Encore June 2022 by Encore Magazine

Art that Rocks

June 2022

Adam Weiner's Love for LEGO

KSO closes with Previn premiere

Meet Brian Colopy

Southwest Michigan’s Magazine

Tim & Tracy Lynn Kowalski are keeping it

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ENCORE EDITOR'S NOTE

From the Editor A

nd just like that, summer is almost here. This issue celebrates many things that make the start of summer such a pleasure. With the abundance of lakes and rivers in our area, there's a good chance you are a boater (or know someone who is). If so, there's also a good chance you've heard of Bio-Kleen, the company featured in our cover story this month. This small Kalamazoo company, owned by Tim and Tracy Lynn Kowalski, makes environmentally safe, non-toxic cleaners for uses from recreational vehicles to industrial applications. One of its first products, Amazing Cleaner, is designed to clean boat vinyl of mold and mildew. It drew the company a huge following in boating circles and set the company on a path to creating 220 additional products. At the same time, the Kowalskis have combined their love of the outdoors with providing experiences for underserved youth. Another summer pastime — baseball — is highlighted in our Back Story interview with Brian Colopy, who owns both the Kalamazoo Growlers and the Battle Creek Battle Jacks collegiate summer baseball league teams. How Colopy went from being an intern to owning the teams is the stuff of feel-good baseball movies. And if you just happened to live on an island in the middle of a lake, what would you do for fun? Writer Katie Houston found that artist Jacqueline Tafoya paints rocks. And this month Tafoya will be exhibiting her work at the State Theatre during Art Hop. Quirky? Yes, but one look at one of her rocks and you’ll see that her talent is undeniable. Finally, it's more of an indoor pastime than outdoor, but the enduring popularity of LEGO building blocks led Kalamazoo's Adam Weiner to leave his position as executive director of Farmers Alley Theatre in March to open a Bricks and MiniFigs store this month that will buy, sell and trade anything LEGO. Writer Maggie Drew talks with Weiner about his passion for the popular toy. And here's another thing to do this summer: slow down, take a moment to relax and read Encore. Enjoy!

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CONTENTS

J u n e 2022

FEATURE Bio-Kleen: Clean and Green 20

Its environmentally safe cleaning products are loved by boaters, RVers and more

DEPARTMENTS 3 From the Editor 7 Contributors 8 First Things A round–up of happenings in SW Michigan 10 Five Faves Awesome artifacts from the Michigan Maritime

Museum

12 Lifestyle

Art That Rocks — Jacqueline Tafoya creates mini- masterpieces on stones

16 Enterprise

Love for LEGO — Adam Weiner’s obsession with this toy becomes a retail store

38 Back Story

Meet Brian Colopy — Fun is the focus for owner of Kalamazoo Growlers and the Battle Creek baseball teams

T heArts 25

28 28 29 30 31 On the Cover: Tracy Lynn (left) and Tim Kowalski at their Kalamazoo Bio-Kleen production facility. Photo by Brian K. Powers

Reason to Celebrate

The KSO ends its 100th season with Previn premiere, gala concert

Theater Dance Music Visual Arts Literature

32 Poetry

"You wouldn’t see pigs if you took the highway" by Margaret DeRitter

33 Events of Note

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Art that Rocks

Adam Weiner's Love for LEGO

KSO closes with Previn premiere

June 2022

Meet Brian Colopy

Southwest Michigan’s Magazine

Tim & Tracy Lynn Kowalski are keeping it

Clean and Green

Publisher

encore publications, inc.

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marie lee

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Photographer brian k. powers

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Contributing Writers

margaret deritter, maggie drew, eric harmsen, katie houston, marie lee

Copy Editor/Poetry Editor margaret deritter

Advertising Sales

janis clark, janet gover, krieg lee

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Distribution

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Office Coordinator kelly burcroff

In some small way, I hope I’m helping students. If I inspire somebody else to give to the Foundation, then it’s worth it.”

For more than 40 years, the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Foundation has been working with generous donors to make an impact on the lives of students and their families. Although keeping college affordable has always been a priority at Kalamazoo Valley, many of our students still need financial assistance. Your continued support plays an important role in our mission to advocate for and financially support Kalamazoo Valley students and programs.

www.kvcc.edu/foundation www.kvcc.edu/foundation 6 | ENCORE JUNE 2022

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www.encorekalamazoo.com 117 W. Cedar St. Suite A, Kalamazoo, MI 49007 Telephone: (269) 383–4433 Fax: (269) 383–9767 Email: Publisher@encorekalamazoo.com The staff at Encore welcomes written comment from readers, and articles and poems for submission with no obligation to print or return them. To learn more about us or to comment, visit encorekalamazoo.com. Encore subscription rates: one year $36, two years $70. Current single issue and newsstand $4, $10 by mail. Back issues $6, $12 by mail. Advertising rates on request. Closing date for space is 28 days prior to publication date. Final date for print–ready copy is 21 days prior to publication date. The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by those interviewed and published here do not reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of Encore Magazine or the official policies, owners or employees of Encore Publications.

CONTIBUTORS ENCORE

Maggie Drew Maggie interviewed the owners of two very different but equally interesting Kalamazoo businesses for this issue. She met with Tim and Tracy Lynn Kowalski, owners of Bio-Kleen, to talk about this company whose products have gained a national reputation for being among the best and most environmentally safe cleaners on the market. "What I loved about Tim's story of success was he just listened to what the people around him wanted or needed and he made it," says Maggie. "It was also really great to see that someone at his level of success really cares about giving back to people." Maggie also interviewed Adam Weiner about his LEGO store, Bricks and Minifigs, which opens in Kalamazoo later this month and will sell new as well as used LEGO products. "Adam's personal LEGO collection is very impressive," she says. "I was intrigued by the community of people who love LEGO and the intricate details in all the sets." Maggie, who graduated from Western Michigan University in April, worked at Encore as an intern during her senior year.

Katie Houston

Katie says she loved speaking with retired educator Jacqueline Tafoya about the joys of making art all day. "Who wouldn't want to do that in retirement?" Katie asks. She says she also enjoyed learning about the season-capping concerts scheduled this month by the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. "I had heard of André Previn, of course, but had no idea of his genrespanning talents and international career. Having his final concerto played for the first time in Kalamazoo will be amazing." Katie is a Kalamazoo-based freelance writer and communications consultant.

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Marie Lee

Marie admits that before she interviewed Brian Colopy, owner of the Kalamazoo Growlers and Battle Creek Battle Jacks baseball teams, she would rather have watched paint dry than watch a baseball game. But she's been converted. "Baseball is the foundation, but not the focus of his teams' games,” she says. “He's created all these minievents within the game to make it fun, surprising and worth sitting on the hard bleacher seats for a few hours. I can't wait to go to a Growlers' game now and take all my fun-loving friends with me." Marie is the editor of Encore.

in Partnership with IHT Wealth Management 259 E. Michigan Avenue, Suite 307 Kalamazoo, MI (269) 385-0001 • www. jeffkrossfinancial.com Securities offered through LPL Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advice offered through IHT Wealth Management, a registered investment advisor. IHT Wealth Management and Jeff K. Ross Financial Services, LLC are separate entities from LPL Financial.

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FIRST THINGS ENCORE

First Things

Something Festive

Kalamazoo Pride to be held June 3-4

Something Celebratory

Full slate of events honors Juneteenth

community-wide celebration with music, dance, art, film and a presentation on genealogy is planned for June 17–19 to observe Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19, became a federal holiday in 2021 and marks the liberation of the last slaves in Texas in 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The celebration begins at 3 p.m. June 17 with a virtual presentation on tracing Black and Brown people's ancestry. It will be offered by the Institute of Public Scholarship via Zoom and Facebook Live. June 18 offers a variety of performances, dancing and a poetry slam in Bronson Park, a Black film festival at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, and an Edison neighborhood barbecue and youth activities in Reed Street Park. June 19 features several musical performances, including DC & The DC Quintet at Bell's Eccentric Cafe, 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave.; The Velvelettes with Orchestra Jammbo'laya at 3:30 p.m. at the Arcadia Creek Festival Place, in downtown Kalamazoo; and live music and fireworks from 4–8 p.m. at Washington Square, in the Edison neighborhood. For a complete schedule of activities, visit @junteenthkzoo on Instagram or contact soulartistryinfo@gmail.com Please note: Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, some of these events may be cancelled or changed after press time. Please check with venues and organizations for up-to-date information. 8 | ENCORE JUNE 2022

The Kalamazoo Pride festival is back again this year on June 3 and 4 at the Arcadia Creek Festival Place after two years of a virtual Pride celebration. The festival, presented by OutFront Kalamazoo, celebrates LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies and will include drag performances, live music, a pageant, exhibitors, food and dancing. The Mx/Miss/Mr. Kalamazoo Pride pageant starts at 8 p.m. June 3. The festival usually attracts an estimated 8,000 or more people of all ages, genders, sexual orientations and racial identities from Southwest Michigan and beyond. The festival hours are 6 p.m.–midnight June 3 and 2 p.m.–midnight June 4. Tickets, available at outfrontkzoo.org, are $10 in advance or $15 at the gate for two-day passes; single-day passes are $8, and children 12 and under are admitted free of charge.

Something Musical Buttermilk Jamboree slated for June 17–19

The Buttermilk Jamboree, a familyfriendly music and arts festival, returns June 17–19 to the Circle Pines Center, at 8650 Mullen Road, in Delton. The three-day festival will feature nearly 40 musical performers, including The Way Down Wanderers, Funkadesi, Last Gasp Collective, May Erlewine, and Erin Zindle and the Ragbirds. In addition, there will be workshops, swimming, dancing, local food and goods vendors, a craft beer and wine tent, and a dedicated kids' area complete with performers and crafts. Camping and RV sites and cabin rentals are available. Tickets prices for the festival are $30 to $88 for adults and $10 to $25 for children, depending on the number of days patrons want to attend. Passes for RV sites and showers involve an additional fee. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit buttermilkjamboree.org.

The Way Down Wanderers

Funkadesi

Something Friendly

Gilmore Museum announces 'Carload Concerts' Have any friends with very large cars? Then invite them to drive you and several others to hear the lineup of tribute music at the Carload Concerts at the Gilmore Car Museum this summer. For $40 per car per show, music lovers will be able to take in any of five outdoor concerts on the lawn of the museum's Hickory Corners campus:

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• The Insiders, a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers tribute band, June 4. • The Surfrajettes, playing 1960s surf rock, Aug. 19. • The RockShow, playing hits from 1980s rock bands, Aug. 26. • The Lovettes, playing music by 1950s and ’60s girl groups, Aug. 27. • Lookin' Back, a Bob Seger tribute band, Sept. 10. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Guests are encouraged to bring their own blankets or folding chairs. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit GilmoreCarMuseum.org.

Something Circular

Learn about a Lake Michigan tour The Lake Michigan Circle Tour, a route travelers can take by following state highways around the lake through Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, is the topic of a presentation at 6 p.m. June 16 at the Parchment Community Library, 401 S. Riverview Drive. Dianna Stampfler, a Michigan historian and author who worked for seven years at the West Michigan Tourist Association, will talk about the creation of the route and its official guidebook by the WMTA and the Michigan Department of Transportation. In her presentation, Circling Lake Michigan: 1100 Miles of History, Arts & Culture, Stampfler will discuss the route's many sights, including more than 100 lighthouses, countless islands, unique attractions, parks and natural areas, beaches and quaint harbor towns, and will provide a virtual look at some of the tour’s well-known destinations and best-kept secrets. For more information, visit parchmentlibrary.org.

Something Funny

Do-Dah to parade through downtown

With a theme of "Where is the Zoo?" Kalamazoo's Do–Dah Parade returns at 11 a.m. June 4 to downtown Kalamazoo. The parade was canceled in 2020 and limited to a stationary event last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but this year's Do-Dah Parade will again roll through downtown, with floats and groups in whimsical costumes that reflect the theme or involve some kind of parody. The parade route is a bit different than usual this year — it heads north on Rose Street from Lovell Street instead going north on Park Street. For more information, including the entire parade route, visit kelcevents.wixsite.com/ dodahkzoo.

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FIVE FAVES ENCORE

Five Faves

Great picks from from the Maritime Museum collection BY ERIC HARMSEN

he Michigan Maritime Museum in South Haven is dedicated to preserving and presenting the maritime history and heritage of Michigan and the Great Lakes. Our collection includes thousands of artifacts, photographs and archival materials related to the maritime history of the Great Lakes. The artifacts range widely, from buttons to entire vessels. Here are some of my favorite artifacts in our collection:

The Fishing Tug Evelyn S. T

he museum’s collection includes several historical boats, including a Great Lakes fishing tug, the Evelyn S. Built in Manistique in 1939, the Evelyn S. is an excellent example of the typical wooden-hulled gill-net fishing tug design that was once common in the area and was the iconic workhorse of the commercial fishing industry on the Great Lakes in the early to mid-1900s. In 1979, the founder of the Michigan Maritime Museum realized the importance of this vessel as an artifact of Great Lakes maritime history and acquired it for the museum. Today it serves as an exhibit on commercial fishing and an educational tool representing these once-common vessels and the important impact they had on local communities. 10 | ENCORE JUNE 2022

S.S. City of South Haven Mirror This souvenir hand mirror features

an image of the passenger steamer S.S. City of South Haven, which was built in 1903 and sailed between South Haven and Chicago. From the mid-1800s through the early 1900s, luxurious passenger steamships sailed Lake Michigan and brought countless visitors to our area from Chicago and Milwaukee. When the museum’s Maritime Heritage Center opens this summer, this artifact will be in our newest exhibit, Full Steam Ahead: The Golden Age of Great Lakes Passenger Steamships. The exhibit will explore, in depth, the history of these vessels, their artifacts and the people who sailed on them.

U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Uniform The U.S. Coast Guard

has long been a significant part of the maritime history and heritage of the Great Lakes. This jacket from a 1940s U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary uniform is one of several uniform items in the museum's collection, which also includes pieces from Navy and commercial vessel uniforms. The Auxiliary has played a big role in the Coast Guard, especially on the Great Lakes, helping with staffing stations, doing search and rescue, and working with communities to keep people safe on the water.

Sextant T

his brass vernier scale sextant dating from approximately 1900 is one of several sextants in the museum's collection. It was developed in the mid1700s and remained a vital navigational instrument well into the 1900s. The sextant had several uses, but its primary use was to measure the angle between the horizon and the sun or other celestial objects like the moon and certain stars to determine latitude. This brass sextant, over 100 years old, is a beautiful example of some of the historical navigation instruments and tools that were used to sail the world.

Andaste Life Ring This life ring is from the 266-foot-long

Great Lakes freighter Andaste, which was launched in 1892. The Andaste famously sank in a gale on Lake Michigan in September 1929 while sailing from Grand Haven to Chicago. All of the 25 crew members onboard were lost. After the sinking, wreckage from the ship, including this life ring, began washing ashore on beaches from Grand Haven to south of Holland. The life ring is one of many artifacts at the museum that tell the somber story of the shipwrecks of the Great Lakes.

Ask ASKQ. What are

Please send your questions to:

Michael J. Willis, J.D., C.P.A. Q. MICHAEL J. WILLIS, J.D., C.P.A., WILLIS LAW

Please send your questions to:

Eric Harmsen has a degree in archaeology from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and has worked for several years in the field of museum collections management and Great Lakes maritime history. Harmsen has worked as a crew member on the Michigan Maritime Museum’s tall ship, Friends Good Will, and is currently the administrator and curatorial specialist at the museum.

THE BUSINESS AND ESTATE PLANNING

LAWYER ASK ASK

THE BUSINESS AND ESTATE PLANNING

LAWYER

About the Author:

THE BUSINESS AND ESTATE THEPLANNING BUSINESS AND ESTATE PLANNING

LAWYER A. First, consider that any trust you establish for someone else will be proLAWYER

tected from your creditors and also the creditors of the beneficiary for whom you establish the trust. As it relates to options for maintaining use of the assets for yourself, if one is married the most simple protection under Michigan law is to not own the assets yourself but to transfer the assets to your spouse. Furdown at the nursing home. certain Is that true? assets like real estate and stocks may be owned with your spouse ther, Yes. Most often when folks talk on trust planning, they are inoftenwhat isfact, called a “tenancy referencing a revocable trust. folks In theplanning, case probably more by the entirety” holding. In the former situation, Yes. Most when talk that on is trust they are than 99% aofrevocable theittime. A revocable trust law generally would require a creditor referencing trust. In fact, thatunder is theMichigan case probably more of your spouse to collect on the assets. In the latter is set upofonly avoid probate--that’s its onlyMichigan benefit. law However, there than 99% the to time. A revocable trust generally situation, it under would require a creditor of both you and your spouse to collect on trustprobate--that’s for persons inits your that can is issetan upirrevocable only to avoid only circumstances benefit. However, therebe the assets. The level of planning under Michigan law involves a limited with yourfor assets to the extent theynext exceed that the can protected is established an irrevocable trust persons in your circumstances be amount (which underassets Michigan lawextent will cap a littleFinally, over established with liability your to the theyat exceed the $125,000). protected if you are highly concerned about potential creditors company. If the trust is irrevocable and the areateffectively established in an amount (which under Michigan lawassets will cap a little over $125,000). in the future, you might consider a domestic asset protection trust. Although annuity streamand back you per terms of the trust, in then If the trust income is irrevocable thetoassets are the effectively established an in such a circumstance the trust will no longer be considered a countable neither you nor anyone closely related to you may be trustee, you may mainannuity income stream back to you per the terms of the trust, then in asset, but instead an and thereby exemptafor Medicaid such a circumstance theincome trust willstream no longer be considered countable tain significant rights under the asset protection trust. purposes. This is a sophisticated planning technique, and I highly

the best ways to Q. Michael J. Willis,my J.D., C.P.A. protect assets Q. Michael J. Willis, J.D., C.P.A. from potentialA. creditors? A. MICHAEL J. WILLIS, J.D., C.P.A., WILLIS LAW

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Michael J. Willis, J.D., C.P.A. possible for me to create a trust and protect myWillis Lawthe spend assets from Willis Willis Law Law 491 West South Street down at the nursing home. Is that true? 491 West South Street Willis Law MI 49007 Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, MI 49007 491 West South Street 269.492.1040 269.492.1040 491 West South Street A. Yes. Most often when folks talk onKalamazoo, trust planning, MI they 49007 are www.willis.law www.willis.law referencing a revocable trust. In fact, that is269.492.1040 the case probably more than 99% of the time. A revocable trust under Michigan law generally Kalamazoo, MI 49007 www.willis.law is set up only to avoid probate--that’s its only benefit. However, there is an irrevocable trust for persons in your circumstances that can be 269.492.1040 established with your assets to the extent they exceed the protected (which under Michigan law will cap at a little over $125,000). www.willis.law amount If the trust is irrevocable and the assets are effectively established in an

Michael J. Willis is the Managing Partner of Willis Law, Attorneys and Counselors at Law, is licensed to practice law in Florida and Michigan, and is registered as a certified public accountant in the state of Illinois. Attorney Willis is rated as an A V -Preeminent Attorney by Martindale-Hubbell. This rating, according to Martindale, which has been rating lawyers for over a century,

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annuity income stream back to you per the terms of the trust, then in such a circumstance the trust will no longer be considered a countable asset, but instead an income stream and thereby exempt for Medicaid purposes. This is a sophisticated planning technique, and I highly encourage you to seek counsel before implementing this technique or any other Medicaid planning.

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This sophisticated planning technique, and I highly signifies that an attorney has reached the heights of professional excellence and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity. He is listed in the Best Lawyers in America. Michael J. Willis is the Managing Partner of Willis Law, Attorneys and Counselors at Law, is licensedpurposes. toany practice lawisinaFlorida and Michigan, and is registered as a certified public accountant in the state of Illinois. Attorney Willis is rated as an A V -Preeminent other Medicaid to seekplanning. counsel before technique Attorney by Martindale-Hubbell. This rating, according to Martindale, which has been rating lawyersencourage for over ayou century, signifies that animplementing attorney hasthis reached theorheights of professional excellence and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity. He is listed in the Best Lawyers in America. otheratMedicaid Michael J. Willis is the Managing Partner of Willis Law, Attorneys any and Counselors Law, is licensed planning. to practice law in Florida and Michigan, and is registered as a certified public accountant

w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 11

LIFESTYLE ENCORE

Art that Rocks

Jacqueline Tafoya creates mini-masterpieces on stone

Brian Powers

BY KATIE HOUSTON

Retired school librarian and artist Jacqueline Tafoya loves to paint.

She has painted everything from furniture and cigar boxes to large murals on the exterior of her home. But lately she’s been painting rocks — nearly all day every day — in preparation for her June 3 Art Hop exhibition at the Kalamazoo State Theatre. She has painted such famous people as the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and actress Marilyn Monroe but

12 | ENCORE JUNE 2022

This page: Jacqueline Tafoya with some of the artwork she's created on canvas and stone. Opposite page: Tafoya makes the most of a rock's structure, such as her paintings of a Jimmy Choo shoe (top right), owls peering from a hole (bottom) and a singer (top right). Photos courtesy of Lora Branson.

has been mostly painting rock stars and musicians such as ZZ Top, the Supremes, Prince and Janis Joplin, a theme fitting for the music venue where she’ll show her art. Speaking from her cottage in Plainwell,

ENCORE LIFESTYLE

where she “spent the morning with Willie Nelson,” Tafoya says she has been working for three months on a portrait of Bob Marley. “I’ve looked at so many photos of him, trying to get his eyes right — I love eyes, the more expressive the better. Even harder are his teeth,” she says. Painting Marley’s dreadlocks was easy, however. “I splashed lavender paint over purple, and it worked.” This will be the third Art Hop Tafoya has participated in, but she remains as humble about her work now as she did when she first exhibited it. “Truthfully, I was embarrassed,” she says. “In my view, my art was amateurish. None of my work on canvas sold, and now I paint for fun without expecting profit.” An art lover from the start The 77-year-old Tafoya, who was born in Kalamazoo, was raised by grandparents who had little money for extras like art supplies. “I recall wanting to paint something, anything, and found a partial can of house paint and a hardened paintbrush in the basement. I smoothed out a grocery bag and produced a sticky mess. That didn't invite a lot of encouragement,” Tafoya says. “Books, however, were free to borrow from the wonderful, magical Washington Square Library. I became hooked on stories in those pre-television years.”

After graduating from Loy Norrix High School, she received a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in librarianship from Western Michigan University. She served 32 years as a school librarian and media specialist in Berrien Springs, Bronson and Harper Creek schools before retiring in 2005. “I remember attending a student art show in college and being awestruck by the beauty of one painting in particular: a perfect rose,” she says. “It was an epiphany. I now believed two things: I could never do anything so beautiful, and art would never give me security, so I turned to my second love, books, and didn't take a class in art for nearly 50 years.” Tafoya discovered after retirement that Kalamazoo Valley Community College offered free tuition for students 62 and older (KVCC confirmed that this is still true). “I took every art class they offered — some of them several times for the sheer joy of learning. I loved the instructors, the unintimidating atmosphere, and the society of young people,” Tafoya recalls, noting that she participated in three art shows, was awarded first place in two of them, and was delighted to shop for art supplies with abandon.

“Each medium required supplies, and, boy, did I acquire,” she says. “My basement is filled with pastels, colored pencils, watercolor paints, acrylic paints, oil paints, calligraphy inks and pens, special papers, canvases, frames and beautiful soft brushes.” Known for murals too People living in the Westnedge Hill neighborhood might know Tafoya’s home on Westnedge Avenue from the murals she has painted inside the home — they were photographed for the Kalamazoo Gazette more than 20 years ago to be featured as the Gazette’s “House of the Week.” Some of the murals have been painted over since then, but those that remain include a Tuscan landscape. “They were my attempt at trompe-l'oeil,” Tafoya says, referring to art that involves a visual illusion. She says she once was offered a commission to paint a ceiling at Henderson Castle but refused it. “I truly could not imagine painting on my back like Michelangelo. Besides, he had helpers!”

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LIFESTYLE ENCORE Her rock art has snowballed

Jacqueline Tafoya at Art Hop When: 5-8 p.m., June 3 Where: Kalamazoo State Theatre, 404 S. Burdick

14 | ENCORE JUNE 2022

Tafoya took to painting rocks for fun about 12 years ago, selling some through eBay until shipping costs grew too expensive. “Why rocks? Because they're available. My husband and I live on an island in Pine Lake in Barry County for nine months a year. It offers solitude, privacy and rocks galore,” she says, crediting her husband, Dorian Ross, with keeping her supplied. “It’s much better than a dozen roses." “My plan was to paint a few as gifts, but it snowballed into 400 and still counting. I've painted almost every animal, from insects to elephants,” Tafoya says. She adds that sometimes a rock suggests what it can become, as, for example, a rock she painted as a Jimmy Choo shoe. “Those are my favorites.” At the moment, she is hoping her husband will find just the right rocks on which she can paint Aretha Franklin, John Lennon and Elvis Presley. The styles of the images on the rocks vary: They can be whimsical, such as comical snowmen or the Cheshire Cat looking down on Alice, or detailed and lifelike portraits of animals and humans. Tafoya's painted rocks started gaining fans last year when her daughter Lora Branson, a server at Kalamazoo’s Blue Dolphin restaurant, arranged with owner Steven Stamos to show and sell some of her mother's work. “I was surprised when people actually spent their hard-earned money on my rocks, but Lora's and her husband Steve Amsbury's encouragement and Steve Stamos' support have given me a mission and purpose. I am a proud painter of rocks,” Tafoya says. Tafoya paints many different sizes of rocks, from pebbles to boulders weighing upwards of 30 pounds, and plans to have a range of paperweight-size painted rocks on sale for as little as $15. Most recently, her rock painting of Prince sold for $75, her highest price yet. “I hold a rock in my hands and wonder about its antiquity," she says of her unusual medium. “I look at its scars and crevices and think about my aging self, both of us shaped by our journey.”

Classical Music

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ENTERPRISE ENCORE

Love for LEGO

Adam Weiner’s obsession becomes a retail store BY MAGGIE DREW

Brian Powers

ll across Adam Weiner’s home are hundreds, if not thousands, of LEGO sets and figurines. On one table is a 9,000-piece replica of the Titanic; on another, hundreds of mini-figurines of iconic movie and TV characters from such shows as Star Wars, the Marvel series and even Friends. An entire room in the 44-year-old’s house is dedicated to storing his finished LEGO sets, and he has a floor-to-ceiling cabinet of LEGO pieces labeled by size and shape. Weiner will admit he is “obsessed” with the ubiquitous plastic building blocks, so obsessed that he's turning that passion into a

16 | ENCORE JUNE 2022

new career this month, opening a Kalamazoo location of the Bricks and Minifigs franchise at 1926 Whites Road, in the Oakwood Plaza. From large red and green blocks to intricate models of real-life objects, LEGO is something that most children have played with at some point in their lives. Since 1932, the Danish toy company has come out with more than 1,000 different LEGO sets, and now Weiner wants to bring as much of this childhood favorite as he can to Kalamazoo. “I've always been a fan of LEGO,” says Weiner, who, in order to take on this new venture, stepped down in March as the

executive director of Farmers Alley Theatre, a role that he held since the theater’s founding, in 2008. “I had the sets when I was a kid. I had a lot of the castles that I remember playing with, and the forest sets were very cool. But I really didn't start getting back into it until maybe 10 years ago. It was just very casually buying a set here or there. It really didn't become an obsession until the pandemic and the theater Adam Weiner, at right, holding a LEGO hammer, has amassed a huge collection of LEGO sets and minifigures, seen below and at bottom right, which are spread throughout his home.

Brian Powers

got shut down. It didn't open again for another 18 months, so we had a lot of time at home.” All that time allowed Weiner to rediscover LEGO, and it had more to offer than Weiner remembered. What started as something lighthearted and fun turned into a frenzy of creativity, opening up a world that was just waiting to be imagined and built, he says. “I started really delving into LEGO and it was like, ‘I'll build a city. I'll build a little city in my basement. That'll be a fun time.’ It just grew and became this obsession," he says. “As a creative medium, these are almost works of art. There's much more to LEGO than just ‘Here's a Star Wars set.’ I just fell in love with it.” 'Rabbit hole' The popularity of LEGO has only increased in recent years, with sales of the toy going up 21 percent in 2020 and generating nearly $7 billion in revenue that year and $8 billion in 2021, according to CNBC. Weiner also discovered AFOLs — Adult Fans of LEGO — an online community with a website that sells elaborate LEGO sets of scalemodel structures like airports, Starbucks coffee shops and car dealerships. "It's this rabbit hole of a community of all different ages of LEGO fans," Weiner says. Now Weiner hopes to spark this same kind of enthusiasm in adults and kids through his Bricks and Minifigs store. With a motto of “rebuild, reuse and reimagine,” these stores specialize in buying, selling and trading LEGO products, including new and used LEGO bricks, minifigures and accessories. They buy used LEGO products w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 17

Bricks and Minifigs Where: 1926 Whites Road When: Opens June 25

Above and right: Mercy Brown's pictures from the Africa trip include children she took care of as well as others she befriended.

Brian Powers

What: A retail store specializing in buying, selling and trading LEGO products, including new and used LEGO bricks, minifigures and accessories.

Weiner, at right, holds a LEGO replica of the R.M.S. Titanic, while his wife Allison holds a bouquet of LEGO flowers.

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from customers and have access to the entire LEGO catalog, not just the most recent sets that most LEGO distributors have. “It's all about taking LEGO and making new things out of it, extending the life of the product and reintroducing new generations and introducing new people to the product and showing how you can have a fun time in all these different ways,” Weiner says. Bricks and Minifigs is a nationwide company with more than 40 franchise locations across the U.S. and Canada. Weiner says he underwent an extensive vetting process to acquire the franchise. The Kalamazoo store, which opens June 25, will include a party room for group events. Weiner says his new venture has been met with support from friends and family, including his wife Allison, who is doing a lot of work in event planning and outreach as well as helping design the store’s interior. In addition to feeding his love for LEGO, the store will also give Weiner an opportunity to “give back to the Kalamazoo community,” he says. “I would say that this is going to be unlike any other retail store in town, and it can appeal to all different ages, whether it's a grandparent bringing in their grandkids to look at stuff or them finding something for themselves,” he says. “Kalamazoo is such a deserving community. I really want to create something that's exciting and fun.”

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BIO-KLEEN Making the world a little cleaner one product at a time BY MAGGIE DREW

In 1985, a friend of Tim Kowalski’s who worked at a prominent local business told him about how his company was using a cleaning product for its machines that had carcinogenic properties. Kowalski, a recent chemical engineering graduate of the University of Michigan, decided he would help fix that problem. He created an environmentally friendly parts-washing soap, and the company loved it. “That kind of put me on the map,” Kowalski says. “If their company could benefit from it, then I would think that a lot of people could benefit from getting the same type of results.” And two years later, in 1987, Bio-Kleen was born. Bio-Kleen today looks different than it did then. Originally, Bio-Kleen produced and distributed parts-washing products for industrial use for about a decade, until a suggestion from an accountant changed the trajectory of the company. Kowalski’s accountant told him about the big community of boaters in South Haven who were dissatisfied with marine and boat-cleaning products that were currently on the market. A boater himself, Kowalski decided he could help fix that problem too, and he created what is now one of Bio-Kleen’s bestselling products, Amazing Cleaner. Like the parts-washing products that preceded it and all the products Bio-Kleen has created since and sells now, the spray-on Amazing Cleaner, designed to clean boat and RV vinyl and fabric of mold and mildew stains, is biodegradable and non-aerosol. “I had a friend in marketing that told me, ‘Do you wanna spend all your time on fun stuff? Or do you wanna spend all your time on a bunch of boring stuff?’”

Tim Kowalski, in the boat, and wife Tracy Lynn, right, travel to boating and other events across the country promoting their line of cleaning products.

w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 21

Grandfather's inspiration

Clockwise from top left: Bio-Kleen's production facility on Lake Street; Kowalski in his "tiki hut" booth at a trade show; product being bottled in the plant; a sampling of Bio-Kleen's RV and marine cleaning products. Photos courtesy of Bio-Kleen/Tom Orr.

Kowalski recalls. “The industrial side was doing okay and it was making a living, but I wanted to get into the more fun side of the work. If I'm gonna put in 60 or 70 hours a week, I wanna do something that's going to be fun. When I came out with all the boat products, the marine side of it just really took off and everything else just fell into place.”

22 | ENCORE JUNE 2022

From its location at 810 Lake St., Bio-Kleen now makes more than 200 cleaning products for marine, RV, snowmobile, motorcycle, automotive, household, janitorial and commercial uses, all of which are environmentally safe, nontoxic, biodegradable and nonaerosol. The company has enjoyed double digit percentages sales growth year after year, according to Tracy Lynn Kowalski, Bio-Kleen's sales and marketing director. If you see a common thread in the company's products, you are right: Kowalski likes his outdoor toys. Kowalski, who was born and raised in Paw Paw, says he loved any outdoor activity as a kid and spent a lot of time boating in South Haven and camping with his family. Kowalski says his father, Anthony, and grandfather were inspirations for his interest in pursuing a degree in the scientific field as well as his passion for making environmentally friendly products. His grandfather grew 55 acres of grapes on his farm in Paw Paw, cultivating them in as environmentally friendly a way as possible. Kowalski’s father was in the machine shop world, owning his own business in Lawton. After Tim began working with his father, he was inspired him to be environmentally conscious like his grandfather.

A reconnection

“I realized that there was room for environmentally friendly products in the machine shop world as well as just the world in general,” Kowalski says. Today many companies try to make their products environmentally friendly, but back in the 1980s that wasn't the case, Kowalski says. “When I first got started, a lot of my friends said, ’Nobody cares about biodegradability’ or ‘You're gonna have a tough go at it,’ but I never really stopped growing from day one,” Kowalski says of his company. “As years passed, obviously I hit the bullseye. I thought that the market would fall that way eventually, that the biodegradable, safe, nontoxic products would fall into place.”

Something else that sets Bio-Kleen’s products apart from others, according to Kowalski, is that he and his wife, Tracy Lynn, are avid participants in the industries they serve, such as boating, camping and snowmobiling. “Not only are we in the industries, but we're sleeping and breathing those industries because we have the toys and we're having fun with our fellow motorists, RVers, snowmobilers and motorcyclists,” says Kowalski. “So we understand the problems and how dirty they get and what creates those problems, and then I can create a product that fits that niche.”

All Bio-Kleen products are manufactured at the company’s facility on Lake Street from domestically sourced ingredients. The company currently has 15 employees. While Tim is the president of Bio-Kleen and is in charge of production, his right-hand woman is his wife, the company’s vice president and sales and marketing director. The couple originally met as teenagers, in 1982, when both were on trips to Florida with their families. Tracy Lynn lived in Texas, and Tim in Michigan. They didn't see each other for 25 years but were reunited in a meeting when the company Tracy Lynn worked for was considering carrying Tim’s products. A few years after reconnecting, Tracy Lynn was looking for a new job and applied to Bio-Kleen. She began working for Tim in 2011, and, working side by side as friends, they became closer and closer. The pair married in May of 2017. Tracy Lynn was raised on the water so she was a boater, but she says that, unlike Tim, she has not always been much of an outdoors person. Through Tim, though, she has learned to love the outdoors, although she admits that when it comes to camping, she is more of a “glamper.” Looking at Bio-Kleen’s impressively long roster of products, it’s obvious that the

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Of the company’s 200-plus products, Amazing Cleaner and Amazing Armor are the bestselling products in the marine market, while its Black Streak Remover and its RV Roof Cleaner lead its sales in the RV market, Kowalski says.

Sharing the fun And just as Kowalski seeks to create products to improve the activities he and his wife love, they also work to share the activities they love with those who might not otherwise have the chance. The Kowalskis have been involved with the Make-A-Wish Foundation for more than 15 years, giving ill children the chance to experience the outdoor fun they are so fond of. Their participation started when Tim was put in contact with a child at the Chicago Children’s Hospital who was dying

Courtesy

couple’s interests — and knowledge of those — influence the product offerings, which range from a black-streak remover for RVs to a snowmobile engine degreaser. Many products have been found to serve dual purposes. A friend of Tim’s discovered that a product originally designed for RVs ended up working great on guns, so Bio-Kleen is now bringing the product to market as a gun lubricant. A customer swears by the company’s hull cleaner to get the rust stains from Kalamazoo’s notoriously hard water off her white shower tile. “I've spent a lot of time putting the wow factor in the products so that when people try them, they know that I put my heart and soul into that product,” Kowalski says. “I work at a product until I wow myself, and once I wow myself I know everybody else is going to be wowed.”

Tim, far left, and Tracy Lynn, far right, with a Make-A-Wish recipient.

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from leukemia and whose wish was to go on a fast boat ride. “That always touched my heart because I was like, ‘Well, I've got a fast boat. I could take him for a ride.’ It's what I enjoy doing,” Kowalski says. “Fast boat” is a bit of an understatement. The Kowalskis own a 34-foot Sunsation CCX with triple 400R, which can zip along the water at 80 miles an hour. The couple, who travel around the country promoting their company at events like boating Poker Runs, make sure they arrive early enough to the events to give rides to underprivileged or special-needs children. The pair has also become involved with the Easter Seals and Wounded Warrior non-profit organizations. “I've become successful enough that I wanna give back,” Kowalski says. “I felt like that's what God gave me, to make me successful, so I could give back to the people that were less fortunate. I want to do something good for the world and give back. The more you give, the more comes back to you.”

TheArts

Spotlighting greater Kalamazoo's arts community

Reason to Celebrate

The KSO ends 100th season with Previn premiere, gala concert BY KATIE HOUSTON

John Lacko

he Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra will end its 100th anniversary season in a big way — with two performances, the first of which features the world premiere of the last composition André Previn created before his death in 2019. The orchestra’s Masterworks Series season finale will be June 4, and a gala concert is set for June 18. Both concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. at Miller Auditorium.

The June 4 concert will feature the premiere of Previn’s Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by the KSO in 2016 to celebrate its 2021 centennial. It was the last major work of the renowned American pianist, composer and conductor. Joining the symphony to open the concert will be violinist James Ehnes, playing the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Major, Op. 77, by Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) as part of a spring tour that also has Ehnes performing in the U.K., Germany and France. Music Director Julian Kuerti, who joined the KSO in 2018 and will conduct both June concerts, is looking forward to working with Ehnes, a fellow Canadian. “James is one of the most outstanding violinists playing today,” Kuerti says. “Wherever he plays — and he plays everywhere — he is praised to high heaven. I have wanted to work with him for years, and the stars finally aligned, so I am really happy.” KSO Executive Director Jessica Mallow Gulley says Ehnes will perform “what many consider to be one of the great works for violin — the vibrant and energetic Brahms Concerto.” “The Brahms sound is so much at the core of what we think of and how we want our orchestra to sound,” says Kuerti. “That traditional, romantic sound that people have learned to love through recordings and film soundtracks is typified by Brahms and his masterful handling of orchestra instrumentation.” The Previn premiere It’s hard to overstate what a remarkable “get” the Previn concerto is for the KSO. The commission was a project led by past KSO president and executive director Peter H. Gistelinck, who called Previn “one of the most amazing, versatile and talented musicians of our time.” Gulley, who joined the KSO in 2019, reports that the goal of her predecessor was to “find the greatest example of a living American

Pianist Reiko Yamada performs with the KSO as a guest artist. w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 25

TheArts

26 | ENCORE JUNE 2022

Masterworks Series Season Finale: 7:30 June 4, Miller Auditorium, featuring the premiere of André Previn’s Concerto for Orchestra. 100th Anniversary Gala Concert: 7:30 p.m. June 18, Miller Auditorium, celebrating the symphony’s musicians and its history. Ben Colvega

composer. Previn’s musical language is very American, with a contemporary jazz feeling.” Born in 1929 (eight years after the KSO’s launch), Previn began working professionally at the age of 17. His international career crossed three genres — movie music, jazz and classical music — and included leading orchestras in Pittsburgh, Oslo, London and Los Angeles and serving as piano-accompanist to singers from Ella Fitzgerald to Doris Day. Previn won four Academy Awards (for best adapted score for the films My Fair Lady and Irma la Douce and best original score for Porgy and Bess and Gigi) and 10 Grammy Awards. “We will be giving birth to history with a piece that has not yet seen the light of day,” says Kuerti, although KSO audiences in 2018 were treated to a performance of the concerto’s third movement, never heard before or since, under the baton of Resident Conductor Daniel Brier. “It’s an enormous, ambitious project, and I fully expect every symphony orchestra will want to play this in the future,” says Kuerti, adding that he worked with Previn on occasion during his time as assistant conductor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (2007–2010). “Previn lived one of those fairy-tale, jetsetting celebrity lives as musical royalty, but

KSO Season-Ending Concerts

he told me once that you could hear his work on early Tom and Jerry cartoons,” says Kuerti. When the KSO commission was announced in 2016, Previn remarked, “I’m quite excited to be able to use such a sizeable orchestra. Whatever is good about it I hope is in the music.” The June 4 presentation will be Kuerti’s first KSO concert recorded live for publication, though it will be the 25th concert recording by the symphony orchestra. The recording is expected to be available to the public in 2023. “We have a strong history of recorded albums. It’s a big part of who we are,” says

More information: kalamazoosymphony.com or 349-7759.

Canadian violinist James Ehnes, left, will join the KSO and music director Julian Kuerti, close right, for its final Masterworks Series performance, which will include the premiere of a commissioned piece by composer André Previn, far right.

Gulley. “That history goes back to 1943, when we made our first-ever recording as one of a handful of American symphony orchestras to make records sent overseas to the troops. Producing such a recording takes a great collaboration between the musicians, conductor, audio engineer and generous donors.”

100th Anniversary Gala For its very last event of the season, the KSO plans a night to remember, comprising as much of a century’s worth of reminiscing as the evening is able to fit. The evening will celebrate the organization’s $8.8 million fundraising campaign and the 84 musicians who play in the KSO, including the organization’s longest-serving musician, tubist Robert Whaley, who has been part of the orchestra since 1966. “We wanted to do something special to celebrate everything we’ve done in the

Lillian Birnbaur

Mark Bugnaski

even hope to get our hands on that 1943 recording.” “This closing celebration will allow us to retell some of our historic moments that have made this organization special,” says Gulley. “The audience will enjoy some of the greatest hits of classical music, and wonderful moments and individuals we want to celebrate and thank in helping us achieve 100 years.” The KSO’s next 100 years

last 100 years,” says Gulley of the 100th Anniversary Gala Concert (tickets start at $25). Kuerti says the evening will be “quite the show,” a retrospective concert with archival photos, video and recordings, storytelling and some surprise guests. “It’s going to be a theatrical experience above and beyond a typical concert evening,” says Kuerti. “If you have never been to a KSO concert before but love Kalamazoo and its artistic history, this is the one to come to. We will take the audience from the inception of the symphony all the way to present day. We

While Kuerti jokes that he doesn’t expect to be around for the next 100 years, he notes that the future of the organization has a strong foundation, with a sharpened focus on building audience and community. “The pandemic been a real catalyst point of reflection for us,” says Kuerti. “We’ve had the chance to examine in great detail everything we do, reconsidering what we do and for whom. We’ve had some interesting answers and insights, and are looking forward to hosting the next generation of music lovers, to making our mission and vision relevant to Kalamazoo and the people who live here now. “As the world is changing, we have to change too, but I can promise we will not abandon our commitment to performing great music at the highest possible level. We will be here to preserve the music, to create new music, and to expand our playing, our outreach and our audience.”

w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 27

TheArts

THEATER

Bright Star

June 16–July 3 Farmers Alley Theatre With a lively score by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, Bright Star is a bluegrass musical about love and redemption set against a backdrop of the American South in the 1920s and ’40s. Michelle Duffy, a seasoned stage actress, will play the lead role as literary editor Alice Murphy, whose meeting with a young soldier home from World War II launches her on a journey to understand her past and transform both of their lives. The show is directed by Kathy Mulay and features recognized local talent, including Jeremy Koch and Neil and Sandy Bremer. Show times are 7:30 p.m. June 16–18, 23–25, 30 and July 1–2 and 2 p.m. June 26 and July 3 at Farmers Alley Theatre, 221 Farmers Alley. Tickets are $42 and available online at farmersalleytheatre.com or at the theater.

DANCE

The Savannah Sipping Society June 3–25 The New Vic Theatre

The New Vic is starting summer off with a laugh with its production of The Savannah Sipping Society. This comedy is about four Southern women all needing to escape the sameness of their day-to-day routines and seeking to reclaim their enthusiasm for life. The play was written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten (referred to as Jones Hope Wooten), a trio of former sitcom writers, and is directed by Jennifer Furney. Show times are 8 p.m. June 3, 4, 10, 11, 24 and 25. Tickets are $29 and available by calling 381-3328 or visiting thenewvictheatre.org. For more information, visit thenewvictheatre.org. Business Coverage

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Elements

June 5 Wellspring Dance Academy A journey through the elements of earth, water, fire and air will be offered when the Wellspring Dance Academy presents this concert at 1 and 3 p.m. at the Wellspring Theater, 359 S. Kalamazoo Mall, Suite 204. The concert will feature both youth and adult students from the Wellspring Dance Academy, which provides modern dance education and performance in Southwest Michigan. In addition, the Youth Performing Ensemble of Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers will perform repertoire from this past season. Tickets are $12 and available online at tinyurl.com/3h879km7.

Summertime Live Concerts

MUSIC

Various times Various venues

Haydn La Creacion ´ (The Creation) June 9 & 10 Kalamazoo Bach Festival

It's not summer without outdoor concerts, and the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo does not disappoint, sponsoring a full roster of concerts in Kalamazoo, Portage and Oshtemo Township. Unless noted, the concerts are free. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own blankets or chairs to the venues. The groups performing in June and the concert locations are: • Capt. Cat, 5:30 p.m. June 1, Bates Alley (between Pitcher and Portage streets), downtown Kalamazoo • Lisa Can't Sing, 7 p.m. June 3, State Theatre, 404 S. Burdick St. • Samuel Nalangira Ensemble, 4 p.m. June 5, Bronson Park • BlueBack, 5:30 p.m. June 8, Bates Alley

The Kalamazoo Bach Festival is ending its season with a beginning, as it presents Haydn's classical masterpiece for soloists, chorus and orchestra that depicts the biblical story of Creation. The concert each night begins at 7:30 p.m. in Kalamazoo College’s Dalton Theatre and will be performed in Spanish and feature Latino guest soloists, including Angela Lowe, soprano; Edward Ferran, tenor; and Carlos Monzón, bass. They will perform with the Kalamazoo Bach Festival Chorus and the Arcato Chamber Orchestra. The June 9 concert will also be available as a livestream on the Bach Festival's You Tube channel. Tickets are $5–$29 for in-person performances and, $19 for the livestream and are available at kalamazoobachfestival.org.

•D enise Davis & The Motor City Sensations, 7 p.m. June 9, Overlander Bandshell, 7810 Shaver Road, Portage • Megan Dooley, 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. June 10, Bronson Park • Kalamazoo Concert Band, 4 p.m. June 12, Bronson Park • The Incantations, 5:30 p.m. June 15, Bates Alley • Hurricane, 11:30 a.m–1:30 p.m. June 17, Bronson Park • DJ Dazzelship/Kunty Kittens, 5:30 p.m. June 17, State Theatre (admission charge) • Shania Twin: Shania Twain Tribute, 7 p.m. June 17, Overlander Bandshell • J.Cam.G and Flizz-E, 5:30 p.m. June 22, Bates Alley • Kari Lynch, 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. June 24, Bronson Park • Dana Scott, 4:30 p.m. June 24, Celery Flats, 7328 Garden Lane, Portage

Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra Masterworks Season Finale

• I ndika, 5 p.m. June 24, Haymarket Plaza, 139 N. Edwards St., downtown Kalamazoo • Flylite Gemini, 6:30 p.m. June 24, Celery Flats • Schlitz Creek Bluegrass Band, 6 p.m. June 26, Flesher Field Gazebo, 3664 9th St., Oshtemo Township

June 4

• Zion Lion, 5:30 p.m. June 29, Bates Alley

100th Anniversary Gala

• The Governor’s Own 126th Army Band, 7 p.m. June 30, Overlander Bandshell

June 18

For more information, visit kalamazooarts.org.

For information on these performances, see story on page 25. w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 29

TheArts

KIA Fair and Art on the Mall Sunflowers: Ukraine Art Tribute

Virtual exhibition Ninth Wave Studio Following the lead of an artists’ community in Mount Dora, Florida, that painted sunflowers in public places as a sign of solidarity with the besieged people of Ukraine, Kalamazoo’s Ninth Wave Studio has created a virtual exhibition Jeanne Fields, Standing Tall of sunflowers by local artists. More than 30 artists have submitted works to the exhibition, which can be viewed at nwsvirtualgallery.com.

June 3-4 Bronson Park and downtown Kalamazoo

Get ready to stroll and take in works by more than 200 artists when the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Fair and Art on the Mall come to downtown Kalamazoo. The KIA Fair will have more than 190 artists’ booths in Bronson Park, while Art on the Mall, sponsored by the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, will offer 60 artists displaying their wares on South Street and the Kalamazoo Mall. The art on display and for sale will include paintings, jewelry, photography, sculptures and more. There will also be live entertainment and artists’ demonstrations on the mall. For more information on the KIA Fair visit kiarts.org, and for more information on Art on the Mall visit kalamazooarts.org.

Art Hop

June 3 Downtown Kalamazoo This month's Art Hop theme celebrates Juneteenth, the June 19 observance commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Art Hop, a free event organized by the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, features a variety of artists' works in various locations in downtown Kalamazoo as well as live music and the chance to visit downtown businesses. It runs from 5–8 p.m., and the Arts Council has an app that provides a guide and map of Art Hop sites, information about participating artists, and walking directions. For more information or to access the app, visit kalamazooarts.org.

ONGOING EXHIBITIONS Kalamazoo Institute of Arts:

Linling Lu: Musical Meditations Through June 5

Colors! Shapes! Patterns! Through June 12

Unveiling American Genius Through Dec. 31

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VISUAL ARTS

LITERATURE

New Exhibitions

Heidi McCrary

June is a very busy month for the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. In addition to its annual Arts Fair in Bronson Park June 3–4, the art museum will open four new exhibitions this month. An exploration of a century of Surrealist art will be explored in the exhibition Surrealish: The Absurd and Unexpected, which opens June 4. Works by Surrealist masters like Salvador Dali and Joan Miro will be displayed alongside works by contemporary artists, including Kalamazoo artist Mary Hatch. The exhibition runs until Sept. 11. Abstract and decorative works on paper and panels by a longtime Detroit educator and state legislator will be highlighted in the exhibition Jack Faxon: A Michigan Artist and Advocate, which opens June 15 and runs until July 31. As a state senator, Faxon (1936–2020) established the Michigan Council for the Arts (now the Michigan Arts and Culture Council) and further demonstrated his passion for the arts through his sketches and paintings that experimented in abstraction, portraiture and figurative methods. Balancing the Cosmos: Works by Li Hongwei, opening June 8, will feature works created by the Chinese ceramist during the past four years. Li ’s works combine Eastern and Western aesthetics and traditional Chinese ceramic forms and contemporary glaze and sculptural practices. This exhibition, which runs until Oct. 2, examines how Li creates works that represent the delicate balance between traditional and contemporary methods and materials. Finally, the KIA’s Upjohn Mason Grandchildren’s Gallery will be filled with the work of Stephen Hansen, a former Kalamazoo resident whose work is prominently featured in the interior of the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport. Stephen Hansen: You Are Here runs from June 18–Aug. 28 and features Hansen’s whimsical, humorous papier-mâché sculptures. The KIA is open 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday and noon–4 p.m. Sundays. For more information, visit kiarts.org.

Local writer Heidi McCrary will give a reading and discuss her novel Chasing North Star, based on her childhood in Alamo Township. The event runs from 7–8 p.m. Chasing North Star is the first book for McCrary, who had a long career in marketing and media in Southwest Michigan. The semi-autobiographical novel addresses small-town life, mental illness and childhood pursuits in the woods of Michigan. Portage District Library has reopened at 300 Library Lane. For more information on this event, call the library at 329–4544 or visit portagedistrictlibrary.info.

Opening in June Kalamazoo Institute of Arts

June 16 Portage District Library

John Wemlinger

June 16 Richland Community Library John Wemlinger is the author of The Cut, which was chosen as a 2022 Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan. He will read and discuss his work at 7 p.m. The Cut is Wemlinger's fifth novel. It features a young couple who face relationship struggles amid feuding farmers and the powerful lumber industry in the 1870s in Manistee. For more information, call Richland Community Library at 629–9085 or visit richlandlibrary.org.

T heArts

is published in partnership and funding provided by

From top: Nick Bubash, Singer, 1996; Jack Faxon, Untitled Abstraction, 1994; Li Hongwei, Fragments Series, Xuan #3, 2019; Stephen Hansen: You Are Here, 1992. w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 31

POETRY ENCORE

You wouldn’t see pigs if you took the highway or slow down to get a closer look at their glistening skin, all brown and pink, and watch them snuffling in the dirt as their smell wafts through your window.

You wouldn’t ease off the gas to see the riffles on the Gun River, the decrepit sailboat encased in vines in someone’s front yard, the tilting headstones of West Cooper Cemetery.

You wouldn’t see the Wayland State Bank building with 1917 inscribed in stone. Or learn later, after scurrying to the internet, that Ensign Pickett once ran the bank from his general store.

Yes, there’s an East Cooper Cemetery too, at D and Riverview. You wouldn’t grow curious about that either if your journey took you flying down 131.

If you hadn’t become the crazy old lady you knew as a kid who avoided highways and used both feet to brake even when she was a passenger in your mother’s car,

All those little country cemeteries would sit unseen by you. No chance to ponder their inhabitants or how much time you have to drive these roads.

you’d miss the magic of the Henika Library, its curves and angles built with fieldstone from a local farm. You’d never have the urge to return to see its pressed-tin ceilings.

Out here, time expands across herds of cows and fields of corn, growing in all directions. Sure, it takes longer to travel home. But isn’t that the point—to stretch out all the time that’s left and take in all the world can hold?

Your mind wouldn’t wander to that time — Margaret DeRitter you met a college friend for lunch at Simply Celia’s or the day you pulled kayaks from the Kalamazoo DeRitter is the author of the poetry collection Singing Back and two buff young men carried them to the car. You wouldn’t smell the smoke of a wood fire behind Bob’s old brick house or wonder whether township officials are really the bullies someone claims on a hand-painted sign.

to the Sirens (Unsolicited Press, 2020) and the chapbook Fly Me to Heaven By Way of New Jersey (Celery City Chapbook Award winner, 2019). She is also the poetry editor of Encore. She wrote this poem after driving back roads home to Kalamazoo from Grand Rapids, which she often does because she hates highways.

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ENCORE EVENTS

Please Note: Due to the COVID–19 virus, some of these events may have been cancelled after press time. Please check with the venue and organizations for up–to–date information.

PERFORMING ARTS THEATER Plays

The Savannah Sipping Society — A comedy about four Southern women all needing to escape the sameness of their day-to-day routines and seek to reclaim their enthusiasm for life, 8 p.m. June 3, 4, 10, 11, 24 & 25; New Vic Theatre, 134 E. Vine St., thenewvictheatre.org. Musicals

Bright Star — A bluegrass musical about love and redemption set against a backdrop of the American South in the 1920s and ’40s, 7:30 p.m. June 16–18, 23–25 & 30–July 2, 2 p.m. June 26, Farmers Alley Theater, 221 Farmers Alley, farmersalleytheatre.com. DANCE Concert of Dance — Wellspring Dance Academy of Kalamazoo student concert, 2–4 p.m. June 5, Wellspring Theatre, 359 S. Kalamazoo Mall, Suite 204, wellspringdance.org. MUSIC Bands & Solo Artists Beats on Bates — Weekly live outdoor music under the lights of Bates Alley, 5:30–8:30 p.m. Wednesdays: Capt. Cat, June 1; BlueBack, June 8; The Incantations, June 15; J.Cam.G & Flizz-E, June 22; Zion Lion, June 29, downtownkalamazoo.org. Gun Lake Live Summer Series — Lakefront concerts at 6 p.m. Wednesdays, rain or shine, Lakefront Pavilion, Bay Pointe Inn, 11456 Marsh Road, Shelbyville: Union Guns, June 1; Sonimanic, June 8; Funkle Jesse, June 15; Brena, June 22; Jedi Mind Trip, June 29; 888–486–5253. State on the Street — Live concerts on select Fridays outside the State Theatre: Lisa Can’t Sing, June 3; Queer the Block, June 17; seating starts at 5 p.m., music at 5:30 p.m., 404 S. Burdick St., kazoostate.com. Concerts in the Park Summer Concert Series — Free, live outdoor concerts sponsored by the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, 4 p.m., Bronson Park (rain location, First Baptist Church, 315 W. Michigan Ave.): Cabildo, June 6; Kalamazoo Concert Band, June 20; Indika, June 27; kalamazooarts.org. Portage Summer Concert Series — Free monthly outdoor concerts, 7 p.m., Overlander Bandshell, 7810 Shaver Road: Denise Davis & The Motor City Sensations, June 9; Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, June 23; The Governor's Own 126th Army Band, June 30; bring a blanket or chair, portagemi.gov/calendar. Bell’s Eccentric Cafe Back Room Concerts — We Were Promised Jetpacks, June 9; OUT w/Casket Lottery & 84 Tigers, June 11; !!! (Chk Chk Chk), June 16; Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors w/Brother

Elsey, June 18; The Wild Feathers, June 24; all shows begin at 7 p.m., 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave., 382–2332, bellsbeer.com.

Possibilities of Papier-Mâché, talk by visual artist Gayle Swank Reyes, noon June 28, KIA Auditorium or via livestream; reserve free tickets on KIA website.

Orchestra, Chamber, Jazz, Vocal & More

Clara and Mr. Tiffany — Discussion of the Susan Vreeland novel about Clara Wolcott Driscoll, the woman who designed leaded-glass lamps, and the man who tried to take her work as his own, 2 p.m. June 15, KIA Auditorium.

KSO Masterworks Season Finale — The premiere of André Previn’s Concerto for Orchestra, plus violinist James Ehnes performing Brahms’ Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. June 4, Miller Auditorium, WMU, kalamazoosymphony.com. Haydn La Creación (The Creation) — Kalamazoo Bach Festival presents the biblical story of Creation in Spanish, featuring Latino guest soloists and added visual effects, 7:30 p.m. June 9 & 10, Dalton Theatre, Kalamazoo College, kalamazoobachfestival.org.

Clara Wolcott and Tiffany Lamps — Historian Renée Sentilles discusses the cache of personal letters uncovered in 2009 that revealed the true artist behind the famous Tiffany lamps, 6 p.m. June 23, KIA Auditorium and via livestream. Other Venues

100th Anniversary Gala Concert — A musical retrospective of the KSO’s 100 years of music making, with surprise special guests, 7:30 p.m. June 18, Miller Auditorium, WMU, kalamazoosymphony.com.

Sunflowers: A Ukraine Tribute — Ninth Wave Studio’s online exhibition of works created by local artists in solidarity with Ukraine, nwsvirtualgallery.com.

Kalamazoo Concert Band — Free outdoor concert, 3 p.m. June 18, Lafayette Park, 400 N. Main St., Three Rivers, kalamazooconcertband.org.

Art Hop — Displays of art at various locations in downtown Kalamazoo, with a June theme of Let Freedom Ring celebrating Juneteenth, 5–8 p.m. June 3, 342–5059, kalamazooarts.org.

FILM

Jumanji: The Next Level — Portage’s Movies in the Park feature begins after sunset (approximately 9 p.m.) June 24, Celery Flats Historical Area, 7335 Garden Lane; bring a blanket or chair and snacks, portagemi.gov/calendar. VISUAL ARTS Kalamazoo Institute of Arts 314 S. Park St., 349–7775, kiarts.org Exhibitions

Linling Lu: Musical Meditations — Responses to sound and color through circular compositions, through June 5. Colors! Shapes! Patterns! — Exhibition exploring the building blocks of art, through June 12. Surrealish: The Absurd and Unexpected — Works by Surrealist masters will be on display alongside contemporary and regional artists, June 4–Sept. 11. Jack Faxon: A Michigan Artist and Advocate — A boutique-style presentation of the senator and artist’s works that illuminate his interest in abstract and decorative works on paper and panels, June 15– July 31. West Michigan Area Show — Juried exhibition of works by West Michigan visual artists, through Sept. 4. Balancing the Cosmos: Works by Li Hongwei — An intersection between traditional Chinese ceramic forms and contemporary glaze and sculpture, June 18–Oct. 2. Stephen Hansen: You Are Here — Papier-mâché sculptures depicting humans, animals and hybrid figures, June 18–Aug. 28. Unveiling American Genius — Abstract and contemporary works from the KIA’s permanent collection, emphasizing stories that African American, Latino and other artists have told about our cultures, art and history, through December. Events ARTbreak — Program about art, artists and exhibitions: The “Fertile Soil” Project, talk by Dutch visual artist Doet Boersma, noon June 7; Profound

KIA Arts Fair — The 71st annual fair with paintings, jewelry, photography, sculpture & more, noon–8 p.m. June 3 & 9 a.m.–5 p.m. June 4, Bronson Park, kiarts.org. Art on the Mall — Soft-juried art show featuring works by 60 artists, demonstrations & entertainment, noon–8 p.m. June 3 & 9 a.m.–5 p.m. June 4, downtown Kalamazoo, kalamazooarts.org. Westminster Art Festival: A Certain Slant of Light — Annual exhibition combining visual art & poetry, through June 15, Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1515 Helen Ave., Portage, westminsterartfestival.org. LIBRARY & LITERARY EVENTS Comstock Township Library 6130 King Highway, 345–0136, comstocklibrary.org Adult Book Club — Discussion of Deacon King Kong, by James McBride, 6–7:30 p.m. June 30. Parchment Community Library 401 S. Riverview Drive, 343–7747, parchmentlibrary.org Parchment Book Group — Discussion of All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, 6 p.m. June 13.

Circling Lake Michigan: 1,100 Miles of History, Arts & Culture – Presented by Dianna Stampfler, 6 p.m. June 16. Mystery Book Club — Discussion of The Devotion of Suspect X, by Keigo Higashino, 4 p.m. June 20. Portage District Library 300 Library Lane, 329–4544, portagedistrictlibrary. info International Mystery Book Discussion — Discussion of The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman, 7 p.m. June 9. Kalamazoo Plant It Forward June Swap — Join indoor and outdoor plant lovers for a plant swap social event, 10 a.m.–noon June 11; registration required. Protect Yourself from Online Scams — Learn to identify and protect yourself and your personal

w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 33

EVENTS ENCORE information from online scammers, 2 p.m. June 13; registration required. Pub(lic) Library Trivia — Enjoy a night of pub-style trivia at the library, 7–8:30 p.m. June 14; bring a team or drop in on your own; registration required. Gardening Buzz — Learn about adding types of plants and flowers to create a healthy habitat for pollinators, 6:30 p.m. June 16; registration required.

My Garden of 1,000 Bees Documentary and Discussion — A screening of the documentary and a discussion with Martin Dorhn, a veteran wildlife cameraman and bee enthusiast, 6:30–7:30 p.m. June 21; registration required. Book Tasting: Summer Reads — Bring your lunch and sip a cup of local coffee or tea in our new cafe; this month enjoy exploring book titles that would be perfect to throw in a beach bag or take with you on vacation, 11 a.m.–1 p.m. June 22. Michigan Author Talk — Meet local author Heidi McCrary and discuss the debut of her novel Chasing North Star, 7–8 p.m. June 16. Richland Community Library 8951 Park St., 629–9085, richlandlibrary.org Open House — Stop by and celebrate the library’s accomplishments and renovations over the past few years, 5:30 p.m. June 9, with light refreshments served. Friends of the Library Sale — Books, DVDs & CDs for all ages in the Community Room during open hours, June 14–18. Meet Michigan Notable Author John Wemlinger — Author of The Cut, 7 p.m. June 16. Summer Reading Kickoff in the Square — A kickoff party with games, prizes and more, 3–4 p.m. June 21, Richland Village Square, 8001–8039 N. 32nd St., Richland. Team Trivia on the Patio — Grab a team of two to five to compete, 7 p.m. June 23; registration required. MUSEUMS Air Zoo 6151 Portage Road, Portage, 382–6555, airzoo.org Saturday Science Floor Shows — Life on Mars, June 18; Subzero Science, June 25; shows at noon & 2 p.m. Fly-In of Visiting Plane and Rides — Historic aircraft Rosie’s Reply will be visiting and available for ticketed rides at 11 a.m. & noon June 25; tickets can be purchased in advance on the Air Zoo’s website. Summer STEAM Engineering Saturdays — Free outdoor community events with hands-on science stations staffed by local businesses and educators, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. June 25, July 23 & Aug. 20. Gilmore Car Museum 6865 Hickory Road, Hickory Corners, 671–5089, gilmorecarmuseum.org Wednesday Night Cruise-Ins — Collector cars, oldies music & food, 5–8 p.m. Wednesdays on goodweather nights, through September. The Experience Full Classic Car Show — The Classic Car Club of America Museum’s annual show & driving tour, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. June 5. Vintage Motorcycle Weekend — Motorcycles, from rare to iconic rides of the past 100 years, parts & memorabilia, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. June 11–12. 34 | ENCORE JUNE 2022

Air-Cooled Gathering — Rare air-cooled cars, with free spectator admission for members, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. June 18. Volvos at the Gilmore — Hosted by The Great Lakes Volvo Club, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. June 18. Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals Meet-Up — High-performance cars, swap meet, live music, driving tour routes & remote radio broadcast, 9 a.m.– 4 p.m. June 25. Kalamazoo Valley Museum 230 N. Rose St., 373–7990, kalamazoomuseum.org

The Forgotten Fights of the Kalamazoo Boxing Academy — Traces the history of the academy while focusing on fighters who recount their personal experiences, through Sept. 18. Wonder Media: Ask The Questions! — This interactive exhibition tests visitors’ literacy skills and shows how to discern misinformation and disinformation in the media, through 2023. NATURE Kalamazoo Nature Center 7000 N. Westnedge Ave., 381–1574, naturecenter.org Native Plant Identification & Ecology Walk — Walk along the prairie pathway during the beauty of early summer and discuss the importance of prairie plantings on a larger scale, noon–1:30 p.m. June 4; registration required. Level 1 Venomous Handling Certification — Partner program with the Rattlesnake Conservancy teaches how to safely handle and relocate venomous reptiles, 9:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m., June 7 & 8; registration required. Beneath the Surface: Stream Macroinvertebrates — Explore the universe that lies beneath the surface of ponds, streams, soil and moss patches and learn how to investigate samples using a magnifying glass and microscope, 2–3:30 p.m. June 11; registration required. Behind the Scenes of Animal Care — Learn how the Nature Center keeps its animal ambassadors healthy and content and assist in daily tasks of an animal caretaker, 10–11:30 p.m. June 18; registration required. Returning and Reskilling Series: Knot Tying — This series aims to teach skills needed to live with the land, June 25; registration required. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary 12685 East C Ave., Augusta, 671–2510, birdsanctuary@kbs.msu.edu Wild Edibles Hike — Learn about edible plants found in Michigan on this hike led by Danielle Joellner from Idle Awhile Farm & Forage, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. June 4; registration required. Birds & Coffee Chat Online — Discussion of cardinals and ally birds, 10 a.m. June 8; registration required. Father’s Day — Dads get in free, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. June 19. Other Venues Kalamazoo Astronomical Society General Meeting & Speaker — Josh Simon presents a talk titled “The Dark Side of the Galaxies,” an introduction to nearby galaxies and dark matter that makes up

most of the universe, 7–9:15 p.m. June 3 via Zoom; register at kasonline.org. Kalamazoo Astronomical Society Public Observing Sessions — “The Moon & Spring Deep Sky Objects,” June 4, Kalamazoo Nature Center, 7000 N. Westnedge Ave.; “Great Globular Clusters,” June 18, Richland Township Park, 6996 N. 32nd St., Richland; both sessions 9:30 p.m.–1:30 a.m.; register at kasonline.org; sessions will be canceled if the sky is mostly cloudy or overcast; check the website for updates. Scalin’ Up for Summer — A new event combining the Family Fishing Fair with Reptile Roundup for an opportunity to see and touch a variety of reptiles and explore the world of fishing; first 100 kids receive a free fishing rod courtesy of Suez Water Technologies & the Future Anglers Association, 10 a.m.–1 p.m. June 11, Celery Flats, 7335 Garden Lane, portagemi. gov/calendar. Social Hike at Hidden Marsh Sanctuary — Led by a volunteer hike leader, 5:30 p.m. June 16, Hidden Marsh Sanctuary, 57000 block of Buckhorn Road, Three Rivers, swmlc.org. Great American Campout — Activities include eating s’mores and other campfire snacks, dinner and breakfast, survival skills, camp games and a rangerled night hike and bonfire; camp set-up begins at 3 p.m. June 25; check-out by 10:30 a.m. June 26, Schrier Park, 850 W. Osterhout Ave., portagemi.gov/ calendar; registration required. Audubon Society of Kalamazoo — Monthly meeting featuring visiting speaker, 7:30 p.m. June 27, People’s Church, 1758 N. 10th St.; online option available, kalamazooaudubon.org. MISCELLANEOUS Geo Mystery Tour: Fantastic Forage — A geocaching adventure in the Portage Parks System, June 1–30, with a different mystery revealed every other month; register at mypark.portagemi.gov and click Recreation Activities & Facility Rentals. History of Portage Pioneer Families Exhibition — Discover what life was like for pioneer families during the 1800s and learn about founding families in Portage’s history, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday–Friday through June 24, Portage City Hall Atrium, 7900 S. Westnedge Ave., portagemi.gov/calendar. Kalamazoo Farmers Market — Featuring over 100 businesses, 8 a.m.–1 p.m. Tuesdays, 2–6 p.m. Thursdays, 7 a.m.–2 p.m. Saturdays, through October; Night Market, 5–10 p.m. June 16, 1204 Bank St., pfcmarkets.com. Paddlesport Sampler — Learn about a variety of watercraft and basic skills through activities with certified instructors, with all equipment provided, 6–8 p.m. Tuesdays, through June, Ramona Park & Beach, 8600 S. Sprinkle Road; registration required, portagemi.gov/calendar. Workout Wednesdays — Free socially distanced workouts offered by local fitness organizations, 5:30–6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, June through August, Bronson Park, downtownkalamazoo.org. Preserving MI Harvest: Food Preservation & Recipe Webinars — Learn latest methods for safely preserving foods to fill your pantry and freezer, 1–2 p.m. & 6–7 p.m. Thursdays in June via Zoom, canr. msu.edu/academics/events. Portage Farmers Market — With farmers, vendors & music, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Sundays, through October,

outside Portage City Hall, 7900 S. Westnedge Ave., 329–4522. Kalamazoo Pride Festival — Presented by OutFront Kalamazoo, with live entertainment & information booths, 6 p.m.–midnight June 3 & 2 p.m.–midnight June 4, Arcadia Creek Festival Place, 145 E. Water St., outfrontkzoo.org/pride2022. Do-Dah Parade — Floats and whimsical costume parade, 11 a.m. June 4, downtown Kalamazoo; kelcevents.wixsite.com/dodahkzoo.

The Celebration of the Century!

Kalamazoo Indoor Garage Sale Expo — A sale with everything you’d find at a garage sale, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. June 4, North Room, Kalamazoo County Expo Center, 2900 Lake St., 443–9000. Breakfast with a Biologist — Join a Michigan DNR scientist and walk through Gourdneck State Game Area, enjoy a light breakfast and have the opportunity to ask questions, 9 a.m. June 8, Gourdneck State Game Area, at Angling Road Parking Lot (near Vanderbilt Road); registration required, portagemi. gov/calendar.

1OOTH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

Lunchtime Live! — A free weekly community event with live music, games & food, 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. Fridays June 10–Sept. 2, Bronson Park, kzooparks.org

Join us as we celebrate KSO’s greatest moments with classical music’s greatest hits! TICKETS $25-$67

Summer Kickoff Carnival — A free carnival event with rides, kickball, slip ‘n’ slide, & vendors, 3–7 p.m. June 10 (rain date, June 17), Upjohn Park, 1000 Walter St., kzooparks.org.

JUST ANNOUNCED! – SYMPHONY IN THE SUMMER Details at bit.ly/KSO-SummerSeason22

Vicksburg Old Car Festival —Old car show, steam & gas engine show & crafts, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. June 11, downtown Vicksburg, see Facebook event page.

SAT | JUNE 18 | 7:30 PM

Get your Tickets today: 269.250.6984 | KalamazooSymphony.com

Vintage in the Zoo — An outdoor vintage market and handmade goods, with live music, noon–7 p.m. June 11, KVCC’s Anna Whitten Hall, 202 N. Rose St., discoverkalamazoo.com. Buttermilk Jamboree —Music and arts festival with swimming, dancing and local food, June 17– 19, Circle Pines Center, 8650 Mullen Road, Delton, buttermilkjamboree.org. Juneteenth Celebration — Music, film, speakers, vendors & family activities to celebrate African Americans’ emancipation from slavery, 8 a.m.– 5 p.m. June 17–19, downtown Kalamazoo, blackartskalamazoo.org. UKC Premier Dog Show — Featuring agility, obedience, terrier racing & dock diving in addition to traditional show ring, 8 a.m.–4 p.m. June 17–19, Kalamazoo County Expo Center, ukcdogs.com. Mac ‘N’ Cheese Fest — Highlighting a variety of local food vendors and their macaroni-and-cheese creations, plus beer sampling and milk stations, 3–8 p.m. June 18–19, Homer Stryker Field, 251 Mills St., macandcheesemi.com.

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Friday at the Flats — Local food trucks, live music & vendors, 4:30–8:30 p.m. fourth Friday of each month, through September, Celery Flats Pavilion, 7335 Garden Lane, discoverkalamazoo.com. Kalamazoo Reptile & Exotic Pet Expo — Buy, sell or trade a variety of reptiles, amphibians, small mammals & other exotic pets, plus supplies & food, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. June 25, Kalamazoo County Expo Center South, kalamazooreptileexpo.com.

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ENCORE BACK STORY Brian Colopy (continued from page 38) "We want to be an event company that creates events that make people happy and that people haven't tried or are scared to try," he says. "And luckily so far, we've sold every ticket to every event we've ever had." How did you get where you are today? I was in the sports administration program at Ohio University and the program assigned me a mentor. All my roommates got these great mentors, big names like athletic directors at big colleges, and I got this guy named Dick Radatz. I felt like I had been stiffed because getting a mentor is a big deal, right? They're there to give you advice and help you get jobs. When I first met him, it was over the phone — he's in Florida, I was in Ohio — and he stopped me mid-conversation and said, "I'm not gonna do this on the phone. I'm gonna do it the right way. I'm flying you down to Florida tomorrow. We're gonna do this in person." Dick is the president of the Northwoods League. He and his wife, Kathy, started this league nearly 30 years ago. He came up with the idea of running the first for-profit summer collegiate baseball league ever, and people said it was a dumb idea that would never work. I started as an unpaid intern for the Northwoods League and built a relationship with Dick over time, and we stayed in touch. After school I was working for Ripkin Baseball's minor league teams in Baltimore and Aberdeen (South Dakota) and Augusta, Georgia. I had a few job offers, and I called Dick and said, "Hey, I'm not looking for a job, but you know, what do you think of these?" He said, “You're not taking any of those jobs. You're gonna come up to Battle Creek, Michigan, and work for my team." I trusted Dick and took a leap of faith. That was in 2010. And in 2014, we started the Kalamazoo Growlers team.

Earlier this year you became the owner of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo teams. Dick and Kathy Radatz's business is running the league, making sure they have a strong league by finding owners and people to run the league's teams. When Kalamazoo came about, Dick and Kathy told me, "This is your opportunity to own two teams." But having no money at the time (Colopy laughs), I had to bet on myself. I knew that if I could run the teams and make them successful, then I could become the youngest owner in Northwoods League history. That's basically what I've been obsessed with doing for the past seven or eight years. What is your fascination with food-oriented festivals? Kalamazoo was known for being a festival town. I had gone to some of those festivals and had a great time. But a year or two down the line, the festival would shut down. And then another one would shut down. I was like, “This is crazy. These used to be a really big part of Kalamazoo and its history. Why are they failing?” I realized it was like baseball. If you do what everyone else is doing, you're gonna get what everyone else is getting. It's not different or new. And everyone was doing a beer festival. But I love doughnuts — thus the Bear Claw Burger — and I thought they sounded good together and became obsessed with this doughnut and beer thing. I remember distinctly being laughed out of my very first meeting on this and being told it just wasn't going to work. I left so mad that I was like, “I'm gonna make this freaking festival work.” We sold out of the event with close to 3,000 people. And we said, "Let's do what we're doing with baseball but with festivals. My wife's and my 3-yearold daughter's favorite food is macaroni and cheese. People love mac and cheese. Let's do that.” Then it was tacos and tequila because who doesn't like tacos? And we've got more coming on board. — Interview by Marie Lee, edited for length and clarity

For This

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BACK STORY ENCORE

Brian Colopy

Kalamazoo Growlers & Battle Creek Battle Jacks and Outlier Events B

Brian Powers

rian Colopy is the first one to tell you that he loves baseball but that it isn't that much fun to watch. Which is why, since the 39-year-old began working in the Northwoods League, the summer collegiate league that both the Kalamazoo Growlers and the Battle Creek Battle Jacks (formerly the BC Bombers) baseball teams belong to, he has set out to change that. He started by introducing the Twinkie Hot Dog at Battle Creek games and then the Bear Claw Burger — a 4,000-calorie cheeseburger with mac ’n’ cheese and pulled pork crammed between two doughnuts — at Growlers games, which generated a lot of buzz from both local and national media. Then it was the Selfie Jersey and a drum line in the stands, then the Growlettes granny cheerleading team, the Dad Bods dancing team and the Homerun Derbies, followed by five-inning games. And audiences responded.

38 | ENCORE JUNE 2022

"It's everything but baseball. I think we coined ourselves the 'unbaseball team,'" says Colopy. "Everything we do is based around fun. That's how our mission and motto — 'Where fun makes a difference' — was born.” He is so good at fun that he created a company, Outlier Events, to run food-oriented festivals such as the Donut and Beer Fest, the Mac and Cheese Fest, and the Tacos and Tequila Fest, which all debuted in Kalamazoo but are now held in other locations, including Grand Rapids, Lansing, Ohio and Wisconsin. (continued on page 37)

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A CAPITAL CAMPAIGN FOR

Milestone Senior Services Without our programs, many in our region would go hungry, suffer from isolation, lack adequate medical care, and withdraw from community engagement. We can’t let this happen. Together with your help, we can overcome today’s challenges and secure essential services for our future. Your generosity will modernize and enhance our building in ways that mitigate flood risk and restore the level of service to which we’re dedicated to providing now – and as we expand in the future.

DONATE TODAY www.MSSNewHomeNewHope.org

Encore June 2022

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