Tag Archives: Mity Nice Second Sundays

Circling in on our Mysterious Sunday event

The last Second Sunday of the season is fast approaching and there’s still so much you don’t know about it.

That, my friends, is because it’s called All Things Mysterious.

And so there are mystery guests aplenty, some of them may even show up magically and entertain us. Others may want you to guess their identity.

We expect some seasonal circles to show up too – some orange ones and some red and organic. Can you figure out what they are?

We know there will be a lot of surprises and some mysteries to solve, but there are a few facts you want to know:

  • All Things Mysterious runs 11:30 to 3 p.m., with most activities and guests from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Sunday Artisan Market and the Mity Nice cart on Detroit Street. First games commence at 11:30 and the Arts & Crafts Table opens at noon.
  • Our charity is the Leslie Science & Nature Center, a good friend and a great place to learn about Michigan creatures and take a nature walk. Francie will bring a few birds, including an owl, to Mysterious Day.
  • Mity Nice will offer a variety of  “sweet treats from the streets” – well, our cart really is on the sidewalk just outside the Farmers Market.  We’ll have cookies and muffins and some banana bread; Mindo Chocolates and Tea Haus tea as well as our Italian ice and lemonade, so please bring your appetite and a few dollars.  (We donate a percent of sales to Leslie Science Center, so the treats are doubly sweet.)
  • Our main sponsor is Second to None, a Kerrytown business that provides mystery shopping for many retailers.
  • Almost all or fun family activities are free, but we do ask for donations at the Arts & Crafts Table this month so we can replenish our supplies. (Half of the donations will go directly to Leslie.)

This event is coming up fast, and we don’t want it to be so mysterious that people miss out on it. So please share with a friend or neighbor or Tweet about the birds and fun! See you Sunday.

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

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!

Fairy games, crafts and fun coming Aug. 12

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

 

What a parade! What a lot of free ice!

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.

Dads & Dogs – a sweet sweet day!

Sunday was such a special day – our second Second Sunday and a chance to really connect with the community. We spent much of the day with the amazing volunteers from Last Day Dog Rescue , Eleanor and her wonderful children’s art projects and met some the new friends we made near the Mity Nice cart, too.

Our new page highlights our friends and sponsors, including some local businesses that help make us look good.

Meanwhile, enjoy a few photos from our Dads & Dogs: