Traverse City Record-Eagle

Archive: Tuesday

June 1, 2010

Cheers: 06/01/2010

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-To organizers, participants and attendees who honored American veterans of all wars during Memorial Day ceremonies over the weekend and Monday. Cheers as well to all of our area's and nation's veterans.

-To Maxine Meach, of Traverse City, who founded the Parkinson's Support Ground 25 years ago after her late husband, Charles, was diagnosed. The support group will hold its 25th annual summer session Thursday afternoon at the Hagerty Center. Rasheda Ali also will speak at a dinner at the Opera House to discuss her family's experiences with the disease after her father, boxing legend Muhammad Ali, was diagnosed in 1984.

-To former Traverse City Central High School graduates Elizabeth Perkett, Patricia (Stokes) Olender and Suzy Merchant for being named to their alma mater's Hall of Fame. They will be inducted June 11. Perkett, voted by the Class of '63 as "most likely to succeed," is professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville and also director of the university's Cystic Fibrosis Center. Olender, Class of '65, is a costume designer at the School of the Arts in Rochester, N.Y. Merchant, a 1987 Central grad, is now head coach of Michigan State University's women's basketball team.

-To Traverse City West Middle School students for being one of 10 finalists in a national "mash-up" competition the offers a $10,000 prize to start a composer-in-residence program. Seventh- and eighth-graders in the Madrigals vocal group, an audition-only ensemble, mixed "I Want You Back," a Motown hit for the Jackson 5 from the late '60s, with The Fray's "Over My Head (Cable Car)," a popular song this decade. They recruited classmates to play strings and guitar. West is the only finalist from Michigan. The winners will be chosen by a popular vote online.

-To the Leelanau Conservancy Wildflower Rescue Committee for its annual perennial plant sale on Memorial Day Weekend. All proceeds from native plants rescued from construction sites help maintain the Village Green in Leland and assist with other Conservancy projects.

-To area orchid growers and organizers of the annual "Orchids By the Bay" orchid show Saturday and Sunday at the Civic Center.

-To Grow Benzie, a nonprofit launching its weekly farmers market on June 9 at the almost four-acre community farmstead at 5885 M-115 near Benzonia. Organizers envision community gardening on 14 plots, training, culinary arts and food preservation. Last year, the nonprofit designated produce from four plots to local food banks. This year one of the plots is set aside for local school districts so that students can learn about food from farm to table.

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