Lansing’s Old Town puckered up for the SMOOCH! Project at the Perspective2 Studio, 319 E. Grand River Ave., in Lansing, on Tuesday in an effort to reduce violence through human affection. The SMOOCH! Project is a documentary record of the human demonstration to willingly share and welcome love and affection with no regard to social, economic or political boundaries.
The Ronald McDonald House is a building that can house up to eight families at once, said Lisa Gnass, Ronald McDonald House of Mid-Michigan executive director. The house celebrated its 10th anniversary of operation Tuesday afternoon in Lansing. The anniversary event featured an open house for the public, refreshments and a silent auction. Additionally, leaders from the Lansing community, such as state Rep. Joan Bauer, D-Lansing, gathered to speak.
The Korean summer camp is a five-day program featuring classes in Korean traditions and culture, including art, music, language and Taekwondo classes. The program is geared toward educating adopted children who have Korean backgrounds, although it is open to all children interested in learning about Korean culture
While many MSU students have been on study abroad programs, East Lansing City Manager Ted Staton has done some traveling of his own. Staton returned June 15 from a nearly two-week adventure to East Lansing’s sister city, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The trip was a continuation of a project started about five years ago when Staton and former East Lansing Director of Planning and Community Development Jim van Ravensway traveled to Romania to begin the relationship between the two cities.
In celebration of the summer solstice, the Old Town Commercial Association, or OTCA, is holding a Festival of the Moon from 6-11 p.m. Friday, and a Festival of the Sun from 2-11 p.m. Saturday on the corner of Turner Street and Grand River Avenue, in Lansing. The Festival of the Moon, honoring the shortest night of the year, will feature live entertainment from rock groups JHD, Jet Set Drag and Cartel.
Harris Nature Center, 3998 Van Atta Road, in Okemos, will sponsor a guided tour through the woods from 9-10 p.m. Friday. The hike, called Howl at the Moon, takes place each month in the summer on the Friday nearest the full moon. Hikers are invited to bring dogs, as long as they are kept on non-retractable leashes.
The Juneteenth holiday is an annual, weekend-long celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the U.S. hundreds of years ago. The festivities in Lansing are a small representation of what Juneteenth really means, where it is the community’s job to more thoroughly educate the public about the holiday.
Collectors gathered pinups, posters and pulps for the semi-annual Classicon 37 on Saturday at the Quality Inn University, 3121 E. Grand River Ave., in Lansing. Classicon 37 was hosted by the Curious Book Shop, 307 E. Grand River Ave., and collectors from East Lansing, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Lansing, Toledo and Grand Rapids gathered to sell and purchase material, including original movie posters, advertisements, pulps, paperbacks and artwork used for paperback covers.
Similar communities and common problems are why five city managers from Big Ten university towns got together Thursday and Friday for their semi-regular meeting. East Lansing hosted this year’s meeting of city managers and economic development experts from State College, Pa.; Evanston, Ill.; Champaign, Ill. and Ann Arbor. East Lansing City Manager Ted Staton led a tour of East Lansing and MSU, including a stop at the Cyclotron, and listened to several speakers about projects the city has coming in the future, including the integration of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum.
After months of lobbying, a new hot dog restaurant is likely to be serving beer in the near future in downtown East Lansing. After an hour and a half long discussion about the hot dog restaurant, East Lansing City Council passed a special use permit for a liquor license Tuesday for What’s Up Dawg?, 301 M.A.C. Ave. The council went through a series of conditions and amendments the restaurant must follow with the approval.
White Memorial Park featured a dedication Wednesday night at its newly made pavilion. The improvements and new constructions to the park include constructing a pavilion at its entrance, revamping the fencing at the softball field, paving of the area’s parking lots, a new interpretive nature trail that features handicap accessibility and a viewing platform that presents the park’s pond.
Several city managers from cities with Big Ten universities will meet Thursday and Friday in East Lansing. City managers from Ann Arbor, Evanston, Ill., Champagne, Ill., Iowa City, Ia. and State College, Penn., will join East Lansing City Manager Ted Staton in discussing common threads in city governments of Big Ten universities.
To celebrate Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month, the Capital Area Humane Society will be holding a Cat Adoption Event 12-7 p.m. on June 18. The event will be held at the Capital Area Humane Society, 7095 W. Grand River Ave., in Lansing.
The Korean Culture Camp of Eastern Michigan will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday next week at St. Thomas Aquinas School, 915 Alton St. The camp has been operating for 21 years with the goal of providing a first-hand Korean experience to adopted Korean children.
To celebrate Father’s Day, Ingham County dads will receive free admission to Potter Park Zoo on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The day will include a Keeper Talk about the role of dads in the wild and at the zoo, taking place at 2 p.m. Fathers will also have a chance to win a penguin feeding. The Magellanic penguin exhibit includes a new father of three penguin chicks born last month.
Mark Stephens, an education program coordinator in MSU’s Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resources Studies, led a two-day Fishing for the Future of the Great Lakes workshop May 15-16 at Gardner Middle School, 333 Dahlia Dr., in Lansing. Stephens, who coordinates the Project Friends Involved in Sportfishing Heritage, or Project FISH, program, said the workshop equips people to teach kids about fishing and aquatic resource stewardship.
An idea for a late-night concession stand that might turn into a full blown hot dog restaurant — with beer — will be voted on by East Lansing City Council at its meeting Tuesday night. The proposed business, What Up Dawg?, would occupy a building on M.A.C. Avenue near the St. John Student Center, 327 M.A.C. Ave., one of the prospective owners Seth Tompkins said. After the lease was signed, Tompkins began pursuing the only aspect that potentially will delay the project — a liquor license.
In a kickoff event for Vote 2010, a flurry of volunteers knocked on doors in East Lansing neighborhoods Saturday, asking students to sign pledges of voting in the November elections. Set up by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee, the kickoff event in East Lansing was one of dozens across the state. Volunteers went door-to-door and asked residents to sign a pledge to vote in November.
The Summer Solstice Jazz Festival will hit downtown East Lansing from June 18-20. The festival is a joint production by the city of East Lansing, Wharton Center and the MSU College of Music. The two headliners are Somi, a New York-based singer/songwriter and Joe Lovano, an internationally-known jazz performer.
Dirty Feat is the first urban adventure race in Lansing and East Lansing. The race took more than 80 teams of two people each through downtown East Lansing, along the Red Cedar River, across the MSU campus and throughout the city of Lansing in a race of more than 30 miles.