Erin Crowell

Features Erin Crowell What to Do? Check out our Super Summer Calendar
By Erin Crowell
You won’t have much time to sit at home and twiddle your thumbs this
summer because there are hundreds (thousands?) of events to choose from
all across Northern Michigan.
Perhaps it’s our long, cold winters that act as a catalyst, but
whatever the case, there’s an incredible explosion of fun each year in
the region. Here are some of the best events, but by no means all of
them…

Features Erin Crowell Fit in the Mitt: Your summer calendar of endurance sports
JUNE
June 18
HomeRUN 4 Chris, Traverse City
Summer Solstice 5k Fun Run, Sault Ste. Marie
Ellsworth 5k Fun Run
Portage Lake 20k Relay, Onekama
East Jordan’s Main Street Mile & 5k Road Race
Higgins Lake Sunrise Run one mile, 5k, 10k, half marathon — Roscommon

Features Erin Crowell This weekend, the sun will set on the Traverse City Open Space as a deep blue haze of twilight is replaced by the soft glow of approximately 25 hot air balloons at the Grand Traverse Balloon Classic, happening June 17-19. 
With a roar, burners will ignite and send a stream of hot propane into the belly of these standing fabric monsters – colorful orbs with names like Huckleberry, Phantasy Phive and Gypsy Wind.
The evening balloon glow will take place at the Traverse City Open Space, Friday and Saturday from approximately 9:30-10:30 p.m., and although the balloons will remain on the ground for the evening glow, spectators will have the opportunity to watch several take off during a sunrise or sunset fly out— with balloons launching into the Traverse City sky Friday evening, Saturday morning, Saturday evening and Sunday morning. 
“Our preferred spot is launching out of the Open Space if the winds are out of the north,” says Grand Traverse Balloon Classic organizer Jeff Geiger, “but depending on the direction of the wind, we could launch from another location in the Grand Traverse area.”

Features Erin Crowell “The community has always rallied behind us and I know it will happen this
time around,” Sue Schwartz said over the echo of barking dogs at the
Cherryland Humane Society (CHS). The volunteer remains optimistic after
Mike Cherry, CHS executive director along with CHS president Jess Reed,
announced last week that unless the 501(c)(3) nonprofit can raise $20,000
as early as June 15, it will be forced to shut down operations.

Features Erin Crowell By Erin Crowell
Behind our 20 year anniversary publication this month is a team of
hard-working—and sometimes crazy—folks who conceive, report, sell, layout
and deliver the area’s largest news weekly. Get to know the faces behind
the Northern Express!
NE: Wow. 20 years. Aside from starting up a new paper, what was on your
mind 20
years ago?

Features Erin Crowell It took five seasons and one game, but the Traverse City Beach Bums have
reached one million fans. The professional baseball team will celebrate
this VIP at the home opener, in Wuerfel Park against the Rockford
RiverHawks, on Friday, May 27.
“We’re giving away season schedule magnets to the first 500 fans,” says
Tim Broxterman, director of Beach Bums promotions and community events.
“Then, we will give away a brand new high efficiency refrigerator courtesy
of Cherryland Electric for the winning fan.”

Features Erin Crowell In a matter of days, Angela Macke will know if her Traverse City organic
tea farm will remain open or be forced to close for six years. The Light
of Day Organic Tea owner has spent the last eight weeks attempting to sway
her neighbors, residents of Ironwood Hills Subdivision, from aerial
spraying microbial pesticide Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and organic
pesticide Dimilin over the subdivision property in an attempt to kill
forest tent caterpillars.

Features Erin Crowell Standing Atop the Third Level
By Erin Crowell
You lost your job and now you’re behind on rent. Your girlfriend left
when the money did, along with your self-respect. Alcohol only does so
much until the pain returns like a flood, drowning any confidence and
motivation you once had. Darkness replaces light as the days blur
together.
Just as the whispering hurt becomes a deafening scream, you turn to pick
up the phone, only to realize it’s 3 a.m. and your best friend is asleep.
I don’t want to burden him anyway, you think and quietly replace the phone
on the nightstand.

Features Erin Crowell The ART of Motherhood: Egg donor Jamie Kramer celebrates a global Mother’s Day
By Erin Crowell
Jamie Kramer sits at her computer, scrolling through the columns of photos
before her. She rolls the mouse over several images—a little girl smiling,
standing knee deep in the ocean, another dressed in princess garb, a
little boy in a pile of toys—until she finally settles on one.
She clicks the mouse and opens a photo of two sisters in a phone booth –
one, with soft hair and blue eyes, sitting quietly holding the phone; the
other, a mess of curls with eyes pinched shut in a fit of laughter.
“That’s totally a Jamie face,” Kramer smiles.
It’s a smile any mother would have when talking about her children, only
these children are not hers.
Well… technically.

Features Erin Crowell China mom: Sarah Johnson brings teaching experience and two daughters to the Middle Kingdom
By Erin Crowell
While Leelanau County resident Sarah Johnson has lived over 30 years in a
home that is “off-grid” (meaning self-sufficiency without reliance on a
public utility), the mother of three is finding a whole new meaning for
the term.

Features Erin Crowell Atop the shoulders of Giants: Meryl Marsh takes tree climbing to a whole new level
By Erin Crowell
High in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, 7,000 feet above sea level, Meryl
Marsh dangles from a tree limb the size of an oak trunk, reaching for a
new growth branch– a facial hair in comparison to the 400-foot-tall
sequoia it and Marsh are attached to.

Features Erin Crowell Worry, Check, Repeat: Kevin Putman hopes Petoskey ping-pong tourney will shed light on OCD
By Erin Crowell
Kevin Putman is walking to work when he steps over a stone, no larger than
a golf ball. Briefly, he considers picking it up and tossing it into the
grass so no one trips over it. He decides to keep walking.

Features Erin Crowell The Rough Riders of 2 Wheel Technique Are you ready to take on the ‘Pipe of Death’?
By Erin Crowell
“Like riding a bicycle.”
It’s a comparative statement we use when describing life – the revisiting
of something we thought once forgotten, but relearned as if second
nature…easy peasy, you could say.
Think about it. How many 30-year-olds do you see swapping spots with their
child after teaching them how to ride? Little Tommy cautiously holding the
back of the bike seat as giggling Dad rides nervously down the driveway?
Hopefully zero; because riding a bike is something you only have to learn
once, right?
Jonathan Pool believes there’s more to riding a bike than just pedaling
forward, and many of us could use a refresher.

STAIR-CLIBING ENVY
2 Wheel Technique is a Traverse City-based group dedicated to the art of
balance… on two wheels. Pool, an avid cyclist, started the group after
moving to the area in 2003 from southeastern Michigan.
“When I moved here, I was the only one in the area with trials
experience,” said Pool about the biking discipline where mountain bikers
attempt to cross terrain, using any obstacle such as boulders or logs,
without putting a foot on the ground.
Observed trials are also known as technical mountain biking.
“I started mountain biking seriously in the early ’90s,” he said. “I had a
friend who could ride over anything. He could even ride up stairs without
putting a foot down. I was so envious.”
The group meets every Tuesday during the summer and rides at local spots,
as well as across the state (Marquette) and out-of-state (Ray’s Mountain

Features Erin Crowell he Inadvertent Success of Marc Schollett: TV newsman wins ‘Best Broadcast Journalist’ award
By Erin Crowell
When it comes down to it, TV 7&4 news reporter Marc Schollett knows more
about algae than his career – but you would never know that from his
numerous journalism awards from the Associated Press, The Michigan
Association of Broadcasters, the National Television News Director’s
Association and the Seven Seals Award from the United States Army Reserve.

Features Erin Crowell Raiding the Closet at Zany Consignment Boutique
By Erin Crowell
From the sidewalk, Zany Consignment Boutique looks like any other home in Traverse City’s “Slabtown” – a yellow two-story house with green shutters. Dismiss the sign and hours posted as you walk through the door, and you pause in the covered porch, wondering if you had mistakenly entered a resident’s home.
Inside, it’s like raiding a girl friend’s closet—and a stylish one, at that—but this closet has trickled downstairs, lining entire walls and filling every room. Other friends are over, too – swapping a skirt for a blouse or a pair of heels for a vest.