In order to coincide with the grand opening of the exhibit Up North with the Hemingways at the Crooked Tree Arts Center, this year's annual meeting and conference were held in July with headquarters at the Odawa Hotel in Petoskey. While Bill and Nancy Nicholson (pictured at right) skillfully handled registration in the hotel lobby on Friday, new members gathered informally with "old pro" members for refreshments and a get-acquainted session in the hotel lounge.
The reception to celebrate the opening of the exhibit was held at CTAC with guests from our membership, the Petoskey arts community, Central Michigan University, and the Michigan Humanities Council. Following the private preview of the exhibit, the gathering adjourned to the arts center theatre to receive a welcome from president Mike Federspiel and greetings from Judy Rapanos, Chair of the MHC. Next came the premier showing of the DVD “Hemingway: a life in Michigan.” The film, a longtime dream of our organization, was produced by WCMU-TV with funding from the Michigan Humanities Council, WCMU, Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, Michigan Association of Public Broadcasters, and MHS. It will be provided to every school district in Michigan in conjunction with the Michigan Reads project. Each conference participant received a copy as part of his registration packet. The quality and content of this production are outstanding, and board members Jack Jobst, Mike Federspiel, Ken Marek, Jim Sanford, and Fred Svoboda appear in it as commentators. Fred offered the audience further insights into Hemingway and Nick Adams following the DVD screening. (Pictured at the reception are Maddy Wagner, Christine Ney, Jan Byrne and Carole Underwood.)
Bus tours of Hemingway-related sites were offered on Saturday morning, hosted by board members Chris Struble and Bill Nicholson. Other board members led story discussions of “Big Two-Hearted River,” “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife,” and “Fathers and Sons” at the Petoskey Public Library. (Pictured is Bill Nicholson conducting his tour while being filmed by CMU's video crew for the Great Michigan Read documentary, "Hemingway: A Life in Michigan.")
Saturday’s banquet at the Odawa Hotel was capped by Mike Federspiel’s presentation “The Rest of the Story (Grace’s Photo Albums)”. He showed slides of photos donated by The Sanford family to the Clarke Historical Library’s Hemingway Collection.
On Sunday morning, we heard a brilliant and moving paper by Jim Sanford on life at Walloon Lake, illustrated by more historical family photos. Also on Sunday, three writers were recognized for the entries in the just-for-fun Hemingway vignettes writing activity. MHS board member Susan Lightcap and Diane Fox judged the entries. (Susan is pictured with two of the winners, Matthew Smith and Joe Meany)
Kudos to Marian Sanford and Nancy Nicholson who "never let us see them sweat" as they coordinated weekend events.