Live News Updates for Oct. 23-29
The Great Pumpkin walk returns to EL on Sunday with lots of treats and activities.
Over 25 East Lansing businesses will serve as trick-or-treat stations for this year’s Great Pumpkin Walk. From 1- 4 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 29) a variety of locations on Albert Avenue, Grand River Avenue and the downtown side streets will be handing out treats and hosting activities.
Additionally, for the 12th year, the Wild Goose Inn at 512 Albert Ave. will transform into the Land of Oz for trick-or-treaters from 2-4 p.m..
The East Lansing Farmers Market (ELFM) will kick-off the afternoon of activities with a costume and cosplay contest. Participants must register for the event before 12:45 p.m., and winners will be announced at 1:30 p.m. The ELFM runs from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. Sundays at 280 Valley Court Park.
Along with treats, the Great Pumpkin Walk will include activities for people of all ages at the annual event that draws local residents and visitors from neighboring communities.
There will be free pumpkins and pumpkin decorating stations in the William B. Sharp Park at the corner of Abbot Road and Albert Avenue and in the 500-block in the pedestrian alleyway. There will also be live music by Carlos Perez and the Spooktactulars in the Ann Street Plaza at the corner of Albert and M.A.C Avenues from 1:30- 3 p.m. And for those who want to spend time with princesses, MSU Royal Encounters will have various princesses available for meet and greets at Ann Street Plaza.
Reported by Elijah Taub (Friday, Oct. 27, 2023)
The City of East Lansing is piloting early voting with an Early Voting Center at the ELPL.
The Early Voting Center (EVC) will open Monday (Oct. 30) in the East Lansing Public Library (ELPL), 950 Abbot Road. The EVC will be a space where East Lansing citizens can cast their ballots in person for nine days prior to the Nov. 7 election.
The East Lansing City Clerk’s Office will host a grand opening event Monday at 9:45 a.m. in recognition of the EVC. Speakers will include East Lansing Mayor Ron Bacon and State Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou. Both will cast their ballots at the event. In addition, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum and East Lansing Interim City Clerk Marie Wicks will speak.
The EVC will then be open 10 a.m-5 p.m. Monday (Oct. 30) and Tuesday (Oct. 31), 10 a.m.-6 p.m Wednesday (Nov. 1) and Thursday (Nov. 2), and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday (Nov. 3) and Saturday (Nov. 4).
Proposal 2022-2, adopted in Michigan after the 2022 general election, requires nine days of early voting, but does not officially go into effect until the 2024 presidential election. But East Lansing is running the EVC with support from the Bureau of Elections as a trial run before three elections to be held in 2024.
“We are so excited to be able to offer East Lansing voters an opportunity to take part in early voting,” Wicks said in a press release. “We are grateful for the support of our state, county and local officials as well as the Bureau of Elections for their guidance in piloting this key requirement of Prop. 22-2.”
In addition to early voting, polling locations will be open from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. on Election Day.
East Lansing residents can find voting tools and information at Michigan’s Voter Index and the City of East Lansing’s Election Info section of its website.
Also, ELi has been providing coverage of the eight candidates for the three open seats on City Council as well as the three ballot initiatives and other voter information. You can access stories here.
Reported by Elijah Taub (Friday, Oct. 27, 2023)
The East Lansing Arts Commission (ELAC) moves to bring more art to the city.
With the approval of 10 of the 13 cultural arts grants at the East Lansing Arts Commission’s (ELAC) Sept. 21 meeting, the Cultural Arts Grant fund had, as of Oct. 11, $1,538 remaining of the $25,000 budget.
The approved cultural arts grants include:
- All of Us Express Children’s Theatre – Production of “The Addams Family, the Musical”
- Pure Winds 23 – 24 ED Series – MacDonald Middle School Visit
- Lunar New Year Concert
- MSU AAPI Jazztet
- Peppermint Creek Theatre Co. – “All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914”
- Pumpstock
- MSU Swara & Spartan Sur – Spartan Siatra: Shoot for the Star
- SiP Duo – SiP Saxophone Duo Commission Project
- Williamston Theatre – Page to Stage Discussion Series
- City of East Lansing / Collaborative Weaving Project
At the Oct. 19 meeting, the commission revisited the grant to discuss a proposal from the East Lansing Film Festival. The festival’s proposal was submitted on time and in full, but was missing from the September meeting as it was not uploaded properly.
The commission moved to approve the complete funding of the Nov. 9-16 festival.
The Oct. 19 meeting also included discussion of the addition of murals and other art downtown.
Arts Programming & Creative Placemaking Specialist Wendy Sylvester-Rowan presented some art pieces that are being implemented in the city, as well as other art ideas for the downtown area.
Her first update was on a mural by Ben Duke, which he plans to begin creating in May. This mural will be on the wall on the back of the Albert Street parking garage.
In the spring, weaving artwork is being placed on the rounded wall in the Division Street parking garage as well as a mural painted on the Beggar’s Banquet wall by Jazzmyn Benitez.
Sylvester-Rowan introduced other art ideas for the commission to consider. She began by expressing her wishes to install swings in Bill Sharp Park.
“Swings in an urban area break down barriers and break down walls,” Sylvester-Rowan said. “There is a study that has been done showing that girls feel safe gathering by swings.”
Sylvester-Rowan also presented the idea of lenticular art on the sides of the cement beams on the Grove Street garage.
Other ideas included light installations, murals on vehicle entrances of parking garages, clip frames for rotating art inside of parking garages and in other areas downtown, painting bollards and support posts, and simply adding color around the city on blank walls that are “screaming for something,” Sylvester-Rowan said.
Commissioners expressed the most interest in the addition of light installations and art or structures in Bill Sharp Park, located at the corner of Abbot Road and Albert Avenue.
Reported by Mya Gregory (Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023)
Ten Pound Fiddle will showcase “A Duo of Duos” this Friday.
The Ten Pound Fiddle will host “A Duo of Duos” at East Lansing’s University United Methodist Church (UUMC) this Friday (Oct. 27) at 7:30 p.m. The event features two musical duos: the Dangling Participles and the pair of Dave Boutette and Kristi Lynn Davis.
The Dangling Participles are a Lansing-based band featuring Tamiko Rothorn and Austin Kaufmann. The group boasts a diverse song set, ranging from folk and Americana to Latin jazz and blues. “Catchy, thoughtful and eclectic songs,” said Dylan Rogers, director of The Robin Theatre in Lansing.
Both artists write original songs, and Kaufmann anchors the group on guitar and harmonica, with Rothhorn adding cornet and ukulele. Learn more about the duo here.
Former garage rock troubadour Dave Boutette and Radio City Rockette Kristi Lynn Davis make what could be considered an odd musical pairing. But since tying Boutette’s songwriting with Davis’ skill for harmony, the duo has performed at music festivals, house concerts and listening rooms from the Porcupine Mountains down to Oberlin, Ohio.
Wheatland Music Festival coordinator Daniel Bracken describes the pair as possessing “Irrepressible verve and joy.”
Boutette and Davis’ songs mix schools of American roots and popular music, including folk, blues, swing and old-time country.
The pair says their lyrics testify “to the power of true love, rebirth, snow plows, coffee, and migrating fish.” Learn more about the duo here.
UUMC is located 1120 S. Harrison Road, East Lansing. You can explore event details here.
Reported by Mara Logan (Monday, Oct. 23, 2023)
From the East Lansing Insider Saturday mailer: What’s new in East Lansing?
The week has shaped up to be light on meetings.
The East Lansing Board of Education will meet Monday (Oct. 23) at 7 p.m. Meetings are held on the lower level of the high school. The agenda can be found here.
City government initially looked to have a busy meeting schedule this week, but the calendar got lighter with some cancelations. Groups still meeting are Planning Commission on Wednesday (Oct. 25) and the Building Board of Appeals on Thursday (Oct. 25). A special Tuesday (Oct. 24) City Council meeting has been canceled, as have the Thursday (Oct. 26) meetings of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and Brownfield Redevelopment Authority.
Join ELi for an evening at the Robin Theatre watching a movie about investigative journalism!
This Wednesday (Oct. 25), ELi is inviting readers to the Robin Theater in Lansing for a movie night. We are hosting a watch-party showing of “Vengeance,” an action-packed, fun movie about investigative journalist Ben Manalowitz. Tickets for the event are $15 and additional donations are appreciated.
The watch-party is part of ELi’s ongoing fundraising efforts and kicks off our November and December sustainability campaign. Here’s how you can donate.
For the ELi team, last week was another busy week of reporting.
The biggest news of the week came out of Tuesday’s (oct. 17) City Council meeting when it was decided that workforce housing will not be built over the parking lot at 530 Albert Street. Reporter Dustin DuFort Petty recapped the meeting and documented why retaining the surface parking lot may be a temporary victory for the many residents who spoke out against the project.
In other city news, Reporter Mya Gregory delivered a rundown on a $204 million project along US-127 from I-96 to I-496. While the Michigan Department of Transportation said the proposal is intended to make the roadways safer, some residents of impacted neighborhoods have concerns that the opposite effect will be experienced.
Luke also watched the Oct. 11 Planning Commission meeting to find out the latest about proposals to replace the University Marathon gas station on the corner of Abbot Road and Saginaw Street, and repurpose a Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL) property on Stoddard Street into a training facility. The BWL proposal was tabled to allow more input from residents, while the new gas station was passed along to Council for a final decision.
On Wednesday (Oct. 18), ELi published a feature story from Dustin where Interim City Manager Randy Talifarro gave insight into his stint in the city’s top position. Talifarro, who left for his retirement home in Arizona after Robert Belleman was hired as city manager, stepped into the position during a time marked by staff departures and the challenge of stabilizing the city’s workforce.
ELi Now’s live news updates for Oct. 16-22 includes the current top story coming out of the Tuesday (Oct. 17) City Council meeting. City Attorney Tony Chubb announced that the city is working to pull the license of Spin, which means the scooter company would not be allowed to operate in East Lansing.
Other ELi Now highlights include details about Thursday’s (Oct. 26) Safe Halloween event and the Premier Dance Studio’s ribbon cutting event on Oct. 1.
Have something you want featured in ELi now? Contact us! ELi Now will start fresh Monday (Oct. 23) and keep you updated with live news reports through the next week.
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