth readings and storytelling.
J & I Wines will hold a free wine tasting in the Center Gallery from 6-7 p.m., and the real fun begins with the performing arts program from 7-11 p.m. (admission $5). Bring lawn chairs and find a spot on the green behind the Studios as a contemporary urban fusion band called the Urbaniginies warm up the night, followed by performance philosopher Paul Spence. The second set features readings by Jerry Dennis and Keith Taylor and original folk music by Gen Obata.
The Arts Collage will reach its crescendo after 9:30 p.m. with a multimedia performance by filmmaker and artist Andrea Maio and jazz and poetry by The Turtlenecks.
The brains behind this cool and unique gathering is Harry Fried, who splits his time between Ann Arbor and Glen Arbor and is married to Allison Stupka, one of the daughters of the late Suzanne Wilson, who was a stalwart on the Glen Arbor art scene before passing away two years ago.
Since the Glen Arbor Art Association and the Lake Street Studios split up and went their separate ways, the Studios have lost their classroom aspect and emphasis on performing arts, Harry feels. The Manitou Music Festival became part of the Art Association, and the stage behind the Lake Street Studios has hardly been used while the Studios have been devoted largely to the visual arts and Friday night openings.
But at the art opening and memorial for Suzanne Wilson last year Allison invited the Ellen Rowe Quartet to play, and that got Harry thinking. “The music started here at the Studios, and over the last 20 years that stage has featured many great acts, concerts and plays. I’ve always been impressed that a little town like Glen Arbor could find the quality that has come here.
Harry began re-conceptualizing the stage as another studio. “We are an art center after all, so we should have a broad palette of offerings that will appear on stage throughout the summer: readings, music of all different styles and theater.”
The Arts Collage on July 29 is the culmination of that vision, to be followed by a Latin jazz concert on August 19 featuring the hot Ann Arbor band Los Gatos.
Tickets can be purchased at the Lake Street Studios and parking is available at the Leelanau Coffee Roasting Company.
Posted by editor at 10:11 PM | Comments (0)
Getting to know Cedar
By F. Josephine Arrowood
Sun contributor
What is there to do in Cedar now that the Polka Fest has rolled up its dance tent and beer barrels? Leelanau County’s central hub, with its one blinking-light intersection, may look like a one-horse burg — but there’s plenty to see, do, and buy on Kasson Street (County Road 651). Her merchants offer all of life’s essentials: fresh flower arrangements at Stachnik Floral: nuts and bolts at Cedar Hardware, as well as tools, electrical conduit, fishing licenses, seeds and even a cat or two for petting; antiques and vintage collectibles at the Antique Junction in the old railroad depot; and fine Petoskey stone jewelry at the new L. Saile’s next to Bunting’s Market.
Cedar has become a mecca for fiber fanciers, with two adjacent shops housed in charming historic buildings on Kasson Street’s east side.
The Liberty Quilt Shop offers specialty fabrics from lines such as Benartex, patterns, and quilt tops for sale. Inish Knits, under new owners Melissa and Curtis Kelenske, celebrates all things spun, crocheted, carded, felted, and yes, knitted, in their lively establishment. Veteran fiber artist Susan Curtis can often be found spinning wool into yarn, as she discusses the history of the craft, or praises the “super cluster of people who gather around this shop,” including Cedar sheep farmer Alesha Ashley, Jenny Kelly of Empire and employee Mary Peel. Items for sale include ultra-portable “Babe” spinning wheels made from PVC, roving (fiber prepared for spinning), carders, patterns, books, and handspun and dyed yarn from local suppliers like Sunlight Fibres of Maple City. The store also does custom design and production of knitted garments, and custom spinning for knitters. Every Tuesday evening Inish Knits offers spinning drop-in, and open knitting sessions on Wednesdays, both from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Food figures largely in this robust community descended from Polish and other immigrants in the 1800’s. Day travelers, summer residents and locals can choose from a variety of culinary options. The Cedar Rustic Inn and Longview Winery have recently opened on the north side of town, serving breakfast and lunch, while the Cedar Tavern offers a casual adult drinking atmosphere and frequent live musical entertainment at night.
Fresh food, much of it locally grown or made, can also be found at several locales. Pleva’s Meat, the nationally known headquarters of PlevaLean burgers and cherry sausage, embodies the small-town atmosphere and personal service that makes rural living so enjoyable. Right next door, the Cedar City Market offers a huge selection of fine wines, specialty liquor, and organic foods, including cheeses, soy milk, yogurts and local eggs; Fair Trade and Higher Grounds bulk coffees; breads from Traverse City; ecological cleaning products; and Moon Works laundry soap, made in Suttons Bay. Jovial Cedar City Market owner Phil Thiel can often be found presiding over his wooden counter, discussing progressive politics, sports or the best local beer with customers. The Cedar City Market also serves as a ticket outlet for music events, such as concerts at Kejara’s Bridge in Lake Leelanau and the upcoming Dunegrass Festival in Empire on August 4-6.
At the intersection of Kasson Street and Bellinger Rd (County Road 616), sits the Blue Moon ice cream stand with an eye-popping indigo metal roof. New owners Bret and Molly Crimmins offer Ashby’s specialty hand-dipped ice creams, flurries, sundaes, yogurts, shakes, and malts. Ask for their unique “Grasshopper” shake or sundae with crème de menthe, or try the “Morel” soft-serve cone, rolled in nuts and coated with chocolate. After sinful dessert, feed virtue with the main course: Pleva’s hotdogs and brats, chicken and BBQ sandwiches. While eating, watch the world whiz by from sheltered patio seating. Behind the Moon, Williams Orchards has a self-serve fruit stand, where daily harvests of local cherries, peaches and apples can be savored.
At Bunting’s Market, customers fill both gas tank and grocery bag with essential fuels. The latter includes local produce, Stone House bread, a full deli with meats smoked right on the premises, movie rentals, and lottery tickets. They also offer dinners to go for busy families, including broasted chicken, and pizza on Fridays and Saturdays.
After so many food opportunities, the idea of working off some calories may be either appalling or appealing. Opportunities for recreation as well as relaxation abound, with a playground, tennis courts, and softball field all located behind the fire hall on Kasson Street. Victoria Creek Park lies adjacent, too, with a boat launch and a scenic waterway winding through the lush wetlands of Pere Marquette State Forest to South Lake Leelanau.
For more socializing, the Cedar Area Community Foundation sponsors regularly scheduled activities, such as “Walking Friends,” open to all, who meet every Monday, Tuesday, and Friday at 9 a.m. by the tennis courts; “Elder Fun — writing and sharing our life stories,” every second Wednesday of the month at the Lion’s Club in nearby Maple City; and an August 6 ice cream social at the Solon Township Hall on Kasson Street. Call Cedar Area Foundation Director B.J. Christensen at 228-3426 for more information.
Posted by editor at 09:17 PM | Comments (0)
Cedar’s newest restaurant offers fresh, local dining
By Pat Stinson
Sun contributor
Blend an artist’s vision, a chef’s craft, and an entrepreneur’s spirit. Season with family collaboration and community support. The result is Cedar’s long-awaited family restaurant which, when paired with a gold medal-winning winery, lingers deliciously on the palate.
The Cedar Rustic Inn and Longview Winery tasting room, on the site of the former Eddie G’s restaurant in Cedar, opened last month after years of planning by artist and restaurant owner Linda Ackley-Eaker, her son Aaron Ackley, and her husband Alan Eaker — the owner of Longview Winery.
Currently serving breakfast and lunch daily, the new, non-smoking restaurant, run by the management team of Chef Aaron and his wife, Nikki, offers simple but delicious menu items. Breakfast for lighter appetites includes granola, oatmeal, yogurt and fruit cup. Hungrier folk can order pancakes or French toast, or choose from four types of omelets.
“You’ve seen omelets that look like the side of a mountain?” Aaron asks. “They’re cooked eggs wrapped around raw, cold ingredients. That’s not an omelet.” If you sauté your veggies first, like the French do, then add the eggs, Aarons says the eggs will soufflé and develop the flavor of the veggies and meats
“I don’t cook by recipe but by method. Everything cooked by sound method turns out right.”
Lunch items include charbroiled burgers, (“We do just a mean burger”), sandwiches, (the tuna melt is a local favorite), basket lunches of fried chicken or fish, soup of the day, Cedar dogs, and four types of salads. (Try the Thai Chicken Salad with water chestnuts, mandarin oranges and slivered almonds.) All salad dressings, save Italian, are made on the premises.
The “less more often” principle Aaron learned while at the Culinary Institute of America is applied to homemade menu items, such as dressings, coleslaw and soups. Cooking smaller amounts of food as needed produces less waste, Aaron explains, and makes it easier to control the cost and quality of the food. To ensure freshness and to adhere to the family’s philosophy of buying local products, Aaron shops at the Cedar City Market for organic foods, Pleva’s for fresh meats and Buntings Market for smoked menu items, like sausages.
Dinner will soon be served. While waiting for the approved liquor license paperwork to arrive, Aaron is busy putting the finishing touches on his menu of American regional cuisine. He describes mouth-watering entrees of Hudson Valley Pot Roast, Dried Cherry Pork Tenderloin, Perch Fillets, Strip Steak, Whitefish Gratinee, (with tomatoes and onions), Garden Pasta, Spaghetti Salad, Tamales and the “Real Deal” — southern-fried buttermilk chicken. Prices range from $9-$16 per entrée. Dessert lovers will drool and angst over choices like individual upside-down pineapple cakes, blueberry cobbler, peanut butter chocolate pie, and the piece de resistance … Frozen Maple Mousse.
Aaron and Nikki, proud parents of 15-month-old Annabelle, haven’t forgotten their young diners. “We’ve already had a lot of kids and families stop in, says Nikki. “And younger people are moving into the (Cedar) area all of the time.” Their most-requested menu items so far? Tuna melts, chili cheese fries, burgers and onion rings.
Like its menu, the décor is simple and tastefully done. Owner Linda, a bronze sculptor, created the restaurant’s door handle by making a rubber mold of a grapevine trunk and casting it in bronze. Aaron handpicked and logged twenty-two cedar trees from a swamp on Linda’s and Alan’s farm near Gills Pier. Columns of those smooth tree trunks support the porch roof, shading the sidewalk from the restaurant to the winery.
The restaurant’s interior touches are subtle reminders of Linda’s artistry and the family’s strong connections. Cheerful blonde walls meet a floor one could swear is leather, but is actually acid-etched, hand-troweled, poured concrete — a more practical choice. Bronze light fixtures hanging from the 10-foot ceiling were rescued from an old schoolhouse in Traverse City and painstakingly sanded and re-finished by Linda. She also chose the lamps above the leaning bar — with stained glass shades of grape clusters, paying tribute to her husband’s new venture. Prints of American Indians, from her private Edward S. Curtis collection, line the dining room walls. Aaron’s great-grandmother’s crazy quilt and a landscape painted by Nikki’s grandmother are also proudly displayed.
“We’re very interested in keeping everything local, and we used as many people from the county as we could,” Linda says.
The foyer’s carved wooden hostess stand and Scandinavian Hunt cabinet were purchased from the Antique Junction in Cedar. Local artisan B. Miller created the chalkboard depicting pine cones and cedar boughs. Even the locks on the doors were installed by Larry the Locksmith of Cedar.
Not least, they chose building contractor Marty Easling of Easling Construction in Leland to work with them.
“We were very happy with Marty’s ability to get a complicated project done in seven months, from demolition to opening day. I don’t think anyone else would have had the horses to do it.”
Though the original footprint from Eddie G’s was retained, the building was torn down and re-built. Linda’s vision of a three-story, 45 hundred square foot studio/gallery/café became, after several transformations, a single-story restaurant seating 63 with a next-door tasting room for Alan’s winery. An adjoining parcel was purchased later and includes Linda’s bronze foundry and studio.
“Mom is the visionary; she has the vision to get things done,” Aaron says.
“She’s the big dreamer,” Nikki adds, approvingly.
Of his step-dad, Alan, Aaron says, “He’s an entrepreneur at the very core. He’s all about opportunity. He’s been one of our bigger cheerleaders — he’s an eternal optimist!”
Aaron also speaks highly of the village zoning board and of previous Supervisor Al Garvin and current Supervisor Carl Williams, both of whom worked with them and told them what they could and couldn’t do ahead of time.
“I think this is the highest and best use for this corner, and for the community,” Linda says. “The timing was right, the political climate has been right and the economic environment is right.
We chose Cedar because there’s so much opportunity for growth and where we knew we could make a difference,” she adds.
The proof isn’t always just in the pudding.
Next time, we’ll visit the Cedar Rustic Inn’s neighbor, Longview Winery, owned by Leelanau County vintner and winemaker Alan Eaker. The Cedar Rustic Inn, is open for breakfast and lunch, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday thru Saturday and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Inn will open soon for dinner. Proposed hours are Tuesday thru Thursday, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Call 228-2282.
Posted by editor at 08:20 PM | Comments (0)
Friends of Library hold popular annual book sale
By Jane Greiner
Sun contributor
Thousands of good used books will be offered for sale at the popular Friends of the Glen Lake Community Library book sale on August 3-5. Each year crowds of book lovers flock to the Glen Arbor Town Hall to look over the tables of books and pick out armloads of mysteries, bestsellers, popular fiction and nonfiction, all for fifty cents to $1 each. There are also individually priced children’s books, DVDs, CDs, games and puzzles and collectible books.
Thursday, August 3 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Preview Party with wine, hors d’oeuvres, lemonade and cookies. Your $5 admission ticket gets you first choice of all the books plus and an opportunity to bid in the silent auction on special autographed and unusual books.
Friday August 4 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Regular sale, free admission.
Saturday August 5 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Regular sale in the morning. Bargain Bag sale after 2 p.m. Fill a grocery bag with books for one low price.
Friends volunteer Lyn Becker reports that this year finding the books you like will be easier because all the books have been “exceptionally well organized with nonfiction books divided into categories and fiction books alphabetized by author.”
She said that members have been “been busy sorting books into categories and pricing them all year.”
All profits support the library through purchases such as new library shelves and on-going commitments for new books, DVDs and periodicals.
Library director David Diller said that the Friends “work on the book sale throughout the year, pretty actively, and mostly right here at the library.” Then, as the date approaches, “they recruit extra people to help get the books to and from the sale. So, it’s a big group effort.” He sees it as a major library event. “It definitely helps us financially.”
Posted by editor at 07:29 PM | Comments (0)
Local craftsman Paul Czamanske preserves woodworking traditions
By Corin Blust
Sun contributor
In a world of mass production, Paul Czamanske, owner and craftsman at Underbark New Mission Furniture in Maple City, prides himself on the unique and lasting design of his work. His beautifully created furniture is something that he knows will be appreciated and loved by generations to come.
“When I was a child, my parents would spend their weekends collecting antique furniture, and some of it would be 300 years old. I was really impressed by the fact that this furniture had survived. I’m sure that the children and grandchildren of my clients will be desiring my furniture, if not fighting over it,” said Czamanske. “When I make a piece, I stand at the bench wondering what the piece will be doing 100 years from now, even 200 years from now.”
Czamanske has always loved building things. He spent his childhood making so many forts from salvaged building scraps in the Detroit area that a construction crew complained to the police about his scavenging.
When Czamanske was in the seventh grade his family relocated to Germany. There, he took every industrial arts class he could, and his mother would take him on trips to castles and museums all over Europe.
“We would travel throughout Europe and visit all these castles. Looking back, I can see that the overbuilt, sometimes simply designed tables I would see [there] really influenced me a lot,” said Czamanske.
He attended the London College of Furniture, earning his Furniture Craftsman’s Certificate before moving back to the states in his early twenties.
“When I came back to the U.S., I was pretty disenchanted with what I found [after being in Europe for so long]. I did some art fairs in California, then in 1976 I moved here,” said Czamanske.
After becoming a single parent, Czamanske had a strong desire to become his own boss so that he could have more freedom with his schedule and more time for his son. He founded his DBA, Underbark, in 1981.
“I chose the name from a book of poetry by Max Ellison, who was the originator of the Stone Circle Poets, by Yuba, near Elk Rapids” said Czamanske.
His style, which he calls New Mission, originated out of a wide variety of influences: “If we had a blender, I would throw in the arts and crafts movement, throw in the kind of overbuilt style of well-made German castle furniture [that I was exposed to as a child], and the sleek, Danish modern style of furniture that was simultaneously influencing [me in Europe], add a tablespoon of oriental, and we get this new style of Mission,” said Czamanske.
Czamanske takes a unique approach to hand-made furniture, focusing on developing a line of well-designed and functional pieces rather than “reinventing the wheel” every time a client orders a piece. In this way, his clients can easily have a cohesive theme in their living room. He started the line by creating a chair.
“I knew that a lot of furniture makers would avoid chair-building, tell people ‘find a chair, I’ll match the table, etc. So I took the idea of making chairs as kind of a challenge,” he said. “In 1984 I developed the New Mission High-Backed Dining Chair, the oldest design that I have in my line. I would use the seating, tweak it, see how it felt, stand back, look at it from every angle, decide what needed to be thicker, lesser, higher, or lower.”
Czamanske engineers every piece carefully, allowing room for the wood to expand and contract with the seasons, one challenging design problem that has led the mass-produced furniture world to shy away from the quality of solid wood.
“I use almost no veneer in my work, so it’s solid wood. There are seven pieces of wood in [a dining table top]. When I buy the wood I probably handle six pieces of wood for every piece that makes it into my truck, and then when it’s in the shop I spend a lot of time sorting through how the grain’s going to look, how it’s going to go together,” he said.
The product of Czamanske’s careful planning is a quality piece of furniture that will last for generations.
“When this furniture sits in your house, it’s going to infuse soul and a sense of something enduring. It’s not a product of our technical freak-out world, it maintains something of a familiar past,” said Czamanske. “I call it real furniture, and I guess that’s what I like, maintaining that realness as an option for people to furnish their homes, feel comfortable. In my mind, I want everyone to be comfy, to have a nice chair and lamp to read by and feel peaceful.”
Czamanske maintains a gallery above his workshop near the Glen Lake Schools, where some of Carol Spaulding’s “old favorites” also hang. He operates mostly by appointment, but just give him a quick phone call at (231) 334-3573 if you plan to stop by. His furniture can also be seen at the upcoming Northwest Michigan College art fair on July 29, the Suttons Bay Art Festival on August 5-6, and the Alden art fair during the last weekend in August. His New Mission furniture can also be seen at his website, www.underbarkfurniture.com.
Posted by editor at 06:31 PM | Comments (0)
Painter Carol Spaulding opens at Lake Street Studios
By Corin Blust
Sun contributor
Even though local oil and pastel painter Carol Spaulding has traveled all over, she still finds the rolling hills, sparkling water and colorful gardens of Leelanau County most intriguing. Spaulding is devoting her show at the Lake Street Studio’s Center Gallery from July 28-August 3 to the water, land and gardens of our local areas.
“The landscape is just so beautiful around here. I won’t be showing my out west Sierra Mountain paintings because I think they are not quite as interesting [to my local audience],” said Spaulding.
Most of the work that Spaulding plans to show at her upcoming opening is based on local landscapes or “more universal subjects like gardens.”
Spaulding’s passion truly is painting. After taking art classes in high school, Spaulding went on to study ceramics with a minor in fiber arts from Syracuse University. She has continued practicing art over the years despite becoming a busy mom and business owner. Carol and her husband Joe recently sold their business, Peace Pole Makers, and their children are now grown and out of the house.
“A lot of why I’ve been able to do this is because my children have grown up now, and we have passed on our business, so I have more time to focus on painting,” said Spaulding.
Having ample time to sketch and play with color has made Spaulding more enthusiastic about her art. Right now, she feels confident about the direction that her work is going and satisfied with the element of creativity that she is able to work into her natural scenes.
“I feel very psyched about painting. I know that this feeling of being inspired doesn’t last forever, there are transitions, but right now I feel like I’m doing good work. I’m not just doing the same thing over and over again. There’s some variety there,” she said.
Spaulding’s pastels dance with vibrant contrasts and interesting compositions while her oils are meditative and ethereal, though both use color to achieve their mood. Both media impart an emotional as well as visual impression on the viewer.
“I’m more interested in expressing a feeling than recording something and having it look like what it is,” said Spaulding. “I really love working with color and not sticking with just trying to put down the color that I was really seeing, to be a little more imaginative.”
As an artist, Spaulding observes the world around her with painting in mind, even when she isn’t directly in front of her easel. That way, she can draw her colors and moods from several different sources instead of just what is in front of her.
“I think that being an artist really tweaks one’s powers of observation. I feel like I’m looking at things more intensely, and sort of with a purpose, because I’m always thinking about responding and expressing something from what I’m seeing,” she said.
Despite the beauty and poignancy of her work, Spaulding is humble. She says it isn’t something that happens without a little elbow grease.
“I think it takes showing up at the page pretty regularly — there’s a lot of practice that goes into art making, at least for me,” she said.
Finding the time to practice is sometimes a difficult thing to master. Spaulding had a lot of fun with her series of garden scapes, evidenced by the bright colors and lively arrangement of the works. These paintings were inspired by Spaulding’s own garden. After becoming frustrated with not having enough time to pack up her supplies and go somewhere else to paint in un plein air, Spaulding decided to simply do it at her home.
“I try to be really efficient with getting my chores done, and last summer I didn’t have time to pack up and go somewhere and set up, so I just started working in the garden. And really, I’ve had such a great time,” she said.
Building on this spirit of multitasking, Spaulding’s Maple City home also includes a small gallery that can be visited by appointment. Call (231) 334-3377 for more information, or email her at ccspaulding@centurytel.net.
Posted by editor at 05:36 PM | Comments (0)
Developing Glen Lake’s film people
By F. Josephine Arrowood
Sun contributor
As Hollywood embraces northern Michigan for the second annual Traverse City Film Festival on July 31-August 6, the Glen Arbor Sun profiles two local residents who are developing their chosen crafts in acting and production in LA’s legendary movie industry.
Budding filmmaker Lark Arrowood vividly remembers the thrill of sitting in a dark, encompassing theater at age five, as an Indiana Jones movie thundered across her consciousness. “I was in awe and totally drawn into the experience,” of the lively drama unfolding on the huge screen, relates the college student from Maple City, now working and studying cinema at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She cites other film influences such as The Last Crusade, The Crying Game, and The Princess Bride as crucial in her growing awareness of the passion that has directed her career choice to someday become a movie director.
She asserts, “I’m drawn most powerfully to fictional stories in film. I want to explore themes of love, alienation, fear, jealousy, rage, hope and any other condition that flew from Pandora’s box. I don’t want to limit myself to one genre; I’m all about the stuff people really watch. In the right circumstances, a trash flick might send just as powerful a message as a classic story like Romeo and Juliet.” She continues: “For me, filmmaking draws together so many disciplines, like composition, acting, photography, and music, into one physically huge, stunning work of art. I love the sheer magic of it.”
At Glen Lake High School, Lark’s passion for movies took on a sharper focus, with mentors that included The Leelanau School teacher Cindy Leo, director of GLHS’s drama productions. As a young actor in musicals and comedy improv during this time, she was able to observe the director’s many roles that make a show successfully come together. ”I realized what directors do, and began to analyze the creative choices they make to get the results they want,” choices that include casting the right person for a role; blocking out the physical placement of actors and props on stage; lighting; and choreography. She was also impressed with Cindy’s handling of her young thespians and technical crew.
“A good director helps the other people feel comfortable. The way she ran rehearsals was hard work, but fun, too. She talked to you in ways you could relate to about acting, and to get the best performance from you. She always encouraged us to do well, and we always felt comfortable telling her if something wasn’t working, like an awkwardly staged kiss,” or a dance move that needed fixing.
Another important figure was Patrick Niemisto, vocal teacher at Glen Lake (as well as a seasoned musician with the popular group New Third Coast). Lark’s four years as a member of vocal ensemble North by Northwest gave her stage confidence and an enduring love of choral singing. Pat also teaches broadcasting and drama, and in Lark’s senior year, she approached him about taking an independent study class, in order to learn camera work and editing software. This extraordinary teacher agreed that she could put together a set of curriculum goals for the year based on the State of Michigan’s educational requirements; facilitated her tutorials with students who had previous broadcasting experience; and gave her free rein to write, produce, edit, direct, cast, and act in a series of videos.
“I remember the first time I picked up a video camera and tried to find a close-up object with the viewfinder,” she recalls. “It sounds trite, but you have to learn to see how the camera’s seeing,” quite a different experience than looking with the naked eye. “It took me eight weeks to shoot and edit my first project, a music video of Weezer’s ‘Hash Pipe,’” starring fellow students Brandon Peplinski and Brian Rademacher. “I learned to draw my first storyboards — visually laying out the shots like a large comic book, so you know what images you want to capture.” She also discovered the limitations of a set or location, and how factors like continuity — for example, an annoying picture that appears on a wall in one shot must remain in all the shots, or be entirely refilmed — can cause production headaches.
After graduating from Glen Lake in 2002, Lark chose to attend Lansing Community College, one of only a couple of colleges in Michigan that has its own filmmaking department. There she immersed herself in classes that included screenwriting, film history, making documentaries, after-effects, and editing on Avid software (the film industry’s prevailing standard). At LCC she made friends with others who were passionate about cinema, and discovered the intense camaraderie that bonds fellow filmmakers, who must rely on each other for everything from camera work, to lighting, to acting in each others’ productions, to sharing the cost of 16 mm film, bought in bulk. Another advantage of the two-year college was its temporary nature. “I knew I ultimately wanted to be in Los Angeles, where the movie industry is,” she stated, “and transferring to a school out there seemed the best way,” to make contacts and learn more.
In August 2004, Lark drove out West to continue her schooling at USC, whose vibrant, multicultural campus sits in mid-town Los Angeles. Despite the huge changes from a university town like East Lansing and rural Leelanau County, she immediately felt comfortable in the sprawling hurly-burly. “My first impression of LA was rush, rush! This is exactly where I want to be.” At USC, intensive filmmaking classes complemented one-of-a-kind gems such as “History of International Trash Cinema,” Russian, Japanese culture and salsa dance. She also joined the USC Fencing Team, earning a spot on the Women’s Sabre Team.
In addition to school, where she’ll be a senior this August, Lark works as a production assistant at Deluxe Digital Studio in Burbank. She found the job through Craig’s List last summer and started as an unpaid intern, where she worked 16-hour days on the special-edition DVD of the horror film Saw. “I love everything about production!” she exclaims. Work included making a sculpey clay model of the evil puppet in Saw, building sets, filming behind-the-scenes interviews with actor Cary Elwes, Lee Wanel, and others, and creating the “Easter eggs”: hidden bonus features on the DVD and on the Internet. Over the winter the Deluxe crew worked on the Date Movie DVD, and this summer just completed filming on another special-edition DVD for Lion’s Gate Productions. Confidentiality agreements prevent Lark from naming this most recent project, but she was able to expand her skills with work as prop master, costumer, script supervisor, location scout, and talent wrangler. Other chores included getting permits from the city, renting equipment like cop cars, securing a police officer for location scenes with guns, and “many trips to Lowe’s and Home Depot,” she laughs. The rest of the summer will be spent piecing the pastiche into a coherent and entertaining presentation, in time for the DVD’s autumn release.
Recently Lark discovered she now has her own entry page on the Internet Movie Database (www.IMDb.com), the result of last summer’s endeavors at Deluxe. Production work is part of the dues-paying that a future film director must go through, but Lark doesn’t mind. “This is a sign that I’m on the right track,” she says happily. “I’ve always visualized myself here.” However, she plans to someday return to northern Michigan to premiere a film of her own at the TC Film Festival, and meanwhile, hopes they’ll expand to include student entries.
Andrew Evans of Empire, a 2001 Glen Lake High School alumnus and star of some of its most memorable musicals, has also determinedly followed his dream to Hollywood. After a short stint as a theater major at Alma College, Andy took acting classes in New York City, then moved to New Orleans for four years, where a significant film industry had developed before Hurricane Katrina took its toll. This talented and charismatic thespian also sings, dances and studies Shakespeare, making him a versatile and hard-working performer. He has acted in several major venues, including an ABC movie, Campus Confidential, which aired last summer, and the soon-to-be-released Jude Law film All the King’s Men. Reached during a break on the set of Desperate Housewives in Los Angeles, where he was playing an extra, Andy discussed some of his past projects and future plans.
“I started as Jude’s stand-in on All the King’s Men, then got the part of playing his double,” he says of the period 1940s piece that was filmed in the Big Easy. The director liked him so well that he gave Andy a further role as a reporter, “just a couple of lines, but it was great. And I loved wearing the vintage-style suits and fedoras!” He also met actor Lawrence Fishbourne in New Orleans, who urged him to go to LA and study with an acting coach who had been a protégé of the legendary Stella Adler. In addition to his acting and dance classes, Andy has won many auditions, just one part of a grueling process that actors must face in their quest for work. His newest project? “I’m one of two finalists for a main character on a new soap opera pilot that will begin shooting this fall,” he says excitedly. Andy’s cinematic progress can be tracked on IMDb.com by Leelanau residents who will say proudly, “We knew him back when.”
Posted by editor at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)
Civil War units highlight Port Oneida Fair
Press release
The cavalry is coming. So is the heavy artillery, the infantry, and the sharpshooters. Civil War re-enactors will highlight this year’s Port Oneida Fair.
On Friday August 4 and Saturday August 5 the Port Oneida Rural Historic District of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will host the fifth annual Port Oneida Fair. The two-day event showcases the crafts, skills and activities that made rural life productive and enjoyable in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Many of the early settlers in Port Oneida and Northwest Lower Michigan were veterans of the Civil War. The war was a major event in their lives and the lives of their families. The Civil War units will demonstrate authentic uniforms and equipment and show their camps and drills. The soldiers will also talk about their experiences during the war. The soldiers will be accompanied by military band, Women’s Aid Societies from both the North and South and a peddler who traveled with the army. This is a rare opportunity to experience living history in this part of the state.
In addition to the Civil War re-enactors, over 100 exhibitors will demonstrate early farm skills and crafts from barn building to quilt making. On hand will be spinners, blacksmiths, buggy makers, potters, broom makers, weavers and many more. Each exhibitor is happy to explain their craft while you watch them work. A favorite each year are the big gentle oxen who will be mowing hay, followed by a team of work horses raking and loading the hay on to a wagon. Kids can help unload the wagon and build a haystack. There will be lots of other activities for kids to try such as traditional games and toys. Everyone will also be able to experience some of the daily chores like cutting wood or washing clothes by hand.
Traditional community bands, fiddlers and a variety of other musicians will provide music during both days of the fair.
The Fair is sponsored by The Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes with a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. Several local partner groups help with the planning and presentation of the fair along with many volunteers. The event takes place at five historic farms and a one-room school house in the Port Oneida Rural Historic District, located four miles north of Glen Arbor in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Fair hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day with special events taking place periodically. There will be an abundance of activities at each of the six locations so moving between the fair sites by horse and wagon, trolley, bike or just walking across the fields is a special part of the fun of the Port Oneida Fair.
The Port Oneida Rural Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, showcases life at the turn of the century through a community of eighteen farmsteads from the late 1800’s to mid 1900’s. The District is the largest historic agricultural community fully protected by government ownership in the nation. The Port Oneida community has stories to tell about the pioneer and maritime past of Northern Lower Michigan. Over the years, these farms and cultural resources have been loved by many for what they add to the pastoral Leelanau landscape. Now these historic buildings and meadows are interpreting history through such events as the Port Oneida Fair.
A Stone That Rises:
Inspired by the lives of Elizabeth and Carston Burfiend
By Anne-Marie Oomen, music by Norm Wheeler
Elizabeth:
“What could I say? A clear day, and the schooner is way out, coming in. The cordwood stacked high, all down the beach. And I think, well maybe it will bring some good fabric for a baby dress, or some salt. Maybe … and I see the white ship coming closer and closer, riding the wind, and steam engine puffing, and my husband and this Thomas Kelderhouse standing at the dock, and I look for the name. Oneida. Thomas, he struts, talks with the Captain, and tells everyone the name of the town is Port Oneida. (Music Out) That night, when the house gets quiet, I find the word in the big book of English. Oneida. The name of an Indian people, the word for the great stone that come to them wherever they went, a stone for the Oneida. That’s what their name for the people means. The stone that showed wherever they settled. A stone is a hard thing, and we have the stones that rise and break the plow blades. I know that kind of stone. But a stone big enough to stand for a people. It would be our great pyramid bluff. Ah, it could be, a great bluff standing for the people. This Thomas, he would make his town, but we had the stone.”
Posted by editor at 03:30 PM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2006
Scenes from the Fourth of July
Photos by Ryan Romeike (l) and Joanne Rettke (r)
Glen Arbor held its first Independence Day Boat Parade on July Fourth, sponsored by the Glen Lake Chamber of Commerce.
Don't miss Empire's Anchor Day festival coming up on July 15 and Glen Arbor's third annual Village Art Fair on July 19, and also check out the full lineup of live music around the area in our Community Calendar.
Posted by editor at 11:09 PM | Comments (0)
The Greencards, an American Composer, Prairie Winds open festival
From staff reports
The Manitou Music Festival, under the auspices of the Glen Arbor Art Association, will kick off its 2006 season with the traditional Dune Climb Concert in collaboration with the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Sunday, July 16, at 7 p.m.
The headlining act this year is The Greencards, a “new grass” acoustic band whose members crossed continents to collide deep in the heart of Texas, quickly making a name for themselves in the Austin music scene. Their passion was so strong they crossed oceans and continents to chase down the driving rhythm and high harmonies of bluegrass in the land where it was born. But because of their backgrounds they couldn’t help but infuse their brand of bluegrass with a different, more global energy.
After releasing their first album, Movin’ On, Aussies Kym Warner (mandolin, vocals) and Carol Young (bass, vocals) and Brit Eamon McLoughlin quickly made a name for themselves and masterfully played one of the most energetic sets of the 2004 Austin City Limits Music Festival.
Though they’re steeped in the tradition of bluegrass, The Greencards weave influences as disparate as Bob Dylan, Ricky Skaggs and The Beatles into a compelling new brand of acoustic music. They honor the past, but refuse to live in it. That’s why they continue to push at the boundaries of bluegrass and Americana music.
The Greencards’ second record, Weather and Water, is a seamless blend of old and new. The opening “Ghost of Who We Were,” featuring Young’s aching vocals is a plaintive tour de force that echoes Alison Krauss at her melodically melancholy best. “Almost Home” is a fluid instrumental that showcases the band’s musical prowess. The centerpiece of the album — chronologically, musically and emotionally — is “Time.” This standout track, a meditation on past experiences, mixes dreamy harmonies and a melody that rolls along like a lazy river.
Fitting, because this season the Manitou Music Festival will honor the theme “Weather and Water” throughout its concerts.
An American Composer: Edward Joseph Collins
The Manitou Music Festival’s opening chamber concert on July 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Glen Lake Community Reformed Church will reunite three performers: violinist Michelle Makarski, pianist Maria Meirelles and cellist Debra Fayroian, who also directs the festival. The trio will collaborate in a performance of Brahms Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op.101. This concert is also devoted to the music of American Composer, Edward Joseph Collins (1886-1951) with his suite for cello and arabesque for violin. With elegance and sweet remembrance the evening is a classical reunion of musicians and brings together a composer and his youngest son who resides in Leland
“This concert came from a discussion last summer with (the composer’s son) Ed Collins,” says Fayroian. “I was impressed with beauty of his father’s compositions and I did some research on him. Fayroian goes on to call Collins Sr. a very important composer in American classical music. He taught in Chicago, Berlin and the famous Bayreuth festival in Bavaria. Fayroian intends to feature some notes on the composer at the concert.
Prairie Winds & More
The Prairie Winds makes a return appearance to the Manitou Music Festival on July 27 at 7:30 p.m., also at the Glen Lake Community Reformed Church, with a multi-media concert featuring a performance of the French silent film, Cavalcade d'Amour (1939) with music by Darius Milhaud. Absorb the sounds of the exquisite music by French composer Darius Milhaud while viewing this short romantic comedy film (which they’ve promised Fayroian is G-rated). The film is divided into three sections, each depicting a romance occurring within the walls of the Chateau de Champs. Other works on the program will include the Carmen Suite by Georges Bizet and music of Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla.
Since their debut in 1996, The Prairie Winds have captivated audiences throughout the United States with performances that present the finest wind quintet literature in concert programs that entertain as well as enlighten. In addition to their busy touring schedule, the quintet also has an active radio presence: recent broadcasts include full-length concerts for Chicago's WFMT-FM “Live from Studio One” program and for listeners of Minnesota Public Radio. These musicians blend powerful musical technique with humor and intriguing background information to create what one critic called “a unique approach to the shaping of the concert experience (that) is sure to keep them in demand.”
What’s also new this year is the Manitou Music Festival using the Glen Lake Reformed Church over previous venues for its classical concerts. “It’s a larger area and we don’t have to share the space with other events,” Fayroian points out. “It’s a better listening environment too. The sound is beautiful.”
Posted by editor at 10:31 PM | Comments (0)
Century-old Glen Lake Manor reopens its doors
From staff reports
Nancy Wright is at it again.
Four summers after she and Janet Niewold bid Le Bear Restaurant goodbye to make way for Dominic Moceri’s gigantic Le Bear Resort at the north end of Lake Street in Glen Arbor, Wright is charging onto the local scene once again.
The 100-year-old Glen Lake Manor, which was once owned by her parents and grandparents, has reopened its doors to the public after a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 30. The Manor is a fine restaurant on M-22 just west of the Glen Lake Narrows offering private dining rooms, outside porch seating and a main dining room, looking out toward the Sleeping Bear Dunes across Little Glen Lake.
Offering what Wright calls “new American cuisine,” the Manor is open for lunch and dinner with a Sunday brunch, and will also host private parties, meetings and formal tea gatherings. The Glen Lake Manor features a classical style with white linens, chairs from Italy, gold-rimmed dishes and old-fashioned woven carpeting. The restaurant can accommodate a total of 140 diners with a fixed-price menu that will change daily.
“The Manor on Glen Lake” was built as a summer hotel at the turn of the last century when tourism flourished. Built in 1906 by John Biddleman, a lumberman who later married into the Tobin family, the manor is the only Glen Lake resort remaining. Originally named “Cold Spring Inn,” the manor was later sold to Biddleman’s manager and renamed “Ockers Inn.” Wright’s parents and grandparents, who had purchased land from Glen Arbor pioneer D.H. Day years earlier, acquired it in 1954 and renamed it the “Glen Lake Manor.” They continued to operate it in the European style and later added cottages.
Posted by editor at 09:37 PM | Comments (0)
Glen Arbor firefighters climb high with new ladder truck
By Jane Greiner
Sun contributor
Firefighters at the Glen Arbor Township Fire Department are proud of their new state-of the-art ladder truck, a Pierce Quint, number Q331. They were eager to bring it out and set it up for photographs and a demonstration of the incredibly long ladder. Firefighter, EMT Andrew Anthony stabilized the 70,000-pound truck with big side struts then climbed up to the console and ran the ladder. Firefighter, EMT Rachel Schaap, who had come in on a day off to help demonstrate the new truck, donned firefighting gear and climbed the ladder all the way to the top. Asked how it felt to climb up that high on the narrow, seemingly fragile extended ladder, she simply replied, “It’s fun!”
The ladder is the most visible feature of the new truck. It is 105 feet long when fully extended, which Firefighter Anthony compared to a 10-story building. Of course there are no buildings that high in this area, but a long ladder is needed, he explained, because the big truck would usually need to be set up on the road. Homes in this area are often set back 40 feet from the road, so the first 40 feet of ladder are needed just to reach the building, in addition to another 10 feet or so to account for the angle of the ladder. So “those two factors alone can use up half the effective length of the ladder.”
In fact, every facet of the new truck was carefully thought out, planned for, and written into the specifications for the purchase order. Deputy Chief John Dodson, NREMTP (Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technician Paramedic) who was involved in every step of the process, says the final specifications for the engine ran to 118 pages. “It was completely custom built for us in Appleton, Wisconsin,” he said. “Everything including the horn button is custom built, including all the fundamentals.” The specs were developed by a committee, which worked two and a half years to determine exactly what was needed.
“We tried different trucks of different lengths to figure out what works and what didn’t. Some trucks were too long, some ladders were too short,” he added.
Before the Glen Arbor Fire Department bought the truck, a demo model of the same size was driven around to places like Tamarack Cove (behind Fisher Road), Arbor Pines and all around The Homestead resort to test that it could negotiate the tight turns and restricted spaces. “A lot of people didn’t think this truck could go down there,” Dodson said.
The new truck is called a “Quint,” which stands for its five functions: hose, water tank, ground ladder, aerial ladder and pump.
The hose is used to deliver water or foam to the fire and can be run directly off the truck at ground level or off the end of the ladder.
The water tank holds 300 gallons, “which doesn’t seem like a lot,” Dodson said, “but the foam system makes the water ten times more effective.” Water only cools the fire. Foam works better because it is “carbon attractive” which means it actually penetrates better and suffocates the fire more efficiently than water.
The pump can move 2,000 gallons of water per minute. The pump is primarily for water and foam delivery, but it can also be used to pump water in from a fire hydrant or lake to supply water directly to the Quint hoses or can be connected in tandem to other trucks.
In addition to the huge aerial ladder, the truck also boasts “special ground ladders that will go 35 feet, and this is the only truck in the fleet that can carry those extra long ladders,” Dodson said.
“People may wonder why we bring a ladder truck to a car accident,” he remarked. Each truck at an accident is there because of the systems it has available. This new truck has so many support systems all on the one vehicle; it will replace three of the older trucks at an accident and will “dramatically increase efficiency.” It has a generator for electricity, an air compressor and air hydraulics for rescue equipment like the jaws-of-life, hydraulics for various tools, plus the hose and foam system for fire suppression. It is actually more efficient, and will save money, to bring the one big multi-function truck rather than three smaller vehicles, each with its own crew.
Even the color of the new truck was given careful consideration. Some years back a belief held that lime green was more visible than the traditional red vehicles. Ironically, Dodson said, it hasn’t proven to make a difference. Plus, the lime green cost more than the red paint. Fire Departments are very traditional, he added, and now many are going back to the old fire engine red. In fact, some people wanted to use the old red and black color scheme, like the Chicago fire department, where the black trim traditionally stands for fallen firefighters. But the decision was made for Glen Arbor to go with the red and white combination.
The new truck is the second in a series of four new trucks the department is acquiring to replace older equipment. The new fleet will consist of two water tankers, for hauling water, this new aerial ladder, which is also a rescue truck, and a pumper. The old rescue truck will go to the Empire Fire Department where they expect to keep it in service for another year or two while going through the process of obtaining a new replacement.
A pumper was the first of the new trucks and funded by an anonymous donation.
The ladder truck, second of the four, cost $726,000 and was publicly funded through the local millage. The remaining two will also be publicly funded.
Q331 is not yet officially on the road. There are a few bits of hardware still to be mounted, plus training is still going on for the crew. So far 21 people, including nine from the Empire Fire Department, have had 16 hours of preliminary training. They have 16 more hours to go for a total of 32 hours.
Training includes safe driving, proper placement and set up of the apparatus, operation of the ladder, operation of the water and foam pump systems, and special review of aerial work and rescue operations.
Dodson noted that all this training is in addition to the 60 hours fire fighters have already undergone to be certified to drive fire apparatus. Training for the new truck should be complete and the fire engine ready to be put into service by August 1.
The Glen Arbor Township Fire Department supplies residents with 24 hour a day, 7 days a week advanced life support and firefighting services with a combination staff of paid and volunteer members.
Public Invited
The Department is making efforts to provide opportunities for the public to see the new equipment. On July 8 the firefighters held a “Fire Fighter for a Day” event in which youngsters were invited to come down and get acquainted with the fire fighters and the equipment.
On July 29 an Open House will be held at the fire station from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Everyone is welcome. There will be displays and demonstrations of equipment such as fire extinguishers, air pumps, and medical equipment with staff on hand to answer questions. Tours of the building will be given. In addition, all the trucks and vehicles will be on display and balloons and treats available for the kids. This is an opportunity to go see all the fire equipment including the new ladder truck. Perhaps some brave soul will even be allowed to climb the ladder.
For further information call the Glen Arbor Fire Department 334-3279
Posted by editor at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)
Latinos in our midst: a Quichua indigena from Ecuador
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
Miriam comes from south of the border. Her skin is darker than the white hue covering most of us. And when she speaks English (which is totally fluent), the r’s roll of her tongue like waves on the ocean.
What separates Miriam from other Latinos in northern Michigan is that she is a full-blooded Quichua Native (South) American whose roots and culture mean so much to her that she always returns to her home village of Otavalo, in northern Ecuador, after spending several months here selling artisan textiles woven by her Quichua people at craft shows and art fairs all over the state, including one in nearby Frankfort in late July.
“As indigenas we are proud to be able to travel to other countries and show off our culture,” Miriam explains. “Many of our people travel to Japan, North American and all over Europe to demonstrate our traditions. We need to protect our identity in order not to lose our roots.”
My mother and I visited Miriam in Ecuador in February on a trip whose primary purpose was to learn about the cacao my mother uses in her Grocer’s Daughter chocolate. We watched workers near the Pacific coast harvest the Arriba cacao beans. We listened to the politics of exports and how so few Ecuadorians actually taste the fine chocolate that they produce while wealthy North Americans and Europeans shovel it into their mouths. But what struck us most was the unstoppable pride of the people in the northern highlands. We even got to witness the Pawkar-Raimi — the annual celebration for the corn harvest where a Miss Native Ecuador is crowned.
In Otavalo the indigena have done well for themselves. Unlike the often impoverished, drunken state of “Indians” in North and Central America, many Quichua families in Miriam’s home village own a good car with a sticker of a national flag on the back, signifying which wealthy country that person visits for several months a year to tell the world about their traditions, and to make money, of course. Most importantly, they always return home.
“We indigenas always return because otherwise we would miss our roots. The union of the family mostly, and our language, is so important. When I’m here I miss walking on the small paths, among my people.
“As Quichua we help each other out. There are some artists who are unable to leave the country. So we buy from them and sell the products abroad. If we didn’t do this our culture, our work, would die. It’s the same thing with my musician husband Luis. If he didn’t play his songs from the Andes Mountains, no one would remember them.”
Miriam’s products are always hand-embroidered, unlike most of the clothing in this country, which is machine-made in sweatshop conditions in China or Indonesia. “Where I live everyone makes everything in our village by hand. We are taught by our ancestors to cook, to weave clothing and play music like that. People ask our musicians how they can play music without reading it — but that’s how we have learned.”
Her favorite products she sells are hand-embroidered sweaters with images of the Andes Mountains (las Andinas) on them such as trees and mountains, yet blended together with familiar North American images like a Christmas tree. Miriam also sells beautiful white blouses with hand-sewn flowers on them. The white represents the indigenas from Otavalo.
Of course, the romanticism aside, it all comes down to money in the end. The Ecuadorian economy has plummeted in recent years, and free trade policies instigated by Washington and the World Bank have all but wrecked the job markets of countries in South America, Central America and Mexico, contributing more than any other reason to the surge in Latinos (and indigenas) coming north to find work.
Miriam’s journey to El Norte is an easy one. Unlike, many migrant workers who are forced to cross the Rio Grande illegally, she is in good standing with the U.S. Embassy in Quito, the Ecuadorian capital, and she can usually secure a visa once or twice a year to come and sell her wares. “We come hear to earn money, but we also pay taxes while we are here.” In fact, Miriam, Luis, and their eldest son Daki actually lived in Chicago for six years. Daki was born in the United States and has citizenship. When they returned to Otavao he was sad at first, but has since embraced the traditions of his people. Daki, now a teenager, wears his dark hair in a ponytail that hangs down to his shoulders like the other men in his village.
I asked Miriam if she’s experienced xenophobia or stereotyping during her visits to northern Michigan, but she says she has been spared the grief that many Hispanic Central Americans face when they arrive here. “I wear my traditional indigenous clothing at festivals and people appreciate that. It’s a privilege to be an indigena. When I went to apply for more ID from the state, for instance, they treated me fine.”
On the other hand, the Mexican family in Traverse City with whom Miriam stays complains about getting hassled when it comes to legal paperwork. “They always tell (the Mexicans) to come back and bring more documents,” Myriam attests. As she tells it, the man of the house works constantly, leaving at 5:30 in the morning and not returning until 8 p.m., too exhausted to play with the two young children. “They are clean, and hard-working, and they don’t live off the government like many naturalized Americans do. The Mexican says that when he goes to the mall he experiences racism. People look at him funny, and assume he’s up to no good.
“Even though they may not want us, people should get used to us being here,” Miriam summarizes, speaking more about her Mexican housemates than herself. “I think it’s silly how people fear Spanish. We’re not trying to change the national language of the United States. People should learn Spanish, because if you speak two languages you’re as good as two people.”
But Miriam is not on a crusade for Latino or migrant worker rights. In fact, her first language is not Spanish, it’s Quichua. She considers herself an indigena, and not a Latino or an Hispanic. And come fall she’ll be back in Ecuador with her family, and her roots.
Posted by editor at 07:46 PM | Comments (0)
"Soaring and Gliding"
One of 182 images in Pete Sandman's book "Soaring and Gliding: The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Area" shows L.D. Montgomery being winch launched on the Frankfort beach during the 1939 American Open meet. Montgomery, who flew to Northport on this flight, was the overall winner of the contest that year.
Photos from Sandman's book are on display at the Empire Museum.
Posted by editor at 07:17 PM | Comments (0)
Grilling — the elemental call
By Nancy K. Allen, CCP
Sun contributor
Midsummer (July 22), the astrological sign of Cancer gives way to Leo, a sign of fire. That is significant for summer cooking — it’s when grilling heats up in earnest. No wonder that as summer deepens we find men and women standing around campfires and grills as if called to some mystical, primitive ritual.
The call to fire may be embedded in our very bone and fiber but we can always use a little help in getting the grilling thing just right. Influences of brilliant chefs and their fancy new recipes are moving us beyond slabs of meat charred on the grill and slashed with gooey, sweet barbecue sauce to a newer, gentler world of grilled peaches basted with butter and balsamic, and pizzas tender with olive oil.
Whether you use the more elemental charcoal or a modern gas grill, first and foremost you need to know how to check the temperature of your fire. Once your coals are covered with a gray ash you can level them and replace the grate — let it heat for 5 minutes. The gas grill needs to preheat with the lid down on high heat for 15 minutes. Then use the hand-testing method: hold your hand five inches above the cooking grate. A hot fire will get you yelping in two seconds, medium-hot in three to four seconds, medium in five to six seconds and medium-low in seven seconds.
There are two ways to grill: with direct or indirect heat. Direct heat cooks food over the heat source. With indirect heat, move the coals to the outer perimeter of the grill or to two sides and place a heatproof pan in the center to catch drippings. Place the food over the pan and cover the grill with its lid. Indirect cooking is perfect for slow roast-grilling large pieces like a whole turkey or chicken into heavenly, smoked tenderness — without the pesky flames leaping up to char your grilled gems.
Ten Rules of the Grill
1. Clean your grate and lid religiously. A rag dipped in oil and a wire-bristled brush do wonders. Dirty grates not only stick, they will leave your food tasting like last week’s meal. Dirty lids can rain down a shower of bitter black flecks.
2. Preheat your grate. You may lightly oil the clean grate with a paper towel dipped in oil.
3. Food should not be fresh out of the refrigerator. Cold food sticks more readily and cooks unevenly. Let meat, vegetables and fish sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. However if you want rare tuna you may freeze your fish, steaks or burgers briefly (15 minutes) so they stay cold and rare in the center while the outside sears and browns.
4. Trim excess fats from meat and scrape excess marinades to prevent flare-ups. Blot just washed food dry.
5. Oil the food lightly to keep it moist.
6. Salt meat just before it goes on the grill. Salt tends to pull moisture out of food (during short periods of direct contact) and so can toughen a piece of meat or fish.
7. Salt-brine or marinate chicken, turkey and pork for more flavor and juiciness.
8. To create grill marks, don’t move food until it is seared and releases naturally — about 2 minutes. Rotate the food 45 degrees to create crosshatch.
9. Don’t nervously press and flip your food. Have patience and pay attention. Rest meat after grilling to allow the heat to equalize throughout and finish cooking.
10. Prep ahead and have everything you need on a nearby table: charcoal chimney starter, long-handled tongs and spatula, clean platters, brushes, fork, instant-read thermometer for checking internal temperature of meat, oiled paper toweling, prepped food, seasonings like salt and pepper.
Internal temperatures of meat
RARE — internal temperature 120F to 130F. Soft and wobbly to the touch.
MEDIUM RARE — internal temperature 130F to 140F.
MEDIUM — internal temperature 140F to 150F. Spongy and firm ish.
MEDIUM WELL — internal temperature 150F to 160F
WELL DONE — internal temperature 160 to 185F. Firm like the tip of your nose.
Grilled fruit and vegetables
Grilling vegetables properly requires a medium-hot fire. The vegetables should be cooked separately and cut to expose maximum surface area to the grill. Skewer or place smaller vegetables on a portable mesh grate. Toss vegetables with a light coating of extra virgin olive oil or seasoned oil and salt just before grilling. Try preparing other dishes with grilled vegetables and fruits: salad, potato salad, mixed vegetable or fruit platter with dipping sauce, grilled corn salsa or grilled peach, grilled fennel and sardine or tomato-basil bruschetta on slices of oiled and grilled Stonehouse ciabatta.
Bell peppers — quarter them and remove seeds and ribs — seven to nine minutes turning once
Corn on the cob — remove all but innermost layer of husk, remove silkies — eight to 10 minutes — turn four times
Eggplant—slice into 1/2 inch rounds — salt for 20 minutes and dry — oil and grill eight to 10 minutes
Fennel bulb — remove stems and fronds — cut into 1/4 inch slices with root attached — oil and cook seven to nine minutes turning once
Potatoes — cut into small wedges—salt and oil and cook over medium low heat 10 minutes or more till golden turning two to three times
Portobello mushrooms — scrape out black gills with spoon — lightly oil and cook till soft — 10 to 15 minutes depending on size—turn once
Red onions — slice 1/2 inch thick into rounds and skewer with two parallel skewers — oil and grill 10 to 12 minutes
Asparagus — toss with oil and salt — grill five to eight minutes turning twice
Green beans — toss with oil and salt — grill four to six minutes turning once
Endive and radicchio — cut endive in half and radicchio into wedges through the core — brush with oil and grill four to six minutes
Summer squash and zucchini — cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch thick sticks — oil and salt and grill turning once eight to 10 minutes.
Scallions and leeks — trim off 1/4 to 1/2 of the green and the root end (don’t cut off the root completely, it holds the onion together. Toss in olive oil and salt. Grill until tender.
Marcella Hazan first inspired me to grill fruit. Grill fruit when the coals are nearing their finish. Choose fruit that is slightly firm. You can oil or butter the fruit and sprinkle with a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Lay a mesh grate or hinged grate on the grill and place the fruit on its cut side on either. Grill 12 inches above the heat until the fruit skin is charred, about seven or eight minutes. Turn and cook two to three minutes then flip again and grill the fruit, skin side down another couple of minutes. At this point you can pour rum or Grand Marnier into the bananas or liqueur onto any fruit, more sugar, honey, or a dash of balsamic vinegar. Apple and pears will take six to eight minutes longer to cook.
Peaches, apricots, plums and nectarines — cut in half and remove pit — place a 1/2 teaspoon sugar in cavity.
Apples and pears — cut in half, core out seeds with melon baller and score flesh with crosshatch of three or four cuts — sprinkle with a half teaspoon of brown sugar
Bananas — make an incision the length of the banana but don’t cut it in half and don’t peel it — sprinkle incision with a teaspoon of sugar
Pineapple — remove bottom and top — trim skin from outside of pineapple — slice into 1/4 inch rounds and butter or oil lightly — grill till tender about two to three minutes per side.
Greek lamb kebabs
Serves 4 to 6
Marinade
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons dried oregano or 1/4 cup fresh
3 to 4 cloves garlic
2 pounds boneless lamb from sirloin, leg, shoulder; fat removed, 1 to 1 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
Puree together marinade in blender and scrape it into a bowl. Toss in the lamb cubes and coat each well with the marinade. Allow the lamb to sit and marinate at room temperature for 2 hours or overnight in the refrigerator.
Heat a grill. Bring the lamb to room temperature. Scrape off excess marinade and skewer the lamb onto wooden or metal skewers. Grill until the meat reaches 130 to 135F for medium rare to medium. Serve this with rice or even folded into pita bread with the grape leaf and mint sauce. You may alternate meat with pieces of 1/2 inch diced zucchini tossed in olive oil and salt. Try this marinade on your next grilled leg of lamb. If you don’t like lamb, try chicken. These are great stuffed into a pita with a cucumber salad.
Greek grape leaf and mint sauce
2 cups, enough for 8 servings
1/2 cup Greek grape leaves, stems removed and rinsed well, chopped
3 tablespoons fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons fresh oregano
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 cup flat leaf parsley leaves
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons drained capers
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
Place all the ingredients except the olive oil in a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth, adding the oil as is necessary to get the mixture to puree nicely. Serve with grilled lamb or pork. Keep refrigerated in a tightly closed jar for up to 1 week.
Adapted from The Complete Meat Cookbook.
Posted by editor at 06:53 PM | Comments (0)
Northern Michiganders give Guatemalan children a Safe Passage
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
GUATEMALA CITY — The children’s Christmas pageant at Safe Passage, near the dump in this gritty urban hell, resembled similar pageants all across the United States last December. Kids dressed up in costumes made of brown crate paper or wings made out of yarn string, and danced in front of their proud mothers. They were what they deserved to be — children.
Safe Passage (Camino Seguro in Spanish), now one of the most successful, non-governmental children’s aid organizations in Central America, offers a way for children who all but grow up scavenging for food alongside vultures in the garbage dump to return to school while not worrying about the source of their next meal, and eventually work toward economic self-sufficiency for them and their families.
Over the last year a handful of northern Michigan philanthropists have formed the Great Lakes Friends of Safe Passage, a local chapter devoted to helping the efforts in Guatemala City and nearby Antigua, and nearly 20 members of our community have traveled to Guatemala to witness the poverty there and learn about the programs that now offer hope to so many children. Some took photos to help raise awareness; some sponsored children; some volunteered their labor to improve infrastructure; some gave medical services and supplies — but all brought hope to the children of Safe Passage. And these northern Michiganders returned home even more inspired to work together as a community to support Safe Passage.
The Great Lake Friends will welcome back Safe Passage founder Hanley Denning on Wednesday, July 19 for a celebration and fundraising event at the Hagerty Conference Center in downtown Traverse City. A native of Maine, Denning spearheaded Safe Passage after she traveled to Guatemala in 1999 and felt compelled to take action when she saw families living around the city’s enormous garbage dump in Zone 3, scavenging for food or anything they could sell to survive. Children worked alongside their parents or were left unsupervised in the streets. Not in school, unable to read or write, these children faced the same bleak future endured by their parents.
Starting in a small chapel next to the dump, Denning offered a safe place for children to drop in and get a healthy meal, gradually building an innovative educational program. Today, over 500 children are served, from preschool to high school, receiving comprehensive support and tutoring as they attend school and work toward economic self-sufficiency. Safe Passage is a community of local and international volunteers and a Guatemalan staff working to provide hope and assistance to families living in the dump. State of the art facilities now provide a safe refuge where children come daily to gain the confidence and skills needed to obtain stable jobs and lead their families out of the cycle of poverty.
“One little boy (at the Christmas pageant) was mad he didn’t get a costume, so he blew his nose on someone else’s costume,” remembers Lorraine Beers, who represented a delegation from the Traverse City Rotary Club in mid-December along with her husband Mack, Jim Modrall and Amy Borer. The quartet spent four days in Guatemala, touring the project sites, the classrooms and the workshops, and trying to comprehend the horrors of growing up scavenging for food in the dump in an atmosphere of complete desperation.
In the evenings, Lorraine, Mack, Jim and Amy washed the grime off their hands and sipped Chilean red wine at Safe Passage’s cozy hotel, Lazos Fuertes, while reflecting on what they had seen and learned each day. “I’m not sure how yet, but our life has changed after this experience,” Mack reflected. “Seeing what we have causes a pain in your heart,” answered Lorraine. “But that pain wants to make you do more.”
The big question on everyone’s minds was how to convey to people back in northern Michigan the gravity of what they saw and experienced here. About 100 Traverse City Rotarians generously donated crucial supplies for the kids: everything from soccer balls, to toothpaste, to lice shampoo, and Lorraine, Mack, Jim and Amy arrived in Guatemala with 400 pounds worth of supplies in eight suitcases. “It’s great to know that those who can’t come down here will at least contribute supplies,” reflected Jim.
Great Lakes Friends provides a way for everyone to get involved, learn, and help. Michigan locals can sponsor a child or a teacher, make presentations, or collect school supplies and other needed items for people from our community to deliver when visiting Safe Passage. Students can travel to Guatemala, learn Spanish, and help those in need. And, for the hundreds of Michigan families who have adopted Guatemalan babies, Safe Passage offers a way to reconnect with their child’s roots and aid their countrymen.
The Great Lakes Friends Fiesta on July 19 will feature Guatemalan food, music by 3 Hour Tour, the Original 3rd Coast, and other local musicians, as well as a Silent Auction with Guatemalan handcrafts and an amazing array of services and items donated from local artists and businesses. The cost of admission is $25. Please call (231) 590-6072 or email safepassageglf@yahoo.com for more information.
Posted by editor at 05:58 PM | Comments (0)
Beth Bricker, Lake Street Studios diversify the art
By Corin Blust
Sun contributor
If you’ve ever stepped into the Lake Street Studios, across the street from Cherry Republic in Glen Arbor, chances are you’ve spoken with Beth Bricker, part of a family team that runs the Forest Gallery on the building’s south side.
“I talk to everybody, way too much,” says Bricker. “I want people to remember [the gallery as a place where] they felt so good the last time they came here that they want to come back.”
This welcoming atmosphere is extremely important to Beth. “I really want you and your grandma and your little baby sister to be able to come in here and hang out,” she told me. “I would just be horrified if someone called us a slick gallery.”
The Lake Street Studios are, in fact, far from slick. Beth manages to make the small space comfortable and intriguing — the perfect mix of relaxed Leelanau County funk and breathtaking fine art.
The galleries are still in the process of becoming a place where Beth, her parents Ben and Ananda, her sister Cherrie Stege, and Harry Fried and Allison Stupka, feel completely confident about taking over. The passing of Suzanne Wilson (Allison’s mother) two years ago left a void in the business around which the Brickers are still trying to figure out how to work.
“Suzanne picked the artists, she contacted the artists, she had relationships with the artists. She traveled everywhere — she’d go to Argentina and Whales and find someone who wanted to come up here and show,” says Beth. “She was wonderful at establishing a feeling of community for the artists with whom she worked.”
Because Suzanne was such an integral part of the gallery, Beth doesn’t want to automatically fill the space that she left behind. Instead of attempting to follow in Suzanne’s footsteps, the Beth and her partners are trying to run the Lake Street Studios as their own business without trying to replace Suzanne. In an effort to take new directions, this year they chose to show more local artists in the Center Gallery than they ever have before.
“We are exhibiting lots of local artists, and many of them are just straight up Glen Arbor artists, which is pretty exciting,” says Beth. “We haven’t done that for a long time, if ever. There are fabulous artists [in Leelanau County] that are hiding out there in the woods.”
The Center Gallery, which is located between Nori Obata’s space in the North Gallery (where Suzanne once worked) and the Bricker family’s Forest Gallery to the south, features a new show from a different artist each week. The Center Gallery is a completely blank room with a gray concrete floor, white walls and a black table.
“The life that comes out of there is just cool,” says Beth. “One week there were bright, almost neon colors: paintings, quilts, and a copper enamel sculpture. It was vibrant. Then we had Kirsten Hurlin’s work, which is fabulous, but more reserved. It changes the room.” Beth looks forward to being a part of this transformation each week.
Beth Bricker’s own work will be exhibited in the Center Gallery from July 21 to the 27.
“I paint right now in acrylics, and I also do pastels,” she said. Beth is a third generation professional artist, and has explored a variety of media throughout her career. Aside from painting, she studied weaving and metalsmithing during her time at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. This summer she is also teaching a watercolor class for children at the Glen Arbor Art Association.
Even though Bricker and her partners are still finding their own path at the Lake Street Studios, they have put together some remarkable new events for the summer. The Arts Collage on July 28 will highlight a full day of events, starting with an afternoon of artist demonstrations in the galleries and studios. The early evening will feature a wine tasting in the Center Gallery, followed by an on-stage performance at night behind the Lake Street Studios.
“We fixed up the stage real nice, and we are going to have musicians, a performing philosopher and an art film. It’s going to be so cool!” Beth says.
On August 19, Los Gatos, an Ann Arbor Latin Jazz band, will also perform on the Studios’ newly renovated stage.
“That’s going to be really hopping,” Beth says. People should bring their dancing shoes for an evening of hot Latin music behind the Studios.
Stop by the Lake Street Studios this summer and check out the great local art, or attend one of these exciting events and enjoy the benefits of having such reputable studios in our community.
Posted by editor at 04:02 PM | Comments (0)
Tim Lewis bids the Big Apple goodbye for “ideal” Empire
By Corin Blust
Sun contributor
Timothy Lewis, an Empire watercolorist, was raised in Midland, attended Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, and lived in New York City for most of his adult life, but he spent his childhood summers hanging out at his grandfather’s barbershop in downtown Empire.
“I could go down and hang out at the barber shop and hear all these local stories and folklore, and it was a lot of fun. It was the ideal boyhood,” Tim told me in his Empire studio and home.
Tim relocated to his family’s Empire home after a divorce about four years ago.
“My mother was born here and died here, and my grandmother lived to be almost 100 years old here,” he says.
Tim Lewis paints detailed and inventive watercolors ranging from geometric abstractions to quirky works that hint at his long illustration career in the Big Apple. When he moved to Leelanau County he began painting mermaids.
“I got into painting mermaids because I figured that there were a lot of artists in this area already doing the fish scene, and I haven’t seen many mermaids, actual or invented.”
Lewis draws his inspiration from the natural areas in and around Leelanau County.
“There is so much in nature that inspires me. I often go down to the beach with an old-fashioned camera, not a digital one, and take close-ups of patterns in sand, or a design on a rock. We have such a wonderful beach [in Empire],” he adds.
His whimsical designs also come out of his own imagination. One of the most important things Tim tries to include in his paintings is a lot of movement and detail.
“I want the viewer to be able to go back into the painting and look at different areas and discover new things, instead of putting it up on the wall and forgetting about it,” he says.
In the past Tim Lewis has exhibited at several galleries in Benzie, Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties, and his work is currently decorating the walls at Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate just south of Empire. Swing by and check him out as you surround yourself by chocolate bliss.
Posted by editor at 03:05 PM | Comments (0)
Empire renews Breakfast at Tiffany’s
By Jane Greiner
Sun contributor
Breakfast will be just one of the features at the revamped Tiffany’s Café in Empire under the management of Ashlea Walter. The local community leader is giving the business a new lease on life after taking over from Dick Owen who ran the ice cream shop for the past 25 years. Walter has painted the interior in bright, sunny yellows, blues and mint greens and given it a fresh, airy feel.
The arrangement Walter and Owen worked out seems ideal for both. Having a café was “something I’ve always wanted to do, so it was good timing for both of us,” she says. Walter rents and owns the café now while Owen still lives in the back of the building and continues to bake fresh doughnuts every day.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s includes baked goods such as scones, muffins, brownies and cookies, doughnuts and cinnamon twists, plus tea or coffee. “His doughnuts are pretty famous,” Walter says. For a little more stick-to-your-ribs fare you can order breakfast stratas, a layered breakfast casserole dish, in either vegetarian or non-vegetarian versions.
Light lunches will also be on the menu. Sandwiches include hot dogs, roast beef, turkey and vegetarian. In addition, Tiffany’s will offer So Good Coffee, made by Derek Prechtl of local biking fame, and By the Light of Day Tea.
Besides breakfast and lunch menus, Walter plans to feature picnic items to take to the beach, including sandwiches, chips, sodas, baked goods and healthy fruit and nut mixes. “I think Empire really needs a light deli and picnic fixings” place, she says.
Of course, ice cream will still be the main focus. Tiffany’s carries Moomers ice cream, the delicious premium brand made near Traverse City.
Together with local chocolatier Mimi Wheeler, Walter has concocted a special Grocer’s Daughter Sundae. This delicious creation consists of vanilla or chocolate ice cream, Mimi’s chocolate sauce and topping, with roasted almonds, cocoa nips, maple and whipped cream. Makes me want to go there right now!
There is also a Fudge Brownie Sundae and one called Worms & Dirt, which is sure to appeal to the younger set.
Walter has moved fast in starting her new business. She began cleaning and painting the week before Memorial Day and commenced selling ice cream to customers the first week of June. Since then she has been busy hiring and training staff. “I have a great crew of about six people — a great group of kids, mostly 14-17.” She has added a small retail section, including Empire t-shirts and Glen Clark posters. “A little bit of everything,” she says.
Another innovation at Tiffany’s is lunch delivery, via bicycle, inside the village, Monday through Friday. “We have no table service, so it’s a faster, lighter alternative. We always have vegetarian options. We try to promote local and seasonal items as much as possible. We use organic and fair trade coffee, and the same with the tea.” The café is now smoke-free.
Summing up, Walter says, “We just want to make it a fresh, lively place for a light lunch or a treat.”
Tiffany’s Café, on the main street in Empire, will be open 7:30 am to 10 pm every day throughout the summer.
Posted by editor at 02:11 PM | Comments (0)
Quakers meet in Empire
By Helen Westie
Sun contributor
A Quaker Worship Group under the care of The Grand Rapids Monthly Meeting has been holding services recently in members’ homes in Empire and in Benzie County. Known as the Manitou Worship group, services are conducted in the manner of the traditional, historic Quaker Meetings established by George Fox, founder of Quakerism and William Penn in the 1600’s in Pennsylvania and the East Coast of the United States. Most of these Quaker Meetings are still in existence. There is no minister, no clerical hierarchy, no rituals. Worship is conducted in silent contemplation. Now and then, a member may feel called upon to speak, but often an hour is spent in complete silence. The hope that eventually this group can evolve into the William Penn or Eastern type of Meeting which is completely unstructured and unlike even the Quaker churches in this area which have some structure.
Quakerism has been an integral and interesting part of American history as is the life of William Penn. The son of an admiral, Penn was born in a wealthy, illustrious English family. Penn as a youth rejected the wealthy life. He was taken with the Quaker philosophy that God can speak to individuals. He admired their stance on non-violence, and that there is “that of God in every man, woman, and child on earth,” which Quakers call “The Inner Light.” (Thomas Jefferson often wrote of the “Divine Spark” in all people and incorporated this in his equality idea in the Declaration of Independence.) The ideas were evident later when Penn wrote a constitution for the Pennsylvania. Many of his ideas were incorporated in constitutions of other states and even in the United States Constitution. But in the seventeenth century Quaker ideas were scorned and because of hi speaking and writing on Quakerism Penn was imprisoned in the Tower of London and twice in other prisons.
The King of England Charles II owned Penn’s father a large debt, which amounted to $80,000. Penn knew that the only hope for Quakers was in America, so he asked the king for repayment of this debt in wilderness land in America, which was granted. Penn opened his land to Quakers and they came to Pennsylvania by the thousands from England, Germany, the Netherlands and Wales to escape persecution.
In 1682 William Penn visited his new colony named Pennsylvania, meaning Penn’s woods. At this time he made his first treaty with the Indians. His dealings with the Indians was always so just that Pennsylvania was never attacked. When he returned to England in 1684 his colony was well established. Penn was a good friend of James II and won from the king pardons for religious prisoners of many faiths. After James II was exiled and William and Mary came to the throne, Penn came under suspicion as a friend of James II and was arrested several times. Later he was allowed his freedom but had to remain in London. He wrote two of his greatest works at this time. “Essays Towards the Present and Future Peace of Europe” and “Some Fruits of Solitude.” Penn’s essay was a plan for a league of nations in Europe based on international justice. The other was a book of wise sayings. He made another trip to America to settle some problems in the colony. King William tried to make a Pennsylvania a royal province but he died before he could carry out his plan. Penn was sent to prison again for false claims of debt. This term ruined his health and in 1712 he had a stroke. However he lived for six more years. At his death, his interests in Pennsylvania were left to his four sons.
Quakers were abolitionists since 1715. They actively helped slaves escape via the Underground Railway before the Civil War.
The Quaker Social Service Agency, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has been active since the early twentieth century. This organization has offices around the world. It stands ready to provide help in any disaster.
Quakers have often been criticized and especially in war times because they refuse to have any part of war. In any war they are conscientious objectors and will do alternative service. After World War I they were severely criticized for feeding German war orphans. However, after World War II, Humanitarian causes seem to have grown. AFSC was jointly awarded with the British Friends Service Council the Nobel Peace Prize — the one prize that can be awarded to a group as well as individuals. (This year the Peace Prize went to the Atomic Energy Commission for its efforts to stop nuclear proliferation. Recently it was awarded to Doctors Without Borders as well). An amusing story is told about Clarence Pickett who was chosen to go to Norway and accept the award for the Quakers. He had no tuxedo for the ceremony so he went to the Quaker Material Aid closet where there was a rack of tuxedos destined to go to a symphony orchestra. He borrowed one for his trip to Norway and then returned it.
The American Friends Service Committee has won much praise for collecting contributions and supplying aid in countries affected by the disastrous tsunami in 2005.
Anyone interested in learning about Quakerism or would like to visit a Meeting for Worship, please call Helen Westie at 326-5462 or Robert Foulkes at 326-3637.
Posted by editor at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)