The Suggestion Box

The Suggestion Box
By Ken DeLaat

Wow. Lots to look forward to this weekend as the area will be hopping with happenings. To those of us at N3 World Headquarters and Teapot Emporium (a collection known to be well into 3 figures, though even more might be stored in some hidden cache) three things pop out as highlights for the second weekend of one of our favorite months.

Maybe Not Every Day, But Certainly Saturday

When I was young I recall asking my Mom “So, there’s a Mother’s Day and a Father's Day, when is Children’s Day”
​
Her reply?

The same one I gave my children when they...

...posed the same question some years later.

“Every day is Children’s Day.”

Ok. Perhaps not. But this Saturday one can point to some doings at a local park as a fitting match-up to the Mom and Pop days on the calendar.

From Noon to 3pm the 16th annual Kids Day will be filling Brooks Park in downtown Newaygo with fun, food, games, prizes, entertainment and the chance for the children of our area to meet and interact with the men and women charged with keeping our communities safe. This event celebrates our most precious resource while promoting child safety and delivering information on resources to parents.

Sponsored through the generosity of Newaygo Family Dental and Gerber Federal Credit Union, Kids Day is a signature event for the community falling just after the young folks have been released from their academic obligations and is focused on delivering the message of safety in a very cool and very fun atmosphere. It is an absolute boatload of fun crammed into a very busy 3 hours and there’s just something enchanting about being around several hundred kids in various stages of profound exuberance.

Oh and think about this. If you attended that first Kid’s Day with a toddler in tow? Chances are you were sitting through their graduation this past week.
It flies, Moms and Dads, it flies indeed.

Calling All Gangsters
The Newaygo Museum has touched on a bit of our area’s more checkered past with their Bootleggers and Gangster’s exhibit. The Al Capone mystique that surrounds this era of our history continues to be a source of speculation and fascination and the Museum does a fine job of showcasing the story.

As a way of supporting the museum’s continued evolution into what has become a local history-lovers gem, as well as the fine work being done by the Love INC folks, Sportsman’s Bar’s proprietor Wendy Weisgerber is pulling out all the stops in a unique fundraiser called the Gangster’s Gala an evening that returns us to those thrilling days of yesteryear known as The Roaring 20’s. There’s a cash prize for the best costume, a silent auction, dinner and drink specials and the funky décor Sportsman’s is known for will be amped up with the kind of matchless mystique Ms. Weisgerber and her allies seem to summon for such occasions. The fun starts at 6pm at the ever welcoming downtown Newaygo ‘juice joint’.

Oh, and make sure you check out the ostrich.

Brass Based Boogie
Those high spirited 20’s gave way to the Depression and as the nation began to climb out of their doldrums a new music appeared on the scene. It was a sound deepened by an entire regiment of instruments capable of twisting tunes into soft romantic pieces with a symphony-like character as well as driving home a lively boogie beat that showcased individual instrumentalists between raucous and often rebellious riffs produced by a bevy of brass. Saturday night visitors to the Dogwood Center can be transported back to that time known as the Big Band Era when Rhythm Society Orchestra takes to the main stage for a show that will sparkle with the special sound that captured a generation and continues to draw admirers from all age groups.

The show begins at 7:30 pm and at $15 a pop with kids under 18 free it’s a real charmer of a Saturday night option. Besides its volunteer appreciation night when the capable crew who so generously give their time to help present the wonderful array of shows provided to us are honored. That night, instead of taking tickets and ensuring proper seating is accomplished, they will make their way to their spots in the audience while Dogwood Board members assume the various posts usually held by this crack squadron of invaluable volunteers.

And for what it’s worth on a personal note, if they play Moonlight Serenade the uber-romantic Glenn Miller classic, you’re listening to one of the finest pieces of music ever written.
Hands down.
​
There’s trio of suggestions and if you’re fortunate enough to take in all three spend Sunday relaxing outside in that optimal mid-June sunny and warm but not too warm day we’ve been nearly pinky-promised by meteorologists up and down the remote.

​