Artist and art educator Donna St John explores the provocative question, “Who do we consider worthy of the title ‘hero?’” in her assemblage exhibition at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts (400 Culver Street). She asks the viewer to consider whether we truly honor the people who have made extraordinary contributions in our society.
Tributes of Authentic Heroism: Investigation of Grace, Vision, Clarity, and Purpose highlights nine men and women from around the globe, who have been labeled as heroes. This exhibition will be available for viewing from Nov. 11- Jan. 14, Mon.–Fri. during business hours. There will be an opening reception for the exhibition on Nov. 11 from 5:30 pm-7:30 pm. For more information please visit sc4a.org or call 269.857.2399.
Some of the “heroes” in St. John’s exhibition have been internationally recognized and some are unknown to the average American. Each subject is blemished with doubts, imperfections, frustrations and the very same human qualities that are balanced within their own lives. Yet each individual was capable of seeing beyond their personal existence and was determined to improve the human condition.
As our world continues to blur the lines between simulated and authentic realities, St. John poses questions about the value and perceptions of honor and heroism in our contemporary society, as we struggle to cultivate social justice and recognize interconnectivity.
Donna St. John is currently an Associate Professor for Art Education at Kendall College of Art and Design. Before becoming a professor she taught in the K – 12 setting for 27 years. She has been named ‘Teacher of the Year’ by two separate districts and has been named ‘Most Inspirational Teacher’ nine times by Coopersville Public Schools.
St. John’s pieces will be on display in the gallery until December 15. Then half of her exhibit will be removed to make room for student-created pieces. After working with St. John, students from Hope College, Black River and Saugatuck High School will create assemblages based on their own “heroes” or social justice issues searching for champions to elevate awareness.
This exhibition is sponsored by Allegan County Community Foundation & Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs.
About the Saugatuck Center for the Arts
The Saugatuck Center for the Arts, located at 400 Culver Street, Saugatuck, is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a more vibrant lakeshore community in West Michigan and beyond. For more information about the SCA and upcoming events, visit www.sc4a.org or call 269.857.2399.
Will Oltman, aka Will Juggle, courtesy his Facebook page
See a real-life introvert juggle as an extrovert on-stage. No mean feat, this, but it helps to take on a name that’s an incomplete, future-tense sentence. I mean, who’s juggling here?
The answer, of course, is self-explanatory.
Will Oltman, aka ‘Will Juggle,’ works corporate events, birthday parties and street performances, but perhaps the grandest audience of all was the U.S. President.
This month, Will performs in Grand Rapids and Kentwood at two venues:
Nov. 7 – performing as part of Comedy Outlet Monday at Dog Story Theater, 7 Jefferson Ave. SE, Grand Rapids. Show starts at 7 pm. Tickets are $5.
Nov. 11 – performing at Flowerland’s Holidazzle, Kentwood Flowerland, 4321 28th St. SE, Kentwood. 6-9 pm, free and open to the public. Registration required at myflowerland.com.
As if there already weren’t several good reasons to vote in this election, some restaurants and companies are upping the ante with freebies and deals. The catch? You really do have to vote and you have show your “I Voted” sticker to prove it.
Here’s a sampling:
Marco’s Pizza: “Vote for Marco’s” on Election Day and get a voucher for a free, medium one-topping pizza. 2355 Health Dr. SW, Wyoming.
Bob Evans: Use this coupon and get 30 percent off your entire dine-in or carryout order. 6565 Kalamazoo SE, Gaines Township.
7-Eleven: You’ll have to use the 7-Eleven mobile app to cash in on this deal, but a free cup of coffee is worth the trouble. At participating 7-Eleven locations.
Uber: New Uber riders get $20 off with the code “VOTETODAY.” As part of Uber’s ongoing campaign to encourage users to vote, Uber is teaming up with Google to launch a special in-app feature on November 8th that will help you locate your polling location and then seamlessly request a ride with just a push of a button.
Deals, freebies or not… just get out there and VOTE!
Rebecca Solnit Seeing the Invisible: Journeys Through the Overlooked, Unheard, Outside, and Insurrectionary
When: Monday, Nov. 14, 7 pm
Where: 2nd Floor, L.V. Eberhard Center, Robert C. Pew Grand Rapids Campus, 301 W. Fulton Street, Grand Rapids, MI
FREE and open to the public
Lecture is followed by book signing and reception
Rebecca Solnit’s recent, Men Explain Things to Me, is credited with launching the term “mansplaining” and has been labeled “a touchstone of the feminist movement.”
Her other titles include subjects such as a natural history of walking, what she calls “the crisis of urbanism,” and two creative atlases that reimagine how cities are mapped.
“Solnit’s writing,” one critic noted, “is born of intense reverie and deep reading, passionate inquiry and political defiance. She is a lyric quester for the texture of everyday life.”
Solnit is the recipient of many awards, including two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lannan Literary Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
A product of the California public education system from kindergarten to graduate school, she is also a frequent contributor to the political site Tomdispatch.com and a contributing editor to Harper’s Magazine, where she is the first woman to regularly write the Easy Chair column that was founded in 1851.
The senior class of Saugatuck High School will present a special evening Nov. 16 as they conclude their 13-week Senior Seminar course in partnership with the Saugatuck Center for the Arts(SCA).
The open house on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at the SCA, 400 Culver Street, showcases the work the 70 students have accomplished during their arts|inSenior Seminar course. The event, which is free to the public, runs from 6:30–8:30 pm. Attendees will enjoy listening to live music, nibbling on hors d’oeuvres and engaging in an energetic evening with some of the community’s most creative young people.
During the Open House, students will introduce their partner businesses and preview the solutions they created. Participating area businesses include Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates of Holland, Pathways, Special Olympics, twisthink, Saugatuck Community Recreation, Critter Barn, Disability Network of Lakeshore, Felt Mansion, Grace of Douglas, Lakeshore Habitat for Humanity, United Way of Allegan and more. A special exhibition of artwork by Hamilton, Saugatuck and Fennville students, created in response to the Senior Seminar projects, will open the same evening in the SCA’s conference room.
Designed as an arts|inproject-based learning class, the students spent the last trimester paired up with area businesses, helping solve real world problems. This project-based learning model created by the SCA — arts|in — gives students crucial “real world” opportunities to work with professionals, tackle current problems, and produce credible solutions. The result is deeper, more complex learning opportunities for students and valuable outcomes for the businesses.
SCA Executive Director Kristin Armstrong said the art center is very excited for students to have this opportunity to connect with community members. “For the past three years we’ve been working with the Saugatuck Schools to better prepare students for jobs in today’s innovative economy,” Armstrong said.
Project-based learning (PBL) enables students to develop deeper learning competencies required for success in college, career, and civic life. Through PBL projects, students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time investigating and responding to complex questions, problems, or challenges. Arts|in takes project-based learning to a higher level by injecting design thinking and community engagement into the process.
Ann McKnight, who is working with a group on teen mental health issues, says of students in the arts|in process, “I have witnessed the students working cohesively, brainstorming, and delegating responsibilities with ease, all the while showing respect for each other and being engaged in the project. Their communications with me have been clear and consistent. All this to say I am very impressed with these students, and with the vision for learning that teaches soft skills as well as strengthens the community.”
Dr. Tim Travis, Saugatuck Middle School & High School Principal, says he was impressed by the students’ preparation for an “Intriguing Conversation” program they presented at the SCA in October. “I was even more impressed with their compassion, empathy, passion and commitment to making a difference in their school and community. Arts|in is providing great teaching, real world learning, and local impact from a very talented young adult workforce.”
The student exhibition of works responding to arts|in projects is open Monday-Friday, 9 am–5 pm, free of charge, through December.
Yes, folks, it’s time once again for those short days and looooong, cold nights. When Daylight Saving Timeends at 2 amSunday, Nov. 6, we’ll be back to Standard Time.
Computer and cellphone clocks will adjust automatically, thanks to the kind gods of the Internet. But you’re on your own with cuckoo clocks, grandfather clocks, clock radios or any wind-up clocks and watches.
As the saying goes, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. No need to make a fuss — it won’t do any good. Just turn your clocks back one hour before you go to bed Saturday night on Nov. 5. Night owls are welcome to turn their clocks back to 1 am the second 2 am rolls around.
Don’t worry, if you forget, you’ll have all of Sunday to make things right — even if you work Sundays. This time of year, you likely won’t be late.
Blame it on Ben, or maybe not
Ever wonder who’s responsible for all this? We could blame Benjamin Franklin — he suggested Daylight Saving Time back in 1784 as a way to save candles. But even frugal Ben wasn’t the first — many ancient civilizations adjusted water clocks throughout the year.
In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson signed the time shift into law to help the war effort during the first World War. He called it ‘Fast Time,’ and it ended after the war.
Then President Franklin D. Roosevelt brought it back again in 1942 when World War II began. And ever since then we’ve suffered. Oh, there are plenty of excuses and reasons for keeping the ritual around. We leave it to you to investigate the matter.
There are some states that never got with the program — Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands come to mind. You know what, though? They don’t seem the worse for it.
Heat up before the holidays with the award-winning African Guitar Summit as they bring their fresh, lively sounds to the Saugatuck Center for the Arts (400 Culver Street) on Saturday, November 19 at 8 pm.
Think: Ladysmith Black Mambazo meets the Buena Vista Social Club. That describes the African Guitar Summit’s upbeat, toe-tapping melodies and vocals.
“A collection of outstanding guitarists from across the African continent, African Guitar Summit is a joyful, danceable celebration of contemporary African Music,” said the Good Times Newspaper.
Hailing from multiple African countries, including Ghana, Guinea and Madagascar, each member is an award-winning musician in their own right and bring their own fusion of styles and instruments. The Guitar Summit was formed in 2004, recorded their first album in just three days, and went on to win the 2005 Juno Award (Canadian Grammy) for World Music Album of the year.
Their second album, African Guitar Summit II, was also nominated for a Juno. National Public Radio said, “Drums may be the heartbeat of African music, but the African Guitar Summit makes a powerful case for the guitar as the signature instrument of modern Africa.”
Tickets are $37 in advance and $39 at the door. For more information, or to purchase tickets, please visit sc4a.org or call 269.857.2399.
Where else can you get up close and personal with talented musicians but in someone’s living room or basement?
Such is the draw of Lamp Light Music Festival, now in its fifth year. Although the concept of house concerts is nothing new, the fact that they exist in Grand Rapids at all is cause for celebration.
This weekend, Nov. 4-6, four neighboring homes — all on Benjamin St. SE in Grand Rapids — will host 21 acts and seven workshops (“Experimental Film Photography,” “Floral Mandala Making,” “Intro to Natural Dyeing,” “Kombucha 2.0 Bloom Ferments” and “Sprouts and Nutrition”).
As its website states, “Lamp Light Music Festival is a house concert festival designed to celebrate music and community in the Eastown neighborhood of Grand Rapids. Bringing together musicians and audiences within such a setting promotes opportunities for meaningful and sustainable exchange.”
Here’s the artist lineup:
Abigail Lapell
Alexander Lynch
Allen Karpinski and Tucker Theodore (of The Six Parts Seven)
Arrow Hill
Boroscilicate Purl
Brian Mulder
Cloudlight
Cold Country
Cynga Lyra
Dear Tracks
Fauxgrass
Fiona Dickinson
Heavy Color
Joey Dosik + Theo Katzman
Jonathan Timm
The Great Ones
May Erlewine
Mega Powers
Michael Beauchamp and My Northern Voices
Michigander
MotorKam
Nathan K
Oliver Houston
Rachele Eve
Rebel Kuzco
Saltbreaker
Seth Bernard
ShamarAlef
Spissy
Steve Leaf
The Go Rounds
The Hunt Is On
The Seventh
The Soil and the Sun
The Youngest
Tom Hymn
Ty Maxon
Upstate Rubdown
Wu Zee
Tickets range from $15 for a single show to $40 for a weekend pass. Go here to get yours. Please note: If you plan on purchasing tickets at the festival they are taking cash only.
Here’s the schedule, courtesy of the Lamp Light Music Festival website:
On the First Friday of every month, South Division in downtown Grand Rapids becomes the ultimate destination to find artwork by local artists, handmade goods, food and drink specials. This monthly event is a unique opportunity to check out new exhibitions, events and features at shops, galleries and eateries in the rapidly evolving South Division Corridor. First Friday events are supported by a grant from DGRI.
First Friday Gallery Hops are supported by Dwelling Place’s Neighborhood Revitalization Department, which works to promote economic development in the Heartside area. Working to enhance not only the physical appearance of the commercial district, Dwelling Place works to promote the commercial district’s assets to customers, investors, businesses, visitors, and citizens. The Neighborhood Revitalization Department builds upon the existing economic base, promoting new business development.
Based on the Spin Master-produced, hit animated TV series on Nickelodeon, PAW Patrol Live! “Race to the Rescue” brings PAW Patrol characters to the stage for an action-packed, musical adventure. When Mayor Goodway is nowhere to be found during the day of the Great Race, the pups come to the rescue. Join Ryder, Chase, Marshall, Rocky, Rubble, Zuma, Skye and the newest pup, Everest, when they take the stage for two shows at DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW, Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 10 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
PAW Patrol Live! “Race to the Rescue” shows that “no job is too big, no pup is too small,” and shares lessons for all ages about citizenship, social skills and problem-solving as the characters each use their unique skills and teamwork. The show includes two acts and an intermission, and incorporates an innovative costume approach that brings the pups to life on stage with their vehicles and packs during the rescue mission.
The performance features up-tempo music and is considered a good introduction to live theater for young children. Classic theatrical scenery along with a high-tech video wall visually transports families to locations from the TV series, like Adventure Bay, The Lookout, Seal Island, Farmer Yumi’s Farm and Jake’s Mountain. During the show, guests have the opportunity to participate in the adventure and become a part of the PAW Patrol Cheer Team.
Ticket prices are $19.50, $29.50, $39.50, $57.50, and $112.50 for VIP. Tickets are available here, at the DeVos Place and Van Andel Arena box offices, Ticketmaster.com, and by phone at 1-800-745-3000. A purchase limit of 10 tickets will apply to every order and prices are subject to change. All children ages one and older will require a ticket.
Groups of 10 or more can save $5 per ticket excluding VIP and Gold Circle seats. Groups can call 616-742-6185 or email GroupSales@smggr.com for more information or to purchase group tickets.
Marking its fourth year spotlighting Michigan film with the help of filmmakers and industry professionals, Saugatuck Center for the Arts (SCA) has announced the top 10 finalists of the 2016 Saugatuck Shorts Film Competition.
Hand-selected by a group of five film industry professionals, the finalists (in no particular order) are:
In the ADULT category
Hold On – Andrew Behm
Summer – Paul Yergin
Buying Happiness – Paul Chittland
Conrad – Brittany Dunn
The Craftsman – Chris Mac
In the STUDENT category
Oh the Voices – Carson Tate
A Lake Michigan Sunset – Brennan Huizinga
A Taste of Michigan – Dario Lirio and Brennan Huizinga
October in Michigan – Holly Parker
The Pencil – Jillian Parker
The panel of judges has also decided who will be taking home the cash prizes of $2,500 for both the student and adult categories: $500 judges’ award for best student film, $1,000 judges award for best adult film, and $1,000 for “Fan Favorite.” Audience members will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite after all the films have been screened. All of the films for the competition were challenged to use their interpretation of “Michigan Flavor.”
The judges for this year’s competition were chosen based on their familiarity with the entertainment industry and their ability to provide credible, constructive feedback.
“We couldn’t ask for a greater group of people,” said SCA Marketing and Sales Director, Angela Peavey. ”Film is one of my passions, and to see these professionals willing to offer their time and talents is absolutely amazing. We’re very lucky to have them.”
The first industry professional taking the judge’s seat is Shane Carson. In 2014, Carson joined the prestigious SAG/AFTRA union and just returned from California where he represented the State of Michigan at their regional conference. Carson is most known for his role in the film, Pirate’s Code: The Adventures of Mickey Matson, where he portrayed the character Gunner Team Leader. Shane has also acted in 40+ lead roles in films. Follow him on social media @WowShane.
Co-founder of the Thriller! Chiller! Film Festival and owner of UnSAFE Film Office, Anthony Griffin also judged this year’s competition. UnSAFE Film Office has produced and shot multiple documentaries, short films, music videos and commercials over the last decade. Griffin has served on the board for the West Michigan Video and Film Alliance and the Grand Rapids Community Media Center and was named Michigan’s Top Filmmaker in 2010.
Doug Remtema owner of Sonlight Films also served as a judge at this year’s competition. Remtema started Sonlight Films in 2003 and works on producing films and television shows that revolve around positive and uplifting material.
Another judge, KristinMellian, has performed professionally in film, television, Off-Broadway and regional theatre. As a vocalist Mellian has headlined on Celebrity and Oceania Cruiselines traveling to North America, Central America, South America, Europe and Africa. Mellian is currently working in the acting department at the Compass College of Cinematic Arts.
Producer with Alarm 25 Studios and Media Director at Resurrection Life Church, Sean Silvia is another judge for this year’s competition. With a strong education and experience in theatre, film, live event production and graphic design, Silvia has a passion for creative storytelling and innovative media. Silvia prides himself on understanding the art in the details and pushes the design to it’s fullest.
The Saugatuck Shorts Film Competition will be held on November 5 at 400 Culver Street. The doors to the event will open at 6:30 pm, and those attending will have the chance to meet with the finalists and enjoy a cash bar. The screening of the films will begin at 7:15 pm.
Tickets are $10/Students and $20/adults and can be purchased online here or by at phone at 269.857.2399.
From Nov. 5, 2016, through May 29, 2017, visitors to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, 303 Pearl St. NW in Grand Rapids will experience the sights and sounds of space exploration through live performances, easy-to-use interactive exhibits and state-of-the-art projection and audio technology.
The SPACE: A Journey to Our Futureexhibition immerses visitors in the discoveries of the past and introduces them to today’s explorers who are shaping our destiny in the universe. Ride a lunar module simulator on a journey to the surface of the moon and visit a simulated scientific base camp on Mars.
Although SPACE is geared to young people ages 9 to 17, visitors of all ages will enjoy learning about space exploration.
The 12,000-square-foot exhibition is one of the largest touring space exhibits ever developed. Over the next four years, it will visit Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco.
U.S. Senator Gary C. Peters will open the exhibit Nov. 10 at 7 pm.
Altars are on view Thursday, Oct. 27 to Tuesday, Nov. 1
Bring the whole family to the Grand Rapids Public Library — Main, 111 Library St. NE in Grand Rapids on Sunday, Oct. 30 and learn about the Day of the Dead holiday. You can explore the altars, decorate sugar skulls, have your face painted and do a craft. The day will include bilingual story times, live music, food from El Granjero, Lindo Mexico and Pan de Muerto provided by Panaderia Margo.
Family Day Schedule: 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm | Main Library
1:30 pm | Live music with Cabildo | Ryerson Auditorium | Level 3
2:15 pm | Bilingual Story Time | Reading Room | Level 3
2:45 pm | Live music with Cabildo | Ryerson Auditorium | Level 3
3:25 pm | Bilingual Story Time | Reading Room | Level 3
Ongoing | Face Painting | Children’s Library | Level 2
Grand Rapids Pops presentsE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial with a full-length screening of the entire movie, coupled with a live performance of the film score Nov. 4-6 at DeVos Performance Hall.
For the two or three people out there who’ve never seen E.T., the film tells the tale of a gentle alien who is accidentally stranded on Earth. Discovered and befriended by Elliott, who brings his new friend to his suburban California home, E.T. soon falls ill. But with the help of his brother and sister, Elliott manages to keep E.T. hidden from the government long enough for the visitor to return home.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was a huge hit when it was released in 1982. The film by Steven Spielberg quickly surpassed Star Wars as the top-grossing film of all time until it was topped 11 years later by Jurassic Park. The three films all have two things in common: All three are Spielberg films and all three have film scores composed by John Williams.
“He is my hero,” said Grand Rapids Symphony Principal Pops Conductor Bob Bernhardt, about the five-time Oscar-winning film composer of more than 100 film scores.
Williams uses the ethereal sounds of harps, celeste, other keyboards plus some polytonality, to suggest the separate but intertwined relationship between Elliot and E.T.
Grand Rapids Symphony’s Principal Harpist Elizabeth Wooster Colpean has been studying and practicing her part — some 90 pages of music — since May. Williams gives the harpist at least four or five major solo passages, including two scenes that are nearly an entire harp solo.
“I’ve noticed in the years I’ve watched John Williams’s films that he often uses the harp in very unusual ways,” Colpean said. “What makes these particular scenes challenging is three-fold: rhythms, technique and the fact that it’s so exposed.”
Grand Rapids Symphony Associate Conductor John Varineau leads the Grand Rapids Pops performance of the score that won Williams his third Oscar and his second for Best Original Music.
The inspiration for the 1982 film, which launched the career of actress Drew Barrymore, was an imaginary friend Spielberg created after his parents’ divorce in 1960. It has inspired young people of all ages ever since.
The final scenes of E.T. proved to be a milestone in Williams’s career and 40-year association with Spielberg. During the recording process, after Williams made several unsuccessful attempts to match his score to the film, Spielberg turned the film off and asked Williams to conduct the music for the scene as he would in a concert. Instead of the usual practice of recording the soundtrack to coincide with the final edit of the film, Spielberg re-edited the finale to match the music.
One of the most popular and successful American orchestral composers of the modern age, Williams’s films also include such dramas as Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan as well as comedies including Home Alone and The Witches of Eastwick. Besides his five Academy Awards, Williams has received 50 Oscar nominations — most recently for Star Wars: The Force Awakens — making him the Academy’s most-nominated living person and the second-most nominated person in its history.
In January 1980, Williams was named Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, after which he hired Bernhardt as a guest conductor for the Boston Pops. Though Williams retired in December 1993, Bernhardt continues as a recurring guest conductor for the venerable orchestra.
Bernhardt will be back in Grand Rapids for the Wolverine Worldwide Holiday Pops with five performances featuring the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus, Youth Chorus, and Embellish Handbell Ensemble, December 1st to 4th in DeVos Performance Hall.
Tickets
See the movie that won four Academy Awards — including Best Original Score — at 8 pm Fridayand Saturday, Nov. 4and5, and at 3 pm Sunday, Nov. 6 in DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503.
Tickets start at $18 and are available at the GRS ticket office, weekdays 9am to 5pm at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across from the Calder Plaza), or by calling 616.454.9451 x 4. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum.)
Tickets are also available at the DeVos Place box office, weekdays 10am to 6pm or on the day of the concert beginning two hours prior to the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.
Full-time students of any age are able to purchase tickets for only $5 on the night of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Passport program. This is a MySymphony360-eligible concert.
Experience the magic of film during a night of friendly competition from professional, amateur and student filmmakers from around the state.
The Saugatuck Center for the Arts (SCA) (400 Culver Street) is hosting its 4th annual film festival, the Saugatuck Shorts Film Competition on November 5th at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $10/students and $20/adults. For more information, or to purchase tickets, please visit sc4a.org or call 269.857.2399.
The jury-selected films compete for cash prizes. The audience at the competition will select their favorite film of the night, and the film with the most votes will receive a prize of $1,000.
“The competition is unique in that it requires a Michigan ‘flavor’ in the submission,” said Kristin Armstrong, SCA Executive Director. “For instance, a film could be shot in Michigan, include Michigan in the storyline, have a Michigan filmmaker or actor – something that adds a note of Michigan to the entry.”
This year, actor, producer and director Joel Paul Reisig will co-host the event. Reisig has produced such films as Horse Camp, Rodeo Girl,Small Town Santa, AHorse for Summer, American Scream King and many more. Reisig graduated from Hope College and is a entrepreneur who, in addition to his other job titles, also conducts seminars and workshops on “Be Your Own Hollywood.”
The money raised from the competition will go to benefit the SCA’s year-round free and low-cost programs.
The SCA has long included film as an art medium in its programming; it hosts a yearly Children’s Film Festival and in 2011 the locally produced and focused film Everyday People debuted to a sold-out audience. Most recently, the SCA served as the venue for WGVU Public Media’s Hometown Stories project.
The Saugatuck Shorts Film Competition event will air on WKTV television.
The world’s longest running play, TheMousetrap, is coming to the historic Strand Theater, now called Larkin’s Other Place, at 315 W. Main St., Lowell, MI on Oct. 28, 29, 30 and Nov. 4, 5 and 6.
Performed by the LowellArts Players, the classic who-dunnit play by the foremost mystery writer of her time, Agatha Christie is set at the Monkswell Manor Guest House where a group of strangers is stranded during a major thunderstorm, one of whom is a murderer. The suspects include the couple who run the house, a spinster, an architect, a retired Army major, a magistrate and a strange little man. A policeman no sooner arrives when a murder occurs.
The play is offered as Dinner Theater with a cash bar on all dates. Dinner theater begins at 6:30 pm on Friday and Saturday evenings (Oct. 28 & 29 and Nov. 4 & 5), show-only tickets are available with a 7:30 pm start time. Sunday Matinee Dinner theater begins at 1:30 pm (Oct. 30 & Nov. 6), show-only tickets are available with a 2:30 pm start time. Advanced tickets are required for Dinner Theater. Show tickets are $14 to $18. Dinner is an additional $13. Purchase tickets online here or by calling 616.897.8545, or at the LowellArts office, 149 S. Hudson St., Lowell, Tues-Fri 10 am-5 pm.
The Mousetrap first opened as a short radio play broadcast in 1947 called Three Blind Mice, in honor of Queen Mary and the play has run continuously in London for 60 years. The murderer’s identity is divulged near the end of the play in an unusual twist ending.
By tradition, at the end of each performance, audiences are asked not to reveal the identity of the killer to anyone outside the theater to ensure that the end of the play is not spoiled for future audiences.
LowellArts has been connecting regional artists and audiences through visual and performing arts in the greater Lowell community since 1977. Annual programming includes The Lowell Showboat Sizzlin’ Summer Concert Series with 10 live outdoor concerts on the Flat River Thursday nights throughout the summer. The Fallasburg Fall Festival for the Arts outdoor two-day art fair showcasing the works of over 100 artists with over 25,000 attendees. Three multi-weekend community theater productions by the LowellArts Players. And, six visual arts exhibitions including the LowellArts Holiday Artists Market and the West Michigan Art Competition.
Friday, Oct. 21, has been named Wonder Woman Day in honor of the first female superhero who marks her 75th anniversary. Wonder Woman has been named the U.N. Honorary Ambassador for empowerment of woman and girls. An event celebrating the special day has been planned in New York and to top off the event Gal Gadot and Lynda Carter will be present. In fact, expect to see more of Carter on television as she is scheduled to appear as president in a few upcoming episodes of “Supergirl.”
Even the post office is celebrating the 75th anniversary with a new line of forever stamps featuring Wonder Woman.
And expect to see a few Wonder Womans wandering Grand Rapids this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 21 – 23, as the Grand Rapids Comic-Con roles into town at DeVos Place, 303 Monroe Ave. NW.
Looks like there is a full list of events and celebrities. For those “Hunger Gamse” fans Bruno Gunn will be attending along side Robin Shelby from “Ghostbusters 2.” Also attending are Denise Crosby, best known for Security Chief Tasha Yar on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and most recently seen in “The Walking Dead,” and Sean Maher of “Firefly,” “Arrow,” and “Con Man.” Also two red Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Steve Cardenas and Austin St. John, along with several of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other celebrities are scheduled to attend this year’s Grand Rapids Comic Con.
There will be lots going on in the exhibit hall from demonstrations to various products and items for sale. Artists will be on hand to talk about their work, sell prints and for autographs.
There will be two exhibitions, one from the Wes Shank Museum, featuring items form Shank’s private collection of props from vintage science fiction movies, and the Hall of Heroes Museum, from Elkhart, Indiana, that will have several items on display including the motorcycle from “Ghost Rider,” the screen used ring worn from the 2011 “Green Lantern,” along with displays of the Golden Age Marvel and DC comic books and lots of superhero toys form days gone by.
There will be gaming, discussions, photo ops and presentations by celebrities and lots more. For a complete schedule, visit grcomiccon.com.
GRCC’s and GVSU’s French programs both received a grant to put together the Tournées Film Festival which begins next week and will take place on both campuses — at GVSU’s Loosemore Auditorium and GRCC’s Wisner-Bottrall Applied Technology Center Auditorium, Room 168, ATC. Films may contain adult content.
Admission for all films is FREE.
Here’s the lineup:
Valley of Love (2015) Wed., Oct. 26, 6:15 pm, GVSU Loosemore Auditorium
Phantom Boy (2015) Thurs., Oct. 27, 7 pm, GVSU Loosemore Auditorium — Meet the director!
Le Grand Homme (2014), Fri., Nov. 4, 7 pm, GRCC ATC Auditorium
Tournées Film Festival is made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the
French Embassy in the U.S., the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (CNC), the French American Cultural Fund, Florence Gould Foundation and Highbrow Entertainment.
All participants are welcome. Those in need of accommodations for films showing at GRCC, please contact Language and Thought at 616.234.3544; for films showing at GVSU call Modern Languages and Literatures at 616.331.3203.
Want to honor a deceased loved one — a person or a pet? Consider building an altar at the Grand Rapids Main Public Library for Día de los Muertos.
Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) is celebrated in Mexico between October 31st and November 2nd to remember deceased loved ones and honor them. Contrary to U.S. funerals, which are mainly somber affairs, Day of the Dead is a festive occasion and colorful holiday—a celebration of lives who have passed on.
Building an altar is an integral part of celebrating the holiday. Traditionally, families will build altars in their homes during the weeks leading up to November 1st. These are often quite beautiful creations, constructed with love and care.
There are no hard and fast rules about how the altar should be made; just create it from your heart. Make something that looks attractive and is meaningful to you. Altars are also meant to welcome returning spirits, so they include both personalized and traditional elements—including several dating to the Aztecs—that will guide an honoree on his journey from the land of the dead.
Whether simple or sophisticated, Day of the Dead altars and ofrenda all contain certain basic elements in common. Here are the ofrendas that you will typically see on a Día de los Muertos altar:
Candles – Candles are lit to welcome the spirits back to their altars.
Marigolds – These yellow-orange flowers, also called cempasúchitl, symbolize death. Their strong fragrance also help lead the dead back to their altars. Marigold petals may also be sprinkled on the floor in front of the altar, or even sprinkled along a path from the altar to the front door, so that the spirit may find her way inside.
Incense – Most commonly, copal incense, which is the dried aromatic resin from a tree native to Mexico. The scent is also said to guide the spirits back to their altars.
Salt – represents the continuance of life.
Photo of the deceased – A framed photo of the dead person to whom the altar is dedicated, usually positioned in a prime spot on the altar.
Pan de muerto – Also known as “bread of the dead”, pan de muerto is a symbol of the departed.
Sugar skulls – As symbols of death and the afterlife, sugar skulls are not only given as gifts to the living during Day of the Dead, they are also placed as offerings on the altar.
Fresh fruit – whatever is in season—oranges, bananas, etc.
If you’re interested, please download an application today (aplicación en español). Altars can be built on October 26 and will be on display from October 27 to November 1 at the Grand Rapids Public Library Main Branch, 111 Library St. NE, Grand Rapids, MI.
Deadline for reserving space is Wednesday, October 19 at 6:00pm.
Now in its 9th year, the Grand Rapids International Wine, Beer & Food Festival has established itself as Michigan’s premier tasting event, measured by 1,600 wines, beers, ciders and spirits. From the connoisseur who lives and breathes for the finer things in life to the novice looking for an introduction to the world of food and spirits, this Festival will deliver a grand experience that is sure to please every palette. This is the weekend you won’t want to miss.
WHERE:DeVos Place, Downtown Grand Rapids — with over 100,000 square feet (nearly 3 acres).
COST: $15 – Thursday (and advanced ticket sales for Friday & Saturday); $20 – Friday & Saturday. 3-Day Pass – At $40, this option allows admission each day of the Festival and is intended for those who want to get the most out of their tasting experience. Online sales end Thursday, Nov. 17 at 5pm (Box Office sales for the pass end at 10pm on Thursday, Nov. 17).
Attendees must be 21 years of age and older. ID is required for admittance.
On the menu
NEW! GR MIXER:
Blending together award-winning spirits and mixers into craft artisan cocktails, the region’s noted mixologist and distillers will serve up hands-on workshops guaranteed to educate and entertain. These complimentary 15-minute workshops will amp up your bartending skills, just in time for holiday entertaining with family and friends. Held in the new craft cocktail concourse along the river, each workshop limited to the first 12 people who step up to the bar at the scheduled times.
Bartenders from six-one-six inside the JW Marriott are also planning an exciting “Chopped”-style competition during their Pairing (see below) aimed to perfectly match cocktails with prix fixe menu.
Held in the Secchia Lobby, running along the western edge of the Steelcase Ballroom, overlooking the Grand River.
THE ELITE WINE COLLECTION:
Located in the center of the Vineyard, inside the Steelcase Ballroom at DeVos Place, this special collection of wine has been selected by our consulting sommeliers and importing specialists as the “best of the best” top shelf vintages, chosen from among 1200 assorted wines. These high-end wines require a minimum 10-ticket ($5) tasting fee due to the cost of the product being served. Each of these wines have at least a 90-point value in a recognized wine rating system and are regarded as among the most elite wines of the festival according to industry experts. No need to invest hundreds of dollars in a full bottle—the Elite Wine Collection allows you the opportunity to sample these wines for a minimal cost.
BEER CITY STATION:
The Festival’s popular beer area returns to the Exhibit Hall C on the Main Floor of DeVosPlace off the Grand Gallery. Step into the world of creative craft beers, imported and domestic brews, hard ciders and foods that pair well with both. Meet the American craft brewer—the small, independent and traditional producers who display passion and excitement for their unique beverages. New products, as well as traditional favorites, will be offered for sampling.
CIDER ROW:
Tap into the Cider Row at the Festival, featuring almost 20 cider producers from Michigan and nationally-known brands. Hard cider is among the fastest growing craft beverages, on a national scale. It is fermented to produce a range of flavors – from dry to sweet. Featured in the Beer City Station in Exhibit Hall C off of the Grand Gallery.
FLAVORED MALT BEVERAGES:
This sector of the beverage industry is taking off with hard iced tea; sodas—such as root beer, orange, cherry, lemon and other fruit flavors; seltzer waters and carbonated caffeinated products. Featured in the Beer City Station in Exhibit Hall C off the Grand Gallery.
GROWERS CHAMPAGNE FLIGHTS:
Add a little extra class to your glass with an intimate tasting with Bradford Hammerschmidt from Imperial Beverage. These special flights offer champagnes you will not find anywhere else in the Festival. Each of the champagnes will be paired with specially selected cheese and crudités. Flights offered Saturday at 4pm and 7pm only. The cost is $40 per person. Reservations may be made online, or on site – space permitting.
PAIRINGS:
Select restaurants partner with distinguished wineries and breweries for special Pairings – gourmet multi-course meals served on-site in a casual yet intimate “bar top” setting. Tickets are $45-$65 each and may be purchased in advance online or at the Festival on a first-come, first-served basis. This year’s restaurants include: Ganders, San Chez, six.one.six, Reds at Thousand Oaks and Wolfgang Puck’s The Kitchen.
ULTIMATE DINING OPPORTUNITIES:
Additionally, chefs from about a dozen of the area’s top restaurants prepare and serve small plates of their culinary specialties.
RENDEZBREW:
The Coffee, Cordials and Dessert Café will be open in the Grand Gallery for the duration of the Festival. Start your Festival experience, or make it a nightcap, with unique pairings of coffee, lattes and cocktails crafted for your enjoyment with a variety of cordials, indulgent sweets and other treats.
SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS:
Esteemed individuals from the culinary world host demonstrations on the Meijer Food Stage. Complimentary beverage seminars, held classroom-style in the rooms off the Grand Gallery, give attendees an in-depth look into the world of wine, beer and spirits. Cocktail workshops are also offered for a unique hands-on experience for those wishing to learn tricks of the trade from top leaders.
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM:
Students from Ferris State University, the Culinary Institute of Michigan at Baker College in Muskegon, the Secchia Institute of Culinary Education at Grand Rapids Community College and Grand Valley State University work alongside industry leaders for a premier educational experience.
OFFICIAL PROGRAM: Download the official Festival program here.
The Kentwood Parks and Recreation will host the “Bags & Bites” event Saturday, Oct. 15, at Kentwood City Hall, 4900 Breton Rd. SE. The food truck rally, which will include a cornhole tournament, is from noon to 4 p.m.
The event will feature seven different food trucks including Gettin’ Fresh, Two Scotts Barbecue, Big Baby’s Bar-B-Que, Blue Spoon Catering, Patty Matters, Rix Stixs Pronto Pups, and Kentwood’s own River City Cup & Cake. There will be lots to choose fun and a great way to snag lunch or an early dinner.
They made the songs that everyone loves
Lee Shapiro, Jimmy Ryan, Larry Gates, Russ Velazquez and Steve Murphy are not names that are easily recognized but they are some of the people who helped to make some of the most well known songs, well, well known.
The Hit Men come to Van Singel Fine Arts, 8500 Burlingame Ave. SW, for a one night-only performance Sunday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. The quintet will perform such hits as “Crocodile Rock,” “You’re So Vain,” “Lets Hang On,” Sherry” and “Who Loves You,” along with sharing stories about some of these hits including how “Oh What a Night” came about.
Tickets for the show are $45.50/adults and $25.50/students, high school and younger. For tickets, call 616-878-6800 or visit www.vsfac.com.
Also to the south of us
The Byron Center Chamber of Commerce will be hosting its “Best Community Expo” from 10 am. – 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at the Byron Center High School, 8500 Burlingame Ave. SW.
There will be a free photo booth, prizes, DIY demonstrations and a the Grand Raggidy Roller Derby Girls along with more than 100 exhibition booths. Also A Taste of Byron will be taking place with free food samples. The entire event is free.
The lure of the tango
Here’s a fun fact about the surreal, genre-bending opera “Maria de Buenos Aires”: Even though the international airport in composer Astor Piazzolla’s hometown of Mar del Plata is named in his honor, his biggest single work has hardly been heard there since its debut almost 50 years ago.
Luckily the Grand Rapids area has Opera Grand Rapids which will be presenting the “tango opera” at 7: 30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 14 and 15, at the Betty Van Andel Opera Center, 1320 E. Fulton St. The story centers on the ill-omened Maria who was born “on the day God was drunk.” She is seduced by the music of the tango and heads down a path of darkness.
Tickets are $45 at the door and $40 in advance. Both shows include a pre-performance talk at 6:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.operagr.org.
It’s Scrumdidilyumptious
Head over to Grand Haven where the Central Park Players are kicking off the first of two weekend performances of Ronald Dahl’s “Willy Wonka.”
The delicious adventures experienced by Charlie Bucket on his visit to Willy Wonka’s mysterious chocolate factory will come to life on the stage of the Grand Haven Community Center, 421 Columbus Ave. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday Oct. 14 – 16 and Oct. 21 – 22. Tickets are $13/adults and $11 for children.
On a health kick
It’s not quite a weekend activity, but the Kentwood Parks and Recreation’s Fall Walking Club will certainly help to keep those weekend “pounds” from adding on.
Every Monday, the group meets at 6 p.m. at various locations to walk a trail through Nov. 7. This Monday, Oct. 17, the group will be at the East Paris Nature Trail at Endeavor School, 5757 E. Paris SE. The group meets again on Oct. 24 at the M-6 Trail at Celebration Cinema, skips Oct. 31 and meets again Nov. 7 at the East West Trail near the Kentwood Library, 4950 Breton Rd. SE.
Van Andel Arena has been celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and the party is set to keep going. The venue is inviting the community to celebrate at the Halloween Open House on Sunday, Oct. 23 from 12–4 pm.
The event is free and open to the public as a way for Van Andel Arena to show gratitude for the support of the community over the past 20 years.
Plenty of activities and freebies are planned for the Halloween-themed event. The first 5,000 people through the doors will enjoy a free hot dog, popcorn, and Pepsi, and the first 2,000 people will be given a treat – a 20th birthday cupcake.
Other activities to enjoy are costume contests, a live DJ, trick-or-treating and bag decoration stations, Halloween photo stations, self-guided tours of the building, ticket giveaways, and more, including a chance to take a slapshot on the ice, shoot hoops on the basketball floor, and have your picture taken with a Zamboni.
The event will be a fun-filled, family-friendly day and guests are encouraged to show up in costume to get into the Halloween spirit.
Mozart’s Symphony No. 35, also known as the Haffner Symphony, began life as a serenade to be used as background music for the ennoblement (i.e., having nobility conferred upon) of Sigmund Haffner, a well-to-do bigwig back in the 1770s. It eventually morphed (with the help of Mozart) into the Haffner Symphony, which was first performed on March 23, 1783, at the Vienna Burgtheater.
On Friday, October 21 at 8 pm with John Varineau conducting, Rick Britsch on horn, Erich Peterson on horn and Daniel Hass on cello, the performance will begin with a gracious earlier symphony written when Mozart was seventeen and had just started working for the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg. As a special treat, Israeli cellist Daniel Hass, winner of the 2016 Stulberg International String Competition in Kalamazoo, will make a guest appearance.
Thanksgiving should be a time for fun family feasts, but even thinking about putting it all together can be enormously stressful.
Perhaps this is the first time you’re preparing the feast. Or maybe baking the perfect turkey has always eluded you. Whatever the stressor, Grand Rapids Downtown Market has cooking classes that will help you master the art of Thanksgiving meal making.
Here are just a few classes to help you out.
Turkey Basics
Wednesday, November 2 from 6-8:30pm
In this class, you’ll learn some tricks to make the holiday a lot easier: how to properly brine, carve and roast a turkey; master gravy for those super creamy mashed potatoes; cook classic cranberry chutney; and prepare an easy stuffing that’s not soggy or boring.
There are not too many better rivalries than East Coast vs. West Coast. In this class, you’ll decide which coast you like the best by creating culinary classics that represent both sides. You’ll make classic chowders, roasted chicken with salsa verde or orange harvest topping, and see if Washington apple pie can win out over Boston cream pie.
Thanksgiving Cocktails and Desserts: Beyond The Pie
Wednesday, November 16 from 6-8:30pm
Celebrate the indulgences of Thanksgiving with two favorite excesses: cocktails and desserts. In this class, you will make the best hot buttered rum batter this land has seen, shake an entire egg in a New York Flip cocktail (it tastes amazing), and learn how to make a cranberry walnut pear tart.
Learn how to master an easy-to-make pie crust! You’ll roll, mix and stretch for a beautiful custard pie, blue ribbon pecan pie and an award-winning apple pie. You will head home with three full pies to share with your loved ones.
West Michigan filmmaker Chris Penney and actor Sophia Maslowski visited our studio to talk about Penney’s eighth feature film, Two Guns and a Body Bag, which premieres at Celebration Cinema WoodlandThursday, Oct. 20 at 8 pm. Tickets are on sale now on Celebration Cinema Woodland’s website.
Because of the positive feedback to having food trucks at its summer concert series and Fourth of July event, the Kentwood Parks and Recreation Department has decided to host a Cornhole Tournament and Food Truck Rally Saturday, Oct. 15.
“Since the food trucks and the Parks and Recreation Department had such a busy summer schedule, we decided to plan something for the Fall instead,” said Parks and Recreation Marketing and Events Coordinator Laura Barbrick. “We thought it might be fun to have another activity to draw an audience, so we came up with a combination Cornhole Tournament and Food Truck Rally.”
The event runs from noon to 4 p.m. at the Kentwood City Hall Lawn, 4900 Breton Ave. SE. Live music will be provided by Just Cuz and Barbrick noted that just like the concert series, guests are welcome to bring their own beer or wine to the event.
Seven area food trucks have signed up for the event so far. Those trucks are:
Big Baby’s Bar-B-Que: Just as the name implies, this truck offers barbecue: chicken, spare ribs, rib tips and Big Baby’s Gourmet sausages along with baked beans, cole slaw and potato salad. Full rack of ribs is $23 with prices going down from there.
Blue Spoon Catering: Operated by Goodwill, this food truck offers a wide variety of menu options from a classic Tex-Mex to its signature “Kabob Bash” menu. There is also unique side dishes such as vegan black bean hash, tomato bruschetta, and the truck’s signature spinach and artichoke dip. Menu option prices range from $3 to $9. Special dietary options are also available.
Gettin’ Fresh: This truck features a bacon burger and beer brats from Bob’s Butcher Block in Jenison. Bob mixes the bacon right into the ground beef. Also availabe are turkey pesto panini and Italian beef panini along with Nantucket breads, an assortment of salads, a variety of snacks such as the Nantucket Soft German-Style Pretzel and assorted desserts.
Patty Matters: This truck offers a variety of gourmet burgers such as the Señorita Cha Cha with a chorizo patty, cheddar cheese, chipotle aioli and back bean salsa wrapped in a tortilla and grilled along with traditional burgers such as the All American classic a burger with American cheese, mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickle. Also available are variety of sides such as sweet potato fries and potato bombs and deserts such as salted caramel pretzel bars.
Rix Stix Pronto Pups:This truck offers Pronto Pups, hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and French fries for $3 to $5.50. Combos that include chips and drink are $8 and $9. Also available are deep fried Twinkies (two for $5) and deep fried Oreos (six for $5).
River City Cup & Cake: We’ll call this the desert truck as it offers a variety of sweet treats such as cookies, brownies, Danishes, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, chocolate croissants, and an apple frangipane tort. Also available is a variety of coffees, teas, hibiscus and hopps sodas. Note, nothing at this truck is more than $4.
Two Scotts Barbecue: This truck offers pulled pork, sliced brisket, pulled chicken, burnt ends and sausage in both “Just Meats” and sandwich offerings. There is also St. Louis ribs and jumbo wings. A Scott #3 Combo features three meat choices, two sides, bread, pickles and a drink for $16. Sides range from pimento mac and cheese to cheddar biscuit and homemade tots. And of course there are plenty of sweet treats.
The event is free and open to the public. There is a $20 fee per team (of two players) to participate in the Cornhole Tournament. If you are interested in participating in the tournament, you can register online at www.yourkprd.org or call 616-656-5270. Prizes will be award to the winning teams. There will be some other yard games as well.
Before the advent of humankind, whales roamed the oceans unfettered by humans and dangerous, man-made noises. It is said that back then, a whale in the Pacific Ocean could hear a whale singing in the Atlantic Ocean. What a world that must have been.
Sadly, those days are long gone and we have become far removed from our huge mammal friends. But the Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) wants to change that. The GRPM’s Whales: Giants of the Deep exhibition’s unique blend of science, storytelling, and innovative interactivity gives visitors the opportunity to discover more about the world of whales.
Featuring two fully-articulated sperm whale skeletons, including an impressive 58-foot male, Whales showcases amazing and rare specimens from New Zealand’s Te Papa Museum’s whale collection, one of the largest in the world. Visitors will see life-size and scale models of whales common to the South Pacific as well as contemporary whalebone treasures such as weapons and chiefly adornments.
They’ll also learn about whale biology, the extraordinary evolutionary journey of whales from land to sea, and the history of whaling in New Zealand.
Children can even crawl through a life-size replica of the heart of a blue whale, the Earth’s largest living creature.
Interactive, immersive, and featuring the latest in international cetacean research, Whales: Giants of the Deep is an experience that brings adults and children eye to eye with some of the world’s most elusive creatures.
Here are some of the exhibition highlights:
See life-size and scale models of whales common to the South Pacific, including a beaked whale skull and a massive 58-foot, fully-articulated sperm whale skeleton.
Learn about the intricacies of whale biology, the history of whaling in New Zealand, and efforts being made by scientists and others to protect whales from threats of entanglement, shipping and sonar use, and the continuation of whaling practices in some parts of the world.
View casts of fossil whale ancestors, which show the evolutionary journey of whales from land to sea, as well as contemporary whalebone treasures such as weapons and chiefly adornments.
Encounter whales through video portholes, be transported into their underwaterworld via two immersive projections, and enjoy a moving film experience that tells the stories of three whale-riding traditions in New Zealand, including the famous story of Paikea featured in Whale Rider.
See ancient and contemporary works of art and hear stories from people of the South Pacific illustrating the powerful influence these creatures have had on human culture.
Tune in to a range of whale sounds and discover how scientists and amateur trackers identify individual whales on their migration through the Pacific Ocean.
Gain a true appreciation of the physical and behavioral traits that enable whales to make a living in the challenging and dynamic marine environment.
Walk among the giant—and not-so-giant—articulated skeletons of an astoundingly diverse collection of whale specimens, and then explore the evolutionary paths that gave rise to this unique group of mammals.
Beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 22, Whales: Giants of the Deep tickets will be $2 for member adults and children, and $13 for non-member adults and $8 for non-member children. Admission to Whales: Giants of the Deep includes general admission to the Museum. Get tickets here.
Come to the Special Opening Party, Saturday, Oct. 22 from 9 am to 2 pm.
Visitors of all ages will have first access to the exhibit at this party coming eye to eye with some of the world’s most elusive creatures. Featuring two fully-articulated sperm whale skeletons, visitors are able to see life-size and scale models of whales common to the South Pacific, discover how scientists identify whales on their migration process and interact with a life-size replica of a blue whale, the world’s largest living creature.
Tickets to this event will include admission to the exhibit, as well as hands-on activities and performances including live animals from the John Ball Zoo, performances by traditional Maori dancers, admission to Dynamic Earth in the Museum’s Chaffee Planetarium and lunch.
Use your ticket for lunch between 11 am and 1:30 pm to eat lunch at the Museum. Lunch will include hot dogs, chips, fruit with a drink and dessert.
Non-members: Receive incredible savings for the Opening Party! Purchase a one year family membership plus 4 tickets to the event for only $80 (saving $57). To purchase a membership package call 616.456.3977.
Members are $10 for adults and FREE for member children. Non-member event-only tickets are $18 for adults and $13 for children. Limited tickets available.
It’s October and believe it or not, the 9th Annual Santa Parade is less than two months away.
This year’s parade is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, and will head down S. Division Avenue from 33rd Street southbound to Murray Street. After the event, residents are invited to stop by Brann’s Sizzlin’ Steaks & Sports Grille, 4132 S. Division, for pictures with Santa immediately after the parade.
And there is still a lot to do in Wyoming and Kentwood in preparation for the arrival of the Big Guy. The Wyoming Kentwood Chamber of Commerce is looking for chamber members interested in helping with this year’s parade. The Chamber is looking for people who want to help in making this year’s event even bigger and better. If you are interested, contact the Chamber office at 616-531-5990.
It is never too early to book your spot in the parade. It is $25 for corporate/business participants for a float or fleet car and marchers in the parade. Company information must be included for the WKTV broadcast of the parade. It is $10 for any non-profit for a float or fleet car and marchers. It is also $10 for public participants.
For questions or more information including sign up forms for parade or Chamber membership, contact the Chamber office at 616-531-5990. The Santa Parade is sponsored by the Wyoming Kentwood Chamber of Commerce.
“Ditch Lily Drawing,” by Nathan Lareau, is in the ArtPrize 8 Top 20. It is under the installation category. (Supplied photo.)
ArtPrize can often seem overwhelming, with 170 venues and almost 1,500 entries, sometimes it seems as though viewers can only run a quick hand over individual works as so many more beckon during the three-week run.
But the Frederik Meijer Garden & Sculpture Park’s always unique, often astounding, contribution to Grand Rapids’ annual explosion of art is not only a “must see” venue of the event, but it also has a longevity not offered by many of the venues – the show will continue through the end of the year, making it a “must see again, at leisure” opportunity.
Meijer Gardens’ exhibition, “Almost Home: Grand Rapids in Focus,” continues free to the public through the run of ArtPrize 8, Sunday, Oct. 9. It will then continue on display through Dec. 31, available with admission.
In recent years, the Gardens have offered an international snapshot of the modern art world brought home to Grand Rapids. This year’s exhibit still offers a closely curated spectrum – 13 artists and artistic visions – but there is a consistent theme of homemade, homegrown familiarity in the milieu.
“Each artist has a special connection to the city and has offered an original reflection on it,” Joseph Becherer, chief curator and vice president of exhibitions and collections, said in supplied material. “All sculptures and installations were created specifically for this exhibition, reflecting the social and historical, industries and enterprises, the natural and the creative forces that helped shape Grand Rapids.”
The artists in the exhibit include married couples, fathers and sons, longtime local artistic forces and relatively newcomers to Grand Rapids’ artistic home front.
Two that attracted my attention in my first – all too rushed – sweep through the gallery were Nathan Lareau’s simple yet exquisitely complex “Ditch Lily Drawing” and Anna Campbell’s complex yet exquisitely simple “Chosen Family, Chosen Name, Separatist, Safe Space, Ex-Pat, Invert, Homophile, Homestead”.
For “Ditch Lily Drawing,” Lareau uses the clean, simple lines of dried daylily stalks in all-white mosaic that, when carefully illuminated by shadow-inducing spotlights, ceases to be individual objects from nature and becomes a single, textured objets d’art which somehow reminds one of both Michigan’s cornfields in winter and some distant, cold, almost barren, otherworld.
Lareau, born and raised in rural Michigan where the lifecycle of daylilies are familiar, studied and now teaches at Aquinas College. In his artist’s statement he says: “My background in percussion has cultivated a fascination for rhythm and pattern and leads me to seek out examples of such in the physical world. The daylily possesses these elements not only through its time-measuring name, but also the visual rhythm of its growth.”
Campbell’s mixed media installation “Chosen Family, Chosen Name, Separatist, Safe Space, Ex-Pat, Invert, Homophile, Homestead,” in contrast, uses a variety of seemingly incongruent if not conflicting objects – a polished tabletop with a seemingly random spread of small glasses, a piece of children’s clothing hanging lifeless, roped gateways usually associated with entry or rejection at a nightclub.
Campbell, who is new to Grand Rapids and teaches art and design at Grand Valley State University, says in her artist’s statement that “this work is an assemblage of diverse strategies and terms that LGBT and other marginalized people have used over generations to mark the labor of making and naming home.”
My first impression, at first glance, sees the focal point as the glasses: most are grouped together or at least in some pattern (a family, or group, at home?), while several are separate, either seeking entry to the whole or willingly accepting a different path.
I look forward to spending more time with the work, at leisure, after ArtPrize’s run and finding other nuances.
— K.D. Norris
What’s Next:
Artist in Conversation talks on Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 6 p.m. with Ron Pederson and Campbell; Sunday, Oct. 23, at 2 p.m. with Darlene Kaczmarczyk and Lareau; and Sunday, Oct. 30 at p.m. with Norwood Viviano and Joyce Recker. There will be a gallery walk and talk Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. with Becherer.
WKTV takes seriously its role as a communications provider. We want our community to be well-informed and more involved in local matters. Note: Wyoming City Council seats are nonpartisan.
2nd Ward
The City of Wyoming’s 2nd Ward Council area covers the northern portion of the City of Wyoming from Chicago Drive in the north to Prairie Parkway down Burlingame Avenue over 36th Street and up along 32nd Street on the south. The 2nd Ward western border is Wentworth and the eastern border is the city limits.
Richard Kent Pastoor – Incumbent
Occupation: Worked in sales and broadcasting. Has been on the Wyoming City Council since 2001
Residence: Wyoming
Why did you decide to run for the City of Wyoming 2nd Ward?
“Well, I was appointed to the 2nd Ward back in March of 2001 and liked it, so I decided to run again in 2003. It’s the most rewarding job I’ve ever had and I’ve met some great people. I try to serve the people and I love being able to help them.”
With the announcement that the 28 West project is moving forward, how do you feel it will impact the City of Wyoming?
“Most of that area is in my ward and the people over there have always felt slighted and cheated that the City ignored them. That the business ventures stopped at Burlingame. I hope it’s something that takes off and benefits the businesses in the area. I would like to see all of 28th Street re-birthed.”
Marissa K. Postler
Occupation: Works at Costco Warehouse
Residence: Wyoming
Why did you decide to run for the City of Wyoming 2nd Ward?
“I was frustrated with Millennials engagement into politics. I want to bring more people into politics in order to give a more accurate representation of the community. With a median age of just over 30, the City Council needs more diversity to properly represent the City of Wyoming.”
With the announcement that the 28 West project is moving forward, how do you feel it will impact the City of Wyoming?
“I’d love it as long as we get the right types of businesses in. With young people taking advantage of the low housing market in Wyoming, we need to keep them here. A new 28 West has the potential to increase Wyoming’s appeal.”
3rd Ward
The City of Wyoming’s 3rd Ward Council area encompasses the city’s panhandle area that includes most of the western area of the city from Prairie Parkway on the north to 60th Street in the south. The 3rd Ward eastern border wraps around the city limits to Kenowa Avenue and its western border is Burlingame Avenue.
Rusty Richter
Occupation: Twenty-seven years as a commercial real estate broker and property manager Residence: Wyoming
Why did you decide to run for the City of Wyoming 3rd Ward?
“I’ve lived in Wyoming my whole life and so have my parents and their parents. In order to keep the solid foundation the city is built on, you have to be involved to make sure it remains sound and sensible. I’m looking to dew attention to the issues in the 3rd Ward as some people in the 3rd Ward feel left out and not a part of Wyoming.”
With the announcement that the 28 West project is moving forward, how do you feel it will impact the City of Wyoming?
“I think it’s an important project for Wyoming and will help Wyoming develop a downtown feel. It has to be competitive in growing business development and the project will help with that. It’s important to use the private sector to fill 28th Street.
Robert D. Postema
Occupation: Engineer / Part Owner of Richard Postema Associates PC, Architects & Engineers Residence: 36 years in Wyoming
Why did you decide to run for the City of Wyoming 3rd Ward?
“I am running for election because I believe I have the experience and critical thinking necessary to properly guide the decisions made by the City Council. I have consistently shown in my work the desire to fully understand an issue and make a thoughtful, common-sense decision on how to proceed. I grew up in Wyoming, raised my own family here and own a business in Wyoming. I want Wyoming to continue to be a great place to live, raise a family, and run a business. I am committed to limited government, being accessible and accountable, fiscal responsibility, strong public safety, and smart growth.”
With the announcement that the 28 West project is moving forward, how do you feel it will impact the City of Wyoming?
“The 28 West project is the catalyst that should help drive new development in Wyoming’s DDA. Redevelopment often is about momentum with new development driving more new development. The city needs to work promote the area and also needs to remain flexible enough to work with developers on concepts that may not have been envisioned in the 28 West plan but hold true to the plan’s ultimate goals.”
All candidates were contacted and invited to participate in sharing their message to the voters.
WKTV takes seriously its role as a communications provider. We want our community to be well-informed and more involved in local matters.
City of Wyoming – 2nd Ward
The City of Wyoming’s 2nd Ward Council area covers the northern portion of the City of Wyoming from Chicago Drive in the north to Prairie Parkway down Burlingame Avenue over 36th Street and up along 32nd Street on the south. The 2nd Ward western border is Wentworth and the eastern border is the city limits.
City of Wyoming – 3rd Ward
The City of Wyoming’s 3rd Ward Council area encompasses the city’s panhandle area that includes most of the western area of the city from Prairie Parkway on the north to 60th Street in the south. The 3rd Ward eastern border wraps around the city limits to Kenowa Avenue and its western border is Burlingame Avenue.
Kent County Commissioner – 8th District
Kent County Commissioner District 8 covers the eastern portion of the City of Wyoming, including the pan handle. For specific boarders, visit accesskent.com.
Kent County Commissioner – 12th District
Kent County Commissioner District 12 covers the western portion of the City of Kentwood and the eastern portion of the City of Wyoming. For specific boarders, visit accesskent.com.
Kent County Commissioner – 13th District
Kent County Commissioner District 13 covers the eastern portion of the City of Kentwood. For specific boarders, visit accesskent.com.
State House of Representatives – 77th District
The 77th District includes Byron Township and the City of Wyoming. The seat is currently held by Thomas Hooker of Byron Township, who is vacating due to term limits.
WKTV takes seriously its role as a communications provider. We want our community to be well-informed and more involved in local matters.
7th District
Kent County Commissioner District 7 includes the City of Grandville and the northern portion of the City of Wyoming, mostly the Godfrey Lee area. For specific borders, visit accesskent.com.
Why did you decide to run for the Kent County Commission 7th District?
“I have enjoyed serving on the various boards such as the Network 180 Board (Community Mental Health Authority Board), the Land Bank Authority and the Pension Board. They have really re-energized me and I would like to continue to work through on the projects these groups have to see them to their realization.”
What issues are a high priority to you?
“Taxation and the budget, obviously. Most of the county’s budget is flow through dollars designated by the state for certain projects. I think we need to consolidate where we can and generate new partnerships. The council has done a good job in building partnerships and we need to explore new ideas to foster other partnership opportunities.”
What are your thoughts on a central 911 dispatch for Kent County?
“The 911 dispatch is critical and we need to consolidate with the City of Grand Rapids as soon as possible. Having duplicates services is a waste of taxpayer money. As for adding more to the surcharge to pay for improvements. I am a no vote on that. We currently do not know if all of the current surcharge is getting to us. Why should we ask the taxpayers to pay more? 911 dispatch is a critical service and should be a priority in the Kent County general budget, not a ballot issue for the taxpayer. Taxpayers and businesses already pay enough in taxes.”
Logan Arkema – Candidate (D)
Occupation: Student at Georgetown University Residence: Grandville
Why did you decide to run for the Kent County Commission 7th District?
“The last couple election cycles have seen only one choice on the ballot. I feel the voters needed at least one more choice. I also want the county to embrace technology to be as optimal as possible.”
What issues are a high priority to you?
“I think the Rapid could use some improvement as the city’s main form of public transit. I would want to make sure the Sheriff Department has the training necessary to have positive interactions with the community.”
What are your thoughts on a central 911 dispatch for Kent County?
“I’m glad the issue is on the ballot. I still think there’s room for improvement. I think we can invest more in our 911 dispatch and I want to make sure the technology we have is the best possible to save lives.”
8th District
Kent County Commissioner District 8 covers the eastern portion of the City of Wyoming, including the pan handle. For specific boarders, visit accesskent.com.
Harold Voorhees – Incumbent (R)
Occupation: Owner at Cookies Unique Residence: Wyoming Pan Handle
Why did you decide to run for the Kent County Commission 8th District?
“To serve. I serve on the boards for the West Michigan Sports Commission and the John Ball Zoo.”
What issues are a high priority to you?
“I want mandated services to run in the most efficient way possible. I also want to continue to strengthen the quality of life on the cultural level here in West Michigan. I believe cultural aspects – sports, the zoo, Meijer Garden, etc. – boost the economy and quality of life for the residents in the area.”
What are your thoughts on a central 911 dispatch for Kent County?
“It’s a necessity! Public safety is necessary. There are places in the county where we can’t talk to each other. Our law enforcement and emergency services need to be able to talk to one another.”
Franklin Cornielle – Candidate (D)
Franklin Cornielle is the Democratic nominee for the 8th District Kent County Commission. He will be running against Harold Voorhees in the November 8 election.
9th District
Kent County Commissioner District 9 covers parts of southern Wyoming and also Byron Township. For specific boarders, visit accesskent.com.
Matt Kallman – Incumbent (R)
Matt Kallman is the Republican nominee for the 9th District Kent County Commission. He will be running against Keith F. Courtage in the November 8 election.
Keith F. Courtage – Candidate (D)
Keith F. Courtage is the Democratic nominee for the 9th District Kent County Commission. He will be running against Matt Kallman in the November 8 election.
10th District
Kent County Commissioner District 10 covers Gaines Township and the southern half of Caledonia Township. For specific boarders, visit accesskent.com.
Emily P. Brieve – Incumbent
Emily P. Brieve is the incumbent for the 10th District and is running unopposed in the November 8 election.
12th District
Kent County Commissioner District 12 covers the western portion of the City of Kentwood and the eastern portion of the City of Wyoming. For specific boarders, visit accesskent.com.
Harold J. Mast – Incumbent (R)
Occupation: Former Health Care Administrative at Pine Rest for 28 years. Ten years as executive director Genesis Non-Profit Housing. Residence: Kentwood
Why did you decide to run for the Kent County Commission 12th District?
“I’ve been a city commissioner for 14 years and a county commissioner for 18. I have an interest as a servant and the capability to work with people and solve the issues that face them.”
What issues are of high priority to you?
“I think we need to be focused on helping seniors as they age. Along with that, we need to provide adequate care to those with mental and physical disabilities.”
What are your thoughts on a central 911 dispatch for Kent County?
“A central 911 dispatch would enhance 911 capabilities throughout Kent County. Having a central location would increase the speed and effectiveness of the response.”
Christian Allen – Candidate (D)
Occupation: Assembly fitter for a UAW Shop Residence: Wyoming
Why did you decide to run for the Kent County Commission 12th District?
“I think there needs to be a change in Kent County as I believe some of the commissioners are becoming to comfortable. I think we need a more transparent Kent County Commissioner board and I think that I can make a difference.”
What issues are a high priority to you?
“My three key issues are to improve Kent County services, to progress the living wage, and to create a fair community for all.”
What are your thoughts on a central 911 dispatch for Kent County?
“I think that they are moving in the right direction with the central dispatch. I think that there are a couple of things that they could change. If I get elected, I would take a closer look at that and I think we could bring more technology and maybe a University to help organize it better.”
13th District
Kent County Commissioner District 13 covers the eastern portion of the City of Kentwood. For specific boarders, visit accesskent.com.
Jessica Ann Tyson – Candidate (R)
Occupation: Small business owner Residence: Kentwood
Why did you decide to run for the Kent County Commission 13th District?
“There is an open seat and I would like the opportunity to represent my city and community at the county level. I’m the state president of a political organization and ran before against an incumbent. I want to be able to affect policy.”
What issues are a high priority to you?
“Because there’s an open seat, I’d like to honor the past and keep Kent County at their Triple-A bond rating while also looking for new was to improve.”
What are your thoughts on a central 911 dispatch for Kent County?
“I’m all for advancing technology. I believe Kent County has done the homework to get the best price and technology for the residence.”
Betsy Melton – Candidate (D)
Betsy Melton is the Democratic nominee for the 13th District Kent County Commission. She will be running against Jessica Ann Tyson in the November 8 election.
All candidates were contacted and invited to participate in sharing their message to the voters.
WKTV takes seriously its role as a communications provider. We want our community to be well-informed and more involved in local matters.
Kent County Sheriff
Lawrence A. Stelma – Incumbent (R)
Occupation: Been in law enforcement since 1972 and has acted as sheriff for 16 years. Residence: Cedar Springs
Why did you decide to run for Sheriff back in 2000 and continue to run today?
“It’s been a natural progression in my career that started as a corrections officer. We have many projects in the works like the 911 central dispatch that I want to see to completion.”
What are some of the benefits and challenges to the central 911 dispatch?
“Well, some of the challenges are funding and technology, but the benefits are very important. A central dispatch would make for greater efficiency for all the agencies and would create better communication for emergencies and big events.”
With national headlines centered around negative police-community relations, how would you continue to foster and strengthen the relationship between the Sheriff’s Department and Kent County?
“We work hard with the community and with community leaders. We build strong relationships so that we all work together. We work with organization like the Neighborhood Watch, with faith-based organizations, and also with the mental health community.”
Michael B. Scruggs – Candidate (D)
Michael B. Scruggs is the Democratic nominee for the Kent County Sheriff. He will be running against Lawrence A. Stelma in the November 8 election.
Kent County Prosecuting Attorney
Alida J. Bryant – Candidate (D)
Occupation: Staff attorney at the Kent County Defender’s Office. Criminal defense attorney for the past 22 years. Residence: Belding
Why did you decide to run for Prosecuting Attorney?
“I decided to run in order to validate the need for criminal justice reform. Accountability, productivity, safety, victim’s rights and fiscal responsibility are all goals which must be managed and balanced.”
As Prosecuting Attorney, what would be your main goal or focus?
“The main focus is finding a balanced approach to law enforcement. I want to move non-violent, victimless offenders from accountability to productivity.”
Chris Becker – Candidate (R)
Chris Becker is the Republican nominee for the Kent County Prosecuting Attorney. He will be running against Alida J. Bryant in the November 8 election.
Kent County Clerk
Chris Reader – Candidate (D)
Occupation: Software developer for Spectrum Residence: Grand Rapids
Why did you decide to run for Kent County Clerk?
“I believe it is the place I can do the most good. I have a decade of community service and I believe the clerk can be a partner to the community. I think I bring a unique set of skills that fit the position well.”
As Kent County Treasurer, what would be your main goal or focus?
“Compared to other offices statewide, Kent County can do a lot more online. I want to find ways for the clerks office to reach out to the community. Right now you have to go downtown to access the clerks office.”
Lisa Posthumus Lyons – Candidate (R)
Lisa Posthumus Lyons is the Republican nominee for Kent County Clerk. She will be running against Chris Reader and James Lewis in the November 8 election.
James Lewis – Candidate (L)
James Lewis is the Libertarian nominee for Kent County Clerk. He will be running against Chris Reader and Lisa Posthumus Lyons in the November 8 election.
Kent County Drain Commissioner
Rachel Hood – Candidate (D)
Occupation: Consultant for Chase Park Grants Residence: Grand Rapids
Why did you decide t run for Kent Country Drain Commissioner?
“I’m passionate about water and possess a skill set and experience that uniquely qualifies me to take the job into the 21st century. I’ve spent the last 10 years working on changing policy and investments in storm water in the greater Grand Rapids area.”
As Kent County Drain Commissioner, what would be your main goal or focus?
“I will increase responsiveness and transparency by investing in technology and customer service tools. I want to ensure that we do more than just manage our infrastructure; we can leverage our drain dollars to attract federal and state investments that will help us bring more value to our drain dollars. We can use drain investments to achieve water quality improvements, or build recreational facilities that double as stormwater management strategies, like soccer fields that also store and slowly release stormwater underneath the field. Or using stormwater bioswales that double as traffic calming and place-making tools for neighborhood business districts.”
Ken Yonker – Candidate (R)
Ken Yonker is the Republican nominee for Kent County Drain Commissioner. He will be running against Rachel Hood in the November 8 election.
Kent County Treasurer
Kenneth D. Parish – Incumbent (R)
Kenneth D. Parish is the Republican nominee for Kent County Treasurer. He will be running against Jodi Betten in the November 8 election.
Jodi Betten – Incumbent (D)
Jodi Betten is the Democratic nominee for Kent County Treasurer. She will be running against Kenneth Parish in the November 8 election.
All candidates were contacted and invited to participate in sharing their message to the voters.
WKTV takes seriously its role as a communications provider. We want our community to be well-informed and more involved in local matters.
U.S. 2nd District
The Second Congressional District includes: Lake, Oceana, Newaygo, Muskegon, and Ottawa Counties in their entirety as well as portions of Allegan, Kent, and Mason Counties.
Why did you decide to run as the representative for the US 2nd District?
“I am running because I do not think our current representative is looking out for the real interests of the vast majority of citizens in our district. The district is effectively ignored and I don’t think Republican policies actually help most of the people in terms of jobs, civic improvements, infrastructure, etc. We need positive action from our government to effect positive change.”
What issues are a high priority to you?
“Social Security is my number one issue in that I want to make sure it stays funded and is not privatized. I also believe there needs to be a nationwide standard for elections. I am against Pipeline 5, especially after what happened with the Kalamazoo River. We don’t need oil bubbling up in the Straits of Mackinaw.”
When the national spotlight is on Michigan, it usually focuses on Detroit and the east side. How would you make sure West Michigan isn’t forgotten?
“Well, if I continue to do well in the campaign that will naturally bring attention to the west since this area is safely Republican. Michigan overall is primarily Democrat, so here, I am hoping to make my voice heard. I hope by hammering the issues I will make people understand they’re voting for the wrong person.”
Erwin Haas – Candidate (L)
Occupation: City Commissioner for Kentwood and semi-retired physician Residence: Kentwood
Why did you decide to run as the representative for the US 2nd District?
“I see the distorting influences of the Federal Government on small cities like Kentwood. I see taxpayer money going to small ‘free’ services we don’t need and our current representative not adhering to his conservative values.”
What issues are a high priority to you?
“I think there is a major problem with how we collect taxes. We should get ride of the IRS and instead institute a fair tax. I believe we should readdress our military to focus on our boarders here at home and not worry about what’s going on overseas.”
When the national spotlight is on Michigan, it usually focuses on Detroit and the east side. How would you make sure West Michigan isn’t forgotten?
“I would focus on keeping the government out of situations it doesn’t need to be in. People in West Michigan tend to be self starters. They aren’t as dependent on the government and its services.”
U.S. 3rd District
The 3rd District includes the counties of Barry, Ionia, and all but the southwest portion of Kent.
Doug Smith – Candidate (D)
Occupation: Sheet Metal Workers Local 7 Residence: Belmont
Why did you decide to run as the representative for the US 3rd District?
“I’ve protested in the past against unfair legislation and didn’t see results. To have a chance at changing politics, you need to do it from within. I wanted to give the people a politician who wasn’t corrupted.
What issues are a high priority to you?
“Overturning Citizens United and getting big money out of politics. I also want to get as many people as possible into the voting process by having open primaries and automatic voter registration when someone turns 18.”
When the national spotlight is on Michigan, it usually focuses on Detroit and the east side. How would you make sure West Michigan isn’t forgotten?
“Michigan as a whole needs reps who can focus on the state as a whole. Investments in infrastructure everywhere are important so that Flint doesn’t happen anywhere else. My construction background can help with infrastructure upgrades and better transportation.”
Justin Amash – Incumbent (R)
Justin Amash is the Incumbent and Republican nominee for the 3rd District. He will be running against Doug Smith in the November 8 election.
72nd District
The 72nd District includes the City of Kentwood and Gaines Township in Kent County and Leighton Township, Wayland Township, Dorr Township and the City of Wayland in Allegan County. The seat is currently held by Ken Yonker, who is vacating due to term limits.
Steven Johnson – Candidate (R)
Occupation: Four years in the Air Force and now campaigning as a full-time candidate Residence: Wayland Township
Why did you decide to run for the 72nd District Representative?
“I didn’t initially plan on running, but after seeing videos of Planned Parenthood selling baby parts while the government still chose to fund them, I decided to get involved. I called some local candidates to hear their stance and concerns with specific issues and didn’t receive a straight answer. I then chose to run myself.”
What issues would you address if elected?
“We need to repeal Common Core. It’s a one-size method that doesn’t fit everyone. I’m Pro-Life and support a life at conception act. I would also stop corporate welfare. Too often big companies, like Switch coming into Gaines Township, are given big tax breaks.”
Steve Shoemaker – Candidate (D)
Occupation: Worked for Steelcase for 25 years as a Skilled Trades Journeyman. Retired in 2005. Residence: Caledonia
Why did you decide to run for the 72nd District Representative?
“I saw some decisions that came out of Lansing that I didn’t agree with. The current 72nd district representative made some votes that I felt went against what he believed. As a leader its important to make tough decisions even if they’re not popular. I want to ensure the opportunities I had in the 72nd District – jobs, income, lifestyle, etc. – are available to every citizen.”
What issue would you address if elected?
“The government needs to be made more transparent. Right now, Michigan ranks dead last in transparency. I would draft a bill to repeal exemption for Freedom of Information Act blockage for government representatives. I want to keep government transparency at the forefront.”
77th District
The 77th District includes Byron Township and the City of Wyoming. The seat is currently held by Thomas Hooker of Byron Township, who is vacating due to term limits.
Tommy Brann – Candidate (R)
Occupation: Owner of Brann’s Steakhouse since he was 19-years-old.
Residence: Wyoming
Why did you decide to run for the 77th District Representative?
“I’ve always been interested in politics and admired the people who do it. I believe in free enterprise. There’s a lot of stories of entrepreneurs that I want to share not only with the government, but with children as well. I can help influence education.”
What issues would you address if elected?
“I would like to keep government simple. I believe the simpler, the better. Right now the state has $27.2 billion for teachers pension that is unfunded. The budget needs to be balanced, and that means no debt.”
Dana Knight – Candidate (D)
Dana Knight is the Democratic nominee for the 77th District. She will be running against Tommy Brann in the November 8 election.
All candidates were contacted and invited to participate in sharing their message to the voters.
The countdown is on for Zeeland’s Pumpkinfest — celebrating community, family fun and fall activities for over 30 years. The theme for 2016 is “Pumpkinfest In Disguise.”
The two-day event features a number of free and low-cost events that can be enjoyed by all ages, and it all happens Friday, Oct. 7 and Saturday, Oct. 8 — a departure from Pumpkinfest’s traditional three-day schedule.
For the second year, Pumpkinfest is partnering with the Holland Area Arts Council to coordinate a community art-centered project called Pumpkinfest Avenue Art, and the community is welcome to join in to express their creative talents.
On Friday, Oct. 7, Dessert on Us — a celebration of community and a complimentary donut and cider — replaces the event formerly known as Dinner on Us. A sweet treat, combined with an evening of family activities, including the Kids Tractor Pull, hayrides and KidzFest events, will make for a see and be seen community event that you won’t want to miss.
Then, on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 3 pm it’s time for the Pumpkinfest Parade featuring marching bands, horses, walking groups, tractors and, of course, floats featuring this year’s theme. The parade route is: West on Main Ave. from Centennial St. to State St., South on State St. to Central Ave., East on Central Ave. ending at Maple St.
Pumpkinfest also features a fun place for kids to be creative, learn and play at KidZfest. Within the KidZfest area, families will discover bounce houses, petting zoos, stage performances, pony rides and more. KidZfest will be located on Church St. just south of Main Ave.
Fans can purchase event merchandise, including collector’s edition longsleeve and short-sleeve Pumpkinfest t-shirts as well as insulated travel mugs at the Pumpkinfest Information Tent, located at 130 E. Main. Profits from merchandise sales are used to support future Pumpkinfest activities.
Based on the Spin Master-produced, hit animated TV series on Nickelodeon, PAW Patrol Live! “Race to the Rescue” brings PAW Patrol characters to the stage for an action-packed, musical adventure. When Mayor Goodway is nowhere to be found during the day of the Great Race, the pups come to the rescue. Join Ryder, Chase, Marshall, Rocky, Rubble, Zuma, Skye and the newest pup, Everest, when they take the stage for two shows at DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW, Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 10 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
