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Tomorrow is Graduation for B-I-C-S. Seniors Allyssa Martin, Ava Palmer Bousquet and Jason Selby will be collecting diploma’s tomorrow. Festivities kick off at 12:30 with a Graduation Parade that will start out front of the Post Office and head down Main Street and then up the hill to school. B-I-C-S Superintendent and Principal Wil Cwikiel has the details… |
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This year’s graduation, we’re going to have it inside starting at 1:00 sharp, so we encourage anyone and everyone who’s interested in supporting our seniors to come not only to the parade at 12:30, but also join us for the graduation ceremony in the school gymnasium at 1:00 Sharp. |
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This year’s commencement speaker is our State Senator John Damoose, who trekked over to the Island earlier this year to speak to the A-P Government Class. |
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He really has been a champion for rural Northern Michigan, and he’s also been a good friend of Beaver Island. He connects and communicates with the Township officials as well as with the school and he’s done a nice job of being Northern Michigan’s representatives, but also really. Paying attention to Beaver Island. |
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The Great Lakes Islands Alliance, of which Beaver Island is a member, has opened registration for its 2025 annual summit. This year, the event returns to Beaver, where the first summit that resulted in the formation of the Alliance happened back in 2017. The Alliance’s Philip Rice has some background on GLIA. |
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Great Lakes Islands Alliance or GLIA for short is a network of twenty year round island communities across the Great Lakes. We have member islands in the United States and Canada, so scattered across all five great lakes. GLIA primarily helps Islanders connect with each other and learn from one another and collaborate to find solutions to the unique challenges. It’s also a place to share opportunities and anecdotes and just network and connect and think through all the unique things that we face as members of communities that are very geographically isolated. |
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The 2025 Summit will be in September with an H-Q at the C-M-U Biological Station. |
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We’re gonna be there September twenty one through twenty four. The summit is essentially a conference type of event with keynote speech, breakout sessions, presentations on topics like education, housing, environment, health care, arts and culture, economics, all different issues that Island communities face. We found that islanders also tend to like to connect in a more conversational way and that a lot of times you can make discoveries about commonalities through conversation. So we have a lot of time built into the Senate also just for informal gathering. We have a couple of bonfires planned. Several dinners and lots of networking time just so folks can talk to each other and get to know one another and make discoveries. You can sign up to attend the summit at g l I alliance dot org. |
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The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has released the 2025 Eat Safe Fish Guide, expanding the list of lakes and rivers with “Do Not Eat” advisories due to high levels of P-FOS, a toxic “forever chemical.” The number of affected water bodies has nearly tripled, now totaling 98 statewide. There are no P-FOS warnings for inland Island Lakes or Lake Michigan near us, but there are other consumption warnings that do apply to the Island including for Walleye from Lake G. There’s link to the new guide in today’s script online. Michigan.gov/EatSafeFish. Over on High Island, the Piping Plovers are back. Piping Plover Recovery Team Member Pam Grassmick has some details… |
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Five nests of piping clovers have been observed on the high island spit, and chicks are expected any day. No enclosures are being used this year, so visitors to High Island are asked to stay off the spit area until the end of July. Human monitors for two weeks from the end of June into July will be in place to monitor people and the use of the spit since the signs seem to be ignored. The piping clover actually lays in a scrape on the ground and it’s very hard to see their nests. So people may be actually stepping on them and also disturbing the birds could lead to predation by gulls. So we would appreciate it if you could just leave them be until the end of July. |
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Canadian wildfire smoke is expected to clear from northern Michigan this weekend — for now. State air quality officials say smoke that settled over the region this week is moving south, with Friday likely being the last day for current advisories. Still, forecasters warn more smoke could return next week with shifting winds. |
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Now, here’s a look at events happening on your Emerald Isle… First your meeting planner… The Health Center Board meets this afternoon at 4:00. A-A meets Saturday at 6:00. That’s it on the meeting front. Locations and more details are in the calendar entries online. On the fun front today… This evening at 7:00 the Sugarbush Band plays on the Print Shop Museum Front Porch. They’re a native Michigan band that will be sure to have you up out of your seats dancing in the road! [Kick off your weekend with our fantastic Friday lineup! After the 6:00pm news, enjoy “That Thing with Rich Appel” featuring top forty hits from the 70s. At 9:00pm, tune into “The Titus Jennings Experience” offering music from all genres, followed by “The Midnight Special” with Marilyn Rea Beyer at 11:00pm for music, farce comedy, and late-night escape.] Saturday, kicks off with the Artisan’s Market out by the lighthouse at Whiskey Point. There’s Pickleball outdoors at 10:00. At 12:30 a Graduation Parade steps off from the post office and heads down Mainstreet and up Holy Cross hill to school where graduation ceremonies get underway at 1:00. Also Saturday, the Fiero Code Club is on at the library at 2 PM. And Saturdays are Prime Rib Night at the Shamrock. [On the radio, tune in for Country Classics at 5:00 Saturday evening with host Sheri Timsak. At 7:00, Jackson Smith and Steve Girbach are in with Songs from the Trail. Mark Beltaire takes over at 9:00 with Rockin’ the Boat and continues at 10:00 with the Blues Cruise. Cousin Dan wraps up the evening with the Too Good Radio Show starting at 11:00.] Sunday, there are services and Episcopal Mission at 9:00 and the Christian Church at 10:00, and Mass at Holy Cross at 12:15. Looking ahead to highlights for next week… Monday evening is pizza night at the Beachcomber. Tuesday, there’s Chair Strength Training at the BIC Center at 9:00. Babes and Toddlers mix it up at the library at 10:00. Also, at 10:00, pickleball outdoors on the Peaine Township courts. At 2:00 the library kicks off their summer reading party events. Treats, games, and crafts are included, and all ages are welcome! From 4:00 to 6:00 there’s a free workshop at the Beaver Island Gallery. It’s free. You’ll make an ornament for the Museum Week Art Show. Call the Gallery to sign up. Wednesday, the library has plenty going on. There’s Kids Storytime, Drafts and Art for three years and up at 10:00 and then for 10 years and up at 11:00. At the BIC Center, there’s Bingo at 1:00 in the Hangout at the BIC Center. Thursday, the Tara’s Meadow Women’s Retreat gets underway down at Lake G. At 10:00, Pickleball outdoors on the Peaine Township Courts, Tai Chi in the Hangout at the BIC Center and Women’s Bible Study at the Christian Church. Thursday evening it’s Burger & a Beer at the Shamrock at 5 PM. And down at the C-M-U Bio Station, the N-M-U Archaeology Field School is hosting an open house from 7:30 to 8:30. Come see what they’ve uncovered during this year’s digs. Friday, the Chamber is sponsoring a touring party at the Boat Shop, Wild Strawberry Café, Whiskey Point Brewing Company and Cregg Graphics from 4 to 6. Drop by for refreshments and appetizers. Then at 6, it’s a Dads Rock Open Mic night at the BIC Center lead by Paul Lamb and Herb Ledbetter. |
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NAME OF DAY: The BIC Center Name of the Day is Faletta. If that’s your name, come on into the BIC Center today to pick out a free drink of your choice. BIRTHDAYS: Bob Marsh is celebrating today Happy Birthday to Bob and, if we missed you on the list, Happy Birthday to you too from everyone at WVBI and your Beaver Island Community Center! |
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TRAFFIC: No delays inbound or outbound to the airports. Island beltway is running smoothly with no bridge delays. Still, let’s be careful out there…especially around the school zone |
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On this day in 1944, four years and two days after Allied forces evacuated from the European mainland, they return in the Normandy landings, the largest amphibious military assault in history. By the end of D-day, 5,000 vessels land 160,000 troops on the French coastline, launching the push to defeat Germany. A helmet in the surf on Omaha Beach on D-day. Photo from history.com |
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Our Merriam Webster Word of the Day is festoon (verb) [fess-TOON], which means “to cover or decorate (something) with many small objects, pieces of paper, etc.,” or “to appear here and there on the surface of.” It can also mean “to hang decorative chains or strips on.” [The noun festoon first appeared in the 1600s when it was used, as it still is today, to refer to decorative chains or strips hung between two points. After a century’s worth of festoon-adorning, the verb festoon made an entrance, and people began to festoon with their festoons—that is, they draped and adorned with them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this celebratory-sounding and party-associated word traces back (by way of French and Italian) to Latin festa, the plural of festum [Fest-toom], meaning “festival.”] |
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Now, to wrap up for this Beaver Island Friday… |
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Here’s a thought for the day D-Day commander and future president General Dwight D. Eisenhower: “May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.” |
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On a lighter note… How did the Allies have time to prepare for D-Day? Because Russia was Stalin. |
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That’s the W-V-B-I Community Calendar Report for this Beaver Island Friday, June 6th, 2025. I’m Kevin Boyle reporting from W-V-B-I’s Langford Family Studios, wishing you a great day and asking you: why not go ahead and make it the best day ever? And thanks for listening. |
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Today Patchy smoke between 11am and 3pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 73. Calm wind becoming northeast around 5 mph in the afternoon. Tonight Patchy smoke before 7pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 46. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Saturday Sunny, with a high near 69. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph. Saturday Night Increasing clouds, with a low around 50. East wind around 5 mph becoming southeast after midnight. Sunday A 50 percent chance of showers after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 68. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Sunday Night Showers, mainly between 8pm and 2am. Low around 47. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Monday Showers likely, mainly after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 65. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Monday Night Showers likely, mainly before 8pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 47. Tuesday A chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 66. Tuesday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 47. Wednesday Mostly sunny, with a high near 70. Wednesday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 51. Thursday Mostly sunny, with a high near 71. |
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Fire Danger Level on the Island set at High. |
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Out on the Big Drink… |
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Today Variable winds 5 kt or less. A chance of sprinkles between 9am and 10am. Patchy smoke before 7am, then Patchy smoke between 11am and noon, then Patchy smoke after 3pm. Waves 1 ft or less. Saturday Variable winds 5 kt or less. Sunny. Waves 1 ft or less. Sunday SE wind around 10 kt. Showers likely after 1pm. Waves around 1 ft. Monday SW wind around 10 kt. A chance of showers. Waves around 1 ft. Tuesday WSW wind around 10 kt. A chance of showers. Waves 1 ft or less. |
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Water Temperature: The North Lake Michigan buoy is in southwest of Gull Island. It’s reporting 43 with calm seas.
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Photos from webcams at wvbi.net and mackinacbridge.org |
