The Pine Mountain ski slide was at one time was the highest artificial ski jump in the world and is still known throughout the world as one of the best jumping hills. At the first Pine Mountain Tournament, Bob Roecker, riding for the Duluth Ski Club, shattered the American jumping record with a leap of 257 feet.

For questions regarding tickets, please contact the Kiwanis Ski Club (906) 779-1110 or (800) 236-2447.  This video from Pine Mountain 2008 is a little bright, but it gives you a good sense of this exciting event. Here's another video with lots more jumps from the Continental Cup, but we have to give you this great newsreel from the 1950s voiced by Mel Allen. It was shot in Iron Mountain, and features several local jumpers including then 9-year-old Willie Erickson, a two-time Olympian and FIS World Championship competitor. Also don't miss the jumping videos from the Kiwanis club!

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Iron Works #2 - Cranbrook by MikeRyu

Our Michigan February Event Calendar shows that the more the weather tries to keep us holed up, the more ways we find to get out and have fun!! Of course, there's still many, many more and we invite you to fill us in on other February events in the comments.

February Fast Facts - Wikipedia

• Having only 28 days in common years, it is the only month of the year that can pass without a single full moon. 2012 is a Leap Year!
• It has 29 days in leap years, when the year number is divisible by four (except for years that are divisible by 100 and not by 400 in the Gregorian calendar)
• It is the only month of the calendar that once every six years and twice every 11 years, will have only four full 7-day weeks.
• Its birth flower is the Viola (plant) and the Primrose.
• Its birthstone is the amethyst.

February Quotes

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home." - Edith Sitwell

"Surely as cometh the Winter, I know
There are Spring violets under the snow." - R. H. Newell

"February is merely as long as is needed to pass the time until March." - Dr. J. R. Stockton

"Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour." - John Boswell

"February makes a bridge and March breaks it." - George Hebert

Notable February Dates from Michigan History Magazine

• February 13, 1855 The Michigan legislature protects escaped slaves.
• February 24, 1863 Michigan supports the Emancipation Proclamation.
• February 17, 1864 The First Michigan Colored Infantry is mustered into federal service.
• February 21, 1905 The National Ski Association is organized in Ishpeming.
• February 20, 1909 The Hudson Motor Car Company is organized.
• February 2, 1936 Ty Cobb becomes one of the first players selected to enter the newly formed Baseball Hall of Fame.
• February 8, 1985 The Stroh Brewery announces it is closing its Detroit plant.

Michigan Events for February

Also see the Pure Michigan Blog and the UP Travel Calendar for more events!

Ice Climbing - Tannery Falls
by James Marvin Phelps

February 2 - 5
Michigan Ice Fest, Munising
Ice Fest is an annual tradition that features climbing for sure, but it gives attendees a chance to learn and develop skills, hear from some of the masters if the art and to connect with friends and fellow climbers from around the Midwest! Games, winter gear demos, bonfire, sledding hill, raffles, drinks and food are all part of this event. (check out some of the incredible climbs!)

February 2-5
North American Snow Festival, Cadillac
Featuring snowmobiling, downhill skiing, snow shoeing, cross country skiing, snow softball, polar dip, ice fishing, antique sleds, fun run, food, beverages and much more, the annual Snow Festival is a four-day celebration of winter in northern Michigan.

February 4 - 5
Taste the Passion, Leelanau Peninsula
Get a head start on Valentines Day and join the wineries of the Leelanau Wine Trail for an annual weekend celebrating wine, chocolate and love. The event features food & wine pairings at each winery along with special, winter-themed events.

The Swimmers of 2009 Perchville
by sunrisepenny

February 3 - 5
Perchville USA, East Tawas & Tawas City
The 62nd Annual Perchville USA features fishing contests, polar bear dip, a parade and more perch than you can shake a fishing pole at!

February 4
International 500 Snowmobile Race, Sault Ste. Marie
First run in 1969, the annual International 500 Snowmobile Race offers all the thrills of NASCAR on a one-mile ice oval, with drivers reaching speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour. Includes all kinds of snowmobile exhibits and vendors and was proclaimed by Gov. Snyder as Michigan's premier winter sporting event!

February 9 - 12
Michigan Tech University Winter Carnival, Houghton
Events include the famous snow statues, sporting events including skating, curling, broomball, ice bowling, human sled dog racing, the queen contest, a torch light parade, fireworks, the Sno-Ball and much more.

February 10 -12
Midwest Telefest, Porcupine Mountain, Ontonagon
Telefest is the largest gathering of free heelers in the Midwest! Now in its 22nd season, Telefest has evolved into a tradition and is a hallmark celebration of the telemark turn. During Telefest there will be opportunities to try out the latest tele gear, take an instructional course or clinic, compete in races, cut turns in the backcountry, watch a movie, and dance with friends at the party!

Ski Jumping in Michigan by gkretovic

February 11 - 12
Pine Mountain Continental Cup Ski Jumping Tournament, Iron Mountain
For the 73rd year ski jumpers from around the globe will gather in Iron Mountain to try and claim king of the mountain at the 120 meter Pine Mountain Ski Jump. Known around the world as one of the more challenging ski jumping venues, Pine Mountain over time has attracted some of the world’s best. Countries expected to compete in the 2012 competition include Austria, Czech Republic, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Slovenia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Finland, Germany, Turkey and of course the United States.

February 11 - 19
Detroit Boat Show - Detroit
The Detroit Boat Show has been staged every year for 51 years, and is known as the premier boating event in the State of Michigan. The Detroit Boat Show is known as one of the top boat shows in the country in regards to size, sales and attendance.

Dog sled races, UP200, 2007 by e.rabior

February 16 - 20
UP 200, Midnight Run Sled-Dog Championships and The Jack Pine 30 - Marquette
Three UP sled dog races provide a variety of challenges for mushers. The UP 200 is actually 240 miles in length and is a qualifying race for the Iditarod. Over 15,000 visitors come to Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P.) to see the U.P. 200! It is a favorite winter event for local residents and out of town guests. The U.P. 200 has a dedicated group of over 500 volunteers from the U.P. and the mid-west region that come together to stage this great event each year.

February 17 - 19
Cherry Capital Winter WOW Fest - Traverse City
Winter WOW Fest is a three-day wintertime celebration chock-full of fun for all ages in the Cherry Capital of the World, President's Day Weekend featuring food, wine, music, ice & snow sculptures, a snowboard rail jam and much more.

February 16 - 19
Frost Bite Winter Festival - Harrison
The 2012 theme is "Vegas!" featuring a Casino Party, Fake Vegas-style "Speed Weddings", night out with the Vegas Showgirls and golf and ice fishing tournaments. The golf tournament takes place on 5 groomed nine-hole courses, where novice and veteran golfers hit brightly colored tennis balls over the snow.

February 17 - 19
U.P. Pond Hockey Championship - St. Ignace
The Labatt Blue UP Pond Hockey Championship features over 150 teams competing for prizes is played on the wild ice of Moran Bay in St. Ignace, part of Lake Huron. The tournament is the only one in Michigan where the 'pond' is actually one of the Great Lakes! Includes and appearance of the Detroit Red Wings Alumni team for an exhibition game on Friday.

Winter Microbrew Fest by farlane

February 18
Traverse City Winter Microbrew & Music Festival, Traverse City
The 3rd annual TC Winter Microbrew fest brings over 40 breweries, wineries, cideries, and meaderies to the Grand Traverse Commons along with local food, beer pairings, heated tents, and a wide range of musical entertainment including fire dancers and silent disco to celebrate winter & brewing and benefit Bay Area Recycling for Charities.

February 18
Romancing the Riesling, Traverse City
Northern Michigan is known for producing top notch Riesling grapes, and this annual event celebrates by sharing some of the best Rieslings the Old Mission Peninsula has to offer. Participating wineries will showcase a Riesling, served in your very own souvenir wine glass and perfectly paired with a food offering. As an extra bonus, guests will enjoy at least 10% off all Riesling wine purchases at the participating wineries throughout the event.

Upper Tahquamenon Falls-Winter
by James Marvin Phelps

February 18
Tahquamenon Snowshoe Race, Tahquamenon Falls State Park
Starting at Upper Tahquamenon Falls, this annual event offers 5K, 10K, 20K and 800 meter Kids Snowshoe races. Many age groups with awards to the top three in each age group for each race.

February 20 - 25
Grand Rapids Beer Week, Grand Rapids
With seven established breweries within the city limits, Grand Rapids is quickly becoming a destination for craft beer culture. GR Beer Week is a celebration of that and will feature beer dinners, rare beer tastings, tap takeovers and other unique events.

February 24
The Great Wine & Food Symposium, Grand Rapids
Escape the snow with an evening of indulgence at The Great Wine & Food Symposium, west Michigan's premier wine tasting event. You'll enjoy gourmet food selections, and your single ticket price includes unlimited sampling of over 300 wines and beers from around the world as classical music drifts through the halls. Order your favorite wine and beer with up to a 40% discount.

February 25
The Outhouse 500 - Coopersville
Join in with the hilarious and wacky fun of the 6th Annual Outhouse 500 on Main Street in Historic Downtown Coopersville! Hosted by the Main Street Merchants Association. Teams parade, then race their uniquely decorated outhouses down Main Street!

February 25
Winter Beer Festival - Grand Rapids
NOTE - this event is (already) sold out!! The Annual Winter Beer Festival takes place at the Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock Park, just north of Grand Rapids. The Winter Festival is a unique opportunity to sample some of the best beers in the world, all brewed in Michigan. The event includes more than 35 Michigan microbreweries and brewpubs with more than 200 different beers available to sample.

Trenary Outhouse Suessical by CreateWithKim

February 25
Trenary Outhouse Classic - The Outhouse Races - Trenary
The Outhouse Classic is an annual race in Trenary where outhouses are built and raced down the main street. There are categories: speed, presentation, best use of theme, most humorous, best workmanship, and most miles traveled. Families come to the event to watch and to compete, there are two different age brackets making competitions fair. A few years ago nuns came to compete and built the Vati-Can. Make sure to head on up to Trenary for the annual Outhouse Classic. Read Absolute Michigan's Sports that ARE Silly: Outhouse Racing or watch Outhouse Classic Outhouse Race in Trenary, Michigan.

February 29
Leap Year!, all over Michigan
February 29th only comes once every 4 years, so do something special to mark it!

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This morning, Jan. 23rd around 0359 UT, big sunspot 1402 erupted, producing a long-duration M9-class solar flare. The explosion's M9-ranking puts it on the threshold of being an X-flare, the most powerful kind. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the flare's extreme ultraviolet flash (shown right or in short movie right here)

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft detected a CME rapidly emerging from the blast site: movie. Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab say the leading edge of the CME will reach Earth on Jan. 24 at 14:18UT (+/- 7 hours).

That means it's hitting the Earth 11 AM - 6 PM EST, but this level of intensity makes the Northern Lights a real possibility for the next couple of days so definitely LOOK UP tonight and tomorrow if there's any break in the clouds! If the northern lights hit, our Northern Lights Log will light up with reports. You can also learn a lot more about the Northern Lights at Michigan in Pictures.

One person who will be looking up is Shawn Malone of Lake Superior Photo. She takes some of the most amazing northern lights photos. See them at her website and definitely favorite her Facebook page as there's lots of great photos and discussion about the Aurora and other UP topics. Shawn has put together a very cool time-lapse of the aurora borealis peaking out through the fog moving in as the full moon illuminates the Superior shore that ends with a fogbow - enjoy!

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Do you suppose that Tom Izzo uses lines like "I can't offer you beaches and palm trees, but chances are you'll be playing on aircraft carriers and on national television in March."??

This Friday, November 11th at 7 PM on ESPN the Michigan State University Spartans men's basketball team will face the North Carolina Tar Heels aboard the USS Carl Vinson (Wikipedia/Facebook) in what is being dubbed the Quicken Loans Carrier Classic.  Friday is also Veterans Day, and former Lakers MSU great Magic Johnson and James Worthy of UNC, both former Lakers will be on hand as honorary captains.  They'll also have at least one VIP in the stands, President Barack Obama.

Home Post has a slideshow of the process of turning the deck of the USS Carl Vinson into a basketball court and ESPN has a pretty cool look at the science behind the challenges the players will face in an outside game on a ship. At the bottom of the post there's a video with a look at the special uniforms the Spartans will be wearing that also provides a nice chance to meet a team that is largely unheralded and facing the pre-season #1 team in the nation. A great primer by David Mayo of the Grand Rapids Press begins:

The night before Michigan State’s basketball season ended in March, athletic director Mark Hollis sat in a Tampa hotel, proudly disclosing plans for how this season would begin.

On his tablet, he swiped through artists’ renderings of how the USS Carl Vinson will look Friday night in San Diego Bay, with a temporary basketball arena on its flight deck, where the Spartans play top-ranked North Carolina in their Veterans Day opener, with President Barack Obama and thousands of military personnel dominating the invitation-only crowd.

Read on at the GR Press.

Photo credits

USS Carl Vinson PACIFIC OCEAN (June 3, 2011) The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) is underway in the Pacific Ocean. Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17 are underway in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Nicolas C. Lopez/Released) 110603-N-GZ277-247

Michigan State vs. Hillsdale Freshman guard Branden Dawson stretches out for an uncontested dunk early in the game against Hillsdale Friday night at Breslin Center. Dawson netted 10 points for the Spartans in the 80-58 victory. Matt Hallowell/The State News

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at Mackinac :: a composite from -3 and -43 by Emery Co Photo

Sea Monster of the Straits

The authorities tried hard to convince the public what they saw were only giant catfish, but even the oldest, orneriest cats would be hard-pressed to attain a length of forty-five feet! The owner of a resort along the Cheboygan lakefront reported seeing something of just that size, and two of them, frolicking in the Mackinac Straits on Lake Huron in front of his property, about 600 feet from shore, according to an article in the June 25, 1976 Grand Rapids Press. The day after the resort owner called authorities about it, Cheboygan County Sheriff Stanley McKervey stopped by to have a look for himself. To his surprise, he also was able to observe one of the creatures. "I went down to the beach, and sure enough, I'm looking at something 20, maybe 30 feet long, swimming just below the surface," he said in the article. "I was amazed. I didn't know what it was, but it sure wasn't a publicity stunt."

The sheriff continued watching the creature through binoculars. It only rose about an inch above water level, he said, but any disturbance on shore would cause it to dive deeper again. And that's exactly what happened when the sheriff ordered a couple of deputies to surveil the thing in a canoe. It was gone long before the pair got there. Unfortunately, rough water conditions set in the next few days and no one could go out for another look. It wasn't observed again, and other experts theorized that perhaps it was a giant eel or carp. But neither of those sound like what the sheriff and the resort owner saw!

Lake Leelanau Monster

The story of an early 20th Century sea monster sighting was sent to The Shadowlands Web site by a reader whose great-grandfather was the witness. The boy was fishing for perch one day in 1910 in the shallows of Lake Leelanau in Leelanau County. The lake had been dammed in the late 1800's to provide water power for the local mill and to enable logging. The dam also flooded much surrounding area, turning it into swamps and bogs punctuated by dead, standing trees.

On that particular day, the young great-grandfather, William Gauthier, rowed out to a new fishing spot near the town of Lake Leelanau. Looking for good perch habitat, he paddled up close to a tree that he estimated to stand about five feet tall above the water, with a six-inch trunk. He was in about seven feet of water, and after deciding this would be a good place to stop and cast a line, began tying the boat to the tree.

That's when young William discovered the tree had eyes. They were staring him dead in the face at about four feet above water level. The boy and serpent exchanged a long gaze, then the creature went, "Bloop" into the water. Gauthier said later that the creature's head passed one end of the boat while the tail was still at the other end, though it was undulating very quickly through the water. The writer noted that Gauthier always admitted to having been thoroughly frightened by his encounter, and that the event caused him to stay off that lake for many years.

The writer added that his great-grandfather came from a prominent area family and was very well-educated, and that he knew others who would admit privately but not publicly that they, too, had seen the creature. No sightings have been reported in recent times, but who knows how many people have believed they were passing by a rotting old cedar when in fact they had just grazed the Leelanau lake monster?

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Be sure to follow Lake Superior Photo on Facebook for her latest aurora borealis photos!

Space Weather says that a category G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm is expected on August 5th (tonight and tomorrow night) due to the effects of a CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) observed early on August 2nd. In plain English, that means we might see the Northern Lights on the 5th! Don't get too terribly excited though - according to NOAA Space Weather who puts out the email alerts that I subscribe to, G1 is the lowest level of a scale that goes up to 5. Don't get depressed either though, as they say that during G1 activity, the Aurora Borealis is commonly visible at high latitudes (northern Michigan and Maine)!

I posted the above on Facebook, and my friend Shawn (who took the photo above) told me that it is also possible for an x flare this week producing an EARTHWARD directed flare that would hit earth probably some time next week which would produce a northern lights display to remember! There was a brief x flare on July 29 - read about it here and see a video from NASA here. The displays in February 2011 were produced by a powerful x flare...

You can see & purchase lots more of Shawn's photos of northern lights through LakeSuperiorPhoto.com and also check out her cool Northern Lights - square format album!

Michigan in Pictures has LOTS more pictures and information about the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and if you see northern lights, post them to the Northern Lights log on Absolute Michigan! Here's a cool timelapse of Northern Lights from 2010 by Ken Scott!

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Surfing Michigan by farlane

We've pulled together a great collection of Great Lakes & Michigan surfing videos with a few links:

• The photo was taken on Lake Michigan at Leland. You can see more surfing photos on Michigan in Pictures and also on Northern Michigan Surf on Facebook and in the Surfing slideshow from the Absolute Michigan pool!
• The best of the bunch is below, a TV special on Grand Haven filmmaker Vince Deur's movie Unsalted. the 7 minute short introduces you to the history and present day of Great Lakes surfing. There's also a couple of outtakes that take you to surfing hot spots like Michigan's Lake Superior shore in winter! Last December we ran Michigan Film: Unsalted: A Great Lakes Experience that has all the details (including where to get it!) and tons of clips from the definitive work on riding the freshwater wave.
• The Roxy Get Outside Tour recently visited Grand Haven, Michigan with a couple pro female surfers. They also answered the "Michigan question" and visited the Great Lakes Surf Association (more Michigan footage including waterskiing at the Roxy blog)
• Surfing isn't just for lakes any more, there's also the Grand River Surf (featuring some cool Police tunes...)
• If surfing isn't fast enough (or the waves aren't big enough) there's always kiteboarding. Boarding Lake Michigan Waves from South Beach in South Haven shows you highlights of surfers, kiteboarders and windsurfers. Every September, the King of the Great Lakes Kiteboarding Competition is held in Grand Haven. You can visit Mackinac Kites for information on the event.
• Pure Michigan gets in the act with the Fresh Water Surfing page.
• Check out Absolute Michigan keyword surf for surfing articles and surfing-related businesses! Might as well try Absolute Michigan keyword kiteboard too!

Did we miss something? Of course we did!! Tell us and/or add a link in the comments.

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Every year on Memorial Day, Americans honor our fallen war veterans and also our deceased loved ones by decorating cemeteries and grave sites. But some Michigan cemeteries come already decorated -- with mysterious headstones that glow by themselves!

One of the best known graveyards with unexplained night lights is Forest Hill Cemetery just east of Evart on Six Mile Road. People have reported seeing strangely glowing objects there since the late 1800s. The cemetery lies near a place where Italian railroad workers once camped. According to local legend, a father and son from that camp both drowned in the nearby Muskegon River. The father's job had been to light kerosene lanterns at nightfall, and after his death other workers claimed they saw lanterns that appeared lit at a distance but darkened when approached. They whispered that the lights were carried by the ghost of the father searching for his dead son. As the cemetery grew nearby, however, eventually the tombstones took on the glow of the phantom lanterns.

The tombstones also worked - and still work -- the same way as the lanterns. Half a dozen or so tombstones appear to glow from within when viewed from outside the cemetery, but fade when the viewer moves in for a closer look. Jim Crees, editor of the Evart Review, wrote in a July 1, 1988 article that local investigators spent three weeks studying everything from the angle of passing automobile headlights to possible reflections of city lights. Phosphorescent headstone materials were also ruled out. Crees declared the mystery unsolved.

Harrison Cemetery at Schoolcraft also boasts glowing headstones. Strangely, they behave just like the Evart stones and lose their illumination at a distance of about 500 feet. Is this a type of spirit manifestation or some little known effect of Michigan air, soil or landscape that is somehow transferred to the headstones? Whatever the cause, Michigan's glowing tombstones provide a year-round memorial to the unknown.

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Photo by Robert DeJonge

The International Dark-Sky Association will announce today that the Emmet County's Headlands has been awarded the prestigious International Dark Sky Park designation. The Freep reports that the 600-acre park just west of Mackinaw City is only the sixth International Dark Sky Park in the nation, which means that with minimal light pollution, it offers an extraordinary place for stargazing.

"It was a lot of effort, very time-consuming, but I love this stuff, so I was having a ball, and I'm just thrilled to get this," said Mary Stewart Adams, who served on the committee and, last December, led about 75 people through an all-night viewing session of a lunar eclipse at the Headlands.

"We believe this designation will attract a lot of serious astronomers to our area," she said, "but also the casual viewers who just want to see all the stars in the northern sky."

Key to securing the designation was the endorsement of Patrick Stonehouse, a teacher and astronomer in neighboring Cheboygan County who from his rooftop observatory in Wolverine discovered a comet in 1998 that the International Astronomical Union has labeled 1998 H1, or Comet Stonehouse.

"Children from the cities who have only seen pictures of stars in books will be thrilled and inspired as they gaze at thousands of bright twinkling stars, silent and magically suspended in the clear dark skies over the Headlands," he wrote in an e-mail congratulating committee members.

The Dark Sky Park designation will be celebrated with an event at the Headlands on June 21, the first day of summer and longest day of the year. Head over to emmetcounty.org/darkskypark for details and thanks to Vic McCarty at The Ticker for the tip - read his article with some more info right here. You can also see some photos from their winter eclipse viewing and (potentially) purchase the above photo at Robert DeJonge's Michigan Artisan website!

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by Dave Votta, CADL Local History Librarian

When he plummeted to his death during an air show in Vincennes, France, the Lansing Batman was known world-wide as an aeronautical daredevil. Clement A. "Clem" Sohn was born December 7, 1910, in Fowler, Michigan. In 1929 he became of protoge of Art Davis and his flying circus, performing in air shows around the country.

Lansing's second Batman Charlie Zmuda

Davis was a World War 1 pilot who became one of the most highly decorated stunt aviators and barnstormers of his time. His plane was christened the Spirit of East Lansing. The East Lansing Davis Airport is named in his honor.

Clem's signature act developed in 1933-1934 when he and Davis created a bat like suit made of steel tubing and zephyr cloth. He would free fall, sometimes gliding over 30 miles, deploy the parachute approximately 1,000 feet up and drift to the ground. He held the world's record for free fall, over 18,500 feet.

Accompanied by Davis, Sohn was invited to the 1937 Paris Air Show. They crossed the Atlantic by ship. Severe weather impeded swift passage to Paris. Because of the delay, it is reported he was unable to satisfactorily check his equipment. Clem jumped at 6,000 feet. It is unclear exactly went wrong. Some accounts cite his parachute may have been moistened from rain. Neither the primary or auxiliary chutes opened. He died instantly.

Sohn is buried in Fowler. At his funeral, planes circled overhead dropping flowers.

Upon his death, another took up the mantle. Charles F. "Charlie" Zmuda was the second Lansing or Michigan Batman. He too worked with Art Davis touring the world leaping from planes and glissading from several thousand feet. The above photograph is of Zmuda, probably in one of Sohn's outfits.

Zmuda survived the perilous vocation. He succumbed to a heart attack at 44 in 1959, survived by his wife and three daughters. At the time of his death, he worked as a pilot for American Airlines.

Sources Consulted

Michigan History Magazine (September/October 1983)
Lansing, city on the Grand, 1836-1939 by James MacLean and Craig A. Whitford
Lansing State Journal (April 26, 1937)
Lansing State Journal (April 9, 1959)
Time Magazine (May 3, 1937)
History of Fowler MI
Photograph Courtesy of the  Capital Area District Library Special Collections

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Dan #1 by radiospike photography

Tip Up Town USA is 61 Years Old in 2011! The event has come to be the very description of winter fun and enjoyment for the whole family at Houghton Lake. Thousands of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and neighboring residents return each year to see this largest Winter Festival in Michigan, held annually the last two weekends in January. Whatever the weather, TUT will be fun, fun, fun all the way. There will be all the usual popular attractions - the carnival, parade, Polar Bear Dip, Family Fun Tent, Beverage Tent, crazy games and more! Plus, the Ice Fishing contests will be bigger and better than ever and we're adding Broomball this year!

For more than 20 years, TUT USA has been acclaimed among the top ten festivals in the nation. In 1963, the United States Chamber of Commerce acclaimed it the seventh largest winter activity in the month of January in the United States. Approximately 80,000 people turned out during the past festivals to enjoy the results of hundreds of hours work put in by individual volunteers and various community committees.

YouTube has a slew of videos showcasing the good times to be had at Tip Up Town USA such as this one from WildWeekendTV.com.

Byron Goggin and the Wild Weekend Adventure crew find insanity at its best! Strip down to your drawers and jump into a hole cut in the ice. Can you say "Scared Turtle".

How to get there....

View Larger Map

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Elberta Beach During the Hang Gliding Heydays by jimflix!

A few weeks ago on Michigan in Pictures we featured this great photo of hang gliding at Elberta Beach (Frankfort) in the 1970s. Frankfort & Elberta on Lake Michigan was a hang gliding and soaring hotspot in the 1970s and earlier. Here's a shot of sailplanes in the 1930s, a little Frankfort-Elberta Area Hang Gliding information and a video of present-day hang-gliding at Green Point Dunes (just south of Frankfort - read more about Green Point)

Another great spot is Warren Dunes in Southwest Michigan (there is a company that can take you gliding at Warren Dunes). You don't even need dunes or cliffs at Cloud 9 Aerotow in Webberville.

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The Ada Witch by farlane

The Ada Witch by Amberrose Hammond from Michigan's Otherside explains:

The legend says a woman during the 1800's had been cheating on her husband. She would sneak off into the night to meet her lover. Her husband began to suspect she was up to something and pretended to fall asleep one night. After his wife got up and snuck away, he followed her and found her in the arms of another man. Rage welled up inside him and in an instant, the husband attacked the adulterous couple, killing his wife first. The two men fought until they both died from the wounds they inflicted upon each other.

For many years now, people say they have heard the sounds of a fight taking place around the Findley area, only to find no one around. The area at one point must have been open for hunting before it was developed into a residential area. There have been reports from hunters feeling a presence in the area, hearing the ghostly fight, getting tapped on the shoulder only to find no one there and even seeing a ghostly woman in white.

More of Haunted Michigan.

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Photographer Ken Scott has assembled a very cool time lapse of an evening at one of these, Jacob's Corn Maze near Traverse City. Click over to YouTube, select the 720p option, and then full screen for the best view! See more of Ken's work on YouTube!

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Aurora by Muvv

Over on Michigan in Pictures there's a post about the 2010 Perseid Meteor  Shower which peaks tonight (August 12, 2010). Check there for viewing information about this shower which can produce in excess of 50 meteors per hour. Last year on Michigan in Pictures, we noted that the July/August shower which is associated with Comet Swift-Tuttle is also known as The Tears of St. Lawrence:

Laurentius, a Christian deacon, is said to have been martyred by the Romans in 258 AD on an iron outdoor stove. It was in the midst of this torture that Laurentius cried out: “I am already roasted on one side and, if thou wouldst have me well cooked, it is time to turn me on the other.”

The saint's death was commemorated on his feast day, Aug. 10. King Phillip II of Spain built his monastery place the “Escorial,” on the plan of the holy gridiron. And the abundance of shooting stars seen annually between approximately Aug. 8 and 14 have come to be known as St. Lawrence's “fiery tears.”

Stories like that always make me wonder why the phrase "mean as a Roman" isn't more popular. Persieds aren't the only thing lighting up the sky recently. Michigan in Pictures also featured a post about the early August Northern Lights. The photographer was featured in the CNN video below, and another Michigan in Pictures regular Shawn Malone was featured in this National Geographic photo feature about how that Huge Solar Storm Triggered Unusual Auroras. So take a look up in that Michigan sky tonight with friends and family - it'll be well worth it!

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Cabin fever taking hold? Well here are a couple of great reasons to embrace winter in northern Michigan. The Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association presents "Taste the Passion ~ Wine, Chocolate & Love". The following weekend as part of the Cherry Capital Winter WonderFest is the "Traverse City Wine & Art Festival Winter Wine Wonderland" on February 14th. Tickets to these events are limited and we are told they are selling at a steady pace. Get yours today through the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association website.

Taste the Passion ~ Wine, Chocolate & Love - February 6 & 7, 2010

This special weekend celebrates wine, chocolate and love in anticipation of Valentine's Day! The combination of winter's beauty in Leelanau with the special pleasures of life always makes for wonderful weekend. Then the fun begins on Saturday as participants head to their first winery stop to collect a souvenir glass and continues with special pours and decadent chocolate treats and other offerings at wineries between the hours of 11am and 5pm on Saturday, and Noon and 5pm on Sunday. To add to the weekend's festivities, several of the wineries will hold special events and activities exclusively for "Taste the Passion" ticket holders to celebrate the beauty and fun to be had in this winter wonderland. On Friday night (Feb 5) at Mountain Flowers Lodge from 6-8pm, the Homestead Resort and Glen Arbor Artists will be hosting "Art from Michigan's Wine Coast." Art will be on display and for sale from local artists.

Video from Taste the Passion 2009!

Traverse City Wine & Art Festival Winter Wine Wonderland - February 14, 2010

The public is invited to experience the fun and romance of local wine, desserts, art, music, and Valentine's Day at Grand Traverse Resort & Spa during the Winter Wine Wonderland - a celebration of wine, gourmet desserts, and art. The event is the winter version of the popular Traverse City Wine & Art Festival held annually in August.

The Winter Wine Wonderland will take place on Sunday, February 14, from 3 to 8 p.m. in a large heated tent located next to the Resort's Clubhouse. Approximately 20 wineries from Leelanau and Old Mission Peninsulas, and Traverse City will offer tastings of a variety of white, red, and sparkling wines, plus ice wine and mulled wine.

The festival will also feature a unique musical experience. The New Third Coast will provide backing for a select group of Northern Michigan musicians singing love songs. Musicians include Ingemar & Lisa Johansson, Jay Webber, Elizabeth Rivers, Janice Keegan and Claudia Schmidt. Also on hand will be the Beach Bards who will perform some love poems.

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Gateway Ghost by mellowhummer

Lost children are a recurring theme in ghost sightings. Almost everyone feels a tug to the old heartstrings at the implied death of a child, making these one of the most poignant type of paranormal reports.

A writer from Greenville sent me one of the most detailed such stories that I've received. He lived with his family in a house built in the 1920s that was rumored to once have housed two children who were later lost in the adjacent woods.

The writer was about ten or eleven at the time and was walking up the stairs at night when he saw a little boy wearing an "odd-shaped" hat. The boy, who seemed to be about six years old, was looking at him from behind a low partition between the kitchen and living room, and backed farther behind it to remove himself from view. The writer moved higher on the stairs to get a better look and the ghostly little figure crept behind the living room sofa and disappeared from view.

The sightings continued. The little boy appeared again behind the sofa, playing checkers with a little girl ghost who seemed a year or two younger. The writer had recently received the game of giant checkers for Christmas. He said both children appeared well-dressed, but in rather out-of-style clothing. The writer says he saw the children many other times over the two years the family lived there, and has always wondered if the story about the lost brother and sister was true.

The man says he is in his 30s now but has never forgotten the two little ghosts of Greenville and has told the story many times. It would be interesting to know whether anyone in that town has seen the same little children at play.

More Weird Wednesday from Absolute Michigan and also absolutemichigan.com/ghost for Michigan ghosts & ghost hunting!

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The Only Animals Threatened with Fines by the State of Michigan

Humans generally think they have it all over the rest of the animal kingdom, but those creatures not classified as Homo sapiens generally do get a few breaks. For one thing, animals are usually immune to having to pay taxes or, say, follow government building regulations.

Some beavers in the Pierson area found themselves the exceptions to those rules when area resident Ryan DeVries received a letter from the state of Michigan in December, 1997. The Detroit News and Wall Street Journal both reported that Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality sent DeVries a notice that the contractor who did the unauthorized activity of constructing two wood debris dams on the outlet stream of Spring Pond faced charges of $10,000 a day if said unauthorized activities weren't stopped.

DeVries passed the letter on to his landlord, Stephen Tvedten, who fired back a letter still on file with Montcalm County that stated a couple of beavers were the contractors engaged in the unauthorized activity, and that Tvedten did not authorize or pay for the illegal dams. Tvedten further suggested that all beavers in Michigan should be required to fill out permits to build dams if the Spring Pond beavers were so required, and suggested the wardens instead go after some bears in the habit of despoiling the adjacent woods with defecation.

Eventually, the department figured out that the whole episode was triggered by a neighbor who complained about the dams because he was afraid of flooding on his property. The responding agent had written the cease-and-desist letter to the dam builders without inspecting the property. When Spring Pond was finally inspected by a DEQ employee, the agency dropped its investigation and the beavers were finally left to their own dam devices.

Excerpted with permission from Strange Michigan; More Wolverine Weirdness by Linda S. Godfrey and Lisa A. Shiel, by Trails Books

More Weird Wednesday from Absolute Michigan!

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Cribbage Pegs by the photoshoparama

The American Cribbage Congress will be holding the Grand National 28 in Grand Rapids on September 25–27, 2009. In addition, the Grass Roots Tournament of Champions will be held on Friday, September 25. Entrants who want to play Grass Roots cribbage on Monday–Thursday nights will have plenty of opportunity, for Michigan boasts thirteen Grass Roots clubs.

All events will be held at the same location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, located near the airport on the southeast side of town (5700 28th Street SE, Grand Rapids MI 49546). A special cribbage rate is available for all GN players (make reservations by calling 800.227.6963).

The event received a nice writeup in the Grand Rapids Press on mlive.com titled - Cribbage tournament brings nation's best players to Grand Rapids in battle for cash

It's the first time this Who's Who battle of card sharks has visited the state. For cribbage groupies, it's a chance to see De Lynn Colvert, of Missoula, Mont., who is billed as the greatest player in the cribbage universe.

Ace cribbage players are sticklers for the rules, but the state's mightiest wooden board warrior said all is fair in friendly banter.

While game code is sacred and “timber haulers” are despicable, that doesn't stop experts from serving up a tall tales and trash talk.

These human calculators “love to drink, play cards and tell lies,” said Jeff Shimp, 70, of Grand Haven, who holds the imposing title of Life Master One Star in cribbage circles.

The tournament is expected to draw about 350 cribbage players from across the country. They will battle for bragging rights and a top prize of about $1,500, depending on the event's take. Other tournaments, including more than a dozen satellite tournaments, kicked off Friday at the hotel.

mlive.com also has another feature with Muskegon cribbage board collector Dan Betz who 450 boards many of which were crafted by the Drueke Co., founded in Grand Rapids in 1914 and now is located in Ludington.

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Holga: Riverside Park by Matt Callow

Wisconsin and Michigan are alike in many ways; they both border Lake Michigan, feature smallish but fierce mammals as mascots, and are shaped roughly like mittens. One more unfortunate similarity is that each harbors a stretch of river that has earned a reputation for repeated, unexplained drownings. Many of the victims in both states have been college students, leading to speculation about serial killers and supernatural causes.

Wisconsin's river of death is the Mississippi where it flows past La Crosse. Starting with the death of a doctor in the 1800s, the river has claimed frequent lives, many of them students at UW-La Crosse. The apparent cause is always simple drowning, and the most recent occurred in late September 2007. Strangely, it was three days after a man and his son reported that a man-sized, bat-winged creature almost flew into the windshield of their truck. A similar creature, Mothman, was sighted around Point Pleasant, Virginia in the 60s before a local bridge collapsed and killed many, leading some to surmise that these winged things are harbingers of death. (See Strange Wisconsin, More Badger State Weirdness)

Michigan's similarly dangerous waters flow in the Huron River near Peninsular Park, in an area where a large old paper mill once commanded the river's power. According to writer James Mann in the Ann Arbor News, drownings were a yearly occurrence there throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and many victims were students at the present Eastern Michigan University. It got to the point where the school would not permit its enrollees to dip even a toe into the Huron's chill waters.

The river then turned its siren-like attention to other citizens who were still foolhardy enough to dive in. One man whose identity was never discovered was found in late September, 1930. The red-haired man, thought to be a vagrant, had tattoos on his arm -- a lovely lady's face and an ornament in the shape of a shield -- but no one ever stepped forward to claim him.

Michiganders and Wisconsinites alike can only hope the Huron and Mississippi have had their fill of human bodies. Weird Michigan's advice? Always use the buddy system, and watch out for strange flying things overhead.

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A list of performers is listed on the Show Attractions page. Unfortunately, the schedule is not solidified until the morning of the air show to allow for security, safety, weather or operational concerns.

For a historical perspective and Michigan's role in it check out A Story of Airpower from World War I to the 21st Century by By Philip Handleman Historian, Selfridge Base Community Council.

Wikipedia has a slew of great info on the Selfridge Air National Guard Base

The Detroit News has a preview piece about the air show titled Tech will be really high at Selfridge air show (click to read the entire piece)

A jet just like the one Karns used Wednesday and more than 100 other types of aircraft, including the KC-135 refueling jet, the A-10 Warthog attack jet and F-16 fighter jet, will either fly over Selfridge or be on display during the air show.

In addition, the U.S. Air Force precision flight team, the Thunderbirds, will demonstrate more than 40 aerial maneuvers.

A major theme for the 2009 show is technology, said Lt. Anthony Lesterson, a spokesman for the 127th Wing.

To that end, the latest in military equipment will be on display along with an exhibit from NASA, he said.

The 127th Wing and the show's organizers are expecting as many as 200,000 spectators.

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As always, the festival site will have a Disc Golf Course Designed by Stephanai Myers of Disc Golf Michigan. The festival site is also strategically located near various mountain biking trails and the Pine River, a National Wild and Scenic River, a world class blue-ribbon trout stream, and a renowned paddle sports playground. Kestelwoods restaurant, party store and campground is a convenient 6 minute walk from the festival grounds.

New to the Festival
New this year will be the addition of a beer tent, featuring some of the finest handcrafted brews from the great beer state, served up in a micro beer festival format. We're proud to announce our all new Farmers Market full of local produce and specialty baked goods.

Vendor Village
In Hoxeyville we understand the vendor village is the nucleus of any good festival. We always strive to feature the finest artisan, craft and food vendors from our region, with a focus on specialty foods with locally grown and organic ingredients.

Just some of the artists include:
Buddy Guy, Galactic, Bill Frisell Trio, The New Orleans All-Stars, Melvin Seals & JGB, Greensky Bluegrass, Great American Taxi, Ekoostic Hookah, Seth Bernard & May Erlewine, Steppin' In It, The Macpodz and many, many more....

Location
Located in Beautiful Northwest Lower Michigan in the Heart of the Manistee National Forest, The Festival Grounds are located just west of The Kestelwoods Store and Campground off M-37 in Wexford County (1 1/2 hrs N of Grand Rapids, 40 Min. S of Traverse City) This year the site has been expanded to 75 acres and features ample areas for shaded walk-in and car camping, and open and level fields for RVs and Campers. This year we have a new Venue area that will be home to the The Main stage, Vendor Village and a Beer Tent featuring some of the finest brews from the region.

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In 1954, five-year old Tom Friggens was awed by the dinosaurs at Domke's Prehistoric Zoo in Ossineke, Michigan. In 1987, the adult Friggens took his sons there. (The photo below, dating from 1987, depicts the latter experience. The photo to the right depicts young Tom Friggens in 1954.)

Currently, quite a few people are reliving childhood vacations—or getting a taste of places their parents visited—at Michigan's Roadside Attractions, a special exhibit at the Michigan Historical Museum. Featuring more than fifty attractions created to lure travelers off the road, the exhibition includes advertising, artifacts and souvenirs from destinations across the state. American Road Magazine sponsored the exhibit in cooperation with Friends of Michigan History.

It turns out that roadside attractions, derided by some as “tourist traps,” have quite a history. Michiganians began thinking about attracting auto tourists almost as soon as they began making cars. In the 1920s and 1930s, many attractions aimed to make nature more accessible to the residents of Michigan's growing cities. Castle Rock in St. Ignace and no less than four towers in the Irish Hills offered new vistas. Special rides showed off Tahquamenon Falls, Silver Lake's sand dunes and the Soo locks.

Car travel boomed in the post-World War II period. Paul Bunyan and other giant figures appeared along the roadways. Nature, in the form of animal attractions, remained popular at Spikehorn's Bear Den (Harrison), Call of the Wild (Gaylord) and deer parks in Coloma, Pinconning and St. Ignace. Lund's Scenic Garden and the Cross in the Woods presented religious experiences in vacation settings. Regional foods like cherries, pasties and cheese added memorable smells and tastes to many Michigan vacations.

There was excitement along Michigan highways, too: concrete dinosaurs at Domke's or the Prehistoric Forest in the Irish Hills and the Haunted Fort in Mackinaw City. Suspension of the laws of nature at places like Mystery Hill (Onsted), Mystery Ridge (West Tawas) or the Mystery Spot (St. Ignace) intrigued curious travelers.

Michigan's Roadside Attractions features these sites and more! Come see the exhibit at the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing. Admission is free.

For more on this, head over to Weird Wednesday: Domke's Dinosaur Gardens & Michigan's roadside architecture on Absolute Michigan and the web site for Dinosaur Gardens Prehistoric Zoo.

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Pics 126, photo by m7k7k7.

The annual Michigan Challenge Balloonfest takes place this weekend - June 26-28, 2009. It's the state championship of hot-air ballooning and in addition to a sky full of balloons, offerings include three entertainment venues, a carnival, classic car show, medieval village and skydiving shows. 2009 is the 25th anniversary:

"Twenty-five years ago, the Michigan Challenge started with a whimper and a little burner noise," said Competition Director Dick Rudlaff. "There were only a couple handfuls of balloons that first year, all good friends who flew together often. But we managed to elbow our way into the Howell community with the help of the chamber of commerce and all their volunteers who make this a true community event to be proud of."

Of course, the highlight of the Michigan Challenge weekend is the five scheduled balloon launches Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 6 and 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday mornings between 6 and 8 a.m. Site host is Howell Public Schools.

Here's more of m7k7k7's Howell Balloonfest photos (slideshow). For more, check out the Michigan Challenge Balloonfest slideshow on Flickr and also this set and this one.

Here's a cool time lapse video:

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Michiganders on the eastern side of the state may think they are safe from the stealthy predations of the Michigan Dog Man. But an Ann Arbor man wrote to say he has had encounters with an upright, unknown creature for the past 12 years in this vicinity. Most of the sightings have occurred on his family's property which backs up to a marshy woods, very typical terrain for this critter.

The 26-year old says although he or his friends have never been hurt, he feels they are being watched or "played with." One of the most startling incident occurred when a visting friend saw something with a head like a German shepherd or wolf that stood six feet tall as it peered into a window on the writer's property. The window happened to be on an entry to a pole barn, and the creature was "leaning down" to have a good look inside, as if checking for livestock.

Moving northward, a woman from Bay City had several experiences growing up near Essexville. She first experienced a phantom wolf with glowing yellow eyes in a corner of her bedroom at the age of 13, and began to feel "something" was after her whenever she went outside. Three years later, in 1998, she had just gotten her driver's license and was driving herself home one night at dusk past an area of cornfields and irrigation ditches when she noticed something running alongside her car, its back even with the bottom of the drivers side window on her GMC Jimmy . She was going 30 miles an hour, and so was the creature which was larger than a deer and covered in dark, shaggy fur. Suddenly, it bumped the truck and actually pushed it a foot to the right. She stepped on the gas and sped home, raced into the house and locked all the doors. The next day she found a large indentation where the creature had rammed her truck.

I've received many other reports of this type of creature chasing or running alongside cars, both upright and on all fours, so -- scarily -- her experience isn't all that unusual. And the reports continue weekly from all over Michigan, Wisconsin, the US and the world.

Something is out there. And it's not your father's werewolf!

(EXCERPTED from the forthcoming Dog Men! - Encounters with Dog Men, Man Wolves, and Other Strange Bipedal Creatures by Linda S. Godfrey. Artwork © Linda S. Godfrey

Watch for Linda Godfrey and more about unknown, upright canids on Fox News Sean Hannity show on July 2 or 10 on the feature segment, "Conspiracy Month."

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Edward Vielmetti tipped us off to the Miner's Revenge bicycle race in Greenland (Michigan) which takes place July 11 & 12. He writes:

Here's a novel reuse of an old copper mine - the Miner's Revenge bicycle race is using a 1/3 mile long section of the mine no longer in active use as a part of the race course. Bring your own lights - it's dark in there.

The race is July 11-12, 2009, with free on-site camping for racers and a bonfire the night before. Greenland is near Ontonagon; the mine is owned by the Adventure Mining Company which also does walking tours as well as other more extreme mining adventures that involve rappelling down a mine shaft.

You can learn more about the Adventure Copper Mine and get details on the Miner's Revenge bike race.

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So we present to you:

Be A Tourist In Your Own Town brought to you by the fine folks at the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau. Consider organizing one in your area!

About Be A Tourist In Your Own Town

Fifteen years ago, the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau created this event to increase community awareness of it's attractions and the tourism industry's impact on the area. So once again the doors are open for you to explore culture and creativity in mid-Michigan.

As Lansing celebrates its 150th anniversary, take this opportunity to enjoy attractions that highlight both Lansing's unique history as well as its innovative and progressive future. This year they have included old favorites such as Impression 5 Science Center, Potter Park Zoo and the Michigan Historical Museum, and added new hot spots like the FRAG Center, MSU's Breslin Center, WKAR Studios and taste the new “Capital City Sundae” ice cream flavor at the MSU Dairy Store. You can view a complete list of the participating places to go and things right here.

How it Works:

For only $1 you can purchase a “passport” which allows you FREE admission to more than 60 area attractions, local businesses, and special activities on May 30, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. **Ages 3 and under do not require a passport. Get from place to place with CATA. For only 50 cents you will receive a stamp which will allow you to ride the Be A Tourist routes for the rest of the day for no extra charge.

Check out a slideshow of the Lansing area from the Absolute Michigan Flickr pool!

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Michigan must seem a lovely place to UFOs, since they so often are sighted cruising the Wolverine State's night skies. The sightings hearken back to the strange "airships" flap of 1897 when vehicles that looked like lighted dirigibles (and may have been exactly that!) were reported over Galesburg, Holland, Bay City, Saginaw, Port Huron, Muskego, South Haven and other cities. One landed near Howard and treated locals to the sight of a naked giant. (See the full report in "Strange Michigan: More Wolverine Weirdness.")

More recently, Michigan skies seem almost clogged with otherworldly visitors. A recent issue of the online newsletter "Filer's Files" by George Filer (majorstar@verizon.net), issue 21-2009 profiled four Michigan sightings reported to him and to MUFON (MUFON Michigan)

On May 17, 2009, in Rogers City, a man and woman spotted a very bright round light heading east, and then saw what they thought was an F-16 jet chasing it. The man considers Rogers City a "UFO hot spot."

On May 5, 2009, a Melvindale man first spotted a white sphere heading east about ten pm, and then about twelve minutes later, another ball-shaped object moving toward the first one. In another twelve minutes, one of the lights returned

On May 10, 2009, a Waterford observer witnessed a strange sight directly over his neighbor's home, about 20 feet from him. He described the phenomenon as three spheres of white light hovering 30 feet over the house and slowly circling one another in varying patterns. The sight finally made the witness so uneasy that he (or she) felt compelled to stop watching.

Another person reported a sighting from last fall (2008) near Flint. Two people saw a bright, oddly shaped object which seemed to "flip" over as they watched.

Many other sightings, including the Dearborn man who saw 15 men dressed like elves standing near a landed craft with colored lights, and the Detroit UFO flap, can be found in both "Weird Michigan" and "Strange Michigan."

It's hard to say why Michigan seems so attractive to alleged aliens. Perhaps it's all the water. Or the Vernor's and pasties. Whatever their reason for buzzing the state, it's widely rumored that the zippy, self-reversing actions of their spacecrafts were the inspiration for another Wolverine phenomenon ... the famed Michigan Left Turn!

More Michigan UFO fun at absolutemichigan.com/ufo.

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morel mushroom by Latitude 45

The Boyne City National Morel Mushroom Festival takes place May 14-17, 2009. This year is the 49th annual*, and the 4 day celebration of the morel mushroom includes a morel seminar and guided mushroom hunt on Friday and of course the Boyne Valley Lions National Mushroom Hunt on on Saturday (be sure to display your finds on the Mushroom Pole too!). In addition to the Taste of Morel event where you get to try all manner of morel dishes, there is a seminar on foraging & cooking with wild food guru John Sheets and another on hunting with local expert Tony Williams, concerts with Michigan Blues legend Larry McCray and others, there's a carnival, euchre & poker tournaments, zany car race and plenty of fun for kids.

One of the highlights of the weekend is the "Morel Taste of Boyne" featuring a Chef's Challenge along with the area's finest restaurants in the big tent on Saturday afternoon serving different morel dishes and also presenting morel cooking demonstrations. This is the largest morel cooking (and eating) event in the world!

You can grab your sweetie and get warmed up with The Mushroomers Waltz and if you're hungry,Lake Magazine has a recipe for morel & hazelnut soup that looks very simple but very tasty! Chef Eric Villegas of the TV show Fork in the Road offers a recipe for midwestern risotto of carnaroli and minnesota wild rice, morel mushrooms and white truffle oil that looks more complex but every bit as tasty.

MichiganMorels.com reminds you that you can eat any mushroom ... once. They offer tips to help keep you safe, but the biggest tip is to hunt with someone who knows what they're doing! Speaking of hunting, here's a video interview of morel expert Tom Nauman that gives you a couple useful tips for morel hunting.

If you can't attend the Mushroom Festival and can't get to any morel-filled woods, you can still get morels (and leeks and other tasty treasures) courtesy of Michigan-based Earthy Delights.

Visitors will want to visit the Boyne City Chamber of Commerce and/or try Absolute Michigan keyword "Boyne" for lodging and other information. I thought it was pretty funny that the best article online about the Boyne City Mushroom Festival is from a Pittsburgh, PA newspaper. It's from May of 2003 but has great background on the festival with a focus on the National Mushroom Hunting Championship. Check out Boyne City mushroom championship has no lack of morels.

* Next year the 50th annual takes place May 13 - 16, 2010 - they are seeking recipes for a commemorative cookbook, so send them if you have them!

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