EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of the News Advocate’s top stories of the year compilation (in no particular order) revisiting and recapping Manistee County’s biggest news from 2021.
Daniella Lampen, 10, went to Las Vegas to compete in the Dance Awards, a national-level competition featuring many of the best dancers from around the world.
Lampen said she made a good account of herself.
“It was much harder than the other competitions I’ve been to. It really seemed like the Olympics of dance,” she said. “The dancers there were out-of-this world amazing. It was such an honor to even get there and, to be honest, I’m very proud of how I did.”
Prior to the competition, she also danced in, and won regional events.
Lampen trains at the Conservatory of Dance and has been performing solos for five years. While she enjoys competing, she likes dance because it allows her to spend time with her friends.
“I really like it because it’s a great social thing, but you can also show off your talent,” she said. “It’s great to work hard and get all the notoriety from it, but I also love being around my friends.”
The competition spanned June 26 to July 3. Lampen performed a solo before a panel of judges and then was taught an audition dance which she then performed in front of the judges.
Though Lampen did not advance to perform an improv in front of judges, the competition proved to be both a valuable and enjoyable experience.
• More than century old Buffalo Bill poster uncovered in Manistee
What started out as a routine siding job ended up offering a glimpse into the Old West.
As Jesse VanderBie, of Jack VanderBie Builder, LLC, was removing siding on a building located on 22nd Street in September, he began to uncover something special. As more siding was removed, the crew revealed a poster for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World Show, which dates back to the 1800s.
“We’re working on this building from the 1880s — 1882 or something like that. We’re stripping off old siding and putting new on,” VanderBie said. “As we were working around, stripping siding back, we got to a point that didn’t really quite look like the rest. We were like, ‘Well, it kind of looks like it might be something.’ We did a little more cutting and uncovered some more, and we found this Buffalo Bill poster.”
VanderBie reached out to the Manistee County Historical Museum, and Executive Director Mark Fedder said the poster is a “significant find.”
“Basically, Buffalo Bill went all across the country, even all across the world. He came to Michigan several times and he actually came to Manistee twice — once in July of 1898 and once in September of 1916,” Fedder said.
•Manistee sees student homecoming window art
After COVID-19 forced Manistee High School to hold a pared-down spirit week last fall, what the district referred to as “homecoming lite,” students this year had a homecoming more closely resembling a traditional one of years past.
“We have two years of kids who haven’t gone through this, so half of our student body is unfamiliar with our homecoming traditions and assemblies first hand,” said principal Andrew Huber. “It was a lot of fun to watch them engaged in it and it was great to see the leadership from our juniors and seniors and their enthusiasm to get back to the way things have always been.”
This year’s theme was “a night of Disney.” The senior class chose “Up,” the junior class selected “The Lion King,” the sophomore class picked “Star Wars” while the freshmen opted for “Alice in Wonderland.”
Students got started with the homecoming fun over the weekend by painting the windows of four downtown business window fronts. Each class was tasked with creating homecoming-themed art over two days in September.
• Habitat for Humanity build completed in Eastlake
Crystal Buck’s journey to a new house all started by volunteering at a pie shop in Petoskey.
Buck, an Eastlake resident, reflected on how she learned about the Manistee County Habitat for Humanity. She said she was helping out at House of Pies and had a discussion with a woman there who had been involved with Habitat for Humanity.
That discussion served as Buck’s introduction to the possibility of a new home and then several years ago she put in her application for the program.
And in March, after several years of hard work, she had the day when she could finally move into a finished Manistee County Habitat for Humanity home with her family.
“It’s been so much like a roller coaster ride. There’s been so many emotions,” she said. “It’s just been an overwhelming blessing.”
On March 11, the house was blessed by Pastor Erik Carlson of Faith Covenant Church, and then volunteers as well as Buck’s friends and family gathered for a dedication ceremony.
• Manistee store owner hosts kitten adoption event, pairing families with pets
The Happy Hippie jewelry and gift store in Manistee was a bustling place filled with young families holding kittens and deciding whether they could or could not apply to be the new caretakers of the furry pets.
Laurinda Krause, owner of Happy Hippie, said she decided to open her store for a kitten shower adoption event after she has been fostering or helping to find foster homes for kittens in the area.
Krause said the goal of the June adoption event was to help people to meet the kittens and if people were interested they could fill out adoption applications.
The store featured snacks, a raffle drawing and balloons one might find at a baby shower with sayings like “It’s a boy!”
Krause said she got involved originally when a friend found some kittens and she helped to bottle feed them.
Krause said she has been fostering cats for about three years.