Encore December 2015

Paw Paw's 120 Taphouse & Bistro

December 2015

Terrific Truffles

Meet Tiana Gee

Melody Allen’s peaceful pastels

Southwest Michigan’s Magazine

THE PLACE TO BE Downtown Kalamazoo’s comeback

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Meet Tiana Gee

Melody Allen’s peaceful pastels

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December

CONTENTS 2015

FEATURES The Place to Be

24

City Dwellers

27

Downtown Kalamazoo is enjoying a business and residential comeback

One family gives up the ‘burbs for the bustle of downtown

DEPARTMENTS 6 Contributors Up Front 8 First Things — Happenings in SW Michigan 10 Terrific Truffles — The Chocolate Garden is savoring sweet success

13

Good Works

Grace of the Garden — At 91, Sister Grace Scola grows flowers, food and fun

16 Enterprise

Family Trees — Wahmhoff siblings are thirdgeneration Christmas tree farmers

19 Savor

120 Taphouse & Bistro — Childhood friends get creative in restaurant venture

46 Back Story

Meet Tiana Gee — The American Red Cross exec understands putting in “blood, sweat and tears”

ARTS

32 Immediate Art

Pastel artist Melody Allen is drawn by the

medium’s “immediacy”

35 Second Home

Kalamazoo is where it all began for singer

Meagan McNeal

37 Events of Note 42 Poetry On the cover: The Lam family, from left, Brian, Sienna and Melissa, are one of only a few families who’ve given up the suburbs in favor of living in a loft in downtown Kalamazoo. Brian Lam describes their experiences in City Dwellers on page 27.

Photo by Brian Powers

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Contributors encore

Olga Bonfiglio

Olga is an "academic entrepreneur" who teaches English as a Second Language and is a staff writer for the College of Arts and Sciences at Western Michigan University. She has taught courses in urban redevelopment at Kalamazoo College and business communication at WMU’s Haworth College of Business. A frequent contributor to Encore, Olga has previously written for the Huffington Post, U.S. Catholic, Planning (the trade journal for urban planners) and the Kalamazoo Gazette.

Andrew Domino

Andrew writes about downtown Kalamazoo’s business development this month. Andrew says he tried to start his own business in Kalamazoo once, but his feasibility study wasn’t promising, so he’s sticking with writing about business and entertainment in Southwest Michigan. You can see more of his work at www.dominowriting.com.

Lisa Mackinder Lisa, who wrote several features that appear in this issue, says she found a recurring theme among her diverse story subjects. “What I found interesting about all my story subjects is that they all had one thing in common: passion. Tina Buck absolutely loves creating delicious new truffles to make people smile, Melody Allen loses herself in her paintings and it shows in the end result,” says Lisa, “and the Wahmhoff family recognizes that they touch lives with their Christmas trees — especially through the Trees for Troops program.” Lisa is a freelance writer based in Portage.

6 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

Brian Lam

A Kalamazoo native, Brian describes the uncommon experience of family-living in downtown Kalamazoo. Brian’s work has appeared in Encore before; most recently he penned the Summer 2014 profile of Chris Harris, board president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kalamazoo. When not enjoying all that downtown has to offer with his wife, Melissa, and 6-year-old daughter, Sienna, Brian stays busy running two small businesses: Lam Creative Solutions and Improv Effects.

J. Gabriel Ware

J. Gabriel, who wrote this month's feature on neo-soul singer and Western Michigan University alum Meagan McNeal, says he was intrigued by McNeal’s talent and approach to her art. In addition to writing features for Encore, J. Gabriel is working on both an undergraduate degree in journalism and a graduate degree in communication (simultaneously) at Western Michigan University.

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up front encore

First Things Something Literary

Author Hop at Kazoo Books It’s like speed dating local authors.

You can meet and mingle with more than 20 local, published writers at Kazoo Books’ annual Author Hop from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Dec. 12 at the store’s Oakwood location, 2413 Parkview Ave. During this daylong event, groups of regional authors will take to the store’s floor in shifts, mingling and chatting with readers. The authors come from all genres, including poetry, children's literature, fiction, local history and mystery. Among the authors expected this year are Loreen Niewenhuis, Joe Heywood, Jerry Dennis and Hedy Habra.

A complete schedule is available at kazoobooks.com.

Something Good

Volunteer at Portage Community Center Got

a group? Then get together and help the Portage Community Center with its holiday efforts. The PCC, a human services organization serving Portage residents, provides a holiday children’s party and food baskets to those in need and is looking for volunteers to help in these efforts.

Volunteer groups are needed Dec. 8 to assist with packing gift bags for the children’s party and Dec. 19 and 21 to sort donations, pack food baskets and distribute the food baskets. Groups can have up to 12 members.

To give the PCC a hand, contact Chris Buckley at 323-1942 or send an email to chris@portagecommunitycenter.net.

8 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

Something Colorful

Printmaking from the Psychedelic Age Who doesn’t know Andy Warhol’s famous

print of a Campbell’s tomato soup can?

That work is just one of many iconic screenprints on display at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts through March 27.

The exhibition Colour Correction: British and American Screenprints 1967-75 will take over the KIA’s two largest galleries and feature 80 bold prints by 32 artists, including Warhol, Josef Albers, Nicholas Monro and May Stevens, that were produced during the era of psychedelic culture.

Viewers can learn more about the printmaking renaissance of the 1960s in a presentation by the exhibition’s curator, Marshall Price, at 10 a.m. Dec. 9 at the KIA. For more information, visit kiarts.org.

encore up front

Something Key The Piano Guys

The name is a misnomer: The Piano Guys should actually be called Those Guys Who Play Great Music in Beautiful Videos Shot in Amazing Places All Over the World. But that would be too long.

The Piano Guys are four talented dads from Utah whose music videos became YouTube sensations, garnering more than 500 million views. You can see what the viral buzz is all about when they bring their talents to the stage at Miller Auditorium at 8 p.m. Dec. 5. Tickets are $35-$60 and can be purchased by phone at 387-2300 or online at millerauditorium.com.

Find more happenings in Events of Note on page 37.

Something Uplifting BachFest Christmas!

It’s not Christmas in Kalamazoo

Lilliane Lijn, Koancuts IV, 1971, screened, cut, and collaged print on paper.

Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.

until the Bach Festival Chorus sings.

This will be the 46th year of Bachfest Christmas! — an annual classical musical program that celebrates the spirit of the season through choral music. The program takes place at 4 p.m. Dec. 6 in the beautifully decorated Stetson Chapel, at Kalamazoo College.

Maestro James Turner, the Bach Festival Chorus and the Western Brass Quintet will present a concert that will include Francis Poulenc’s Motets for the Christmas Season, traditional carols, and the world premiere of The Winter Lamb, composed for the Bach Festival by Carl Witt.

Tickets for the performance are $14-$25, or $5 for students. To purchase tickets or get more information, visit kalamazoobachfestival.org.

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up front encore

Terrific Truffles The Chocolate Garden is savoring sweet success by

Lisa Mackinder

10 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

Brian Powers

S

ometimes when Tina Buck opens her eyes in the morning, she awakens with a very sweet idea, which means she’s dreamed up another chocolate truffle flavor.

Soon after this a.m. inspiration, Buck heads into her creative workshop — her kitchen — to produce trial batches of this potential new truffle.

“I always have a specific notion in mind of what I want to achieve with it,” says Buck, the chief chocolate officer at The Chocolate Garden in Coloma.

Brian Powers

encore up front

Sometimes it takes only three or four batches to attain perfection; other times Buck will make 15 or more attempts at creating the right flavor profile. Occasionally, a truffle idea simply doesn’t make the cut, and Buck refuses to put anything on the market that doesn’t meet her criteria.

“If I call it Dark Chocolate Raspberry, you should taste the raspberry,” Buck says. “It should be identifiable.”

Buck believes that a customer, when tasting one of her truffles, “shouldn’t have to squint their eyes,” trying to determine which fruit flavor has been combined with chocolate. For the Chocolate Garden’s Citrus Ginger Truffle, Buck wanted people to taste not only the chocolate but both the citrus and ginger flavors too. Same thing with the Sticky Buns Truffle — Buck wanted customers to detect each of the confection’s caramel, cinnamon and buttery flavors.

Buck’s family and friends used to serve as “guinea pigs” for her new truffle flavors. Today, after 17 years of operating the business, Buck trusts her own judgment. But if she requires a second opinion, she turns to The Chocolate Garden’s kitchen and shipping manager, Hannah Heuermann, a 15-year veteran of the enterprise. Sometimes, however, unusual flavors — such as the Cayenne Kick Truffle — necessitate test marketing.

“I went to consumers for their reaction at a charity event for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and let people sample them,” Buck says.

Before launching The Chocolate Garden, Buck had a lucrative job in advertising in which she was assigned to high-profile accounts such

Brian Powers

At left: Chocolate Garden owner Tina Buck spends her days creating new truffle flavors. Above: Gift boxes of truffles are big sellers for the Chocolate Garden.

Opposite page: The Chocolate Garden offers 26 different flavors of truffles.

as General Mills and Sara Lee. While working in product development and research for Sara Lee, Buck was constantly learning about chocolate and something propelled her to try her hand at making her own sweet treats as gifts.

“I thought truffles would be fun to make for colleagues,” she says.

“So I tore out a bunch of recipes and experimented.”

That experimentation led to the development of a special technique Buck employs that makes The Chocolate Garden’s truffles, well, The Chocolate Garden’s truffles. Buck’s concoctions were a hit with coworkers, and every holiday season they clamored for her truffles. The rest, as they say, is history.

In The Chocolate Garden’s infancy, Buck received a call from a Food Network producer wanting to feature her truffles on a segment. After the segment aired, the company had a backlog of orders for nine weeks. Buck says the network did a good job explaining that each of her truffles is handmade and labor-intensive, and that explanation made people understand the long wait. One customer’s comment resonates with her to this day: “Tina,” one man wrote, “I will take mine from the slow batch every day.”

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up front encore Since then, The Chocolate Garden has grown up, out and every way in between.

Buck’s kitchen has expanded, and the store itself has increased from its original 300 square feet to 1,000 square feet. The number of truffle flavors offered by the company has ballooned from six to 26, and the number of employees has increased from one (Buck herself) to as many as 16, although it varies during the seasons.

The product’s popularity has also boomed.

Buck admits she doesn’t have much time for

marketing and doesn’t seek out corporate sales but says the company still sells plenty of corporate packages. Last summer KitchenAid ordered 500 corporate gifts for a charity golf tournament.

“We put together a special kit so their recipients could make our patent-pending Drinking Chocolates, Garden Mochas and Truffle Lattes at home,” Buck says.

As one might expect, Christmas is The Chocolate Garden’s biggest season. Some customers do all of their holiday shopping

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with the company. Last year one couple ordered 350 packages, Buck says, and the company had to spread shipping and packaging out over a few weeks. But the company’s biggest day of the year for sales might come as a surprise.

“The biggest single day of the year is usually a summer or fall weekend day,” Buck says. “Our shop has become a destination for foodies and discriminating chocolate lovers.

We are busy from Memorial Day through the end of the year.”

The Chocolate Garden’s most popular truffles include the Milk Chocolate Truffle and the Dark Chocolate Truffle, followed closely by the Salted Dark Truffle and the Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffle.

“Not for one minute” does Buck regret leaving advertising. With a position on the strategic side of things, she felt artistically stifled. Now she utilizes creativity in not just chocolate and flavor development, but other areas of the business such as design.

“Not to mention, in advertising I didn’t get unsolicited emails, phone calls and letters thanking me for what I did,” Buck says. “At The Chocolate Garden, it’s pretty much a daily occurrence, and that never gets old.”

encore GOOD WORKS

Grace of the Garden

At 91, this nun brings others fresh food, flowers and fun Olga Bonfiglio

S

Courtesy

he’s 91, but Sister Grace Scola is still growing.

Since this nun retired four years ago, she has turned her talents to gardening and providing food, flowers and fun for the more than 100 nuns residing at the Congregation of St. Joseph of Nazareth, on Gull Road.

“I just want to beautify our property and provide fresh tomatoes to the sisters, many of whom grew up on the farm,” Scola says. “They so appreciate homegrown tomatoes!”

During the spring and summer Scola grows tomatoes, herbs, roses and other beautiful flowers in her garden plots on the Nazareth campus. Last summer she tended to 19 tomato plants and grew sweet basil and parsley in “special pots” to enhance the salads made in the Nazareth kitchen. And those “welcoming” pots of mandeville flowers near the east entrance of campus were hers, too.

“My dad always looked forward to having a garden every summer,” Scola says, “and Sister Mary Catherine Beda, a farm girl herself, taught me many things about gardening, especially how to organically enrich the soil.”

Although she’s a self-described “Detroit city girl,” Scola says she has always had an innate love for farms. Before she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1946, she leapt at an opportunity to work on the family farm of one of her “sister friends.”

“Deep down in my heart I must be a farm girl,” Scola says. “I was born for the outdoors and the wide-open spaces.

I love being close to Mother Earth, to dig into the soil and enjoy the fruits of my labor. Nothing is more peaceful and Brian Powers

by

Sister Grace Scola grows flowers and vegetables for the nuns living at the Congregation of St. Joseph of Nazareth on Gull Road.

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Good works ENCORE

Brian Powers

delightful than to listen to the birds and cicadas on a quiet summer evening.”

Scola also enjoys cooking, so she and Head Nurse Jana VanAntwerp of the Nazareth Assisted Living Area created the “Meet and Eat Program,” which provides a special time for small groups of the assisted-living area’s 38 sisters to gather for a family-style, homecooked meal of meat, potatoes, vegetable, salad and dessert, complete with linen tablecloths and napkins, fine china and goblets, candles and flowers. This opportunity occurs every two or three weeks from October to April. The groups of sisters are kept small so they can enjoy a “fancy dining” experience as well as camaraderie.

When members of the Nazareth Alumni Association learned about these dinners, they presented Scola with an annual donation to buy food and supplies. Some of Scola’s friends as well as the Nazareth sisters donate to the fund, too.

Occasionally Scola will hold tea parties at which the sisters partake of “tea and crumpets.” Then there is the annual Mardi Gras celebration Scola established. There’s a parade in the congregation’s dining room, and whichever sister finds the plastic baby Jesus in her piece of King Cake becomes king for a year and also chooses a queen for the next year’s Mardi Gras.

Sister Grace Scola works everyday in her garden, but you wouldn’t know it by the pristine condition of her gardening shoes (far right).

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“When I retired at Nazareth, I knew I wanted to do something to be helpful to the sisters,” Scola says, “so I work with the assistance of others and the social committee to organize various activities. I recruit other sisters and laypeople to help.

After all, ‘many hands make light work.’ It’s important to invite others to be involved so that all may enjoy the event. It is my joy to reach out to our sisters, and I’m most happy when I’m planning projects that bring an element of surprise.”

All these activities keep Scola very busy for her age. “Keeping busy and active is important, especially when arthritis sets in,” she says. “Of course, doctors always advise me to keep moving.”

Before her retirement in 2010, Scola was a pastoral minister for 25 years at Holy Family Parish in Grand Blanc, where she reached out to the bereaved, shut-ins, senior citizens and the St. Joseph Guild. She also served as principal at the former St. Jerome’s School in Battle Creek, taught at several parish elementary schools and taught French at St. Agnes High School and Powers Catholic High, both in Flint.

Scola says that she doesn’t feel that she is doing anything extraordinary in planning activities for the sisters. Instead, she sees this work as a means to gather everyone together to enjoy one another in friendly conversation.

“I’ve always treasured my call to be a Sister of St. Joseph because we have dedicated our lives to serve others,” she says. “That’s what religious life is all about. We have the privilege and freedom to use our God-given gifts and talents to minister our services to and for others.

“God has blessed me with energy and health so I have to ask myself, ‘What can I do?’ That’s what motivates me, and I do enjoy it.”

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ENTERPRISE encore

Family Trees

Wahmhoff siblings are third-generation Christmas tree farmers

Above: Workers prepare some of the nearly 40,000 Christmas trees Wahmhoff Farms Nursery will ship across the U.S. this holiday season. At right: It takes a small army of workers to prepare the 10,000 wreaths Wahmhoff will ship.

A

s a child, Betsy Wahmhoff Perales and her nine siblings loved to be asked one question by their father: “Chocolate, vanilla or strawberry?”

This inquiry came as they approached the Dairy Queen window to order shakes after putting in a long summer day trimming Christmas trees at their fields in Dorr before returning to their main farm, Wahmhoff Farms, in Grand Junction.

“It made the hottest days bearable and fun to remember,” Perales says.

Perales and three of her brothers are the latest of generation of the Wahmhoff family to run Wahmhoff Farms Nursery. It’s truly a family affair: Her brothers Dan and Ken Wahmhoff co-own and operate the farm. Ken is vice president of sales and Dan is president, overseeing day-to-day operations, crews and the farm’s

16 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

Brian Powers

Lisa Mackinder

Brian Powers

by

encore ENTERPRISE

nursery. Perales is the farm’s executive secretary, and another brother, seedlings and transplants. Wahmhoff Farms became Wahmhoff Tom, is the production and crew manager. Dan’s wife, Lorie, is the Farms Nursery.

Each Christmas season Wahmhoff Farms Nursery sells nearly 40,000 office manager. Other family members will also pitch in during the Christmas trees and 10,000 wreaths around the U.S., including at busy season.

Perales says they all learned many lessons growing up on the four locations in Kalamazoo and Portage. The workers plant 60,000 to farm, including hard work, perseverance, faith and integrity. Oh, and 80,000 new trees per year. Over the years Wahmhoff Farms Nursery another thing: No whining. Not about the ticks, not about the heat has won numerous competitions, which have provided opportunities and not about having tired arms from trimming Christmas trees to present Christmas trees and wreaths to Michigan governors, including Jennifer Granbeneath a scorching sun. holm and Rick Snyder. Ken “OK, maybe we whined a Wahmhoff says judges look little on the really long, hot for such tree charactdays,” she admits, “but we eristics as symmetry, fulldid the work anyway. The ness and color. job had to be done.”

In 2011, Wahmhoff When trimming conFarms Nursery won the cluded and brisk winter Reserve Grand Champion weather settled in, Perales Scotch Pine Award from looked forward to the flurry the National Christmas Tree of activity that accompanied Association and received an Christmas tree harvest. She invitation to Washington, still does.

D.C., to deliver a Christmas “That was always tree to Vice President Joe exciting,” she says. “So Biden’s residence and many workers usually The Wahmhoffs currently working at the family's tree farm are from left: Ken attend a luncheon. dressed in rain gear, running Wahmhoff, Randi Wahmhoff, Betsy Wahmhoff Perales, Tom Wahmhoff, Dan “We presented three trees chainsaws, tree shakers Wahmhoff and Lorie Wahmhoff. at the Biden residence,” Ken and balers, and loading big Wahmhoff Farms Nursery says. “One was provided, trucks. It was always cool and they purchased two to watch the conveyor belt Address: 23090 M-40, Gobles more. It was quite an honor take the baled Christmas Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday; 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday to be invited to Washington, trees up onto the trucks.”

D.C.” Wahmhoff Farms started Products and activities: The nursery offers precut trees for sale and also This year, the farm won in the early 1950s when Carl allows customers to pick their own trees, with 150 acres to roam to find Grand Champion in the Wahmhoff Sr. purchased the right tree. On weekends, horse-drawn wagon rides, free popcorn and Decorated and Undecorated a 375-acre tract of land in pictures with Santa are available.

Wreath category at the Grand Junction. When Carl Sr. died in 1962, Carl Jr. was living in Grand Rapids and came home Michigan Christmas Tree Association’s Summer Convention and will again present a Christmas wreath to Gov. Snyder. Ken Wahmhoff to take over the farm.

“He jumped into being a farmer with both feet,” Ken says of his father. points to the words on the company’s logo as the reason for its By the early 1980s, Wahmhoff’s operations had been moved to success and longevity — “Where Quality and Value Prevail.”

“I think that sums it up,” he says. “Our team here works very hard the current site at 23090 M-40, in Gobles. In 1996, when their father retired, the Wahmhoff brothers took over what is now 1,000 acres to make sure our products ship when promised and in the condition of trees. In the early 1990s, Ken says, the farm also began selling we would want to receive them in.”

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Wahmhoff Farms Nursery also participates in the Trees for Troops program, which provides Christmas trees for military families.

The business has participated in the program since 2006, and Perales says it is her favorite event.

“It is a chance for us to give something tangible at Christmastime that reminds the soldiers and their families that they are not forgotten,” she says. “That reminds them of the blessings of Christmas, family, traditions, love and peace in a world that, for many of them, is often torn apart.”

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rossroads Galleria C 6414 S. Westnedge Ave., Portage aple Hill Mall M West Main Street and Drake Road T he Root Beer Stand 4400 S. Westnedge Ave., Kalamazoo T he Root Beer Stand 3100 Portage St., Kalamazoo Each season Wahmhoff Farms Nursery donates between 50 and 100 trees to the program. Along with the trees donated by other Michigan growers or paid for by individual donors, the farm and community volunteers this month will load from 400 to 1,000 Christmas trees at the annual Trees for Troops Loading Event.

Perales’ son, Cpl. Travis Wahmhoff, is a U.S. Marine stationed in Twentynine Palms, California, and she has several other family members and friends who serve or have served in the military. She says she understands how it feels not having the family together at Christmas.

“Christmas trees have been our family business my whole life,” she says, “and it’s neat to think that something I do for a living can touch so many lives.”

18 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

encore Savor

Inspired by Aunt Nancy

Childhood friends create 120 Taphouse & Bistro by

Lisa Mackinder

Around the time he was 10 years old, Eric Cook visited his Aunt

Nancy in Raleigh, North Carolina. During that trip, Aunt Nancy whipped up a special chicken dish that Cook enjoyed so much that he asked her to write the recipe down. Over the years “Aunt Nancy’s Chicken” has become one of Cook’s “go to” meals, and it now has a starring role at his new restaurant, 120 Taphouse & Bistro.

The restaurant, located at 120 E. Michigan Ave. in Paw Paw, is the new incarnation of Bistro 120, a restaurant that had served seasonal homemade meals since 1995.

“People came to the Bistro 120 because they wanted a good homecooked meal from scratch,” Cook says.

Cook, who grew up and still lives in Mattawan, purchased Bistro 120 from longtime owners Lynne McGuire and Wendell Meade and reopened it in July as 120 Taphouse & Bistro. It still adheres to the earlier restaurant’s tradition of offering seasonal, fresh local food.

In addition to “Aunt Nancy’s Chicken,” another family recipe appears on the eatery’s menu — Cook’s father’s hand-cut, homemade fries, called Frankie’s Fries. The fresh-cut Frankie’s Fries have quickly become a patron favorite.

“We get a potato, soak it in water for at least a day to get the starch out and then put the potatoes directly from the water into the oil,” Cook says. “It takes us twice as long to cook them.”

Doobies, an eggroll-like concoction, are a specialty at 120 Taphouse & Bistro.

Brian Powers w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 19

SAVOR encore When Cook decided to purchase the Paw Paw restaurant, he tapped childhood friend Andy Truitt to be the eatery’s head chef and kitchen manager. Friends since their ninthgrade history class at Mattawan High School, they shared the same ideas about food, Cook says. Truitt had a solid job, working as the head chef at Zoetis for 12 years, but two days after Cook presented his idea to Truitt, his friend jumped on board. “I couldn’t imagine being even remotely successful without him,” Cook says.

Cook says that society has forgotten the incredible flavors of garden-to-plate meals, and, in order to attain those in his dishes, he is building relationships with area farmers. Doing so, he says, provides wins on many fronts.

“One of my mottoes is ‘Eat fresh; eat local,’” Cook says, “because if I can support the local farms and then you could support me, we keep our dollars right here in the community. And, yeah, it might cost you a dollar or two more to have something locally grown, but just think how much you’re helping the environment by not having it shipped from here to here to here and (also) yourself by not having it processed beyond belief.”

Before becoming a restaurateur, Cook worked as a reporter for the Kalamazoo Gazette and WMUK and as a financial advisor with Edward Jones and Merrill Lynch.

Managing people’s retirement portfolios was stressful, he says, especially during the Great Recession, when one of his client’s lost $40,000 in one day. As far as writing, Cook explains, “I didn’t like writing. I liked exploring.” And that exploration, is what he loves about cooking. Cook enjoys creating new flavor combinations and then sharing his discoveries with others.

20 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

was moving away and on his last day Cook challenged him to “make me your best thing.”

The sous chef whipped up a turkey club with cheese and pesto, and the “Chad Sandwich” (named for the sous chef) was born.

“When somebody comes in and asks, ‘Hey, where’s that sandwich I had a few weeks ago with the pesto?’ I say, ‘The Chad Sandwich!’”

People inevitably ask, “Who’s Chad?” and Cook gladly fills them in.

Cook says good food requires good beer so 120 Taphouse & Bistro offers a rotating selection of 14 craft beers. Cook says he seeks rare and unique beer, but don’t expect the establishment to jump into the craftbrewing fray.

“That’s not my background,” Cook says.

“What’s easier is to just use my palate and just buy the best.”

A month after its opening, 120 Taphouse & Bistro had a special visitor: Aunt Nancy.

Cook proudly introduced her to the kitchen staff,

From top: Head chef Andy Truitt prepares the filling for a Doobie; Truitt and 120 Taphouse & Bistro owner Eric Cook like to “explore” with food; Cook serves up one of the unique beers the eatery offers.

Planning the restaurant’s first menu was fun, he says. Truitt possessed the professional culinary background while Cook had been making meals for family and friends since college. Stuffed burgers topped the list. The two men also added Doobies, which are egg rolls of a sort with a variety of fillings.

The Irish Doobie, for example, is filled with homemade corned beef and sauerkraut, and the Southern Doobie is stuffed with smoked pulled pork, from-scratch sweet bourbon barbecue sauce, fresh, diced red onions and Colby-jack cheese.

Both men enjoy creative experimentation with food and encourage their staff to do the same. One of the restaurant’s sous chefs

announcing, “This is the Aunt Nancy.” So, did she sample her namesake dish? Cook laughs.

Nope, she went with the pulled pork.

“I told her, ‘I don’t know if you should try it.

Maybe we don’t make it as good as you do,’” he says. But, Cook admits, he still has that handwritten recipe from 20 years ago. Just in case.

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The Place to Be Downtown Kalamazoo is attracting new residents & business

24 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

story by

Andrew Domino

D

owntown Kalamazoo is looking a lot like the future of the United States.

There’s a definite movement of people and businesses to the urban cores of cities nationally, and Kalamazoo is no different, according to local economic development experts.

“Downtown has evolved into a destination,” says Steve Deisler, president of Downtown Kalamazoo Incorporated (DKI), the organization that coordinates new business development in downtown and manages the area’s parking and marketing. “Companies want to be downtown, close to the experience.”

But it’s not just companies that want to be “close to the experience.” Employees of those companies are also looking for a place to call home just minutes from their office.

Dan Cunningham

Doing business downtown DKI defines downtown Kalamazoo as the area lying between Bronson Methodist Hospital to the south, Kalamazoo Avenue to the north, Pitcher Street to the east and Westnedge Avenue to the west (see map, page 26).

It’s an area that encompasses many of the city’s bestknown sites such as Bronson Park, the Kalamazoo Mall, Arcadia Creek Festival Place and the Radisson Plaza Hotel & Suites.

Kalamazoo is a busy enough metropolitan area to sustain three colleges and nearly 76,000 people, according to 2014 U.S. Census data. The greater Kalamazoo area, which includes neighboring Portage and most of Kalamazoo County, is home to more than 250,000 residents.

Despite Kalamazoo’s recognition as a thriving craft beer brewing hub and the global headquarters of medical products manufacturing giant Stryker Corp., those aren’t the only two industries doing well in the area, says Tamara Davis, regional director for the Southwest Michigan branch of the Small Business Development Corp. (SBDC).

“The manufacturing industry had issues in the recession, but it’s starting to re-emerge,” says Davis.

Manufacturing is still the area’s major industry, employing nearly 20 percent of the region’s workers, according to information provided by the regional economic development organization Southwest Michigan First. The area's four largest employers are all manufacturers: pharmaceutical maker Pfizer, Stryker, auto supplier Summit Polymers and industrial parts maker Parker Hannifin.

Almost as many people, though, are employed in health care, including at Bronson and Borgess hospitals

w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 25

Brian Powers Steve Deisler, president of Downtown Kalamazoo Inc., says downtown “has evolved into a destination.”

and their affiliate organizations. In 2016, Kalamazoo Valley Community College will open its new Bronson Healthy Living Campus, focused on food, health and sustainability.

Economists at The Upjohn Institute report that the most common job postings for the Kalamazoo-Portage area in 2014 and 2015 were in health care and manufacturing, far outpacing the next highest industry in the study — retail.

The workers who will take those health care, manufacturing, retail and other jobs are interested in more than just a place to work, Deisler says. Compared to older workers, these so-called Millennials — those now in their late 20s and early 30s — are less interested in commuting by car from a house in the suburbs to their downtown workplace, preferring to walk or bike to where they work.

“They graduate and go to big cities. Then we see them coming back to a smaller city,” Deisler says. “They like walking on the mall, bumping into friends and talking.”

Research by the statistics website Five Thirty-Eight shows that in 2015 “the most educated one-third of young adults are increasingly likely to live in the densest urban neighborhoods.” Deisler says DKI is hoping to attract graduates of Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College to downtown Kalamazoo.

With downtown residential units having a 98 percent occupancy rate, DKI and other 26 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

developers are trying to figure out how to meet demand they know is coming.

DKI estimates a demand for more than 1,400 houses and apartments in downtown within the next five years.

Many new residential units are being eyed for the Arcadia Commons West area north of Bronson Park — 675 apartments in several building complexes — as well as the development of townhouses, condominiums and about 75 single-family homes in the Vine neighborhood, just south of downtown.

“There’s less than 2 percent vacancy,” Deisler says. “We need to build more

residential (housing). Then the commercial (stores) follow (and) more offices downtown, offering that urban feel.”

But one thing that probably won’t happen downtown is the arrival of a Meijer supermarket or other big-box stores.

Deisler says the customers and the available acreage for these large stores simply aren’t there. Instead, downtown will continue to offer unique retail stores that focus on niche products like athletic clothing, home decoration, boutique clothing and even hats.

That won’t be a problem for the demographic that’s expected to be attracted to living downtown, Deisler says. For several decades, students from Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College more or less stayed on or very near their campuses and did a majority of their shopping in conveniently reached major commercial corridors like South Westnedge Avenue and the intersection of West Main and Drake. But now “everyone is compacting,” Deisler says. “(Millennials) are willing to live in a small area if they have all these amenities around.”

The reality of parking Kalamazoo officials want to be ready for newcomers, whether it’s a new drug company, a small clothing shop or a young professional fresh out of college. Deisler says DKI’s plans for downtown are starting to become more firm as the U.S. economy recovers from the (continued on page 43)

This map, provided by DKI, shows the boundaries and districts of downtown Kalamazoo.

City Dwellers

Courtesy

A family gives up the ‘burbs for downtown’s bustle

A

story by

Brian Lam

re Kalamazooans suddenly eschewing their suburban homes and yards to raise their families in downtown lofts? No. But my family did. And we may not be the last.

After seven years of living in the Winchell neighborhood — the very neighborhood I grew up in — my wife, 6-year old daughter and I moved into a two-bedroom loft smack dab in the middle of downtown Kalamazoo. It’s now been nine months, and we love it.

It may be awesome or it may be crazy, but one thing is evident: It is not the norm in Kalamazoo. Yet. The idea of family downtown loft living was first planted in my mind more than 20 years ago by a college girlfriend. She was born in Argentina, and I remember being dumbfounded when she told me that her middle-class family of five had lived in a high-rise in Buenos Aires. “Many families live in downtown apartments,” she said.

“But that’s not how it works,” I responded, based on my Winchell neighborhood experiences.

“Why not?” she asked.

I had no answer. I assumed living downtown as a family was reserved for the very rich or the very poor.

It wasn’t until many years later, when I lived in Aspen, Colorado, that I experienced living in a downtown apartment firsthand. The wealth in Aspen is astronomical. At some point in the town’s history, the billionaires pushed the millionaires out and down the valley. As a result, Aspen’s property values skyrocketed and the community struggled to find affordable homes for its working class. Teachers, police officers and small-business owners were pushed so far down

The Lam family, from left, Brian, Sienna and Melissa, gave up their house in the Winchell neighborhood for a loft with a balcony in downtown Kalamazoo.

the valley that it no longer made sense for them to continue to work in Aspen, which caused a worker shortage there.

The solution was subsidized housing awarded on a lotto system.

For every year a resident lives in Aspen — sometimes bunked up four deep in a single-bedroom apartment — they receive a virtual lottery ticket that affords them an opportunity at a subsidized apartment in Aspen when one is vacated.

I met many people in Aspen whose parents were restaurant managers or bankers or construction workers and who grew up in a family of five or six there. They didn’t have a yard or a lot of square footage, but the mountains that loomed above their small apartments constituted their playground.

The evolution of downtown When my Colorado-native wife, Melissa, and I moved to Kalamazoo in 2008, we bought a house in the suburbs because we were ready to start a family and we assumed that’s where you should raise a family. But I was struck upon my return by how much downtown had changed in the 10 years I was gone. When I was growing up, downtown Kalamazoo was not a destination. It was a place where specific destinations existed. You did not usually go downtown at night, not because of safety necessarily, but because there just wasn’t anything to do there. Sometimes we’d head down to Club Soda to see some live music, but when the show was over we’d leave downtown. w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 27

Brian Powers

Even back then, though, a few hardy souls were drawn by the allure of living downtown. Tom Huff bought his first residential unit there in the early 1980s. Huff already owned a downtown commercial building and decided to give loft living a shot.

“I can still remember taking the family out to eat and there’d be someone sleeping in the doorway at the bottom of the stairs,” he says.

Huff now owns several downtown residential buildings, including the Peregrine Building and Peregrine Tower on the Kalamazoo Mall.

He recently purchased the former PNC building on East Michigan Avenue, in which he intends to build several residential units.

It’s a different time for downtown in many ways, Huff says.

“Big companies need their employees to be mobile,” he says. “They don’t want them messing with the process of buying and selling a house.” Rental units allow them greater mobility.

Huff says he has noticed a trend of people moving back to cities, not just in the Kalamazoo area, but around the country. The U.S. has historically been motivated by equity, he says, and home ownership has traditionally been a wise investment.

“America is different than many other countries in that we’ve always incentivized purchasing a home. It’s not as easy to buy in other countries. Here, Fannie (Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie (Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.) have always had a push for people to own their own homes,” Huff says.

28 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

Above: Tom Huff, owner of Peregrine Realty, owns a number of downtown residential and commercial units with more in development. At right: A view from the empty fourth floor of the former PNC building on East Michigan Avenue, which Huff is developing into residential units.

The recent housing collapse, however, stirred doubts about the security of home ownership, sparking a return to rental living, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Those doubts may be one reason behind the expanding demand for rental units in downtown Kalamazoo. Huff’s downtown residential units have lengthy waiting lists, and he’s confident the PNC building units will fill immediately.

While Huff’s typical tenants are single, young professionals or an occasional empty nester, he and his staff have noticed some interesting trends.

For one, more couples are seeking units downtown. “It wasn’t that long ago that we only had one couple in all our units,” says Janine Scott, the Peregrine Co.’s leasing manager. “Now we have six, and I’m getting more calls from couples than ever before.”

Another thing Scott has seen is something my wife and I also found when we moved downtown: The majority of downtown residents seem to be women. Scott says that more than 50 percent of Peregrine’s units are occupied by females. In my own building, almost all of our neighbors are women.

“People have a perception that the downtown is unsafe,” Huff says.

“It’s just the opposite.”

My wife and I agree; we have never felt unsafe, even at night.

The restaurants and nightlife keep a steady stream of foot traffic on downtown’s main thoroughfares until very late, and the streets are well lit. There’s a noticeable police presence, and the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety reports that crime rates downtown are rapidly declining every year, dropping 30 percent from 2013 to 2014 alone.

New neighbors?

Huff is among several developers with plans for new residential units downtown in the near future. Steve Deisler, president of Downtown Kalamazoo Inc., estimates 1,400 new residential units will be developed downtown during the next five years. Residential development is expanding into Arcadia Commons West, in brownfield redevelopment lots just north of downtown and in buildings on the Michigan Avenue corridor and the Kalamazoo Mall.

Matt Vernon, owner of The Vernon Group, recently purchased the Mall Plaza building, at 157 S. Kalamazoo Mall, with the intent of converting its upper floors into residential units. Like Huff, Vernon has seen movement toward downtown living. He already owns another building on the mall: 327 S. Kalamazoo Mall. Morrison Jewelers is on the street level, and Vernon converted the upper level of that building into a community-based office cluster called The Bureau.

The intention for The Bureau is to give entrepreneurs and start-ups an affordable and collaborative place to begin businesses downtown.

“It’s no secret that the demand is there,” Vernon says. “People want to be downtown.”

Vernon began taking reservations in August for the new units he’ll build in the Mall Plaza building, which won’t see completion until sometime in 2016. He says he expects his residents will be young

professionals, newlyweds and empty nesters, but he’s not ruling out interest from families.

DKI’s Deisler likes the idea of attracting families. “It would be great to have more families down here,” he says. “It’s just a new mindset.”

In addition to incorrect perceptions about safety, Deisler says people also have concerns that parking downtown is difficult. Many downtown units include just one parking spot, and there are several units that don’t include any.

But is this a deal breaker for families looking to move downtown?

It’s not for Chad Koehler and Beth Brissett. The couple and their 1-year-old son, Jack, currently live in a downtown loft. “Almost everything we do is downtown. We don’t even use our second car,” Brissett says. “We keep it in a lot, but we finally just canceled the insurance on it.”

Koehler works at Gordon Water Systems, on downtown’s southern fringe, and can easily walk or bike to work in decent weather. Brissett is a stay-at-home mom and says they walk just about everywhere.

They can bank, dine and shop without leaving their block. They get the majority of their groceries at the People’s Food Co-Op, which is walking distance from their loft.

“When we found out we were pregnant, we had a talk about whether or not we should move,” Brissett says. “Everyone tells you you’re supposed to get a house in the suburbs. At first we decided we didn’t want the stress of a move while I was pregnant, so we’d wait until after Jack was born. But then we decided to stay. We’ve just shifted from going to some of the late-night downtown places to the more kid-friendly places.”

Koehler and Brissett live in the same development as my family: The Metro, owned by MavCon properties. Development of The Metro involved a major renovation of several adjoining, dilapidated

Brian Powers w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 29

buildings, and now features modern one- and two-bedroom units. Our two-bedroom unit has 15-foot-high ceilings, which give it a very open feel. We are on the “balcony side” of the building and enjoy sitting outside listening to the music coming from events at Arcadia Creek Festival Place. Mercifully, our unit is soundproof enough that when the Irish Fest hits its ninth straight hour of bagpipe solos, we just close the doors and windows to stifle the noise.

Deisler says downtown residential units have a 98 percent occupancy rate, and, given the waiting list for downtown units, we feel lucky to have landed ours. My wife saw the listing the day it was posted, and we literally committed over the phone.

People have called us everything from crazy to awesome to ridiculous, and I’ll be the first to admit that downtown family living isn’t for everyone. It was our daughter’s interests that tipped the balance in our decision. A high-energy child who loves dance, theater, art and music, she’ll take a wood floor and a mirror over a sports field any day. Our location couldn’t be better. We walk to the Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers studio for her dance classes, to The Civic for theater camp and to the Epic Center for music lessons. As for outdoor recreation, we head to the playground at Arcadia Creek Festival Place regularly.

We also appreciate the diversity she’s exposed to. The Arcadia Creek Festival Place playground attracts families from just about every neighborhood in town, so she plays with kids of all ages and backgrounds.

We’ve had to talk to her about things unique to downtown living that many kids don’t have to think about, but discussing the safety of your surroundings is important no matter where you live. Our daughter sees panhandlers and people sleeping on benches on a daily basis. We’re a few blocks from the Rickman House, Ministry with Community and the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission, and she often encounters people suffering from mental illness, addiction and other problems. She’s even heard her share of colorful language while sitting out on our balcony.

We’ve had to have mature discussions with her about the different types of people in the world. And while we feel downtown is safe, we’re a long way from letting her walk the neighborhood as we might have let her on the little cul-de-sac we moved from.

People ask us all the time about schools. We’ve been able to keep Sienna at the school she attended before we moved. We have to Dan Cunningham

30 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

The Lam family enjoys spending time at the Arcadia Creek Festival Place playground, which is steps from their door. Below: An aerial view of downtown Kalamazoo looking west.

drive her to school now, but it’s important to us that she keep the friendships she’s established there.

More good than bad For us, the pros of living downtown outweigh the cons.

We do not miss yard work. Gone are the Saturdays spent mowing, weeding and raking. A community garden fulfills Melissa’s gardening itch, and my weekends are now free and clear.

We’ve worried that downtown might lose its allure in the winter, but downtown residents say it’s easy to get outdoors. When people in the ‘burbs are snowed in, the heated Kalamazoo Mall sidewalks allow an easy snow-day trip to Climb Kalamazoo, the Kalamazoo Public Library or the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

I’m amazed at what downtown Kalamazoo has become in the seven years since I’ve moved back. The microbrewery scene has exploded, and the nightlife is vibrant. The activities on the mall, at Arcadia Creek Festival Place and around our neighborhood seem to be growing exponentially. This summer we had lunch in Bronson Park on a Friday and got to choose from several food trucks while people around us picnicked, played bean-bag toss and listened to a band on the Bronson Park stage.

For this Kalamazoo native, it’s exciting not only to see all the activity and energy in downtown every day, but also to know my daughter calls it her backyard.

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ARTS encore

Peaceful pastels

Melody Allen loves the immediacy of the medium Lisa Mackinder

Mark Bugnaski

by

M

usic often plays in the background at Melody Allen’s art studio in Kalamazoo. Sometimes a soft, meditative song fosters her creativity. Other times an upbeat, lively tune fuels her vision.

Whatever the selection — relaxing or energetic — now and again she gets a bit “lost.”

“Occasionally I get so into my work that I don’t even notice when the music stops,” Allen says.

Perhaps it’s that complete immersion that infuses the pastel artist’s pieces with an ability to pull viewers into her peaceful renderings. One is easily drawn into the beaches of inviting Michigan shoreline and 32 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

captivating sunsets of Pentwater and Manistee. In describing some of her pastels, Allen talks of walking the beaches and feeling sand between her toes. Her audience almost experiences that stroll too.

Allen, who always found pleasure in drawing when she was younger, didn’t necessarily know she wanted to become an artist.

She graduated from college with a degree in advertising design and worked in that field for a few years before becoming a stay-at-home mom. When her kids grew older, Allen sought part-time work again in advertising design but discovered the industry had changed during her absence.

ENCORE Arts

“When I was trained, it was pre-computer, so I knew that if I went back into graphic design I would have to get retrained, and I really wasn’t interested in sitting in front of a computer all day,” Allen says.

Instead, in 1994, she became a part-time teacher in the children’s department at the Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts. She also began taking classes there, including one in pastels.

“I did not do very good work when I started,” she says, laughing. “It didn’t come naturally at first.”

To master pastels, Allen began with still lifes. A limited number of objects simplified things, she says. Eventually she advanced to portraits of cats, treating them as still-life objects, creating contrast in her scenes with light and shadow. For budding artists, Allen advises keeping pieces uncomplicated as well as practicing, avoiding discouragement and exploring different techniques.

“I was so intimidated I couldn’t bring myself to do landscapes,” she says of her early days working with pastels.

“When I first started, it just seemed so overwhelming. I just couldn’t break it down into basic elements, so starting with the still life was much easier for me. But once I got the hang of it, then I could move on.”

Pastel sticks are a combination of powdered pigment and a binder. The artist holds a pastel stick like chalk, Allen explains,

drawing lines or using the side to create a broader stroke. An artist might blend pastels or push them into the paper. A variety of papers exist just for pastels. They have texture or sanded surfaces to hold the particles. The look of pastels has always intrigued Allen, even before she took classes, but other characteristics solidified her love for the medium.

Melody Allen, seen in her home studio on the opposite page, often depicts nature scenes in her pastels such as those seen in these works, clockwise from right, Evening Drama over Lake Michigan #2, Autumn Sycamore and Water Lily.

w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 33

ARTS encore

Where to see Melody Allen’s work • Kalamazoo Institute of Art Holiday Sale, 4–8 p.m. Dec. 4 and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Dec. 5.

• Signature Gallery, Westwood Shopping Center, West Main and Drake. Nov. 28– Dec. 27.

• Richland Community Library, 8951 Park St., Richland, Jan. 5–Feb. 28.

Manistee Morning Beach, a pastel by Melody Allen.

“When I started working with them, I liked the fact that it’s real immediate,” she says. “ In other words, you don’t have to let paint dry before applying another layer. You don’t have to mix the paint first or the colors first — you can just put one on top of the other.”

In 2003, Sheila Bohanan, a former art teacher at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, urged Allen to enter a piece in the KIA’s West Michigan Art Show. Allen’s art was accepted, propelling her into her first juried art show.

“I was thrilled,” she says, “so that kind of gave me the confidence that I needed to say, ‘OK, I guess I’m on the right path if I can do this and they’re worthy of showing.’”

That first show went so well that half of Allen’s pieces sold during the opening reception. More shows followed, and Allen has since participated in 17 juried shows, 20 solo shows and 16 group shows.

34 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

Initially, Allen created pieces that were about 24 inches by 36 inches or 18 inches by 24 inches, but over time she switched to smaller works for practical reasons. She found people tend to purchase smaller paintings because the pieces cost less and don’t take up much room.

“They can always tuck a small piece someplace,” Allen says.

But one part of her success has taken some getting used to: saying goodbye to her pieces.

“I remember clearly that I couldn’t sleep that night (of the first show) because I was both overjoyed that my work had sold, yet overcome with a sadness and a sick feeling in my stomach because I felt like I had lost my babies,” Allen says. “I’ve since gotten over that reluctance to let my work go, though there are still some favorite pieces that I hate to part with.”

ENCORE Arts

Second Home

Singer Meagan McNeal’s career began in Kalamazoo J. Gabriel Ware

Courtesy

by

S

oul and R&B singer Meagan McNeal was born and raised in Chicago, and her music career has led to her living in Los Angeles and Phoenix and touring in Europe. But the Western Michigan University graduate, who lives back in Chicago now, claims Kalamazoo as her second home.

“The mayor of Kalamazoo, Bobby Hopewell, promoted my show on Facebook one of the last times I came to Kalamazoo,” the 29-year-old says. “I don’t get that anywhere else.”

Not only is Kalamazoo where McNeal visited a farmers’ market for the first time and discovered locally grown, organic food, but it is also where she launched her solo career. McNeal had her first playing gig at Kalamazoo’s Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative.

“It was August 18, 2007. I’ll never forget the date because that was the night I first thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, I can really do this and make a career out of this,’” she says. “It was the best 75 bucks I made in my life.”

Meagan McNeal launched her singing career performing in Kalamazoo.

McNeal arrived in Kalamazoo in 2004 to attend WMU, a decision she admits didn’t come about as a result of an elaborate, thoughtout process.

“I just picked the first university that visited my high school, and that school just happened to be Western Michigan University,” she says.

As a first-generation college student, McNeal had a hard time adjusting to life away from friends and family, she says, so she began to build close relationships with some of the WMU faculty and joined the Delta Sigma Theta sorority in 2007. McNeal started learning about Kalamazoo’s arts and entertainment scene and found her niche at Fire, where she connected with other aspiring musicians. She graduated from WMU in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in sales and business marketing, and in 2011, released her first album, Mindset.

One of the songs on the album is called "RainWalk." w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 35

ARTS encore '"Rainwalk' was written from the perspective of three women who have different roles in life, but share the common desire to be free and happy,” McNeal says. “A young, promiscuous party girl, a wife and mother and a career-oriented, super focused woman — all wanting to live and be their authentic selves.”

Her career and life took a turn in 2012 when she became pregnant with her son, Maddox. “Some people came up to me and said, ‘Oh, you’re having a baby, so does that mean you’re not going to sing anymore?’”

But a strong support system of friends and family allowed McNeal to continue her career without much change. Maddox was the first baby in McNeal’s family in nearly 14 years.

McNeal is more cautious now about how far she travels from home and says Kalamazoo is a comfortable distance for her. McNeal says her favorite part about performing in Kalamazoo is bringing 3-year-old Maddox along to see family and friends. And he enjoys the music.

“It’s cool to see that (Maddox) is starting to get into music. We sing duets together at home, and sometimes he’ll take the lead and say ‘Ok, Mommy, now it’s my turn.” McNeal says.

McNeal got her own start in music as a child. She sang for an audience for the first time at her aunt’s wedding when she was 9.

“I really wanted to be a bridesmaid, but my auntie was like, ‘Well, you can be in my wedding if you sing,’” she recalls. “I sang Stevie Wonder’s You and I.” McNeal grew up listening to soul and R&B artists such as Whitney Houston and Jill Scott. She listened to different artists for different reasons, she says. Maybe the lyrics of a song struck her, or the artist’s voice was powerful. She listened to Stevie Wonder, for example, because she believes he’s the best songwriter of all time.

As far as her own music is concerned, McNeal tries to combine all types of musical genres into her artistry. She doesn’t think about sticking to a particular style — she just sings and is content with whatever flows out. She calls it expressive music.

“I’m kind of like Kalamazoo,” she says.

“Kalamazoo is more laid-back, not fastpaced like Chicago, and I think my approach is laid-back. I’m not trying to force one sound over the other.”

McNeal is back in the studio in Chicago working on a new project but says she tries to come back to Kalamazoo at least twice a year to perform at venues such as Shakespeare’s Pub, Fire and Bell’s Eccentric Cafe. She most recently performed locally in October, at a Homecoming event at WMU. “I don’t refer to the people in Kalamazoo as my friends,” she says.

“The people here are my family.”

Meagan McNeal, above, released her first CD, Mindset, in 2011.

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36 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

211 East Water Street, Suite 401 Kalamazoo, MI 49007 269.343.2106

PERFORMING ARTS

Comedy

THEATER

Brian Regan — 8 p.m. Dec. 4, State Theatre, 404 S. Burdick, 345-6500.

Plays A Christmas Carol — Dickens’ holiday classic, 8 p.m. Dec. 3–5, 10–12, 16–19, 21–22 & 28; 2 p.m. Dec. 5–6, 12–13, 19–20 & 27; New Vic Theatre, 134 E. Vine St., 381-3328.

Musicals Mary Poppins — A “practically perfect” nanny teaches a family to value one another, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 3–5, & 12, 2 p.m. Dec. 5, 6,12 & 13, Civic Theatre, 329 S. Park St., 373-1313.

Forever Plaid — A musical revue of pop hits of the 1950s, 7:30 p.m. Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri. & Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., Dec. 4–27, Farmers Alley Theatre, 221 Farmers Alley, 343-2727.

At This Special Time — Celebration of the words and music of Christmas, 8 p.m. Dec. 7–9, New Vic Theatre, 381-3328.

Next Stop, Broadway! — WMU Music Theatre Performance Class of 2016 shares the stage with Broadway actress Beth Leavel, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10–12, University Theatre, WMU, 387-6222.

The Christmas Cabaret — Pop classics, sacred and family favorites, 7 p.m. Fri.–Sun., 2 p.m. Sun. Dec. 11–20, Barn Theatre, 13351 W. M-96, Augusta, 731-4121.

MUSIC Bands & Solo Artists May Erlewine — Singer/songwriter performs folk, country and rock, 8:30 p.m. Dec. 3, Bell’s Eccentric Café, 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave., 3822332.

Michigander — Michigan soft rock band, 6–10 p.m. Dec. 4, Shakespeare’s Pub, 241 E. Kalamazoo Ave., 488-7782.

Rodriguez — Detroit folk musician featured in the documentary Searching for Sugar Man, Dec. 11, State Theatre, 345-6500.

The Wizards of Winter — Classical/progressive rock band, 8:30 p.m. Dec. 12, State Theatre, 345-6500.

Christmas with John Berry — Country music singer/songwriter, 7 p.m. Dec. 13, State Theatre, 345-6500.

Strange Arrangement — Progressive, improv rock group, 9 p.m. Dec. 17, Bell’s Eccentric Café, 382-2332.

Flint Eastwood — Detroit pop band, 9 p.m.

Dec. 5, Bell’s Eccentric Café, 382-2332.

Kris Hitchcock Album Release — Country and rock singer/songwriter, 8 p.m. Dec. 18, Bell’s Eccentric Café, 382-2332.

The Piano Guys — The YouTube video music sensations, 8 p.m. Dec. 5, Miller Auditorium, 387-2300.

Frankie Ballard Country Christmas — Country music singer/songwriter, 8 p.m. Dec. 19, State Theatre, 345-6500.

Tuba Christmas — Tuba and euphonium players gather to play Christmas music, 2 p.m. Dec. 6, Bell’s Eccentric Café, 382-2332.

The Corn Fed Girls Christmas Extravaganza — Celebrating Christmas in Hawaii, 9 p.m. Dec. 19, Bell’s Eccentric Café, 382-2332.

Brett Eldredge and Thomas Rhett — Country music duo’s Suits & Boots Tour with Danielle Bradbery, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9, Wings Event Center, 3620 Vanrick Drive, 345-1125.

Jim Brickman: Comfort & Joy — Pop pianist performs Christmas tunes, 3 p.m. Dec. 20, State Theatre, 345-6500.

The Moxie Strings — Fiddler Diana Ladio and cellist Alison Lynn, 9 p.m. Dec. 10, Bell’s Eccentric Café, 382-2332.

Henhouse Prowlers — Chicago bluegrass band, 9 p.m. Dec. 26, Bell’s Eccentric Café, 382-2332.

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EVENTS encore Kansas Bible Company, The Go Rounds, Vox Vidorra and DJ Hardbargain — Celebrate New Year’s Eve with funk, rock and soul, 9 p.m.

Dec. 31, Bell’s Eccentric Café, 382-2332.

Orchestra, Chamber, Choral, Jazz & More

Eastside Choir Holiday Concert — Holiday music from the Eastside Choir of the Kalamazoo Children’s Chorus, 4 p.m. Dec. 6, St. Mary’s Church, 939 Charlotte Ave., 5477183.

Christmas in Kalamazoo Concert —The Kalamazoo Male Chorus, the Kalamazoo Ringers and the Kalamazoo Brass, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 1, Centerpoint Church, 2345 10th St., 270-3686.

Gilmore Rising Star Andrew Hsu — The pianist performs works by Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven, 4 p.m. Dec. 6, Wellspring Theater, Epic Center, 359 S. Kalamazoo Mall, 3421166.

WMU University Jazz Orchestra — With drummer Jimmy Cobb, 7 p.m. Dec. 2, Hackett Catholic Prep, 1000 Kilgore Road, 381-2646.

KSO Burdick-Thorne String Quartet — 12:30 p.m. Dec. 9, Garden Atrium, Bronson Methodist Hospital, 601 John St., 349-7759.

Pianist Awadagin Pratt — Presented by WMU School of Music’s Bullock Performance Institute, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2, Dalton Center Recital Hall, WMU, 387-4667.

WMU Jams with Keith Hall — Open jam session, 8–9:30 p.m. Dec. 10, Union Cabaret & Grille, 125 S. Kalamazoo Mall, 384-6756.

The Colors of Christmas — The Kalamazoo Community Chorale, 7 p.m. Dec. 5, First United Methodist Church, 212 S. Park St., 615-0167.

University Symphony Orchestra — 8 p.m. Dec. 5, Dalton Center Recital Hall, WMU, 3874667.

A Choral Christmas — WMU University Chorale, Cantus Femina and Collegiate Singers, 4 & 7:30 p.m. Dec. 6, First Presbyterian Church, 321 W. South St., 387-4667.

BachFest Christmas — Baroque through contemporary choral music of the season, 4 p.m. Dec. 6, Stetson Chapel, Kalamazoo College, 337-7407.

Celebrate the Season — Singer Kathy Troccoli performs with the Kalamazoo Concert Band, 8 p.m. Dec. 11, Miller Auditorium, WMU, kalamazooconcertband.org.

Harmony Holiday Concert — Three Kalamazoo-area a cappella choruses and their quartets, 3 & 7 p.m. Dec. 12, Comstock Community Auditorium, 2107 N. 26th St., 615-8796.

Sounds of the Season with Jackie Evancho — The KSO’s holiday concert, 8 p.m. Dec. 19, Chenery Auditorium, 349-7759.

A Brass Celebration of Christmas — 3 p.m.

Dec. 20, Dalton Center Recital Hall, WMU, 387-4667.

DANCE The Nutcracker — Ballet Arts Ensemble and the KSO present the holiday ballet, 2 & 7 p.m.

Dec. 5, 2 p.m. Dec. 6, Chenery Auditorium, 714 S. Westnedge, 387-2300.

Glorious! — Leap of Grace Ballet presents ballet pieces celebrating the meaning of Christmas, 7 p.m. Dec. 8, First Baptist Church, 315 W. Michigan Ave., 377-4134.

WMU Fall Showcase —WMU Dance Department presentation, 3 & 7 p.m. Dec. 12, Dance Studio B, third floor, Dalton Center, WMU, 387-5830.

Nutcracker Excerpts — Performance by Kalamazoo Ballet Bullard School, 3 & 5:30 p.m. Dec. 20, Kalamazoo Ballet Bullard School, 431 E. South St., 343-3027.

VISUAL ARTS

Make a Joyful Noise Holiday Concert — Kalamazoo Children’s Chorus performs holiday classics, 3 p.m. Dec. 13, Chenery Auditorium, 800-965-9324.

Kalamazoo Institute of Arts 314 S. Park St., 349-7775

Jazz for the Holidays — WMU School of Music performance, 3 p.m. Dec. 13, Miller Auditorium, WMU, 387-2300.

Flowers in Chinese Art — Chinese paintings and ceramics, through Jan. 24.

Manierre Dawson: Engineering Abstraction — Abstract painting collection, through Dec. 13.

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Colour Correction: British and American LIBRARY & LITERARY EVENTS Screenprints, 1967–75 — An exhibition of Kalamazoo Public Library screenprints by 32 artists, through March 27.

First Saturday @ KPL — Family event with ARTbreak — A weekly program about art, stories, activities, guests and door prizes, artists and exhibitions: Andy Warhol, film 2–3:30 p.m., Dec. 5, Children’s Room, Central presentation, Dec. 1; Poetic Responses to Library, 315 S. Rose St., 553-7844.

Art with Author Hedy Habra, talk, Dec. 8; Visiting Artist Jiha Moon, discussing her KIA KPL Concert Series: Ken Morgan: Loving This exhibition, Dec. 15; all sessions begin at noon, Earth — Environmental music and poetry featuring Elden Kelly, Carolyn Koebel and KIA Auditorium.

Jim Cooper, 7 p.m. Dec. 9, Van Deusen Room, KIA Holiday Sale — Handcrafted ceramics, Central Library, 553-7844. paintings, photographs, sculptures and more, Reindeer Reign — Visit with live reindeer 4–8 p.m. Dec. 4, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. Dec. 5. from Reindeer Ranch, 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Sunday Public Tour — Walk through the Dec. 12, Oshtemo Branch, 7265 W. Main St., exhibitions with a docent: Flowers in Chinese 553-7980.

Art, Dec. 6; Manierre Dawson: Engineering Abstraction, Dec. 13; Colour Correction: Portage District Library British and American Screenprints, Dec. 20; 300 Library Lane, 329-4544 Suspended! Selections from ArtPrize, Dec. 27; Weekends Live: Holiday Tunes — Jenny Miller, all sessions begin at 2 p.m. recorder, and Ginny Parnaby, hammered Art League Lecture: Marshall Price — dulcimer, 2–4 p.m. Dec. 6.

Discussion of the printmaking renaissance of Science Fiction and Fantasy Discussion Group the 1960s, 10 a.m. Dec. 9, KIA Auditorium.

— Discussion of Doctor Who companions, Book Discussion: Rendez-vous with Art 7 p.m. Dec. 7.

— Discussion of the book by Philippe de Cookie Connoisseur — MacKenzies’ Bakery Montebello and Martin Gayford, 2 p.m. Dec. shares decorating tips, 2 p.m. Dec. 9, 16, KIA’s Meader Fine Arts Library, 585-9291. registration required.

Get the Picture: Janet Fish, “June” — Michelle Local Writers Expo — Published local authors Stempien discusses the artist’s life and art, display their works, 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Dec. 12, noon Dec. 17. with read-aloud, 1:30 p.m.

Richmond Center for Visual Arts Great Books — Reading and discussion of Western Michigan University, 387-2436 Immigrant Voices: 21st Century Stories, 2 p.m.

Ed Harkness: Bush Tucker Series — The Dec. 13. exhibition focuses on Aboriginal arts of Top Shelf Reads — A young professionals’ Australia, through Dec. 17, Netzorg and Kerr book group discussion of The Girl in the Road, Gallery.

by Monica Byrne, 7 p.m. Dec. 14, Latitude 42 Gwen Frostic School of Art Faculty Exhibition Brewing Co., 7842 Portage Road, 585-8711.

— through Dec. 17, Monroe-Brown Gallery.

Holiday Family Fun — Crafts, games and a photo booth, 6:30–8 p.m. Dec. 16.

Other Venues The River Country Quilters Exhibit — 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Tues.–Fri., 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Sat., through Dec. 16, Carnegie Center for the Arts, 107 N. Main St., Three Rivers, 273-8882.

Must Be 21+: Game Night for Grown-ups — Board games, cards and LEGOs, 7 p.m.

Dec. 28.

Signature Gallery Artists’ Cooperative — Art gallery featuring works in glass, metal, leather, paper, fiber, photograph, jewelry and more, 10 a.m.–7 p.m. Mon.–Sat., noon–5 p.m. Sun., Dec. 1–23; 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Dec. 24; 10 a.m.–7 p.m.

Dec. 26; 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Dec. 27, Signature Gallery, 4602 W. Main St., 685-5565.

Arnold Johnston and Deborah Ann Percy — The local playwrights appear in the Gwen Frostic Reading Series, 8 p.m. Dec. 2, Rooms 208–209, Bernhard Center, WMU, 387-2572.

Other Venues

Holiday Open House — With local author Bonnie Jo Campbell, cookies, music by Catbird and live reindeer, 1–3 p.m. Dec. 5, Comstock Art Hop — Local artists and musicians at Township Library, 6130 King Highway, various venues in Kalamazoo, 5–8 p.m. Dec. 345-0136.

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Parchment Book Club — Discussion of Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker, by Jennifer Chiaverini, 7 p.m. Dec. 7, Parchment Community Library, 401 S. Riverview Drive, 343-7747.

Kazoo Books’ Author Hop — Meet and mingle with more than 20 local writers, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Dec. 12, Kazoo Books II, 2413 Parkview Ave., 553-6506.

Film Viewing & Discussion: The Black Candle — Part of the Black Arts & Cultural Center’s pre-Kwanzaa celebration, 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Dec. 17, Epic Theatre, 359 S. Kalamazoo Mall, 349-1035.

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Mystery of the Christmas Star — A modern retelling of the Christmas story, 3 p.m.

Sun., Mon., Wed, Fri. & Sat., through Jan. 1, Planetarium.

Child in a Strange Country: Helen Keller and the History of Education for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired — Exhibit that explores reading, science, math and geography, through Jan. 10.

MENTION

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Season of Light — Explore the historical, religious and social customs of the season, 1 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., through Dec. 27, Planetarium.

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In the Dark — How plants and animals have adapted to dark environments, through Jan. 17.

Spirit, Relation, and Story: Contemporary Potawatomi Art — Art Hop visual art by Jason Wesaw, 5–8:30 p.m. Dec. 4.

Kalamazoo Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra — Art Hop holiday music, 6–8:30 p.m. Dec. 4.

Sunday Series: Forensic Science with Kathy Mirakovits — Portage Northern forensic science teacher answers questions, 1:30 p.m.

Dec. 13.

Orion Nights — Find the stars within the constellations, 3 p.m. Tues. & Thurs., 2 p.m.

Sat., Dec. 19–March 12, Planetarium.

Holiday Break Performance: Robin Nott — Storyteller and folk singer tells about animals and nature, 11 a.m. Dec. 28 & 30.

Holiday Break Performance: Magician John Dudley — 11 a.m. Dec. 29 & 31.

ENCORE Events NATURE Kalamazoo Nature Center 7000 N. Westnedge Ave., 381-1574 Holidays at the Homestead — 1800s-style holiday celebration, 1–4 p.m., Dec. 5 & 6, Delano Homestead, 555 West E Ave. Buy Local Art & Gift Fair — 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Dec. 12.

Winter Animal Homes — Short hike in search of winter animal homes, 2 p.m. Dec. 13.

Kellogg Bird Sanctuary 12685 East C Ave., 671-2510 Bird Lover’s Wreath Class — Create a wreath and birdhouse gourd, 6–9 p.m. Dec. 8, Spruce Lodge.

Birds and Coffee Walk — A walk to view birds of the season, 9 a.m. Dec. 9.

Pierce Cedar Creek Institute 701 W. Cloverdale Road, Hastings 721-4190 History of the Landscape Hike — A two-mile hike covering challenging landscape, 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Dec. 12.

December Brunch and Christmas Concert — The Brass Rail brass quintet performs, 11:30 a.m. & 1 p.m. brunch, 12:15 p.m. concert, Dec. 13.

MISCELLANEOUS Kalamazoo Indoor Flea & Farmers Market — New, used and handcrafted items and fresh food, 8 a.m.–2 p.m. Tues. & Wed. Dec. 1–30,

Kalamazoo County Expo Center North, 2900 Lake St., 383-8761.

Holiday Gifts & Greens Sale — Kalamazoo Garden Council offers fresh green wreaths, centerpieces and more, 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Dec. 4, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. Dec. 5, Kalamazoo County Expo Center North, 349-4227.

Kalamazoo Record & CD Show — New and used records and CDs, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Dec. 13, Kalamazoo County Expo Center Room A, 734-604-2540.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation — Special holiday movie screening, 8 p.m. Dec. 18, State Theatre, 345-6500.

Holiday Walk & Market — Holiday tour of the Manor House, noon–5 p.m. Dec. 4–5, 11–12 & 18–19, W.K. Kellogg Manor House, 3700 E. Gull Lake Drive, Hickory Corners, 671-2160.

ZooLights — Enjoy the zoo decorated for the holidays, 5–8 p.m., Dec. 18–23, Binder Park Zoo, 7400 Division Drive, Battle Creek, 9791351.

K-9 Fanciers Dog Show — UKC multi-breed show, 3 p.m.–11 p.m. Dec. 4, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.

Dec. 5, 8 a.m.–4 p.m. Dec. 6, Kalamazoo County Expo Center South, 989-860-9845.

Holiday Kalamazoo Indoor Flea & Farmers' Market — 8 a.m.–3 p.m. Dec. 19, Kalamazoo County Expo Center, kalamazooexpocenter. com.

Winter Holiday Festival — A Dickens-themed holiday event, noon–6 p.m. Dec. 5 & 6, Olde World Village, 13215 M-96, Augusta, 5801290.

Kalamazoo Reptile & Exotic Pet Expo — 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Dec. 19, Kalamazoo County Expo Center Room A, 779-9851.

Tree Lighting and Traditional Holiday Celebration — 7 p.m. Dec. 5, City Centre, Portage, 329-4522.

Christmas at Wings Art & Craft Show — 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Dec. 6, Wings Event Center, 3620 Vanrick Drive, 345-1125.

Christmas Expo & Craft Show — 9 a.m.–4 p.m.

Dec. 12, Kalamazoo County Expo Center, 9035820.

Of Christmas Past — Experience Christmas in the late 1800s, noon–5 p.m. Dec. 12 & 13, Historic Charlton Park, 2545 S. Charlton Park Road, Hastings, 945-3775.

Kalamazoo Dance — Social dance for singles, couples and all skill levels, 7–10 p.m. Dec. 19, The Point Community Center, 2925 N. 10th St., 344-5752.

Holiday Brunch — 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dec. 20, W.K. Kellogg Manor House, 671-2160.

Live Nativity Scene and Market Bazaar — 5–8 p.m. Dec. 20, Henderson Castle, 100 Monroe St., 344-1827.

30th New Year’s Fest — A variety of performers bring in the new year, 5:30 p.m.–midnight Dec. 31, various venues in downtown Kalamazoo, 388-2830 or www.newyearsfest.com.

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POETRY encore

Angel with a Lute

Joy The sky fills with wings that erase the Christmas card in my hand: We hope this year brought you as much joy as the birth of our children brought us. Here’s my own pale gesture, pale reply: the corn finally grew and the barn swallows returned. My hothouse tulips, purple and delivered in January, closed their delicate eyes for five nights before they died. I left a green apple in the snow and a raccoon joyfully dragged it away. A squirrel hurled itself against my window twice. My joy, small and untended, eclipsed nothing. The radio said, out of context, Suffering is a privilege. My best joy is sleep, which leads to the moment just before waking. I open and open my eyes: birds rush upward, wings brushing my cheeks like tears.

— Kathleen McGookey McGookey, who lives in Middleville, teaches creative writing.

“Joy,” which first appeared in the Chariton Review, is from her latest book, Stay, published in September by Press 53 (www.press53.com). Her next book, At the Zoo, is forthcoming in spring 2017 from White Pine Press.

I dislike that angel’s looks. His hair is too thick for an angel’s, who are known for their thin straight hair like mine. Angels should not peer out from under a thatch of hair. Additionally the manner in which that angel crowds himself around the lute, poor lute, drowning in the angel’s skirts, yes, I said skirts. It’s easy to imagine him smashing the lute before a heavenly host under black lights in a warehouse. But here in the Renaissance, the randy angel looks over his shoulder to see what mischief might be done when, God-smacked, he’s a shepherd, not metaphorically, and sheep are oblates with angel voices. They sing every evening until God has half a mind to pardon the young angel over the beauty of the bleating.

The angel rejoins the company, bald.

— Elizabeth Kerlikowske Kerlikowske, a retired Kellogg Community College English professor, is president of Kalamazoo Friends of Poetry and author of several books of poetry.

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42 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

The Place to Be (continued from page 26) recession. He cites Grand Rapids and Lincoln, Nebraska, as good models for the future of Kalamazoo. In order to build up its urban center, Grand Rapids had to create more housing and start something new — ArtPrize — that attracts people downtown.

“Creativity in living is where it’s going to be (in the future),” he says. “We have to have unique spaces.”

But there are perceptions to overcome in attracting folks downtown, and one of those in Kalamazoo is parking. Deisler says that, in the matter of parking, perception doesn’t reflect reality.

Displaying a map of all the public parking lots in the area, Deisler says there are almost more parking spaces than land available for new buildings in downtown Kalamazoo. Those who complain about the lack of parking are really complaining that there’s no available parking right next to their destination.

Encouraging a brief walk or a bike ride is a DKI goal. In fact, DKI is currently looking ahead to 2020, with plans to create more parking for bikes and a possible shuttle system to transport people from parking on the edges of downtown into the heart of the city.

Encouraging entrepreneurs While DKI concentrates on attracting people to downtown Kalamazoo, the Small Business Development Center, based at Western Michigan University, wants to get new businesses started here. Kalamazoo is a

town with a deep entrepreneurial spirit — from the days of Gibson Guitars to the founding of Bell’s Brewery to the newer Kalamazoo Coffee Co. Davis says the SBDC exists to keep that spirit going. She encourages every wouldbe entrepreneur to come to the SBDC with a few key things: “A good idea and the energy to stay with it, capital to invest and a good economy.”

The SBDC is a consulting firm in a sense — it doesn’t charge for advice, but it does help people review the feasibility of their ideas.

SBDC assistance begins with a feasibility study, determining the region’s need for an entrepreneur’s idea or product, potential competitors, and what is required to get the business off the ground.

The biggest question many entrepreneurs have is about start-up funding, says Rob Peterson, business consultant with the Southwest Michigan SBDC. He says many new business owners anticipate being able to win a grant from a government or nonprofit organization to start a company, but most business-development grants are awarded to existing businesses to help them improve their services or expand. Peterson says business owners looking to make their idea real will probably need to get a bank loan.

Davis says the SBDC’s focus is not just on new businesses — about 60 percent of its activity is with existing businesses that have a product or a service, but not necessarily the marketing know-how to reach their target

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audience. The SBDC is also starting to look at exit planning, helping business owners figure out what will happen to their company when they leave the business — whether they retire to Florida or stay close to home in Kalamazoo.

“Every business owner needs to think about it,” Davis says.

Ready for a renaissance Whether you view it from a business development or a residential development standpoint, it appears downtown Kalamazoo is on the brink of a renaissance. And Kalamazoo is hardly alone. Downtowns — defined as tight-knit urban neighborhoods that are close to work and have lots of entertainment and shopping options within walking distance — across the country are enjoying growth. Downtown cores in cities such as Birmingham, Alabama; Louisville, Kentucky; Laredo, Texas; Boise, Idaho; and even Detroit are experiencing their largest population booms in decades.

In a 2013 article in Forbes magazine, Lee Fisher, CEO for Cities, a nonprofit organization focused on economic growth for cities, summed up why: “The cities that capture the mobile, college-educated ‘young and restless’ are the ones who are most likely to revitalize their downtowns and accelerate economic progress in their cities.”

Given the goals of DKI, the SBDC and others, downtown Kalamazoo may join those ranks very soon.

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44 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

BACK STORY (continued from page 46)

How did you end up doing what you’re doing?

Right out of college I worked for March of Dimes for seven years, during which I had my children, so I had a lot of empathy for mothers with premature babies. I then went to the American Diabetes Association for another seven years, which I was really passionate about because my best friend passed away at age 35 of diabetes.

In 2010, I moved to Kalamazoo and was commuting to my job in Grand Rapids but finding that my kids were more involved in school and I had a bad work/life balance. I met Tim Terrentine (executive vice president of Southwest Michigan First) through my workings in Southwest Michigan, and he had called me and said, “There’s a position open at the American Red Cross, and you should apply.” But I didn’t. He called back a couple of weeks later and said, “Apply.” Three interviews later I landed the job.

What was it about the American Red Cross that attracted you?

My family’s house burned down my freshman year of college. I was in the dorms at WMU and the phone rings and my mom said, “Are you coming home this weekend?” and I said, “Well, yeah, I’m hungry.” And then she said, “You can’t. The house burned down.”

I know that feeling when you’ve lost everything, and they’re just things, but it’s a horrible feeling. While that’s what initially drew me to the Red Cross, I learned so much more about what else the Red Cross does and thought, “This would be a cool organization to work for.”

What moment has made the biggest impression on you?

I was just seven weeks on the job and we had three fires in one week. In helping one of the residents of the Holiday Hotel fire, we learned he had been paying $40 a day to live at the hotel.

This gentleman worked third shift and was a hard worker who took a taxi every day from the shelter to and from work. We sat down with him and said, “Do you understand the math of what you are paying to live (at the hotel) every month?” It was a huge amount of his income. We worked with local agencies and found him affordable housing where he would pay $530 a month in rent. We paid his

first month’s rent and deposit. When we called and told him that, he called us back three times to make sure it was real. It was like someone telling you your mortgage payment has been cut in half.

Who wouldn’t love that?

I saw that we had changed the entire story of someone’s life. I saw the recovery aspect of what we do: We don’t just hand out money, say “good luck” and send them on their way. We help with recovery, to get them back on their feet, back to their jobs and contributing they way they did before the disaster. It was a moment when I was pretty proud of this organization and I knew I made the right choice.

What keeps you up at night?

Knowing that the Red Cross is 94 percent volunteer-driven and that my volunteer base is getting older. Our volunteers are very dedicated and passionate, and I worry, “Will I have a new Keith or a new Frank (two of her dedicated volunteers) when they are gone?” Will the kids today just grow up and replace them? Does it naturally happen? Because if we don’t have the volunteers, we can’t do the work.

There’s a lot of competition for volunteers. No organization is saying, “We’re good on volunteers. We don’t need volunteers.” We all need volunteers. So I put a lot of energy into those volunteer relationships. If you don’t treat them well, they can just move on to the next organization.

What do you do for fun away from work?

I have a motorcycle and love to have my knees in the wind. I just sold my bike and will be getting a new Harley-Davidson to ride in the spring. I’m sort of an adrenaline junkie. I also love the water and will take my kids to the beach every weekend in the summer.

How would you describe yourself?

I would say I’m driven, determined and loyal. When I put my mind to do something or promise someone something, I do it.

My biggest pet peeve is hearing someone say, “It’s not my job” or “It’s not in my job description.” We are all a team around here and we have to be or otherwise we are going to fail.

Happy Holidays from

Innovative Human Resources Consulting, Training, and Recruiting 229 E. Michigan Ave, Suite 345 Kalamazoo 269.459.6060 www.HRMInnovations.com w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 45

BACK STORY encore

Tiana Gee

Executive Director, American Red Cross, Southwest Michigan Chapter

Tiana Gee has been on the job at the American

Red Cross for just two years and has seen a lot — a lot of fires, a lot of work and a lot of people. Seven weeks into her new job, the area had three major fires in one week, requiring the Red Cross to open a shelter for the displaced families. Nine months after she started, the national organization reorganized and Gee was given responsibility for Red Cross operations in four additional counties, doubling her workload. And now, two years after she started, she is constantly on the go, traveling from county to county to meet with the hundreds of volunteers who keep the organization running.

The farm girl from Ithaca, Michigan, takes it all in stride. “I learned growing up on a farm that nothing comes easy and you’ve got to work hard,” the 39-year-old mother of two says. “You’ve got to put blood, sweat and tears into whatever you do.”

Brian Powers

(continued on page 45)

46 | Encore DECEMBER 2015

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Once is simultaneously graceful and gritty. The 12 adult members of the cast play at least one instrument and are onstage virtually throughout the show.

“I didn’t want anyone onstage who we of the lives of the other characters. “We didn’t get to know intimately,” says John needed to be sure that there are all Tiffan — Director. By individualizing these other love stories in the air. Each each character, adds Enda Walsh — person is riffing off a love that’s been Writer, “we built a community, and lost, that got away. That was the key: that became the heart for the audience to feel of the piece. They’re an part of the experience, ... I felt like I was ensemble of misshapen and also to look at the watching it with people who sing and tell people on the stage and the story. Watching them go, ‘They’re us.’” everyone I’ve play the music and sing The material has proved ever loved ... and find their voice is to be as powerful very beautiful and very onstage as it is on film. “I strong. But in addition to making it about think what’s very moving about the piece community, we also wanted the show to is how sometimes we meet people who be hugely communal. So how do we do we don’t necessarily stay with forever, that? We allow the audience onstage.” but they give us the resources to move Prior to the start of the show, the on to the next part of our life,” says audience is welcome to come onstage Tiffany. “There’s something very truthful and mingle with the cast, who are in that. People have said to me, ‘When I having a jam session. This bonding ritual was sitting in the theatre watching Once, doesn’t merely break the fourth wall; it I felt like I was watching it with everyone obliterates it. “We wanted the audience I’ve ever loved, whether or not they’re to own the experience,” says Walsh. As still in my life.’” the show unfolds, the focus is, of course, on the relationship between Guy and Girl, but the audience also catches glimpses

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