What a huge success Kids Day with Whispering Pines Animal Kingdom was. This event was held on June 7th with an enormous attendance. A special thank you goes to the sponsors and volunteers that helped to make this day happen. The kids were able to enjoy a variety of events such as the Animal Kingdom, Ronald McDonald, Michael the Clown, face painting all while eating snow cones and cotton candy.

A thank you also goes to those who helped with flower planting in Ithaca. We had many volunteers including students from the Ithaca school. Ithaca looks so nice and it is great to see the community work together to...

The Middle of Mitten Association is proud to announce the first annual St. Louis Blues Festival to be held as part of this years Fourth of July festivities on Saturday, July 7. Music will be right downtown with the stage and hospitality tent just a block or so away from the fireworks site. Great blues bands will play all Saturday afternoon and local favorite Love Child will perform from 9:15 p.m. on. There will also be a Pancake Breakfast that morning, 5K run, free swim at the W.T. Morris Pool, the Lions Club Steak Fry in Clapp Park at 4 p.m. and of course the fireworks at 10 p.m.

Another new event added to the July 7 celebration will be...

July means that the Alma Highland Festival and the Alma Founders Day celebrations are over for the 2007 season, but doesn't mean that the fun is over. The Fair for Youth located at the fair grounds in Alma will be hosting the Super Kicker Rodeo July 7th and will hold its annual fair July 14th - 21st. There is also fun in downtown at the Strand Theater who is hosting the 2007 Gratiot Idol competition. The semi finals are July 12th and the finals will be July 19th, both evenings start at 7 p.m. On Thursday August 2nd the Alma Action Association will be hosting its annual golf outing at Pine River Country Club. The golf outing committee is signing up teams and holes sponsors now. If you are interested in participating in the golf outing or sponsoring a hole please contact...

I believe that it is important for our community leaders to spend some time getting acquainted with our own scenic spots. The more our leadership recognizes the beauty within Gratiot County, the easier it is to sell others about the great quality of life we have in Gratiot County. We really do have a great quality of life and great community to raise our families. The Gratiot Area Chambers' marketing committee has adopted the slogan, "Small town values, big town opportunities". In Gratiot County, this theme is really true. Many of our photographs look like they are straight out of...