 Brett Newski and the No Tomorrow will be at the Dogwood Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, June 18 at 7:30 p.m. on the main stage. Brett Newski and the No Tomorrow have a unique sound that falls somewhere between 90’s alternative rock and geek rock. Newski is the lead singer, an alternative songwriter, illustrator and podcaster based in Milwaukee, WI. He has been featured on Rolling Stone, NPR, American Songwriter, SiriusXM, Boston Globe, and Paste. Newski has played over 1200 shows on every continent except Antarctica. Newski has played alongside acts like Pixies, Violent Femmes, Courtney Barnett, Manchester Orchestra, and Better than Ezra. He continues to tour over 100 dates per year. Newski's podcast "Dirt from the Road" dives into strangest travel stories, mental health boosts, and how to navigate the hurdles of being a person in modern times. Guests have included The Lumineers, All American Rejects, Dashboard Confessional, Guster, Verve Pipe, Toad the Wet Sprocket and Frank Turner. Check out more information about Newski at www.brettnewski.com. Tickets are only $15 and are available by clicking here, through the Dogwood Box Office, or downtown Fremont at NCCA-Artsplace. Seating style is reserved seating with social distancing. Seating is limited to 75 total. Masks worn by non-vaccinated people will be required at all times in the Dogwood Center. For information, phone 231.924.8885. The Dogwood Center is located one mile east of downtown Fremont.
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 Fremont Library to Begin “Tails and Tales” for Summer Reading
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”- Dr. Seuss The Fremont Area District Library begins their summer reading program on Friday, June 4th. All ages are welcome to come in and sign up on or after June 4th to begin earning prizes for your reading. Children can earn a free pizza from Spanky’s, a toy, a coupon to We Love Nutrition, Griffin'sGriffins passes, a free book, and entry into grand prize drawings! Teens can earn free pizza from Spanky’s, a free book, and for every book they read, they can enter for chances to win many prizes to local restaurants and stores. Adults can earn free ice cream from Koffee Kuppe, a coupon for library services, a free book, and enter to win grand prizes like certificates to Blades, We Love Nutrition, Meijer, a t-shirt from SHB Gifts & Décor, and more! The Summer Reading Program is important in helping to prevent the “summer slide,” which is the tendency for students to lose some of the achievement gains they made in school the previous year. So grab some books, have fun reading, and come to our animal-themed “Tails and Tales” (FREE) events this summer! We’re also excited to announce that we’re partnering with Bellwether Harbor Animal Shelter this year. If you donate to or adopt an animal from Bellwether this summer, you can count it as reading time for the summer reading program! Get started at https://www.bellwetherharbor.org/donations/ Children’s Events Our very popular Discovery Tuesday programs will take place at the Veteran’s Memorial Park this year on Tuesday mornings at 10:00 a.m. and last 45 minutes to 1 hour. On June 8th, a visit from Mr. Jim’s Wild Kingdom will kick off our Discovery Tuesday programs. Mat Emerick will bring out Professor Snoopenheimer to snoop out kooky kryptids on June 15th. On June 22nd and a few days that week, we’ll have a Scholastic Book Fair in the library’s Community Room (more details coming). Professional storyteller Judy Sima will be at the park on June 29th to bring us a warm and engaging performance. In addition to our Discovery Tuesday programs in June, Miss Roxanne will continue to do storytimes on the Fremont Area District Library Facebook page on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10:30, and we’ll continue to have our popular Grab-n-Go Crafts available throughout the summer. More Discovery Tuesday programs will also be coming in July! Teen Events We’ll be Chalking the Sidewalks on Darling Street during the library’s open hours on June 10th (rain date June 17th). Help us make an activity walk on the sidewalk! Come in to the Reference Desk for chalk supplies. On June 24th, we’ll discuss the book Scorpio Races in the Community Room at 2:00. Books will be available at the front desk in June—just ask for a FMT teen book club book and come ready to talk about the book. Ice cream will be provided! On Tuesday, June 29th, professional storyteller Judy Sima will be in the Community Room to tell Scary Stories for Teens. Join us from 2:00-3:00 for chills and thrills! Beginning June 1st and throughout the summer, see www.fremontlibrary.net/teens and click on the MiLibraryQuest link to go on an online quest for animals and enter for a chance to win a prize. Adult Events The adult Summer Reading Program will run from June 4th to August 13th. The Wednesday Readers book group will meet on Monday, June 14th at 7:00 p.m. to discuss Widower’s Tale by Julia Glass. The Daytime Book Group will meet on June 24th at 11:30 a.m. to discuss Courting Mr. Emerson by Melody Carlson. New members are welcome to our book groups! Thanks to the very generous support of the Friends of the Fremont Area District Library, Spanky’s Pizza, Koffee Kuppe, We Love Nutrition, SHB Gifts & Décor, Blades Hair Design, Meijer, Fremont Area Community Foundation, and many other sponsors, all summer reading events at the library are free and open to the public. For more information about library programs, visit http://www.fremontlibrary.net, or call 231-924-3480.  Local entrepreneurs selected as finalists for third annual Pitch North competition
Five finalists to compete for their share of more than $10,000 in cash prizes Five local entrepreneurs have been chosen to pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges during the third annual Pitch North competition. Pitch North is Newaygo County’s first-of-its-kind entrepreneurial pitching competition where entrepreneurs living in Newaygo, Oceana and Lake Counties are able to pitch their ideas for a chance at one of five cash prizes. Finalists for the 2021 event will compete for the chance to win their share of $10,000 in cash prizes to bring their ideas to life. The Lakeshore Fab Lab has also offered in-kind prizes to all five finalists. The event will be held virtually on Tuesday, June 8, 2021 via ZOOM. The finalists are as follows: Eric Carson, Carson Family Beef from Newaygo County Courtney DeGarmo, Courtney’s Canine Creations, from Oceana County Caleb Davis-Dykema, A Garden In The Woods Farm, from Oceana County Whitney Schornagel, House of Whole, from Newaygo County Emmaline Woodward, Woodline Landscape & Design, Newaygo County. These finalists were selected from a pool of 33 submissions. Each finalist will be given five minutes to present their business idea and the Pitch North judges will have an opportunity to ask questions directly after. Pitch North will be held virtually via ZOOM and attendance is open to anyone. To tune in for the live event, register for free at www.pitchnorth.com/register-to-attend prior to June 8, 2021. Pitch North is hosted by The Right Place, Inc. and made possible through support from The Adama Family Gift Fund, The Fremont Area Community Foundation, Shelby State Bank, Consumers Energy, DTE Energy, West Shore Community College, The City of Fremont, The City of Newaygo, The City of Hart, River Country Chamber of Commerce and Gerber Federal Credit Union. For more information, visit www.pitchnorth.com or contact Julie Burrell at [email protected] or 231.335.1985  Photos and story by Julie Burrell Recently we asked folks to share their hiking stories with us. https://www.nearnorthnow.com/the-pulse/we-want-your-trail-tales This one comes from Ms. Burrell an N3 friend and author of the Burrell Business Brief Raise your hand if you grew up less than 10 miles from a national treasure and didn’t know it…. Just me? My childhood was spent on the banks of Minnie Pond & roaming through the Manistee National Forest… little did I know the North Country Trail was literally in my backyard. This national trail, spreading across the US from North Dakota to Vermont, stretches through Newaygo County for 40+ miles. And I didn’t step foot on to this trail until 2018. Fast forward to 2021, I committed to the North Country Trail Association’s annual Hike 100 challenge https://newaygocountyexploring.com/2021/02/12/winter-hiking-questions-from-a-newbie/ which is far more than I’ve ever hiked in my life. Living in Hesperia and a being a fan of convenience, I normally start at the M-20 trailhead and enjoy out & back hikes during the occasional lunch hour or a weekend morning.
In preparation for my 36th trip around the sun & needing to use some vacation time, I planned a long (for me) hike.A few weeks ago, I had an unusual full Saturday morning of no chores and occupied kids, so I took off toward my favorite trailhead – planning to go all the way to Echo Drive and back. I normally stop about half way between M20 and Echo, so it was really great to see this stretch of trail. The most interesting was a swampy section, utilizing a really long rustic boardwalk – don’t walk too fast though – it gets slippery! Feeling confident after my 7ish miles, I felt ready to tackle the 8+ mile stretch of Echo Drive to 40th street on my birthday. My father-in-law even gifted me a decades old walking stick, forged by his dad from Alaskan wood. Huge thanks to the famous Charles Chandler, providing crucial car spotting service, I started at Echo Drive around 8:40 in the morning. Only slightly terrified of running into a bear, thanks to a circulating photo on the White Cloud Community Network page the night before, I began my trek. It was a little chilly and slightly damp, but the woods were serene. It was quiet, peaceful and exactly how I wanted to spend my birthday morning. I saw dozens of birds (only few of which I can identify – the birding skills of the family I married into hasn’t rubbed off quite well enough yet), and oddly – lots of slugs. I enjoyed the sights - a few yellow flowers sprouted near some water, lots of greenery and my favorite – the blue blazes. The volunteers who support the trail across several states continue to amaze me – I mean, check out this boardwalk!
I crossed a few seasonal roads, some open water, and even stumbled across a rare coastal marsh – just a few hundred feet from M-37 between White Cloud and Newaygo.
The North Country Trail is just one of many trails in our beautiful county that you probably pass every day – take my advice…..don’t wait 30+ years to give them a try!  Photo by Josh Recently we asked folks to share their hiking stories with us. https://www.nearnorthnow.com/the-pulse/we-want-your-trail-tales TrueMentors, a service of TrueNorth Community Services recently took a small group of youth from the Parks in Focus program to hike Michigan's Dragon at Hardy Dam. Parks in Focus is an outdoor based group mentoring program run through TrueMentors with support from the Udall Foundation and financial backing from the Fremont Area Community Foundation. The purpose of Parks in Focus is to connect youth to nature through photography. During alumni outings youth reconnect with one another, look for different perspectives in nature and discuss the importance of respecting nature and the environment. Photos attached were taken by Parks in Focus alumni youth (ages 12-15) while hiking Michigan's Dragon at Hardy Dam. L-R starting at top Photos by: Mickayla, Riley, Triston, Vincente, Kenneth, Landen, Hayden, Elyssa
 A chat with Lynn Thompson about Saturday’s show
For the first time in way too long the Dogwood will be tossing open their doors for a real live concert on Saturday at 7:30pm. Yes, folks we’re talking a good old regular sit in your seat and enjoy the music concert in the gem of a venue known as the Dogwood Center Main Stage. We did an article on the event earlier... https://www.nearnorthnow.com/features-and-fun/showtime-music-returns-to-dogwood and this week caught up with Lynn Thompson and the Moonshine Runners...well actually it was Lynn Thompson… to pose a few questions about the band, the music and the upcoming show. We understand there will be two of you on stage. Of course we want to know what the story is behind the group name. Are the Moonshine Runners busy with the job they’re named after or is the band in transition or are the MR there in spirit alone? With your first question I would say we are in transition. Originally a 3 piece band, we are performing as a duet, until we are 3 again. We have a Cd available titled Moonshine Runner and on the front cover is a photo taken by Life magazine in 1954 in Scott county Virginia. In the photo is the last confederate that ever lived he is 106 in the photo, he lived to be 112. General John Sally is his name. My grandfather is sitting next to him and sitting between them are moonshine jugs. My father used to live with the General, as it turned out the General used to brew the Shine and my father ran it. So yes, we are there in spirit. By the way the Lynn and Moonshine Runners name was thought up by the bass player Ian Grant so at the moment Ian is the Moonshine Runners. What drew you to the guitar? What was going on in your life when you picked it up and maybe a bit about your progression in learning it. What drew me to the guitar was listening and watching my father play. He could play many instruments, he was mainly a fiddle player. I started picking at the guitar when I was 9, started playing a 12 string at 18 and wrote my first song at 10, it was called Green Mountain Holler, it had a verse, chorus and a bridge. I remember my father telling me, I had a gift. I play a 12 string guitar. A 12 string guitar gives me a much broader sound. I can make it sound like a mandolin, banjo and a guitar, the secret to playing a 12 string guitar is to learn to isolate the strings. In reality, I always felt that the guitar was a part of my day and life. It makes me feel comfortable. First gig. Tell us about it. I grew up in Chicago, at 15, I was sneaking out of the house to play open mic nights at Earl of Old Town on Lincoln Ave. The bartender would smile, tell me where to sit and give me a coke until it was my turn. My first paying gig was at a small bar on Lincoln Ave at 19. When I turned 19 so did the drinking laws so I was able to go out to bars. My first gig was great. I was in a rock band at the time so I brought along my roadies who drank all the free beer. I received my first standing ovation at that show and thus I became addicted to performing. Who have been your musical influences? Any mentors? My influences are many! from Merle Haggard, John Denver, Ralph Stanley, Bill Monroe to Peter Gabriel, Tony Williams and the Beatles. Too many to mention, I have learned something from everyone I listen to How has the pandemic affected your musical career? What kind of adjustments have been necessary? The pandemic has affected me like everyone in the entertainment business. Many gigs were canceled but many came about. Venues were looking for solo players or duets and we fit the bill. When it was warm outside we played outside but when the cold came the gigs went away. It's starting to come back thankfully. Why should folks come to your concert? What should they expect? Folks should come to our show because you will be entertained and have fun! There is a story behind every song and I do like telling them. Mountain music is what we call our original sound. Similar to bluegrass but more with a beat. I came upon this style when learning the song by Ralph Stanley called Man Of Sorrow. We are high energy but have our soft moments. Come on out and have some fun on Saturday evening with Lynn and the Moonshine Runners! Tickets are only $15 and are available at www.dogwoodcenter.com, through the Dogwood Box Office, downtown Fremont at NCCA-Artsplace or just click here. Seating style is reserved seating with social distancing. Seating is limited to 75 total. Masks worn over mouth and nose will be required at all times in the Dogwood Center. For information, phone 231.924.8885. The Dogwood Center is located one mile east of downtown Fremont. |
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