Events, Kerrytown news

Second Sunday: Books are Beautiful

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Anyone who knows Vickie knows she adores books and reading. She considered becoming a librarian (and chose another wordsmith occupation – journalist / freelance writer – instead). And she started the Mity Nice Stories on the Steps near our cart, and hopes to continue it for a long time.

So our next Second Sunday event, held in conjunction with the Kerrytown Book Festival, is special, even though it also is considerably smaller than our recent Fairies & Fairy Door Festival or Mity Nice Street Fair.

We are celebrating books, especially books for children and books about fairies and friendship, at the Books are Beautiful Second Sunday.  (We have a couple of new books that we think you’ll really love!) We will read and share our favorite titles – and create a book-related craft project or two, including a custom bookmark.

Then we’ll encourage you to spend time at the wonderful activities in the Book Festival. (We’re supporting the festival by giving all its volunteers a Mity Nice Italian ice sometime in the afternoon.)

What: Children’s arts and crafts table, poet’s corner and story time

When: Sunday, Sept. 9, 12 – 3 p.m.

Where: At the Mity Nice cart, on the sidewalk at 303 Detroit Street

Who: Mity Nice staffers and you

Why: Because we love books and poetry — and celebrating with friends!

How:  Get ready by re-reading your favorite books – we’ll be asking you about them! Then invite along a friend to this lovely afternoon.

What else: At the Kerytown Book Festival make a book with our friends from FLY Art Center, who created the moustaches and wands during our Fairy Festival. There’s also a 3 p.m. session for kids called “Stories about Stories” with a local librarian.

 

Dogs and pets, Events

More fun with farmers, fairies, dancing and dogs

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Every month, on the Second Sunday, we organize and hold a special event at the Sunday Artisan Market, part of our effort to bring more people to see the beauty and savor Kerrytown (and our Italian ice.)

This weekend is our Fairies & Fairy Door Festival, and it is jammed with joyful activities. We hope you have your fairy wings or pirate costume prepared.

Yet Mity Nice lives up to its name, sweetly, with some other fun days and nights planned too. We are celebrating the farmers and other vendors at the Farmers Market and appreciating the return of U-M and other students to Ann Arbor.  And we’re trying a new evening to bring together dogs and dog owners and give them a place to gather together and savor the season.

Here’s a look at some of the joy that gives credence to our slogan “joy and jobs through Italian ice – that’s Mity Nice!”

Weds., Aug. 15 –  Free Farmers Market vendor ice day . Vendors will receive a special coupon, good for one day only, so they can feel our appreciation for how hard they work, and how much they liven up Kerrytown.

Friday, Aug. 17 – Mity Nice Dogs Night Out.  Bring your well-behaved dog down to Main Street for a treat and a chance to sniff and smile at other pooches.  The official event is  7-9 p.m. but we’re dog-friendly all the time. (Our mascot is Dannie, our big brown dog, and she’s likely to come out for the evening.)

Sept. 1 – Hello students night! We’re Mity Nice…. We will set up on our North University space, right near Hill Auditorium, and we’ll hand out some free Maize & Blueberry muffins (limited quantity) and coupons and such. This event also will kick off our fundraising drive, throughout September, to reduce the number of hungry in our community. The funds will go to Food Gatherers, the Breakfast at St. Andrews and a third local anti-hunger charity still to be chosen.

Sept. 5 – Friends & Family Free Ice Frenzy.  You can enjoy as much free Italian ice as you like during this annual event, provided you are friendly with us on Facebook.  Details on the location and hours will be given on our Facebook page!

Besides these activities we’re creating, we also like to join the fun when city codes allow it or when groups invite us in.  So we’ll set up on our Detroit Street spot for Nash Bash, featuring musicians from Nashville, on Aug. 16, and we expect to be on Main Street during Dancing in the Streets, a very fun event on Labor Day that we’ve supported for a few years.

Please share these events with your friends, and stop by and say hello. We have some of the nicest customers and we’re so glad to see you, regardless of whether you’re buying a pint of Italian ice or just bringing Bowser by for a visit.

 

Events, Mity Nice news

Our new fairy door

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Shhhhhhh.

Today, we’re giving you sneak peak at our second fairy door, which was created for us by Master Tinkerer Bob Simmons, of Fairy Hill Woodworksin Ann Arbor. (He’s at the Sunday Artisan Market, one of a handful of vendors with fairy items for children and adults and fairies to take home).

Ours is one of only a tiny number of mobile fairy doors in Michigan. Here’s what it looks like:

The second Mity Nice fairy door, made in Ann Arbor

Our first fairy door, installed last summer, is on hiatus for a while, so we’re excited to have a new one to share with children and adults who visit our cart. (Hint: It’s on the white cart, the one that holds our sink and your lemonade.)

We also  are creating a map of fairy doors in Kerrytown, which will be available Sunday at the Mity Nice Fairies & Fairy Door Festival. We believe we’re one of only three doors that are in or adjacent to the Ann Arbor Farmers Market.

Of course, this weekend, more than a dozen artisans will unveil their own fairy doors during our festival too, which is another reason to visit on Sunday.

For those who don’t know, fairy doors can only be opened by fairies or their cousins, pixies and brownies. Humans are not able to pry them open, even for a minute. Instead, you may want to leave a penny, a charm or another gift to stay in the fairies good graces, and to encourage them to show up.

Our fairy friends already have been selling Mity Nice Fairy Ice for more than a year in Ann Arbor.  This door gives them a mobile shop,  a place to come and savor the sweetness and joy of a Michigan-made treat.  They, like so many, are fans of both the Italian ice and the kindness and whimsey, joy and charitable support we dish up regularly.

 

 

Events, Mity Nice news

Fairy games, crafts and fun coming Aug. 12

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Fairy Photo

If you’ve never seen a fairy in Ann Arbor, perhaps it’s time you started hanging out at the Mity Nice cart. They like to stop by around dusk, and play a few games and pick up an itty bitty Italian ice to take home to their brothers and sisters.

Or better yet, come by on Sunday, Aug. 12 for the Fairies & Fairy Door Festival, when fairies and humans will mix and mingle and enjoy an afternoon of fun and games, arts and crafts.

We have some surprised planned, so we can’t tell you everything. But here’s some highlights of our fairy and pirate event:

  • The folks at FLY Art Center will provide some wonderful craft activities. Fairy fans will be able to make a wand and a tiara and pirates and their pals can create their own villainous mustache and a hook from tin foil and a cup.  (They also are our non-profit partner, so a percent of all Italian ice and food sales from Mity Nice will go directly to this great group.)
  • Children and adults are encouraged to dress up as fairies or pirates, and join the costume contest at 1:30 p.m.  (No sharp swords please.)

    Fairy Photo

  • The folks from BrickBash, the cool Lego-building festival, are bringing out some of their favorites to share with our guests.
  • A face painter will be available to give you a flower or some fairy dust or perhaps a patch over your eye or a terrifying scar, if you’re a pirate. Thanks to the kind support of LilyGrace, the luxury cosmetics boutique on Main Street, we will offer free face painting for most of the event.
  • We will offer an array of fairy games and dances – some of them will be magical. (Yes, you can play even if you have no wings or magical powers.)
  • Hear stories of fairies and fairy adventures, listen to fairy tales in some storytimes on the steps.
  • See some new fairy doors that are popping up, both at the Mity Nice cart and throughout the Artisan Market.
  • Try some treats made by local fairies and their cousins, the sprites and brownies.
  • Buy some amazing fairy items – including some locally made fairy doors and wands and some postcards, crowns and books from the Mity Nice Fairie Shop.  We appreciate Nicola’s Books for handing over most of the fairy books that will available.
The event starts at 11 a.m., though mosf the children’s activities and crafts will commence at noon, at the Sunday Artisan Market in Kerrytown, and at the Mity Nice cart. If you flit by early enough, though, creep by and spy on the fairy circle just a little after dawn at Wheeler Park.
This event is organized by Mity Nice and Integrity Shows in partnership with the Fairy Council #3 and the Sunday Artisan Market.
Thanks to our sponsors LilyGrace Cosmetics and Tea Haus of Ann Arbor for their support.
Copyright Mity Nice LLC

 

Mity Nice news

Art Fair – we’re there, times two

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If you’re looking for your Mity Nice Italian ice for the next few days, you’ll have to head up to the heart of the Ann Arbor Art Fairs.

We have two locations this year, on either end of the Diag. They are:

1. State and North University  – We’re serving from our mini-carts but you’ll find four flavors of ice and plenty of lemonade and tea too.

2. South University and East University – Look just past the Information booth and you’ll see Mity Nice in a sliver of a space.

In both spots, you will see our red, white and green umbrella that is one of our signatures. We’re serving up Tea Haus tea, including the beautiful flavor Summer Romance and the classic black (so you can make an Arnold Palmer).  The raspberry lemonade tastes wonderful with a scoop of lemon ice added, too.

We know it’s a ways from Kerrytown, but we hope you’ll come see us!

Mity Nice news, Photos

Almost a circus at the Mity Nice Street Fair

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We’re sharing some photos of the fun we had Sunday at the Mity Nice Street Fair:

And we want to give thanks to Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Tea Haus of Ann Arbor and Found Gallery for their support of this event, and to the food carts, the performers and everyone who came to play and juggle with us. It was Mity Mity Nice!

Events, Kerrytown news

Watch for fairies flitting, playing, drawing, singing

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Fairies have bought our Italian ice since we debuted in 2009 (they are one reason we offer the Itty Bitty size, which is enough for a fairy family to share!) And they rejoiced when we installed our own Mity Nice Fairy Door last summer.

This year, we’re adding a second door and celebrating the fairies, er faeries of Ann Arbor, again in our Second Sunday event on Aug. 12.  The event at the Sunday Artisan Market will again encourage people to dress up as fairies and if they prefer, pirates. We firmly believe that boys or girls may be faeries and that girls or boys could be pirates, and adults too!

We will have arts and crafts, much of it provided by FLY Children’s Arts Center, our charity partner for this event. (They receive a percent of all Italian ice sales that day, plus our undying appreciation for coming out in August to join us.)

Visitors will see many more fairy doors this year besides ours, and we have more fun planned too, which we’ll share in future posts. We’re inviting a face painter, a fairy queen and much more. For now, here’s the basics:

The Second Sunday Fairies & Fairy Door Festival

When: Sunday, Aug. 12  11 – 3:30 p.m.  (Arts & Crafts end at 3 p.m.)

Where: The Sunday Artisan Market in Kerrytown  (Detroit Street near Catherine and Fourth)

Who:  Anyone who appreciates fairies or fairy doors and fun

Why: Because we adore fairies and Kerrytown and playing faerie games

How:  You may get involved by helping share the news of this mini-festival and of course, by getting your fairy wings exercised.

See a few photos from last year’s Fairy & Fairy Door Party, shot by Mark Bialis for the Ann Arbor Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, on Flickr. Used with permission of VisitAnnArbor.org

 

 

Events, Kerrytown news

A half dozen entertainers will dazzle and dance at The Mity Nice Street Fair

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Time flies when you’re having fun. And we’re packing so much fun and so much entertainment into one event this Sunday, that before you drop one juggling ball or $5 in a busker’s case, the  Mity Nice Street Fair will be started.

Here’s a preview of the entertainers who have confirmed they’re coming:

  • Detroit Circus – Strolling entertainers Tom and James specialize in contact juggling, poi spinning and other amazing feats. They’ll be performing and teaching some too on Sunday. (They’re bringing along teaching yo-yos, but we asked them to leave their fire juggling gear behind, partly because of all the beautiful but flammable art that’s for sale in the Sunday Artisan Market.)

  • Tom of the Detroit Circus will amaze and entertain on Sunday. (Photo courtesy spilt sugar / Detroit Circus)
  • The Josh and Roy Show. This duo combines “juggling and jocularity” and considers themselves an old fashioned vaudeville act. The wanted to bring their unicorn, or maybe it was a unicycle, but we don’t have a field nearby for frolicking.
  • Meaghan Roberts   This singer and guitarist from Toledo charmed us when she played at the Artisan Market during our first Second Sunday event. She’s lively in her folk/rock style, and also plays harmonica and other instruments.
  • Ian Tran – When we saw him roaming the aisles of the Artisan Market, playing violin and smiling, we were sold on this musician. He plays a mix of classics and children’s favorites and improvises tunes on violin and piano too.
  • Chris Abolio – She describes herself as a street dancer, and her style is popping  It’s a mix of funk and hip hop; it’s high energy and sure to appeal. See her perform in this video or live on Sunday!
  • Our open stage has several performers already likely to show up, and more welcome. They perform for up to 30 minutes near the Mity Nice cart on Detroit Street. (All entertainment must be family friendly and fun. Save the scary, angry, evil performances for the Terribly Mean Street Festival that our evil twin will put on someday.)
The acts start performing at 11 a.m. all around the Ann Arbor Sunday Artisan Market. And they will perform gladly, especially if we appreciate them with tips and purchases of their CDs and su
Tom of the Detroit Circus is ah “imported from Detroit.” (Photo courtesy of spilt sugar / Detroit Circus)
ch.  (Or buy them a Mity Nice Italian ice, a lemonade or bag of popcorn between sets.)

Many thanks to Street Fair sponsors Found Gallery, Tea Haus of Ann Arbor and Zingerman’s Bakehouse, each of which have  Adopted-A-Busker. No – they do not get to take them home and enroll them in swimming or kayaking lessons! It’s more like a foster program – for Sunday only!

Events, Mity Nice news, Photos

What a parade! What a lot of free ice!

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This is our third year in the Jaycees 4th of July Parade in Ann Arbor, and our second year to give away free Italian ice to everyone in it.

This year, we promoted the Mity Nice Street Fair — this Sunday – throughout the parade.

The parade loops around downtown, and it ends on Thompson Street, where Mity Nice surprises and delights everyone with a free little Italian ice in red, white or blue. (Flavors: raspberry, lemon or Go Blue!)  We pre-scoop much of this and serve it in pizza boxes so we can hand it to the groups going by.

Such smiles and delight on their tired hot faces when they see us!

We gave away 863 portions of Italian ice, with Mark scooping as fast as he could and our juggler friend, Dave, helping to pass out the pizza trays full of icy vegan sweetness.

Here’s a few photos from the start of the parade, as Shelley, Mark and Dannie, our brown mascot, were waiting to walk a mile amid politicians, pre-schools and prancing twirlers.

Events, Kerrytown news, Photos

Arts and crafts – puppets and play at Second Sunday

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Every month, we organize a Mity Nice Arts & Crafts area as part of our Second Sunday celebrations.

The craft activities usually match the them of the month, so for Dads & Dogs, Eleanor and the children made dog heads and ties, among other things. This Sunday, as part of our performers and street performers theme, we’re making puppets – sock puppets and paper bag puppets.

Here’s a preview that my Mom and I made together:

Two by two: Sandy and Sam and Mabel and Suzie are the first Mity Nice puppets.

We still need a few more socks for the sock puppets – so if you have some, toss them at us as we pass by during the Jaycees 4th of July Parade or else drop them off by Friday at Papa John’s on Division.

And please come this Sunday at the Mity Nice Street Fair. Whether you make a puppet or watch the Detroit Circus or a musician (and tip them for their performance), we’ve got plenty of fun for everyone.

Joy, jobs & charity through Italian ice – that's Mity Nice.