The Omena Mayor Election season is underway! If you are a year-round or seasonal resident of the Greater Omena area, your pet qualifies to run for Mayor of Omena. Elections are held every three years and it is a fundraiser for the Omena Historical Society (OHS). Applications are available on the OHS website. Applications are due by Sunday, July 7 at 5 p.m. and voting begins on Tuesday, July 9. Voting is open to anyone and everyone — it’s a fundraiser, after all!
Congratulations to the Village Voices on a wonderful concert last Saturday evening. If you thought that June was a busy month, get ready for July! On Wednesday, July 17, Leelanau Christian Neighbors (LCN) is holding its annual Celebrate Summer in Style fundraiser featuring fashions from Samaritans’ Closet, a silent auction, and a picnic on the Estate at Aurora Cellars. The event is from 5:30 – 8 p.m., and tickets are available on the LCN website or in person at Samaritans’ Closet.
The Northport Arts Association (NAA) Members Art Exhibit runs through this Friday. The exhibit is open from noon to 4 p.m. and is definitely worth seeing! Their next exhibit is from the Plein Air event on Saturday, July 20. The Wet Paint Sale takes place that evening and the exhibit continues through Aug. 3.
The Bay Theater in Suttons Bay is having a very special fundraiser July 18 – 20 with a Natalie Wood Film Festival. It is all possible because of Natasha Gregson Wagner, who is Natalie Woods’ daughter. She and her husband, actor Barry Watson, have a home in Northport. Details and tickets are available on the Bay Theater website.
Omena residents Kanda McKee and Cathy Stephenson attended the Interlochen Adult Choir Camp this past week. They were among 104 singers from across the country, many of whom had a professional background in choral music, and united by a love of choral music. The singers learned seven pieces of music, the most complicated and well-known of which is Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. The Psalms were sung in Hebrew. Another piece, Ubi caritas, was sung in Latin.
The week consisted of rigorous sectional rehearsals by voice part (soprano, also, tenor, and bass/baritone) and full choir rehearsals totaling five to six hours a day. They dined and interacted with the Interlochen Arts Camp students and staff, too. The week culminated in a performance Saturday afternoon, which Harold McKee and Kim and Dennis Armbruster attended.
Kanda and Cathy thoroughly enjoyed the week, learned a great deal, improved their own singing and look forward to returning to a future Interlochen Adult Choir Camp! Harold commented that he now has a whole different perspective on what it means to be “just” a choir member.
Everyone is welcome to attend worship on Sunday morning at Omena Presbyterian Church. Rev. Christopher Henry, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis will be preaching for the first time at Omena. Charlotte Noble will be special music with the Patriotic Service ending with a piano and organ duet by Linda Zylstra and Patrick Kuhl. The service is from 10 to 11 a.m.
Happy Birthday this week to Allan Dalzell, Hope Weist, Carl Robertson, and to Chuck Dickerson, who shares his birthday with our great nation.
I wish everyone a fun and safe Fourth of July!
