By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief CUSTER TWP. — When I was a kid, my family spent a lot of time at the Eikenberry farm on East Conrad Road. Phil Eikenberry was a classmate, customer and friend of my dad’s. Phil died in 2007 but his children continue to own their father’s farm. I have been following his son, Kevin the past…
Diana and Richard Cox in front of their store in downtown Scottville
Story & Photo by Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
SCOTTVILLE – “I could be a widow sitting here in this store right now,” Diana Cox said, sitting in her office at Cox’s Sales & Services in downtown Scottville. “I could be if it wasn’t for some guardian angels.”
Story & Photos by Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief SHERMAN TWP. — On Saturday mornings, in the woods of western Sherman Township you will hear the sound of guns. It is a ritual that has gone on for quite some time. Members of the Fin and Feather Club gather and shoot skeet and trap, along with shooting a lot of the bull,…
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief LUDINGTON – The voice of the Ludington Orioles, Rod Beckman, will be heard on a new radio station this fall, WMOM FM 102.7. Rod will direct all local sports coverage and will cover play by play of Ludington boys and girls basketball while Todd Hansen and Gary Castonia will cover play by play of Oriole football.…
Story & Photos by Rob Alway, Editor CUSTER – Can you get much more Americana than a small town picnic in the middle of the street? There isn’t even a need to put up barricades here in Custer. People just know better. Every year for the past 20-some years the Custer Fire Department has held its community picnic at the…
Several months ago, I made a “bucket list” for my thirties. In defense of those already 40 and over, it is not that I liken turning 40 to death – or even that I mind my own aging. Based on average life expectancy, 40 is about the half way point for me. In my twenties, there were a lot of…
Early harvest this year, but to my absolute delight, the raspberries are ready. These are no ordinary raspberries. There was a scraggly little wild bush which appeared on our property in Manistee many years ago. It had the sweetest, most amazing black raspberries you’d ever want to meet. Most people call these blackberries, but blackberries are another thing altogether. Blackberries…
Story & Photos by Rob Alway, Editor FREE SOIL TWP. – Extremely dry conditions caused a field fire Monday afternoon which could have been a lot worse. The fire started when farm equipment owned by Stakenas Farms caused a spark on a rock, according to Chris Jeffries, Fountain Area Fire Dept. Assistant Chief. Dry conditions and a southerly wind caused…
LUDINGTON – Three vehicles owned by the Mason County Sheriff’s Office were vandalized Saturday morning. The incident happened in the north parking lot of the sheriff’s office. Sheriff Jeff Fiers said the windows of two patrol cars and a marine patrol sports utility vehicle were smashed. Nothing appeared to be taken from inside the vehicles. “The reason could be one…
At the southern end of the Hart-Montague Rail Trail is a section which passes near the Alcoa-Howmet casting plant. Recent improvements by Alcoa create some great opportunities for kids. For one thing, the trail passes through the Alcoa-Howmet Woodland Garden. Many sections of the trail in Montague and Whitehall have been adopted and the plant material has been improved…
An additional eight miles of multi-use trail now extend south from the terminus of the Hart-Montague Rail Trail in Whitehall. This is the Berry Junction Trail, following the line of the former Chicago and West Michigan Railroad where Berry Junction was a real location on the railroad that linked Whitehall and Fremont.
By Rob Alway Editor-in-Chief For the past three weeks my cousins have been visiting from The Netherlands. Rita, the daughter of my aunt, visited the United States 16 years ago, but only for a few days – she wanted to see our grandmother before she passed away. Rita’s husband, Henk, had never been to the U.S. and quite frankly didn’t…
When the 2012 Summer Olympics start at the end of July, a touch of Ludington will be seen on the NBC television coverage of the events.
My digital camera broke. And of course it happened to break at the moment my husband and children were getting ready to glide across the zip line while on our Upper Peninsula getaway. Really? This was probably the highlight of our vacation for the kids! I tried my best to take pictures of them with the camera on my phone…
Have you ever driven by someone stranded along the side of the road and said, “Someone should stop to help them?” Or maybe you see someone you know at the restaurant who has had too much to drink and you think, “I wonder if they are OK to drive?” My favorite is, “You should do things like this…” and the…
AFFEW, Mason County’s environmental education non-profit, is hosting an informational forum on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on Thursday, April 12. Broad areas of Michigan, including Mason County, have been described as suitable for fracking and leasing agents are already active in the area. The Forum will feature speakers from Western Land Services, Michigan’s DEQ, Sierra Club and Michigan Food and Water…
LUDINGTON – Are you doing spring cleaning? Cleaning out your closet, your basement, your garage? The Ludington Area Center for the Arts is having its annual indoor yard sale and organizers are seeking donations of items to sell. Donated items may include, but are not limited to, furniture, household items, small appliances, objects d’art, collectibles, games, toys, books. …
B-FLAT By BRUCE MILLER mcp blogger Before the freeway came this far north, people would drive north on what is now Pere Marquette Highway, then called US 31. The highway went through most of the main towns and cities along the lakeshore. When it got to Ludington, it joined U.S. 10 east and west to Scottville where U.S. 10 continued on…
Sometime in the next few days you should see our new site. MasonCountyPress.com has been in existence for the past three months and this new site will be the most major change we have made. It will allow us to expand as needed. However, there will be some bugs to work out. I have to move each archived article from…
The Ludington Area Center for the Arts will offer a six-week tap dance class for adults beginning on Tuesday, April 10 at 7 p.m. Taught by Carol Chesebrough, who owned The Studio in Big Rapids, the class is open to men and women who have taken beginning tap. Chesebrough is known for her easy-going and fun teaching style. The six-week class is…
John Mickevich photographed these two deer Saturday north of Scottville on Darr Road, near Mavis Road. Mickevich used the Nikon D7000 camera with a 300mm Sigma lens for this shot.
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