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North Manitou Light Celebration Planned
An outdoor, in-person, socially distanced event to celebrate the ongoing restoration of the North Manitou Shoal Light will take place in Leland this Saturday, Sept. 19. Anyone interested in the crib (so called because it’s a lighthouse situated in the middle of Lake Michigan, one mile offshore from North Manitou Island and eight miles offshore from Leland) is invited to hear presentations on restoration and management plans, future opportunities to visit the crib, its history, and information about the North Manitou Light Keepers. The “Light Keeper Rally” is scheduled to take place at 5pm at the Main Street Gallery on S. Main Street.
TC’s Porchfest Rocks On Porchfest is back in Traverse City’s Central Neighborhood (you know, that gorgeous neighborhood of 450+ homes that’s been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979). And for its second annual event, not much will have changed. Friends, families, and other interested folks are invited to stroll the sidewalks, sit on the lawns, and take in a series of all-outdoor music performances by talented artists performing pro bono “in the spirit of promoting music, entertainment and the value of community in Traverse City.” Porchfest 2020 runs 1pm–5pm, Sunday, Sept. 20. Find it on various porches bounded by 5th, Locust, Union, 9th, and Division Streets, south west of downtown Traverse City. (To register as a performer or to host a group on your porch, visit tccna1.wixsite.com/tcporchfest2020.)
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ZOOM IT! SCIENCE, FAMILY AND FAITH
In Yaa Gyasi’s newest novel, Transcendent Kingdom, she writes about Gifty, a doctoral student exploring the underpinnings of addiction and depression — maladies that have hit her own immigrant family.
Stuff we love
Ensuring Northerners Get Their Fair Share So we loathe the suddenly accelerated Census response deadline of Sept. 30, 2020. Seeing as it’s tough to accurately count people in normal times, forcing a faster count during a pandemic strikes us as silly and, well … a bit scary. Money for our schools, roads, and social programs are on the line here. And, red alert, y’all: If we miss counting folks, the amount of federal funding (you know, the money you pay the Feds in taxes) Michigan stands to lose is $1,800 per person … per year … for the next 10 years. Which brings us to our latest love: www.NorthwestCounts.com, where you can log on to answer nine quick questions and ensure you and yours are counted. And no, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a permanent or seasonal resident, a renter, a college student, or an immigrant; you count. And counting you helps our entire community.
bottoms up Two K Farms’ Spitzenburg Cider Two K Farms’ 2018 Rosé and 2017 Riesling might have won at the prestigious by-invitation-only Jefferson Cup wine competition last year, but we suspect the cidery and winery’s 2019 Spitzenburg Cider is the libation that would win the approval of an even more impressive Jefferson’s cup — that of Thomas Jefferson, American statesman, architect, philosopher, Founding Father, and enthusiastic fan of Esopus Spitzenberg apples, “discovered,” as it were, by Dutch settlers in New York, circa 1770. Turns out, much like Two K’s bro co-owners George and Max Koskela, the United States’ third president also devoted a big chunk of orchard at Monticello to cultivating those buttery yellow, incomparably sweet apples. While we can’t comment on the cider Big J’s Spitzenburgs made, we can tell you the stuff the Two Ks have squeezed forth is as complex as the Founding Father himself, yet smooth and heady with fruity perfumes and a unique passionfruit taste, a light mouthfeel, and a zingy 6.9% ABV. We the people recommend you drink some. $15.99 for a six-pack. Find it at Two K Farms tasting room, 3872 SW Bay Shore Dr. in Suttons Bay, or online at www.twokfarms.com.
In her debut novel, Homegoing, Gyasi “brilliantly renewed and expanded the fiction of double lives” and in Transcendent Kingdom she “explores the science of the soul.” (New Yorker) The book also explores Gifty’s tangled relationship with her Pentecostal upbringing and whether science and faith can exist harmoniously. The Sept. 23, 7 p.m. event is virtual; registration info at NationalWritersSeries.org.
Northern Express Weekly • sept 14, 2020 • 5
