A soupy Ice Festival

It rained and rained the last day of this year’s Plymouth Ice Festival. That made an almost ideal chance to see the sculptures — what was left of them! — because crowds were thin.

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Fall Festival’s humble beginnings

Friday begins the 54th Annual Plymouth Fall Festival.  It’s my favorite event of all the festivals and gatherings.  I was surprised to learn that the even began humbly in 1956 as a Rotary Club Chicken Barbecue.

The first such barbecue, attended by about 500 people, was put on by Plymouth Rotarians to raise money for what is now Fairground Park, formerly Jaycee Park.  It became an annual Fall event here in the city in 1960 and has run continuously since then.

You’ll notice the heavy presence at the fest of service groups like Kiwanis and the Rotary Club.  The spirit of this event is still philanthropic and service-oriented.  From that perspective, it might be the most personally gratifying of all the fun things that happen here over the course of the year.

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Green Street Fair starts tomorrow

Workers are busy setting up the tents and such in the spring rain and drizzle.   According to the weather channel, things should clear up a bit tomorrow.

I’m really looking forward to this year’s event.  There should be some great exhibits.

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2009 Plymouth Green Street Fair expanded to three days

Last year the first of what may become an annual event, Plymouth’s Green Street Fair, will happen again this coming weekend, May 1, 2 and 3.

Check out the event’s website for details. http://www.greenstreetfair.com/

I’ve enjoyed just about every fair or festival that has come to town since we moved here 3 1/2 years ago.  I can’t say that I learned a lot about the environment at last year’s fair, but there were a number of great products for sale.

We didn’t buy it at the fair, but because we saw it demo’d there, we got a Vita Mix blender.  We’ve used it a lot and it has, so far, been worth every penny.  I look forward to seeing what products and informational booths are at this year’s fair.

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Mardi Gras in Downtown Plymouth — 2/21/09

Maybe I wasn’t paying attention last year, but I believe this is a brand new event.  The Downtown Development Authority, with the participation of the stores and restaurants downtown, is throwing a Mardi Gras celebration starting noon the 2/21.

Plymouth-Canton student art will be on display.  Merchants will give out beads. Steve King & the Diddlies will play at 5:00 p.m. There will be “kid friendly” events in Kellogg Park as well.

After the concert you are invited to “hang out as partygoers converge on downtown for a night of fun and late night parties. The party continues into the night at any of over 30 shops, bars and restaurants.”

More info, if you really need it, is found at http://www.downtownplymouth.org/CivicAlerts.asp?AID=103

I’m not sure an outside party will have a lot of draw in late February here in Michigan.  There again, the ice sculpture shows are well attended, even when it is deathly cold.  This is clearly just another event to draw people into the downtown area.  Plymouth certainly doesn’t have a Mardi Gras tradition.  I hope it goes over well and people have a great time (and the businesses downtown make loads of cash.)

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A “Festival of the Isles”?

For years I’ve wanted to help put on a Celtic festival and have discussed that with several friends and considered several different locations.  Most recently, a friend and I discussed putting one on here in Plymouth and made some very general inquiries about whether that would be doable or even welcomed.

More recently I’ve felt like as good as a Celtic festival would be, they are pretty common.  I’ve been to a few different ones a number of different times and they all, for reasons that are hardly surprising, lean heavily toward Irish music and culture.  The Scots are represented and highland games (and similar events) round out what tends to get left out of the more general “Celtic” festivals.  Welsh music and culture, at least in my experience, are not represented at all.

Obviously, nothing of English culture is represented at such events, one, because of the historic animosity between the Celtic folks and the English and, two, for the obvious reason that the English aren’t Celts.  Maybe some exist on the East Coast, but I am not aware of any festivals that celebrate Anglo-Saxon music and culture.

I’m English, Irish, Ulster-Scot, Scottish and Welsh, but mostly English and Irish.  It has recently dawned on me that my English ancestry has not been as personally significant to me as the others though it is the bulk of my genetic make-up.  From that it hit me that my personal feelings seem to mirror American recognition (or lack thereof) of heritage.  Everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, but when is anyone ever English?

I’d love to see Plymouth have a festival that brings in food, music, cultural and historical/educational events that recognize the people of all the so-called British Isles, both collectively and seperately.  If I knew there was interest in something like this, I would take a serious look at trying to organize it.

Let me know what you think.  If it sounds like an even that you would attend and/or want to participate in, feel free to comment.  Of course, if it sounds like a lousy idea, you can say that as well.

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