Category Archives: Kerrytown news

charities, Events, Kerrytown news

Lucky 7: Breakfast and Art, Birds and Books

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This young woman is serving oatmeal at The Breakast. (The Breakfast at St. Andrews photo)

Next up on the Lucky 7 charities are two organizations that feed the body and the creative soul – and then two others that bring the world to us.

On Wednesday, we celebrate and support The Breakfast at St. Andrews.  It offers a free morning meal 365 days a year, serving oatmeal and muffins and more to 90 to 150 people daily.  The Breakfast, established in 1982, operates from a church basement on Division, just a few blocks from our Kerrytown space. Vickie has volunteered and written aboutthe organization for The Ann Arbor Observer  and continues to back its good food and good community.

FLY goes to schools in Ypsilanti and beyond to bring out the young artists. (FLY Art Center photo)

On Friday, we support and celebrate FLY Art Center.  FLY  encourages creativity and self-expression through art camps, events and bringing its art activities on the road. It also brings art projects to a variety of elementary schools.   Come to our Main Street location – near Washington – from 3 to 7 p.m.

Then we have a weekend of charitable wonder – those who give us a window into a bigger, beautiful world:

On Saturday, our friends at the Leslie Science & Nature Center come out to Kerrytown, and if all goes well they may bring along an owl or another creature.  Leslie gives thousands of people, young and old, the chance to experience nature and learn about animals – leaving Ann Arbor. It offers field trips, summer camps,a “Fall Flight” and “Star party” and much more.  Our Leslie hours are 9-12, though we’ll sell Italian ice until 2:30.

Sunday we’re out for the Kerrytown Book Festival and oour Lucky 7 charity is Washtenaw Literacy. (We’re also giving free Italian ice to each Book Fest volunteer, but that’s a separate sweetness.)  Each year, Washtenaw Literacy trains volunteer tutors who help others start or improve their reading and writing abilities. In 2012, Washtenaw Literacy worked with 1,800 adult learners.  We’re serving ice on Sunday around 10:30 to 4:30.

Our final charity fun-raiser – for this year anyway – will be Wednesday, Sept. 10. The charity remains a mystery (for a while longer anyway). So please show up on Detroit Street in Kerrytown for our finale!

 

Events, Kerrytown news

It’s a Mystery who will show up at the last Second Sunday of the year

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It’s called All Things Mysterious, this upcoming special day at the Mity Nice cart and the Sunday Artisan Market. And it will be a day full of surprises and mysteries, with some magic thrown in for good measure.

Yet it started out as a place holder or maybe a joke, when the Mity Nice crew first started planning the Second Sunday events early this spring. We knew we wanted a half year of joyful activities and events, yet we had not yet figured out what our October theme would be. The other five months came to us with ease, but not the last one.

So when we created the schedule and the sweet little postcards that adorn so many refrigerators around town, we wrote in “Mystery” for that month.

Eureka! We had a great idea and eventually we realized it worked perfectly, mixing in a little bit of Halloween with a lot of surprise – including some mystery guests and performers.

So we are sworn to secrecy a lot of this, but some entertainers you’ll recognize from our Mity Nice Street Fair and some are new to the Second Sunday scene. Some may be so mysterious you’ll never know their true identity.

One thing that is no surprise is our Mity Nice Arts & Crafts area, where children and adults play around and make things, whether they be sock puppets, bookmarks or a pirate’s moustache. We’re adding some mystery games near our cart on Detroit Street, too, because games are such fun. (Anyone for another hand of poetry cards?)

What:  A fun family day full of games, crafts, entertainment and many mysteries. (But no mystery meat, we promise. Our cart is all vegetarian and vegan treats!)

When: Sunday, Oct. 14, 11:30 to 3 p.m.

Where: At the Mity Nice cart, on the sidewalk at 303 Detroit Street, and throughout the Sunday Artisan Market

Who: Anyone who enjoys fall, mysteries, sweet treats or art – that’s all of us! Plus our friends from the Leslie Science & Nature Center are coming as our charity partner, and they’re bringing some mystery guests.

Why: Because next to Michigan-made Italian ice and other sweets, what could be more wonderful than a day full of joy and mysteries?

How:  How about creating a secret identity, just for the day of All Things Mysterious. Or maybe you want to pull your copy of Harriet the Spy or Encyclopedia Brown and read something mysterious before you show up.

What else:  We cannot tell you, or it will ruin the mystery and the fun surprises!

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.

 

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, 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.

Events, Kerrytown news

Buskers, street performers – show your stuff

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Anyone who wants a jolt of joy just needs to stop and watch a good busker perform for 15 minutes.

They can turn a bad day good and make a good day feel like you just were handed Willy Wonka’s ticket to come inside the Chocolate Factory. Street performers make you laugh and sing along with their songs; they invite you into their improv skits and convince you to drop your last dollar into their hat. They are magical persons who bring us into their stories and lives, at least for a little while.

We want the ones who are family friendly, upbeat and amazing to come out and play with us for our celebration of street performance and street food on July 8. We already have one lined up, but we need more. So here’s your invitation to come play with us:

Busker tryouts will be in Kerrytown, on Detroit Street.

If you cannot make these tryouts, please email us some details about your act, with links that show how Mity talented you are. Send those in as soon as possible. Preference is given to performers within 50 miles of Ann Arbor – that includes Detroit and Toledo and Jackson! – and to those who have done charity or non-profit events to support causes.

Events, Kerrytown news

Come play on June 6, you street performers, magicians, musicians and buskers

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We like street performers and buskers, since they add to the street life and energy of our communities. So we’ve have had room for them on our sidewalk-space (and permit) for more than a year now.

But this is bigger, much bigger. A Street Performers Fair on July 8 (yes, it’s a Second Sunday celebration).

We will spotlight seven to 10 performers that day, and give them prizes, free food and an audience. We’d like many of them to be locals from Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Dexter and other nearby communities. (We’re inviting in a few from the Detroit area too.)

To join the fun, musicians, acrobats, magicians, improv and other performers need to try out. Here’s the audition details:

Date:  Wednesday, June 6th.

Time: 6 – 8 p.m.

Place: Kerrytown, right near our cart on the sidewalk at 303 Detroit Street

All acts must be family friendly – PG rated or better.  Music should be acoustic for auditions; if you’re chosen for the fair, you may use a sound system.

Performers also can submit a MP3 or other examples of their work, with a short statement as to why they want to be part of this new event. But priority will be given to those who actually show up and put on a 5- to 10-minute show for us.

A second tryout is scheduled for Sunday, June 17, 2-4 p.m., if needed.

Questions? Ideas? Email us at busker@mitynice.com or generositygrows@yahoo.com

We hope to have an audience for these tryouts, so grab a lawn chair, mango ice or a lemonade and sit down to enjoy the evening.

Dogs and pets, Events, Kerrytown news

Dads & Dogs – our next Second Sunday event

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Dads, bring your kids and your pooch and come down for some pre-Father’s Day fun. You’ll get a free Itty Bitty Italian ice and your children can enjoy our dog-themed crafts. (You of course will need to buy them their own sweet treats from the Mity Nice cart.)

They can buy you something fabulous from someone in the Artisans Market.

If you don’t have a dog, the Last Day Dog Rescue will bring some for you. They and their 15 to 20 pooches looking for forever homes, and will be around 12 to 3 p.m.  (Note: Mity Nice’s owners adopted their sweet brown dog through Last Day and are very happy with her, and the group.)

Then everyone can come watch the Dog Fashion Show at 1:30 p.m.  Registration starts at 12:45 p.m. Well-behaved dogs dressed up or down or dressed in drag are welcome. (Dogs that are aggressive or not so socialized are welcome to show up via a photograph posted on our Facebook page or brought to the event.)

Prizes will be awarded – your dog could win something wonderful from Dogma Catmantoo, (just down the street from us) or from Found (a sweet vintage and gift gallery also in our neighborhood).

Dog owners without a dad or kids in tow are welcome too. So are enthusiastic dog lovers who just want to collect a few wet kisses or dispense some head scratches. (Sorry doggies, but our Italian ice is vegan. We know some of the artisans will have dog treats available for you, though.)

Start: June 10, 2012 12:00 pm

End: June 10, 2012 3:00 pm

Email: yourfriends@mitynice.com

Venue: Artisans Market and Mity Nice cart Google Map

Address: Fourth Avenue near Detroit and Catherine, and the sidewalk at 303 Detroit St., Ann Arbor, MI, 48104