From staff reports The Empire Asparagus Festival drew 2,500 enthusiastic “spargel” revelers last weekend. The annual weekend-long event has drawn acclaim as “one of the world’s weirdest festivals”. On Friday night, festival organizer and town booster Paul Skinner was honored for his service to Empire. Read Norm Wheeler’s “ode to Paul Skinner” (which was read […]
From staff reports The world-famous Empire Asparagus Festival returns to Empire, May 20-22 (it’s considered among the world’s weirdest festivals). Empire also recently made a Slovakian magazine’s list of the most interesting cities in the USA. Click this link and visit page 39 to read Lucia Matúšková’s story. Events kick off Friday night, May 20, […]
Here are the winners from the 2015 Empire Asparagus Festival poetry contest. They are Empire native Sarah Marossy in first place, Rachel Reed in second place, and Elizabeth Paxson in third place.
After a one-year hiatus, the Glen Lake Library will once again host a poetry contest as part of the 2015 Empire Asparagus Festival. Submit your asparagus-inspired verse by Thursday, May 14. Poems can be dropped off at the library; mailed to Glen Lake Library, PO Box 325, Empire, MI 49630; or emailed to info@glenlakelibrary.net. Be sure to include your contact information with your poem. Contestants are encouraged to come present their own poetry at the reading on Saturday, May 16 at 2:00 pm. Prizes will be awarded in both adult (age 18+) and children’s categories.
Quaint and creative Empire already hosts the Asparagus Festival in mid-May and the revived Hill Climb racecar event in September. Next up is the village’s inaugural Hops Festival, which organizers hope will also become an annual event.
The coveted prize to the winners of the Asparagus Festival 5K race wasn’t available this year, so we made the best substitution. The event is appropriately called the “Kick Your Ass-paragus Run” because it starts at the beach and in the first mile rises to peak elevation above Empire, the top of Wilco Road at the parking lot for Empire Bluffs. That’s a huff and a puff for anyone and this year we had one contestant of the 120 with a competition baby stroller, complete with baby inside. I warned her of the steepness of Wilco Road and examined, if she made it to the top, whether her three-wheeled device had brakes or not. It did so we felt she (and the baby) had a chance of making it back down without injury.
It’s spring — at least according to the calendar book, and to the tourism arrival schedule (Memorial Day weekend is just a week away!). And yet, Leelanau County today knows only rain and a chilly 40 degrees (and tomorrow could yield snow!). Nevertheless, Empire’s 11th annual Asparagus Festival commences tomorrow, May 16, with a dance and pig roast from 7-10 p.m. Eat fresh pork supplied by Art’s Tavern and wash it down with asparagus beer from Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City. Then stomp your feet to music from the Benzie Playboys.
Empire’s Asparagus Festival this year drew the attention of Japanese food importer Tsukasa Miyakawa (pictured here with Miser’s Hoard owner Paul Skinner), who intends to purchase locally-grown asparagus and import it to Japan. Miyakawa visited Skinner in Empire on June 3. His company imports approximately 800 tons of frozen asparagus each year, and looks to grow that market by 250 tons over the next five years, according to Skinner. Northern Michigan may become their new supply source.
Here are the top three entries from the Empire Asparagus Festival’s 2013 Poetry Contest. The winners are Mary O’Neill, R.D. Andrews and Sylvia Duncan
Years ago, when Paul Skinner traveled around Michigan to acquire antiques for his Empire-based business Miser’s Hoard, he was routinely asked, “Where in the world Empire?” But now, as the annual third-weekend-in-May festival celebrates its tenth birthday, Empire is known far and wide for its eclectic celebration of the green stalk. In fact, four years ago MSN.com named the Empire Asparagus Festival among “the World’s Weirdest Festivals” along with South Korea’s Boryeong Mud Festival and Thailand’s Monkey Buffet Festival.