Empire celebrates Anchor Day each year on the third Saturday in July—this year on July 15—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 Empire Area Heritage Group, steered by local history guru Dave Taghon, won a State History Award late last month from the Historical Society of Michigan at the 138th Annual Meeting and State History Conference in Monroe, Michigan. The State History Awards are the highest recognition presented by the state’s official historical society.
Details surrounding the history, legend and exciting 2010 discovery of one of the Great Lakes’ most sought-after shipwrecks will be disclosed during the Empire Area Heritage Group’s Dec. 2, free public program at the Empire Township Hall.
On Friday, May 6 at the Glen Arbor Township Hall, the Empire Area Heritage Group will present “The Boizard Letters” at 7 p.m. A half-hour video presentation will feature recollections of Julia Dickinson and Joan Bolton, who found over 100 letters written before, during and after the Civil War between a husband in the service, and his wife who stayed behind in Glen Arbor to fare for herself and her small child.