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Psst…Party at Juliet’s House

In Culture Bluffs, Kid Stuff, Lakeside Shakespeare, The Mess Deck on May 22, 2013 at 2:26 pm

By Emily Votruba

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On May 25 at 7 pm, Frankfort–Elberta’s very own Lakeside Shakespeare Theatre company will transform Oliver Art Center into the House of Capulet for “An Evening in Verona”—a fun theatrical party with a purpose.

Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door, which gets you local food and wine as well as entertainment. But just as important, says Amy Daniels-Moehle, Lakeside’s new director of community development, is that the company wants us all to get to know each other better. “They come every year and they’re here and gone so quickly. The rehearsals start in Chicago during the second week in June. They practice like crazy until they arrive July 20, they stay until August 2 and then they go back to their other jobs.”

Lakeside Shakespeare has been coming here every summer since 2003, just for us.

On May 15 the troupe Read the rest of this entry »

Support Outdoor Education and Blooming Michigan Artistry

In Community Alert, Culture Bluffs, Education, Green Elbertians, Kid Stuff on May 6, 2013 at 10:13 pm

By Lena Wilson

Many potent life lessons come through interaction with young people in our lives. By making an effort to pay closer attention and ask questions we’re reminded, though we didn’t know we had forgotten, how to play and act in the moment. Though the children certainly don’t intend to influence thought or create change, by observing their growth one can be transformed, just as poor soil can be aided to become a rich humus. This experience of becoming more like a child feels like remembering and seems to be as vast a reservoir for exploration as life itself.
How can we set up the learning stage so that we can learn from our children? How can we give them room and nourishment to grow? An active example of experience-based nature education in our area is the Human Nature School in Traverse City, Michigan. The Human Nature School was founded by Matt Miller and Kriya Townsend, who modeled their school and programs after their two years of experience at the Wilderness Awareness School (WAS) in Washington State. Jon Young, the founder of WAS, began his nature programming on the East Coast but moved to Washington, where nature connection programming was flourishing. Matt and Kriya have been running programs in Michigan for almost three years. The school has an office in Building 50 in the Village at Grand Traverse Commons. Many of their programs are held in the parkland surrounding the Village.
The heart of the Human Nature School is the home-school youth program that runs year round. The kids in the youth program are ages 6 to 13, and a pre-K group meets for ages 4 and 5. During each class, the group shares in a circle: stories, gratitude, dance moves, take-home challenges, etc. They practice making one-match fires, learning about bow drill fire technique, animal tracking, shelter making, and working with knives. Days are often spent focusing on learning about the flora and fauna of our area. The kids and instructors really enjoy playing games that focus on awareness, tactics, and animal forms. They journal, sing songs, and get dirty. All around, days at the Human Nature School are jam packed with fun. On most class days the students have a chance to explore nature on their own, something that is, surprisingly, a rare thing for many of them. What a pleasure it is to see the eyes of youth shine.
The Human Nature School is funded by donations, student tuition, and small occasional fundraisers like a Barn Dance and a concert by Joe Reilly. Student tuition is only $5 an hour, with sibling discounts and need-based scholarships covering up to 100% of a student’s tuition. The school is greatly supported by its enthusiastic community. It’s a new school—a shiny new, lime green sprout.
I’ve been volunteering with the school since September 2011 and have come to love this community and the kids. As a gift for the school I’ve drawn designs for three nature T-shirts and created a fundraiser campaign to print the shirts for the students and school inventory. The success of this project also supports me, Lena Wilson, as a young artist. My artwork will be seen and appreciated by many people if printed on shirts, and this will serve as a great portfolio project. After the shirts are paid for, 8% of the goal amount is budgeted to pay myself for the designs and the many hours I’ve put into promotion and the project webpage. All the income generated from future shirt sales will go directly to the school.
May 16 is the last day of the fundraising drive to fund the shirts on Kickstarter. Please consider checking out my personal website, www.lenamaude.com, where you can find information on the Human Nature School T-shirt fundraiser, or go directly to the campaign’s webpage at http://kck.st/Z004Ap. Call (231) 740-3469 or write to me at story@lenamaude.com with any questions or if you wish to contribute and do not want to use the internet. Ψ
One of three T-shirt designs made by Lena Wilson as a benefit for the Human Nature School.

One of three T-shirt designs made by Lena Wilson as a benefit for the Human Nature School.

Premiere of “Dress” at Inside Out Gallery This Saturday

In Calendar, Culture Bluffs, GOOD NEWS, Poetry, Uncategorized on April 15, 2013 at 1:06 pm

Read our March interview with Gretchen Eichberger here.

Dress, an original theatrical dance production created and directed by Northern Michigan folk culture maven Gretchen Eichberger, brings together amateur and professional dancers, musicians, poets, and activists to explore a woman’s experience of rebellion, sensuality, ecology, and piety. Cast members reside in Michigan, and the work of Michigan writers Jennifer Sperry Steinorth and Stephanie Mills are featured.

Conceived almost two years ago, the show takes on special relevance in light of recent world and national events that seem to threaten women’s quest for political, social, and economic liberation.

Two parts of the Dress cycle were previewed March 15 at the Oliver Art Center, followed by a thoughtful, provocative, multi-gender discussion between the performers and audience. The movement is by turns unsettlingly dramatic, intimate, and beautifully evocative of the everyday, natural gestures.

The preview’s opening piece, “Unfurl,” was accompanied by a reading from Simone De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, as Eichberger, wearing a black dress and “freakout” hair, frantically absorbs the literature of women’s liberation, then attempts to distribute it among the audience. In “Their Common Universe,” two young women, played by Amy Jo Jordan and Lena Wilson, movingly revisit the act of playing dress-up.

Eichberger began work on this project in 2011 after an encounter with author and bioregionalist Stephanie Mills. Mills, a resident of Leelanau County, gained nation-wide attention with her 1969 college commencement address in which she vowed never to have children. Her declaration was made in response to the lack of “a rosy future” for generations to come and the problem of overpopulation. Since then Mills has been speaking, editing, writing, and organizing for ecology and social change.

Shortly before encountering Mills’s work, Eichberger became aware of the poetry of Jennifer Sperry Steinorth, whose poignant observations of toil, love, childbirth, and the black dress she says “set her hair on fire.”

Along with the written texts, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Schubert, and Arvo Pärt will be performed by the Grand Rapids area mezzo soprano Melinda Smalley, Traverse City pianist Laurence C. Smith, and internationally acclaimed violinist, Yuri Namkung.

Dance ensemble members include Sally Neal, Denise Sica, Laura Cavender, Lena M. Wilson, Cindy Toranzo, Amy Jo Jordan, Kris Brown, Kima Kramer, and Yarrow Wolfe.

Inside Out Gallery is located in the Warehouse District of Downtown Traverse City. Tickets for Dress are $12.00 and are available at Inside Out and Oryana. Doors open at 7:00 pm; performance begins at 8:00 pm.

"Striding Feminist," by Melanie Parke

“Striding Feminist,” by Melanie Parke

Benzie County Water Festival 2013! (Video)

In Community Alert, Culture Bluffs, E Beach, Education, Fishing, GOOD NEWS, Green Elbertians, Kid Stuff, Open Season, Politics, Water on April 7, 2013 at 5:40 pm

UPDATE

Screen Shot 2013-04-12 at 11.11.31 AM

For the third year in a row, the Benzie County Water Festival convenes this coming Friday at Benzie Central High School from 3:30 pm to 9 pm.

This year’s theme is: “Under The Surface,” focused on youth and lesser-understood impacts to our water resources. Once again it brings Michigan musicians, panel discussions, speeches from water luminaries, interactive multimedia projects and presentations, artisan foods and beverages, visual art, children’s activities, and connections to local campaigns and projects. Admission is free; donations go toward future events.

The festival opens with a Water Science Fair at Benzie Central High School during the school day. At 3:30, local organizations will set up displays alongside the student projects and the Dread, a band made up of BCHS students, will take the stage.

Kids’ activities will be ongoing from 4:30 until 6:30 and will include a do-it-yourself water harp, a hydrogen fuel cell car, a watercolor mural, a video station, a stream table, and yes, the live amphibian display returns this year: you can gently meet and hold live Michigan frogs, snakes, and salamanders.

At 5:30pm, Tom Kramer emcees this year’s panel discussions, beginning with Kurt Luedtke of Luedtke Engineering, who will address the recently passed legislation to dredge Betsie Bay.

At 6:00pm, the panel discussion switches to water used for fracking with activist Peggy Case, president of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, and journalist Keith Schneider of Circle of Blue.

Stick around for a pizza dinner, available for purchase from the after-school SEEDS program.

At 7:00pm, keynote speaker Hans VanSumeren, one of the most highly regarded underwater vehicle pilots in the nation and director of NMC’s Water Studies Institute, takes the stage to discuss his career as an underwater research innovator and how to encourage young people to enter water studies programs.

‘s role in water stewardship for the future.

At 8 pm, premier Benzie-based Americana band the Fauxgrass Quartet will begin their energizing set.

This is sure to be another deeply local, deeply informative, deeply fun festival, with an appeal as broad as that of water itself.

Learn more at the festival’s webpage and Facebook page.

Below, Jon Maue shares his video coverage of last year’s festival.

Reflections by the Bay

In Culture Bluffs, Health on April 2, 2013 at 6:48 pm

Reflections By the Bay April 2013

Talking about the Oliver Art Center’s First Dance Work—Gretchen Eichberger’s “Dress”

In Calendar, Culture Bluffs, Poetry on March 13, 2013 at 3:46 pm

Dress is a dance cycle conceived and directed by Gretchen Eichberger about women’s experience, with themes of rebellion, sensuality, ecology, and piety. The piece features the prose and poetry of Jennifer Sperry Steinorth, Stephanie Mills, Simone de Beauvoir, and Virginia Woolf. The project utilizes the talents of area women dancers, musicians, and writers. Rehearsals are under way. Eichberger promises this work will push your comfort zone and seduce your senses. The performance is slated for Saturday, April 20, at the Inside Out Gallery located in the Warehouse district of downtown Traverse City. A preview of Dress will take place at the Oliver Art Center on Friday at 7 pm. Discussion will follow. Alert writer Emily Votruba, who will introduce the preview show, sent Gretchen an e-mail with some questions about the project. Dress will be the first-ever dance performance held at the Oliver Art Center.

In your early notes to participants there’s a paragraph saying: “This project is inspired by the recent Michigan legislation aimed at women’s reproductive rights, inequality with pay/wages/salary, worldwide violence against women, and the question ‘who is today’s modern feminist?’” Please share any of your own answers to this question. Who is today’s modern feminist? I love the bumper sticker that states “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.” I could name several public figures who have categorized themselves as feminists or perhaps they are thought to be feminists, however, I do not wish to immediately divide the audience of this work by making the inference that feminists lean towards a particular political party. A feminist can be an outstanding wife, mother, and successful entrepreneur. A feminist can be a radical activist speaking out for environmental policies who is also a mother. A feminist can have any sexual preference.

As we celebrate the 26th year of National Women’s History Month, I wonder: How far have we come, if any distance at all, since 1987? According to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal, women claim to experience a high level of stress stemming from their compensation in comparison to their male counterpart. There are still discrepancies in salaries. So right there, economics is a major teller of what the situation is.

Two of the four themes listed in your developing script especially interested me: rebellion and piety. Rebellion against what, and piety about what? Rebellion against patriarchal society. Piety in the aspect of bringing life into the world or choosing not to. I couple piety with ecology.

How did you choose the music, and how integral was it to developing the choreography? In this piece, as in American Document and Chaotic Harmony, the movement is done to music and text. This project will feature live music, which I’m incredibly satisfied with. I always choose the music before developing the choreography—it’s more of a coupling with the text or subject. One of the composers is J. S. Bach; his compositions are driving, you know where they are going, they are logical and they don’t waiver—like a strong-minded woman. Arvo Pärt is contemplative … his piece Speigel Im Spiegel is just that. Then there is the music of Franz Schubert—most of his compositions debuted just prior to the first wave of feminism in the mid-1800s. His songs of woman’s torment especially dealing with love and daily life go well with this work.

What if any surprises or new elements came out of the collaboration with the writers and performers and are incorporated into the final piece? (Assuming it’s not still evolving…?) It’s very much still evolving. My performers are secured. What a relief! I’m happy to be collaborating with these women … and honored! They are powerhouses: musicians, activists, writers, philosophers, dancers, and then some. They are so consciously engaged in the creative process.

In the days before my 40th birthday recently, I found myself looking for role models among mature women—how to proceed? What kind of old lady am I shooting to be? I wonder if you’ve had a similar experience/questions? Role models among mature women … there are many. I’ve been listening to the stories of 80-plus-year-old women recently—two of which I am particularly mesmerized with. They both continue their careers in the arts and are very sharp. Nothing gets by them. I have listened to their stories … of love, pursuit, passions. To respect their privacy, I’ll leave them anonymous. So let’s just say I’m enthralled with some particular elders right now

There’s a Beauvoir quote in the script: “What they seek first of all from each other is the affirmation of their common universe.” I wonder if this searching for affirmation and common ground is a symptom of women’s continuing feeling of oppression or inequality? Common Universe… yes. She also said “all oppression creates a state of war.” Don’t push us down. Let the women rise to the top … the world will be better for it. In doing so, they will make sure that the men are taken care of.

Aren’t women and men both about renewal? They should be. They are. I think we need to check in with ourselves every day, and then do it in a hard-core intensive way every 3 years.

What generations of women are represented in Dress? (Gen X/boomers/Y/Millennials…?) and how if it all does that come across? All generations… all the decades. I’m very happy about this. Also [various] gender preferences and ethnicities.

From Lena M. Wilson, Dress cast member: In my life I’ve met a variety of role models, men and women, but have had to open my eyes. People I have met and not seen for some time have left lasting impressions on me, but in some cases I had to look beyond my ideas of how a person should be and see the teacher. I’ve found men to be more quickly influential in my life, perhaps due to a balancing of my feminine energy, seeing something from a new angle, or simply my unique path. Despite this trend in my formative years, I have been surprised by the nurturing I receive through communion with women, which I think we long for naturally even in absence of conflict. I’m now beginning to seek the company of women mentors, which I had before regarded as nearly impossible to find. Great people are everywhere; it often seems to be a matter of being open to their greatness.

A modern feminist partakes in the modern myths of politics and economics of the society he or she lives in. Then there are those who believe in and stand for dynamic equilibrium, yin and yang, balance, peace etc. who get swept up in the feminist movement. I’m personally not informed well enough to understand feminism in its entirety; I admit to being naive about details of politics and economics. However, I feel it is important to focus on balance and broadcast peace in places where women have plentiful rights for the sake of the rest of the world. We can celebrate both women and men! In places of abuse of women, it is certainly important to advocate feminism and spread word of change toward peace. Our good intentions and visualization of women with vibrant life can reach the far corners of the Earth if media cannot. Through our living vibrantly we emit positive vibration for women in pain, for everyone. Ψ

gretchen at lore oil and water

Gretchen Eichberger performing “Oil and Water” from 2010′s LORE. Photo by Robert Bruce Bushway

amy and lena in Dress

Amy Jo Jordan and Lena Wilson after a rehearsal for “Dress.”

Food Trucks at Elberta Beach?

In Culture Bluffs, E Beach, Infrastructure and Planning, Kid Stuff, On and off the Apron, Open Season, The Mess Deck on February 15, 2013 at 10:44 am

By Emily Votruba

At the February Parks and Rec Commission meeting last night there was some discussion of food concessions down at the beach. Nobody in the room could remember a time when snacks were sold down at the beach, though Katy denHeeten recalled the swingsets and picnic tables she enjoyed there as a kid in the days before the Critical Dune Act.

Sue Oseland mentioned that Traverse City council was to vote today on whether to allow food trucks downtown. She joked that if the proposal was voted down there might be a lot of food vendors looking for a market.

Lisa Schroeder-Confer recalled that when the idea came up in Frankfort it met broad opposition from food-business owners along Main Street worried about competition.

Elberta seems a slightly different situation, with there being such a stretch of road from the beach to the first savory-food venue to the east, the Cabbage Shed, and considering Trick Dog’s short hours. Those present at the meeting were unanimous (though no vote was taken) that leasing a space at the beach to a food truck or staffing a Park and Rec operation as a way to fund Park and Rec projects or raise other money for the village should be further explored.

Today’s Record-Eagle reported that city officials voted to wait 60 days to study the issue further. Maybe we can learn something from their process…or get the jump on them. Food trucks are popular in cities all over the country and can be a great asset. Seems like there could be a way to coordinate timing and items sold with local business owners and actually enhance and increase hungry traffic flow and business from the beach to the Betsie.

What do you think?

Notable Upcoming Chili Cookoffs

In Calendar, Culture Bluffs, Open Season, The Mess Deck, Uncategorized on January 30, 2013 at 5:07 pm

FEB 1 THE FRANKFORT COAST GUARD STATION CHILI COOKOFF

who: Competition is open only to public safety officers (police, fire, EMS, Coast Guard), but anybody can come to the station and eat some chili. A panel of judges including Sheriff Ted Schendel and some members of the Chamber of Commerce will judge the chilis. A trophy will be awarded to the winner.

when: Doors open at 10 am for a tour of the Coast Guard Station. Competition starts at 11 am.

where: 100 Coast Guard Rd, Frankfort, (231) 352-4242

why: Social/PR. A chance for public servants to get to know each other and for the public to get to know their Coast Guard.

how much: Free admission!

FEB 16 THE ELBERTA SOLSTICE CHILI COOKOFF/SILENT AUCTION

who: The Elberta Solstice Committee calls on anyone, yes anyone, to enter its second annual chili cookoff. They’re also asking for donations of silent auction items. First, Second, and Third Place chili winners will be chosen by popular vote, and prizes awarded. Contact Jennifer Wilkins to enter or donate silent auction items: 231-651-0798/smilinjen10@yahoo.com

where: The Cabbage Shed Backroom, 198 Frankfort Avenue

when: Have your chili crockpot plugged in, or your silent auction item on the table, at the Shed by 4:30 on February 16, after the Shiver by the River events. Competition and auction starts at 5 pm and will run till about 9 pm, or whenever the chili runs out. 

why: To raise money ahead of the June 22 Solstice Festival, to keep admission to the festival free. The Solstice Committee has to pay for bands, fireworks, permits, porta-lets, etc.

how much: $5 donation at the door gets you a chance to sample and vote on the chilis and bid on silent auction items. No fee to enter a chili. 

Poem

In Culture Bluffs, Poetry on January 24, 2013 at 11:24 pm

Decades of Starlight

By Kathryn denHeeten

The stars surprise me
Right where they should be
Startled and snared
Hooked little smiles

I close my eyes
and she’s past the barbed wire
Her snowshoes on
A pack of matches in her mitten

She understands this landscape
Midnight on the crusty snow
The river in its slumber
Empty little nests in the trees

But she doesn’t see the future
She doesn’t know me
Motionless under her constellations
Decades of starlight in my pocket like a stone.

Near Beer: Stormcloud Brewing

In Breaking, Culture Bluffs, GOOD NEWS, Infrastructure and Planning, On and off the Apron, The Mess Deck, Uncategorized on January 15, 2013 at 11:27 pm

The official announcement finally came today, January 15, 2013, over Facebook: This summer a little light industry rolls in to 303 Main Street in Frankfort. The Alert spoke with Stormcloud Brewing Company owner-operators Brian Confer and Rick Schmitt about their project, which will occupy the former site of the Caddy Shack and the adjacent lot, which has been vacant for some years. Mature residents may remember the 7 Spot restaurant at no. 303 and Fav’s diner next door, among other ventures including House of Television, and long before that, the Victoria Theater (1907), built by Custer Carland. For more information on the series of businesses that have occupied this storied location, see local historian extraordinaire Pete Sandman’s upcoming book Our Town, available in June.

Full disclosure: this reporter has been plied with fellow Elbertian Brian Confer’s creations in the past, and while not exactly a zymurgonaut herself, she finds them delicious. Herewith, the Alert exclusive interview. —Emily Votruba

Brian’s photographs of the brewery’s progress here.

Photos of old 7 Spot exterior and interior.

Why beer?

Brian Confer I fell in love with this industry about 8 years ago. In conjunction with Lisa [Schroeder-Confer]’s wine store [the Blue Door], I was going to trade shows. I met Joe Short, who was a real right-place, right-time story. He opened his operation [Short’s Brewing Company] right when the industry started to grow phenomenally, and I got swept up in that. I don’t know how to answer that question except to say, there’s no desire to do anything but beer.

When did you start brewing?

Around that same time. I was Brian Confer Photography by day and I was brewing in my studio at night.

What about you, Rick? Do you have a personal beer story?

When we [Rick and wife Jennie Schmitt] moved here in 1996 I actually filed for a brewing license, and had been dabbling in [homebrewing] before that in Colorado. I started the process of creating my own brand. Then we had kids and I just never got back into it.

For me, a brewery is the ultimate local business model. It takes you back to a century ago when every town had their own little brewery and it created jobs and you were able to make a product that gave an identity to that space.

What kind of atmosphere do you hope to create?

Rick: We’re looking to create that “third place”—the first place is your home, the second place is your work, and the third place is where you exist when you’re not in the first two. Think of pubs in small towns over the years—it’s the place where the community goes.

Brian: It can be a family gathering place as well. Regardless even of the hour. Mom and Dad are kicking back and relaxing and the kids are like, Wow, they’re relaxed, they’re actually having fun.

How much are the renovations and new construction costing you?

Rick: The reality is it’s significantly more expensive than we thought it would be. The good news is we’ve saved an old building in downtown Frankfort, which was important to us. Jim Kunz is our real estate partner and an investor in the brewery operations. We could not have made the project happen without his involvement and commitment to Frankfort. Jim and his wife, Kris, have a home on Forest Avenue.

Brian: Jim had made overtures to me in the past about being a founding investor in a brewing operation, but I wasn’t ready to have that conversation yet. Then when Rick and I started to get things going, the key piece of the puzzle was to find someone to buy that building or it wasn’t going to happen. Jim believed in the project, was excited about it, and decided to take the leap.

Are you going to keep that cavernous feeling of the space as it stands right now?

Rick: It’s a big space. We sadly haven’t uncovered any beautiful treasures we can keep, in terms of wood floors or tin ceilings, for example, but at the highest point it’ll be a twelve-foot ceiling, with wooden rafters.

How many people do you expect to employ?

Rick: We’ll have 5 or 6 full-time, year-round employees counting Brian and myself, and through the peak of the summer months we’ll have 15 to 18 employees.

Brian: It’ll increase during the summer, but the brewery staff won’t rise nearly as much as the pub staff.

So you’ve answered my next question, which was if you’re going to be open year round.

Rick: That’s our intent. The beauty of the model is we’re a manufacturing facility too, so we can make beer in October and November and sell it to places far and wide.

Brian: We’re going to be in there in the winter anyway, the heat will be on, so we might as well turn on the lights and hang an open sign.

Yay!

Rick: For me that’s very important. We want this place to be a destination twelve months of the year.

We had Northern Natural Winery in Benzonia, who’ve now moved to Front Street in TC (and will be missed). Are there any other breweries in Benzie County?

Brian: We’ll be the first one and the only one I would expect for several years, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one opened up somewhere in the area. As Rick and I found out, it’s one thing to plan it, and another thing to fund it. But there’s no end to the market. Breweries are opening all over the country—about 2,000 are at least in the planning process, according to the Brewer’s Association. As Rick said, there was a time before WWII when every town had a brewery. But there are more breweries open now than there were just before Prohibition.* My personal theory is that breweries are the grown-up coffee shop. Twenty years ago there were coffee shops opening on every block. If you go into many breweries now it’s that same atmosphere, people hanging out, reading a book, playing games, working on their computer.

The brewing equipment itself must have been a huge expense. Where did you get it?

Brian: There are a handful of manufacturers. It’s nothing you walk in and purchase. You place an order and six months later it shows up on a truck—when you finish paying it off. We lucked into a used system, which is almost unheard of these days. It showed up on a professional bulletin board and luckily it was close, in southern Indiana. I drove down there and we moved on it. We got a great system for far less money and we got a lot more stuff.

City Superintendent Josh Mills mentioned Stormcloud at the Downtown Development Authority meeting the other day as a “missed opportunity” to capture the increased tax revenue your project would bring. How do you see your operations fitting in with the overall Frankfort plan, or not?

Rick: We have worked with the planning commission and the city from the beginning, even before we had any meetings with architects or any thoughts of what the business might look like. We invited the planning commission to walk the site. We had conversations about the concept. We’ve been very collaborative, ensuring that everybody feels good about what’s going to happen here.

Did you take any suggestions into consideration?

Brian: Yeah, actually, there were quite a few suggestions as far as the look of the building. Nothing related to operations. There were a couple of ideas that were like, Huh! Why didn’t we think of that!

Rick: We had suggestions from planning commission members as well as the community. Plans were adjusted. Several neighbors were involved and made suggestions about the façade and colors. We should mention that it’s not just Brian and Jim and I. We have sold shares of the company, roughly 25%, to community members, so it’s really a community-based project. Also there will be opportunities to become a member of a founders’ club—we have to come up with a better word than “mug club.” We’ll have discounts, you’ll get a special glass, and we’ll limit that number.

Who do you want to attract to this destination?

Brian: Everybody. From young to old. It should be comfortable for everyone and have something for everyone. There will be beer, wine, other Michigan beverages, and food.

Will there be dirndls?

Brian: [Laughs] I think anyone in a dirndl is very welcome and will probably get their first drink half price…or something. We are not a German brewery, but we’re not going to turn away dirndls. A few months ago I posted on Facebook about possibly turning my photography business into a dirndl photography specialty business.

It’s all about the niche market.

Rick: And indeed we do not want any more confusion between Frankfort and Frankenmuth

Brian: Let’s hope the dirndls stay in Frankenmuth.

So on that note of placemaking, deeply localness… Have you conceptualized how Stormcloud could be sort of echt Frankfort?

Rick: The whole “Stormcloud” vision is based on Frankfort as a beach community, where you can see the storms rolling in, or whatever that might mean to you. There won’t be a theme per se.

Brian: I love this little community of Frankfort and Elberta. I love winter up here. I love the gray days, the solitude, the quietness. For me this brewery needs to be about the nine months of the year when you and I and Rick and our friends are here, day in and day out. We’ve got to celebrate those people. And summer is a bonus. It’s those months through the gray time that Stormcloud is about. You may have gotten this question—I have many times…You get the weeklong visitor. They’re very interested in talking to the locals. And what they want to know is, “What do you do in the winter?” Now we’ll have an answer.

Will you be showing the World Cup?

Brian: Only if it doesn’t compete with the Tour de France!

Rick: Brian and I have a love-hate relationship with televisions. We will have a very nice television, maybe two. It won’t be on all the time. And there will be no sound. SportsCenter is not going to be scrolling on the screen all day long.

Brian: We can have sound if it’s the World Cup…

Rick: Yeah, well, if it’s a Tigers game or something… But it’s not going to be a place where you walk in and the first thing you see is “Welcome to my TV.”

Will your beer be available anywhere else nearby?

Brian: We plan to distribute a few.

Rick: The model is such that you may or may not want to sell your product locally. Would you rather have people drive to your brewery? But certainly it’ll be available within the area, maybe even in Benzonia. We have to figure out how much we can distribute.

Brian: It won’t be a lot at first.

So, I have to ask: Why not Elberta?

Brian: Rick and I are spending a ton of money to get this place open and we’ve got to make sure the deck is stacked in our favor. We picked and secured a location that has a high rate of tourist foot traffic and neighboring businesses that are sought out from far and wide. I talked to Sylvester Lee a long time ago about the Elberta Beach Market building but decided it just had to be in a spot with more foot traffic. For me personally, I needed to get over the fact that there’s a border. I don’t really think of it as two different locations.

There’s a certain cultural interest in the idea that there’s a border, a difference. But it doesn’t seem productive to enhance any kind of hostility between the two.

Rick: We have both communities in our interest. I want Elberta to be successful. I don’t sense a boundary or border, but you do hear that from the old-timers. Because we own the theater, it was important to me to have the business adjacent to the one I own—it’s a natural fit. I truly believe this: the block from 3rd to 4th on Main Street in Frankfort is the most coveted business location within 40 miles. Even Glen Arbor—that’s a very isolated spot with a ten-week season. Frankfort is a dynamite place to open a new business.

Brian: As far as the brewing and tourism industry goes, there’s some excitement in our opening up because it provides the missing puzzle piece in the west-side brewery tour. You come up from Grand Haven/Grand Rapids/Ludington, and now there’ll be a brewery here, about an hour north of Ludington, and then the ones in and near Traverse. Then there are a few in the Charlevoix area and two in Petoskey. So we’ll be that missing piece.

What’s your connection to the area, Rick?

Rick: My wife’s family owns Watervale and Jennie runs it for the family. I first visited when I met Jennie, in college, the summer of 1988.

Brian: What was your take, having come from the mountains [of Colorado]?

Rick: There’s no water there, essentially. The water is rivers, streams, reservoirs. So you don’t get the sense of how water can affect your life. For me that was the biggest surprise. No place is perfect. Northern Michigan is much better in the summer and fall, and Colorado is better in the winter, from a blue-sky and sunshine standpoint. I wouldn’t change anything about moving here. I question whether there’s any better place to be.

Brian: Lisa and I were living in Suttons Bay and looking for a house in Leelanau. Through my job at Traverse Magazine I saw every square foot of Northern Michigan from Mackinac to Manistee. But I hadn’t been to Frankfort–Elberta yet until I had to photograph Hans Voss for an article about the Elberta Dunes. We hiked the dunes. He told me about his house, which he bought for $50K. Lisa and I were in the middle of looking at tiny little houses that were $175K, and I was standing on the dunes thinking, There’s no way we’re not going to move here. Ψ

* http://www.brewersassociation.org/pages/business-tools/craft-brewing-statistics/facts

“1,989 total breweries operated for some or all of 2011, the highest total since the 1880s.”

Stormcloud Facade

The former Caddy Shack facade as it appeared in December 2012. Photograph by Brian Confer.

Fitzhugh Drawings of Stormcloud

Traverse City architect Michael Fitzhugh’s drawings of the pub (left) and brewery building (right).

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