Orchard Lake and the St Mary’s Polish Festival

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Campus panorama 1940s

Campus panorama 1940s, photo by Orchard Lake.

I noticed that Memorial Day Weekend is the time of the annual St. Mary’s Polish Country Fair & Festival on Orchard Lake. The event billed as “America’s Largest High School Fair” and is a fundraiser for Orchard Lake Schools and you can get an idea of what has changed (and what hasn’t) in this aerial view of Orchard Lakes Schools.

You can see a lot more cool old photos of the seminary in the Orchard Lake photo set from the Adam Cardinal Maida Alumni Library at the Orchard Lake Schools.

Tour de Leelanau bike race – Memorial Day Weekend

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Here They Come (1)

Here They Come (1), photo by corremadrid.

The annual Tour de Leelanau bicycle race takes place next Sunday (May 25) and features international and US pro cycling teams on a USA Pro Tour sanctioned race. The course winds through the hills of Leelanau County in northern Michigan and features a variety of climbs and sprints that create an atmosphere reminiscent of a European road race.

If you happen to be attending it this year, bring your camera because the race organizers are sponsoring a $500 Tour de Leelanau photo contest where your photo can also be the cover of their 2009 publication!

Joel has some cool Tour de Leelanau photos and you can see many more in the Tour de Leelanau group on Flickr and in this cool Tour de Leelanau slideshow.

I also wrote a Tour de Leelanau post on Leelanau.com that you might like. Have a great weekend!

Lilacs and the Mackinac Island Lilac Festival

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

lilacs 2008 05-10 03

lilacs 2008 05-10 03, photo by Ray-48.

Wikipedia says that Syringa (Lilac) is a genus of about 20–25 species of deciduous shrubs or small trees in the olive family (Oleaceae), native to Europe and Asia.

Although lilacs in Michigan typically bloom in mid to late May in most locations, it’s not until June that Mackinac Island holds their annual Mackinac Island Lilac Festival:

Celebrating Mackinac’s lilac collection began in 1949 after a conversation with Evangilene “Ling” Horn, Nurse Stella King and Mackinac Island Carriage Tours veterinarian Dr. Bill Chambers. The idea was to bring people to the Island to enjoy a great horse drawn parade amidst the lovely lilacs that fragrance the Island in June. What began as a one day event called the Mackinac Island Lilac Day has blossomed into a ten day festival.

2008 is the 59th annual Lilac Festival and it takes place June 6-15. You can go to mackinacislandlilacfestival.org to learn much more about the festivities which include parades, coronation of the Lilac Queen and lots of lilac walks and talks, concerts and even a dog and pony show (I thought that was just a figure of speech).

A most wonderful disorder at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Untitled

Mosquito Beach, photo by Terrapin Dawg.

“We had been told of the variety in the colour and form of these rocks, but were wholly unprepared to encounter the suprising groups of overhanging precipices, towering walls, caverns, waterfalls … mingled in the most wonderful disorder”
– Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

Matt deemed that all that was required to preface his cool set of photos from the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (slideshow), all of them background big & bold.

I can’t disagree at all, but I will add that you might enjoy more Pictured Rocks features from Michigan in Pictures, this slideshow of the pictured rocks from the Absolute Michigan pool and also Dig Michigan: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Absolute Michigan!

Lansing through the lens of R.C. Leavenworth

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

1934 Oldsmobile F-Series Six, photo by R. C. Leavenworth (courtesy Archives of Michigan)

The Archives of Michigan’s Image of the Month for May 2008 was taken by Lansing commercial photographer R.C. Leavenworth, whose Leavenworth Photography of Lansing created one of the largest collections of Oldsmobile photographs. Oldsmobile was founded in Lansing in 1897, and this year is the 100th anniversary of General Motors.

The photo is from a rare Agfacolor glass screen plate in the Leavenworth historical photograph collection. The Afgacolor process was similar to Autochrome process in which the glass plate overlays a mosaic of red, green and blue dyed resin grains. They relate that their scanner is unable to justly reproduce the color tone of these plates and they invite you to attend the upcoming exhibit: “The Picture Man: Lansing through the Lens of R. C. Leavenworth” to see the plates illuminated in person.

…Leavenworth started out photographing lumbering and mining camps in northern Michigan, using a horse-drawn darkroom. He relocated to Lansing in 1919 to document Lansing’s transformation into a major industrial city and automotive capital. For over a century, Leavenworth Photography has shot hundreds of thousands of images that tell the story of industry, business and social life in Michigan’s capital city. With subjects as diverse as street scenes, car parts, workers’ strikes, vaudeville troupes and football games, Leavenworth lived up to the slogan plastered on the door of his company car: “Anything photographed, anywhere, anytime.”

“The Picture Man” runs May 30 to September 30 in the temporary exhibit area on the first floor of the Michigan Historical Center. Admission is free. R. S. V. P. at (517) 373-1408 for the opening reception on May 29, 5pm-7pm.

You can also read Leavenworth Maintains Commercial Niche from the Greater Lansing Business Monthly (July 2003).

Garter Snake

Posted on by farlane

Garter Snake by Alanna St. Laurent Photography

Garter Snake, photo by Alanna St. Laurent Photography

The Michigan DNR’s page on the Eastern Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) says that the Eastern Garter is Michigan’s most common snake, inhabiting both peninsulas and even urban areas. Wikipedia notes that they are often mistakenly called garden snakes or gardener snakes and the UM Animal Diversity Web entry for garter snakes adds more info and lots of photos and says that although there are very rare cases of allergic reaction from bites from people handling garter snakes, these reptiles deserve their reputation as a harmless and beneficial low-level predator. Be warned if you handle them that their main defense is a stinky secretion!

This picture is part of a cool set of photos from the Bald Mountain Recreation Area (slideshow). Alanna also commented that she thinks snakes are cool. If you do too, you’ll probably enjoy the Snakes of Michigan page from Snaketamers. It lists Michigan’s 18 species of native snakes (with photos). You can also check out the listing of Michigan’s Snakes from the DNR.

Exposure.Detroit opening: all the cool duckies will be there

Posted on by farlane

Rubber-Duckies by nichpr

Rubber-Duckies, photo by nichpr

This photo is part of Paul’s Artful set (slideshow). It’s also part of my developing collection of Michigan duck-related phoptography, but the less said about that, the better!

The Exposure.Detroit May Exhibit Opening Party takes place this Friday (May 16) from 7pm – 10pm at the Bean & Leaf Cafe in Royal Oak. The show features five photographers: Paul, Eric, Amy, Nicole and Ross and you can learn more about Exposure.Detroit and the upcoming exhibit from the Exposure.Detroit group on Flickr.

Kirtland’s Warbler and the Kirtland’s Warbler Festival

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Kirtlands Warbler (Dendroica kirtlandii)

Kirtlands Warbler (Dendroica kirtlandii), photo by birdman06.

The photographer notes that Kirtland’s Warbler is the rarest warbler in the US. It’s part of his cool set of photos of Songbirds and birds like Songbirds (slideshow).

The Michigan DNR’s page on Kirtlands Warbler (Dendroica kirtlandii) begins:

The endangered Kirtland’s warbler is one of the rarest members of the wood warbler (Parulidae) family. It is a bird of unusual interest for many reasons. It nests in just a few counties in Michigan’s northern Lower and Upper peninsulas, in Wisconsin and the province of Ontario and, currently, nowhere else on Earth. Its nests generally are concealed in mixed vegetation of grasses and shrubs below the living branches of five to 20 year old jack pine (Pinus banksiana) forests.

Click through to read about how the bird was named in honor of Ohio physician, teacher, horticulturist and naturalist Dr. Jared P. Kirtland, that it wasn’t until 1903 that Norman A. Wood discovered the first nest in Oscoda County in northern lower Michigan and much more about this truly rare bird. You can read more and see some pictures at Dendroica kirtlandii (Kirtland’s warbler) from the Animal Diversity Web at U-M and Wikipedia’s Kirtlands warbler entry. There’s even a Kirtland’s Warbler Audubon Society in Comins, Michigan that is a chapter of the Michigan Audubon Society and keeps track of all things warbly.

It’s maybe unsurprising then that there is an annual Kirtland’s Warbler Festival held every May on the campus of Kirtland Community College in Roscommon. The festival is billed as a celebration of nature and takes place next weekend (May 17, 2008). It features field trips to see Kirtland’s warblers, presentations about these and other rare or endangered Michigan species (piping plovers, osprey, eagles, turtles) and birding in general, plenty of activities for kids and a concert by the Great Lakes Myth Society

In addition to a ton more information about the festival and the feathered feature, the festival site features a Kirtland’s warbler video where you can hear the bird’s song.

flame on

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

flame on

flame on, photo by jenny murray.

This is part of Jenny’s ttv (through the viewfinder) set (slideshow).

Hope your weekend is as exciting as this mailbox … I’m pretty sure that if you get a tattoo or paint your face like this, it will be!

The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Must. Reach. Water.

Must. Reach. Water., photo by J.E.T.

This photo is part of Jesse’s Northern Expedition II set (slideshow) and – for me at least –  does the best job of all the 400+ Sleeping Bear photos that I’ve looked through today in capturing the wonder and wide-open fun of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

I’ve been doing that because today on Absolute Michigan I just finished Dig Michigan: Sleeping Bear Dunes. It’s a map, link and photo filled exploration of the national park in my backyard … I hope you like it.