#TBT Time for Tulip Time in Holland

Tulip Time 1953 Edition

Holland’s annual Tulip Time Festival starts this Saturday and runs May 7-15, 2022. Tulip Time is the oldest tulip festival in North America that started in in 1929 when the City of Holland planted its first crop of 100,000 tulips, and it has continued to grow with national entertainment acts and events & activities for all ages.

The Tulip Time Festival shared this awesome photo from the 1950s, a perfect Throwback Thursday! Head over to their Facebook Page for more!

More tulips & Tulip Time on Michigan in Pictures.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road to ArtPrize

Art Prize – Tin Man by Daniel L

The annual Grand Rapids Art Prize is once again underway, running through this Sunday, October 3rd. The event was started back in 2009 & has become one of the nation’s leading public art competitions. This year nearly 900 entries are available to view & vote on. Here’s hoping you get a chance to visit!!

Daniel took this photo the other day – see more on his Flickr!

More ArtPrize on Michigan in Pictures.

PS: The Tin Man sculpture was created by Bill Secunda.

Happy Independence Day 2021!

Bay City Fireworks Festival by mark5032001

Wishing all of you a very happy Fourth of July!

Mark took this shot back in 2010 at the annual Bay City Fireworks Festival. See more in his Favorites gallery & enjoy your weekend!

Love your community & sing your hearts out with the Kalamazoo Bach Festival

Kalamazoo Bach Festival by Kalamazoo Bach Festival

In these uncertain & chaotic times, it can really lift your spirit to share the joy of music and art This week the Kalamazoo Bach Festival has you covered with live, online events tonight & Thursday night:

The Bach Festival Society was founded in 1946 by Henry Overley, Professor of Music at Kalamazoo College, who wanted to bring “town and gown” together to experience the joy of making music and to create something sublime — in particular, to recreate the choral and instrumental music of J. S. Bach and his contemporaries.

Since 1947, the Festival has grown and expanded, due to the active involvement of the community: now year-long, it includes “Bach-to-School” educational programs, Bach Legacy Lectures, a “Bach-Around-the-Block” organ crawl, a Young Artist Competition and Concert, a High School Choral Festival, master classes for young singers, and performances with the Kalamazoo Symphony,

June 2 will feature Dede Alder and her magical marimba and beautiful voice with song and stories in collaboration with the Kalamazoo Public Library. On June 4, live-streaming from our Facebook page, Jordan Hamilton will spread his love and message with his cello and thought provoking vocals. Join us at 7 pm on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday for these amazing programs brought to you buy some very talented local artists!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Both Dede & Jordan are friends and they are INCREDIBLE! More about the Bach Festival on their website & check out the details on their Facebook event!

Waving at April Fools

Wave by Ryan Munson

Those who know me or are longtime Michigan in Pictures fans know that April Fools Day is something near & dear to my heart (click that link for some of the best). It’s one of the many comforting things that are sliding away and I hope that all of you find new comforts & new ways of thinking about happiness.

You can view Ryan’s photo and more on Flickr & also check out the Ann Arbor Festifools group on Flickr for more from this A2 tradition!

PS: Shoutout to the folks who’ve tossed me a couple of dollars for Michigan in Pictures as well as all of you who are reading & sharing my posts. Feel free to email me a link to your Instagram or other photo page if you want me to check out your own photos for sharing and STAY SAFE!!

Learn a traditional skill at the Crosshatch Skill Swap

The not so elusive Sourdough loaves, photo by Dan Bruell

Hey folks, let me tell you about a cool thing that I’m involved with, the second annual Crosshatch Skill Swap at Earthwork Farm on Saturday, June 3rd. It’s a full day of hands-on workshops, followed by a dinner and live music. It takes place at Earthwork Farm near Lake City and offers 16 workshops in four areas:

• The Green World – wayfinding & orienteering, seed saving, beekeeping, and an herb walk
• Real Home Ec – farmer cheese, Kombucha, making mead, and bread baking
• Tinkering – bike repair, tailoring, spoon carving, and a topic to be named later
• Art – songwriting, singing harmony, using natural dies, and screenprinting

After the dinner, there are FOUR musical treats. The first is a waltz hour featuring amazing string players with knowledgeable waltzers to help you learn a bonus skill – waltzing followed by a concert in the barn host Seth Bernard, Gifts or Creatures, and Heavy Color. Camping is included if you so desire, and there’s a video below with my friend Brad outlining the day. Click for tickets and more information!

View the photo background big and see more in Dan’s Foods slideshow.

2017 Marche du Nain Rouge is this Sunday!

Marche du Nain Rouge, photo by Joel Williams

My favorite event of the year appears to have snuck up on me! The 2017 Marche du Nain Rouge takes place in Detroit this Sunday (March 26th) at noon at the corner of Cass and Canfield (parade departs at 1 PM). The organizers have some hints about what’s in store for one of Michigan’s quirkiest parades:

The start of the 8th annual Marche du Nain Rouge on Sunday, March 26, 2017, promises to be the most epic parade launch yet. Will the Nain Rouge’s dastardly plan for squelching city pride involve an overly complicated scheme with oversized props and ridiculous costumes? Come find out!

The annual parade through Midtown shows of Detroit pride in the face of the city’s oldest nemesis, the scheming doomsayer, the Nain Rouge. More than 6,000 people are expected to attend this year’s parade, featuring costumes, marching bands, dancers, tricked out cars, and more.

Caribbean Mardi Gras Productions will return with all of its feathers, sparkles and dancers, ready to accompany their Pans of Joy steel drum band. And our friends at Gabriel Brass Band will return to lead the Marche with their authentic New Orleans second-line sound.

In addition to whatever madness the Nain has concocted, the cockroach car from the past couple years will return, bringing with it several other Art Cars, including a new “Bubblemobile” out of Southwest Detroit, and Scrubby Bubble, which has represented Detroit at the Annual Burning Man Festival in Nevada. Also, we’re asking cosplayers to come out for the parade and a costume contest at the afterparty. (at the Detroit Masonic Temple)

If that sounds like fun, get more info about the Marche at marchedunainrouge.com and be sure to follow them on Facebook.  You can read all about the legend of the Red Dwarf of Detroit at Absolute Michigan.

View Joel’s photo from the 2015 March bigger and see more in his Marche du Nain Rouge 2015 slideshow.

Time for the 2017 Michigan Ice Festival!

dairyland, photo by Wilkinson Visual

Wilkinson Visual writes that this photo shows David Hixenbaugh scrapping up dairyland on a blustery day out on the lakeshore. Great climbing, very unique features formed by the wind making for an exciting top out!

The annual Michigan Ice Fest runs today through Sunday (Feb 15-19, 2017) in Munising. It’s an annual celebration of the sport of ice climbing that brings together some of the world’s best climbers and experts for climbing exhibitions, seminars, guided climbs, get togethers and much more! Click the link above for all the details.

View the photo bigger on the Wilkinson Visuals Facebook and visit their website for all kinds of photos including this cool Michigan Ice Climbing Gallery.

Here’s climbing video from the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore by David (@alpine_elevation on Instagram):

View this post on Instagram

Here's a little video I took of our HMR climb a couple weeks ago on Saturday. It was such a good day with @coltenintheoutdoors and @eolsenphoto! Yes I'm wearing my #blackdiamond stance belay parka haha! It was a bit chilly.. I feel so lucky to experience these things. Winter in the UP is amazing! I'm so stoked for #michiganicefest. #iceclimbing #michiganice #HMR #coldandiloveit #climb #up #puremichigan

A post shared by David Hixenbaugh (@alpine_elevation) on Dec 29, 2016 at 8:16pm PST

Detroit House & Murals in the Market

In this New World Order, it might just be up to Beau Stanton to save us all, photo by Michael

I’d never heard of artist Beau Stanton, who painted this mural, but I’m glad I have now! The mural is called Detroit House and his website explains:

This multifaceted mural wraps around all four sides of a cinderblock house in a large open field. It was created in September 2015 for the first annual Murals in the Market Festival in Detroit, located at St. Aubin and Pierce on the border of Detroit’s Eastern Market neighborhood.

Murals in the Market is an annual event takes place in the fall and invites local and international artists to paint large-scale murals throughout the Eastern Market District. Click the link to read all about it!

View Michael’s photo background bigtacular and see more in his slideshow.

More great Michigan art and more winter wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures!

Don’t Skip the Fresh Coast Film Festival!

Skipping Stones, Lake Superior Presque Isle Park, photo by John McCormick

As I shared a couple of weeks ago, the first-ever Fresh Coast Film Festival takes place next week (October 13-16) in Marquette. It’s a documentary film festival celebrating the outdoor lifestyle, water-rich environment and resilient spirit of the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest. In my article about the festival on Absolute Michigan I made a list of some of the films that were most exciting to me, including the one in the trailer below, Skips Stones for Fudge. It’s the story of competitive stone skippers Russ “Rock Bottom” Byars and Kurt “Mountain Man” Steiner that features the championships at Mackinac Island.

The film is just one of a diverse offering, and the festival will also make the outdoors a part the fun with guided outdoor activities to introduce visitors to the outdoor playground of the Marquette area. Rock climbing, fly fishing, sea kayaking, waterfall hikes and mountain bike rides will be offered as well!

View John’s photo from Presque Isle park in Marquette bigger, see more in his My Favorites slideshow, and definitely follow Michigan Nut Photography on Facebook!