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Empire to honor Michigan Author Award winner Anne-Marie Oomen

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Empire writer Anne-Marie Oomen has received the 2024 Michigan Author Award, an award given by the State Library of Michigan to a Michigan author for lifetime achievement. In celebration of this honor, the Empire Area Community Center and Glen Lake Community Library Friends of the Library will hold a reception in honor of her award and to celebrate her books on Sunday, Sept. 8, from 4-7 pm at the Empire Town Hall. Oomen is author of eight nonfiction books, editor of two anthologies, and co-author of two tales of fiction for young people. She has won numerous awards over the years. The Michigan Author Award is given through a nomination process from librarians and others, and David Diller of the Glen Lake Community Library was one of the nominators this year. “I’m so grateful to the librarians I’ve worked with over the years, but our local library has become particularly special to me,” said Oomen.

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Empire benefit honors local artist Karen Jacob

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Empire resident and esteemed artist Karen Jacob will be honored at a special exhibit and celebration, “The Art of Karen Jacob,” on Friday and Saturday, August 23-24, at the Township Hall on Front Street in Empire. The exhibit is a charitable event, with all proceeds from art sales and donations contributed to the Michigan League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and the Empire Area Community Center. More than a hundred original works will be displayed. The exhibit will be open all day on August 23 and 24.

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Art’s hosts Beach Bards, Jim Crockett for Empire Area Community benefit concert

Art’s Tavern will host the Beach Bards poetry and storytelling troupe together with musicians Jim Crockett, Patrick Niemisto and John Kumjian on Sunday, April 28, from 4-6 pm. All free-will offerings and donations will support the efforts of the Empire Area Community Emergency Fund to assist members of the community who have fallen on hard times. For more information visit EmpireAreaCommunityCenter.org.

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Captain Gerry Shiffman offers sailing excursions to at-risk youth

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The goal of Empire resident Gerry Shiffman’s Seaside Sailing Excursions & Charity Charters is to take at-risk and underprivileged youth out for sailing adventures at no cost. Anyone who pays to sail automatically supports that mission. Shiffman’s is a carpe diem story of seizing opportunities. He grew up in Toronto, left a dysfuctional home six weeks after turning 16, and immigrated to the United States in 1978. The following year he started Master Plaster Patcher in Grand Rapids, refurbishing many of the former furniture barons’ Victorian homes. Shiffman helped start the Empire Area Community Center as president in 2011. The organization holds concerts to raise money for locals who have fallen on hard times while also protecting their anonymity.

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Art’s Tavern hosts Jim Crockett and Beach Bards, April 30

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Art’s Tavern in Glen Arbor hosts music and poetry with singer-songwriters Jim Crockett, Patrick Niemisto, John Kumjian, and The Beach Bards poetry and storytelling troupe on Sunday, April 30, from 4-6 p.m. Admission is free. Patrons are encouraged to make a good will offering to the Empire Area Community Center for those in the community who have fallen on hard times. The EACC is a 501(c)3 public charity.

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Griffard, Arrowood play Platte River Inn

The Empire Area Community Center will hold its next Empire Emergency Fund Concert on Sunday, May 26, from 4-6 pm at the Platte River Inn. in Honor. This month’s performers are singer-songwriter duo Griffard and Arrowood.

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Empire Emergency Fund holds annual auction

The Empire Area Community Center (EACC) will hold its annual silent auction to benefit the Empire Emergency Fund on Sunday, Dec. 16, from 4-4:45 p.m. The live auction will follow at 5 p.m. in the Empire Township Hall.

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Empire holds annual artisan marketplace

Don’t miss Empire’s Artisan Marketplace on Saturday, Nov. 24, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Empire Township Hall. The annual event is organized by the Empire Area Community Center.

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Glen Lake Narrows Labor Day Bridge Walk returns

Empire Area Community Center revives popular annual event. The Labor Day Bridge Walk over the Glen Lake Narrows bridge (M-22, south of Glen Arbor) will be held at noon on Monday, Sept. 3.

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Creative placemaking

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When the conversation turns to how the arts are represented in a community, one might point to a museum within the city’s limits; or to a restored movie theater where art house films are screened alongside blockbusters. Those are outward, bricks-and-mortar symbols of a community’s cultural life. But what, then, are the less visible characteristics of a community in which the arts are an integral part?

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