It’s cold and dark in the north country, and the cheery onslaught of tourists is many months away. But those of us who stick around through the winter still deserve to eat, and eat well. Thanks to a bevy of deals and discounts offered at local restaurants, we shall not starve.
One of this area’s most gentle and reliable characters, the musician-artist-builder and all-around excellent person, Tom Keen, passed away on March 16. Most of us remember him best as the ruddy, good-natured guitar player and singer with the Cabin Fever Bluegrass Band that has played for years on the big sun deck at Boonedock’s.
Did you take part in this past weekend’s annual Winterfests in Glen Arbor and Empire? If not, you can experience the glory by watching these videos of the winners of this year’s Perch Fishing Contest being crowned on the deck at Boonedocks. And you can dive beneath the ice into South Bar Lake in solidarity with locals Kathy Young and Jack Gyr.
Escape from the winter blues at the 13th Annual Glen Arbor Winterfest on Saturday, Feb. 16. Festivities start at 7 a.m. with the beginning of the Perch Fishing Contest, with prizes for first through fourth place catches. All participants will bring their biggest catches from Big and Little Glen to the Sportsman Shop at 1 p.m., and winners will be crowned. Entry fee for this event is $20, and all ages are welcome to participate.
You can help Buckets of Rain continue to feed the poor in Detroit, in Latin America and in Africa. There is a fundraiser at Boonedocks in Glen Arbor on Sunday, Sept. 9 from 3-6 p.m. that will include extreme gardening demonstrations, music and lots of photos.
This Sunday, Sept. 11, the water access nonprofit 11 Oaks will hold its sixth annual Music Fest and Fundraiser, at Boonedocks in Glen Arbor. Featured bands beginning at 2 p.m. include Song of the Lakes, New Third Coast, Andre Villoch and Doug Zernow/Zack Light. According to 11 Oaks’ Chris Skellenger, technologies in extreme urban gardening and gravity fed drip irrigation will be on display for all to see.
Just don’t be surprised. Say you’re with your family and some friends on the sun deck at Boonedocks. It’s a Tuesday night, and Emma Cook and the Goodboy! Band launch into a sexy version of “Summertime”. You are ready to order, and the pretty blond server is smiling and nodding as everyone takes a turn asking for the perch dinner, or the burger with bacon, or the maple-flavored pork sandwich. But she isn’t writing anything down. Don’t worry! It’s just Kasey Klumpp, the girl with the perfect memory.
If 2011 continues to be as full of excitement, exhilaration, and adulation as its first weekend, Emma Cook is headed for quite a year. On the evening of Sunday, Jan. 2, Emma packed The Loading Dock restaurant/bar in Traverse City with almost 200 of her closest friends for the release party of her new CD, “Days of Wonder”. The fruit of a semester off from the University of Vermont, and an autumn of intense work with Patrick Niemisto at the Holy Wah Studio near Maple City, Days of Wonder is a harvest of Emma’s crystalline voice and emerging songwriting skills.