St. Ignace
By Miriam Blair 643-7994

This year's Antiques on the Bay car show was a great success last weekend, and the weather nice and sunny.

The Farmers Market was set up Saturday near the railroad dock, where everyone could enjoy homemade goodies, including wool products, crochet and sewing, and some fruit and vegetables.

Next weekend will be even more exciting as everyone enjoys our Down Memory Lane Parade Friday, June 29, and beautiful cars on display Saturday, June 30. Admission is free of charge. There will be a whole weekend of entertainment. Our town should be very proud of the greatest car show!

Mike and Kim Welch had a picnic at their home on Fenlon Road June 17. Family and friends celebrated in honor of their daughter, Cadet Amber Welch, on her graduation from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, May 26.

She plans to stay in St. Ignace with her parents for a couple of months before returning to Huachuca, Arizona, to complete the program. Aaron Welch, her younger brother, celebrated his birthday at the picnic.

It sure was a pleasure speaking with Eva Grondin and knowing she is feeling much better. Ms. Grondin had been hospitalized in Petoskey for a few days.

Birthday wishes for Ron Lee June 25, Ryan Schlehuber June 28, and Charlotte Everson June 30.

Donna Pope and Marty Davis attended track finals in Kingsford last week. Ms. Pope and Ms. Davis then traveled to Racine, Wisconsin, where they visited Bill Pope, Ms. Pope's son. The ladies went on their way to Chicago, Illinois, where Ms. Pope's daughter, Barbara, flew in and met them as they shopped downtown.

Mr. and Mrs. Don Gustafson and their three children, Luke, Lindy, and Bradley, will attend a wedding in Detroit this week, then travel on to Denver for a second wedding.

We have received word of a poem about St. Ignace and its many attractions written by a talented young writer, Gabrielle Burseth, the granddaughter of Stan and Rosemary Ferris, who both grew up in St. Ignace. Gabrielle, 11, is a fifth grade student at Sixes Elementary School in Canton, Georgia. One of her favorite activities is to travel to St. Ignace every July, where the family rents a cottage on US-2 and enjoys the area's summertime pleasures, such as going to the beach, eating whitefish meals, and sitting by a campfire, all of which Gabrielle mentions in her poem. She's a member of the Young Authors Club at her school.

Barbara Merchand of St. Ignace has also received recognition for a work of poetry, called "Spider Jack of the Mighty Mac," which has been posted on the Mackinac Bridge Authority Web site. It's also been published in a book called "Colors of Life," produced by the International Library of Poetry, as a result of its submission in a poetry contest. Mrs. Merchand said she originally wrote the whimsical piece about a spider living on the Mackinac Bridge about eight years ago, and more recently sent it to the contest and shared it with Mackinac Bridge workers.

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