From the Editor

While not always easy to find, there are positive things that have come out of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.

For one, people have rediscovered the natural world. When we couldn’t take being inside anymore, we went outdoors and hiked, biked, walked and enjoyed the natural beauty and opportunities our area abounds with.

One of the places that helped us do that was the Kalamazoo Nature Center, which we feature in our cover story this month. Sixty years ago, local nature lover Lewis Batts had the foresight to preserve a chunk of land north of Kalamazoo known as Cooper’s Glen. Since then, the KNC has spread its wings into nature education, conservancy, camps, an environmental field school and animal rehabilitation. During the pandemic lockdown, when the outdoors was one of the few safe places to be, this membershipbased center opened its trails to everyone, allowing many people to find a peaceful and beautiful respite during stressful times.

In another story in this issue, we meet Molly Appledorn, who turned to prolifically making homemade soap during the lockdown and then just as prolifically giving it away. It’s a wonderful story told by her sister, local author Jennifer Clark, about how something as ordinary as soap became something extraordinary.

We also meet Tony Humrichouser, the artistic director of the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre. The pandemic has brought a tidal wave of change to the local arts community, and Tony talks about how he and the Civic are rethinking theater in a pandemic.

Finally, on a less upbeat note, we bid farewell to someone very special to Encore and the greater Kalamazoo community. Celeste Statler, our venerable sales and marketing genius and the first hire we made after purchasing Encore in 2011, is leaving us for the mountains and rangeland of Montana. For nearly a decade, she has enchanted us with her effervescence, awed us with her amazing fashion sense, and generally improved everything she touched in relation to Encore.

Celeste is known to many of you because of her work with the Kalamazoo Gazette and her involvement with the former Chamber of Commerce and on the boards of the Civic, Ministry With Community and many other organizations. Without her around, I think we’ll all feel as if there’s a lot less bubble in our champagne. Thank you, Celeste, for being our light on gray days and championing Encore everywhere you went.

And thank you, Encore readers, for your interest in our magazine. Enjoy the beauty of autumn.

From left to right: Michael D. Holmes, William B. Millard, Morgan L. Rogalke, Michele C. Marquardt, Charles S. Ofstein, Tyler J. Stewart

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CONTENTS October 2020

FEATURE

‘Certain Places Have a Magic’ 22

For 60 years, the Kalamazoo Nature Center has been soothing souls and connecting people with the natural world

On the cover: Nathan Smallwood, executive director of the Kalamazoo Nature Center, at left, chats with KNC landscape coordinator Luke Allison on one of the center’s trails. Photo by Brian K. Powers

DEPARTMENTS

5 From the Editor

8 Contributors

9 Up Front

First Things — A round-up of happenings in SW Michigan

12

16

38

Five Faves — Interesting local tombstones and the tales behind them

Enterprise Lathered in Love — Extraordinarily unordinary times cry out for the desperately ordinary: soap

Back Story Meet Tony Humrichouser — The Civic Theatre’s artistic director talks about rethinking theater in today's world

ARTS

32

35 Events of Note

Poetry