Anchor Day returns to Empire
From staff reports
Empire celebrates Anchor Day each year on the third Saturday in July with a parade down Front Street, a pop-up book sale at the library, a chicken dinner at the town hall, and an evening street dance with live music. The party is now sponsored by The Empire Area Community Center.
This unique, small-town celebration commemorates the raising of an anchor from the depths of Lake Michigan in July 1977. The anchor was discovered by Doug Manning and Michelle Stryker while canoeing off the Empire Beach shore in about 18 feet of water. Manning asked the Empire museum if it would accept a freighter anchor which was attached to a large wooden beam. Dave Taghon, who was then Empire village president, knew that any relic found in Great Lakes waters belonged to the State of Michigan, so he called the Dorsett Maritime Academy and Oberlin College with his dilemma. He was assured that, if the anchor was properly displayed, Empire could have it. The anchor was raised by many village volunteers and was placed in its current location at the south side of Empire Beach. In 1978 the museum sponsored the first annual Anchor Day celebration to remember the exciting day the anchor was retrieved from the depths of Lake Michigan.
This year, the Empire Area Heritage Group will show the movie Empire Anchor Recovery and Empire in the Good Ole Days in the Empire Town at 7 pm on Friday, July 14—the night before Anchor Day. On Saturday, July 15, participants can line up in the parade between 11-11:30 am at Johnson Park before departing for Front St at noon. The Friends of the Glen Lake Community Library’s pop-up book sale runs from 11 am-3 pm. The Lion’s Club BBQ Chicken Dinner at the Town Hall between 1-7 pm features grilled chicken, baked beans, coleslaw, potatoes and shortcake. And the street dance with live music by Bob Roberts and Friends runs from 9-11 pm. Bring your own beverage, chairs and dancing shoes.
Friends of Glen Lake Library hold pop-up book sale, July 15
From staff reports
The annual Friends of the Glen Lake Library’s huge used book sale, which was a decades-long tradition, is one of many events that fell victim to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in place of the huge sale, the Friends have been holding monthly pop-up sales, offering a fabulous assortment of gently used books—fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, coffee table books, and more—for $2 per book or $10 per bag.
The July pop-up will be held on Saturday, July 15, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., on the plaza in front of the library. All proceeds from these sales benefit the library. Check social media for dates of upcoming pop-ups. Also, more recently published books, including recent bestsellers and book-club choices, may be found on the bookshelves around the corner from the library’s circulation desk. These books sell for $4 per hardcover and $3 per trade paperback.
