This is our first press release of the year, and we’re sharing it here as we send it out to bloggers and media and others. Please share it with your media and non-media friends too!
Ann Arbor – The crew of Mity Nice has been learning to juggle almost since the first scoops of Michigan cherry and lemon ice were handed over to customers in the summer of 2009. This year, though, Mity Nice is bringing in some experienced performers to entertain and delight as it organizes the Mity Nice Street Fair, a celebration of street performance and street food on July 8.
The event, held at the Sunday Artisan Market in Kerrytown, will feature performers from the Detroit Circus, who specialize in poi spinning and contact juggling, as well as The Josh and Roy Show, a Vaudville style performance. Among the other performers include Ian Tran, a violin player who attends the University of Michigan. Other performers will dance and hoop and carry on.
Mity Nice also will offer an “open mic” stage near its cart for acoustic performers who didn’t make it into the festival but want to drop in and perform on Sunday.
“We’re thrilled to be creating a new family event that is sure to bring joy and delight to our audiences,” said Mark Loeb, co-owner of Mity Nice. “We put joy in our mission statement and we’re helping bring more of it to Kerrytown too.”
The Mity Nice Street fair also will feature three local food purveyors: Dad’s Dogs, a hot dog cart that usually is found on Main Street or Maynard; San Street, the Asian street food cart from Zingerman’s; and Papa John’s Pizza, which serves pizza to hungry U-M students and townies alike. Mity Nice will offer its Detroit-made Italian ices, mini-muffins, fresh-squeezed lemonades and tea from the Tea Haus.
The event is being sponsored by Found Gallery, Tea Haus of Ann Arbor and Zingerman’s Bakehouse, each of which have Adopted-A-Busker to make the event possible. Performers will play for tips, so the audience is encouraged to bring small bills (or big ones if you really enjoy the show)! Mity Nice and the sponsors are also supporting the entertainers with food and fun and more.
Mity Nice started the Second Sundays in May, in partnership with the Sunday Artisan Market, to encourage visitors to come and enjoy the beauty of the market and Kerrytown on Sunday afternoons. Future events include the Fairies & Fairy Door Festival Aug. 12 and a Mystery Day in October.
The Street Fair runs 11 to 3:30 on July 8, with an after-party in Kerrytown to give performers and audience a chance to chat and relax.
As for the Mity Nice crew, some are still working their way up to three bright colored balls. But all of them have developed an amazing ability to scoop very cold ice.
Mity Nice’s slogan is joy and jobs through Italian ice – that’s Mity Nice! and every year the company gives a few teens their first or second summer job.