The Ann Arbor Art Fair! Summer Arts in Ypsilanti!

Photo Credit Ann Arbor Art Fair

It’s almost here! The Ann Arbor Art Fair is the largest juried art fair in the entire country, and it draws over 500,000 visitors each year. This year, it runs from Thursday July 20, through Saturday July 22. It is an incredible gathering of talented artists and performers, and whether you’re just browsing or shopping for spectacular art, the Art Fair has something for everyone. Technically, the Art Fair is made up of three separate juried fairs, but the logistics are the same for all of them. Parking is no fun, though, so come stay with us at The Newton and we’ll drive you to and fro, prepare delicious breakfasts to fuel you, and have the courtyard hammock ready and waiting for you to relax after a long day! 

If three days of Art Fair is too much for you, here is a glimpse of the fantastic arts scene around Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor - check these out and make it a long arts-themed weekend!

• The Ann Arbor Art Center is very active in the Art Fair, but all year round it hosts exhibitions, workshops, and classes. The A2AC Murals initiative has sponsored 16 gorgeous murals around downtown Ann Arbor, and one in Ypsilanti; there is a walking tour on the website, and the murals are worth checking out.

• The non-profit Riverside Arts Center in Ypsilanti hosts exhibitions and workshops, along with a twice-monthly Fine Arts Club where local artists can gain exposure and community for their work. There’s also swing dancing every Friday with beginner lessons ahead of the main event.

• Several other Ypsilanti galleries feature the work of Michigan-based artists. We love 22 North, The Gallery at Stone and Spoon, and The Michigan Art Gallery.

• The Deep End Cafe and Gallery in Ypsilanti is a mission-driven café that features the work of underrepresented artists and writers. They have an artist talk on Thursday July 20 with the current exhibition’s artist, Dillan Steele. 

• Here at The Newton, we’ve partnered with Aligned Exhibits to feature the work of local artists. We love the intensely creative community we’re in, and being surrounded by the work of these talented people!

(Artist Laila Kujala is one of two artists whose work is displayed at The Newton right now. Studio photograph credit Aligned Exhibits.)

To cap off what’s sure to be an excellent weekend, join us for a Michigan Beer Tasting on Sunday evening (7/23) with long-time beer writer and enthusiast Patti Smith. Patti will walk you through a sampling of eight Michigan beers, and explain the nuances of tasting and judging beer. Chef Allison will be preparing some perfectly paired snacks! 

Strawberries: Ode to a Fruit

First garden strawberry of 2022 was a beauty!

Is there anything more perfect than an early strawberry, shiny and red, fragrant and sweet? We don’t think so (although we reserve the right to say that about all the foods we love!). A tiny June strawberry, fresh from a field or a farmers’ market, delights all of the senses - smell, taste, sight, touch, and… ok, maybe not hearing. Strawberries belong to the genus Fragaria, and the etymology here is no mystery: the fragrance of strawberries is the stuff of poetry. In the poem Wild Strawberries, Robert Graves describes the “...confounding of taste and scent.” And indeed, the science is in - a strawberry’s taste and scent are inextricably intertwined; the aroma of a strawberry matters more than the sugar content in how we perceive a strawberry’s sweetness!

Wild strawberries were an enormously important food source for the Native people that lived in the Great Lakes area prior to the government “resettlement” policy (the Indian Removal Act of 1830) that forced Native tribes off of their ancestral lands. The Anishinaabeg people were a cultural group that included many tribes in the Great Lakes region, and the largest tribes that inhabited southeast Michigan were the Ojibwe (Chippewa), Odawa (Ottawa), and Potowatami (Bode’wadmi). The tribes were semi-nomadic, migrating with the seasons. When springtime turned to early summer, the tribes would settle along the shores of lakes to catch fish and freshwater fowl, and to forage the woodlands for birch bark and wild berries. They marked the passage of time and seasons by the moon, and the June full moon was named Ode’imini-giizis (the Strawberry Moon). The full Strawberry Moon rises this coming Saturday, June 3!

You can find wild strawberries in the woods, of course, but the strawberries we cultivate now are the result of cross between two wild strawberry varieties (both transported from the Americas to Europe) in France in the 1700s. 

It’s almost time for strawberry u-picks to open their doors, and we recommend getting on their waiting lists and checking Facebook sites to be in the know. It’s a fairly short season (mostly in June and early July); strawberries are easy to pick, and incredible when they are fresh from the field! Two local u-picks are:

• Rowe’s Produce Farm (Ypsilanti) - strawberries and peas in June/July!

• Honey Bee U-Pick (Ann Arbor) - strawberries in June/July!

Some of our other favorite produce items popping up at farmers’ markets right now include asparagus, herbs, peas, potatoes, and rhubarb. If you’re not sure what to do with a farmers’ market haul, get in touch with us, and we can design a cooking class just for you! We’re also happy to share some of our favorite recipes! The Newton of Ypsilanti’s own Chef Allison Anastasio will be doing a cooking demonstration at the Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market on June 7, 2023 at 11am (that’s a Wednesday market!). She’ll be whipping up a few delicious items that feature the spring/early summer bounty of our local farms. 

SUMMER! SUMMER! SUMMER!

OMG OMG IT’S ALMOST HERE, and we are excited! Summer in southeast Michigan is truly special, and we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite things to do. Come stay at The Newton of Ypsilanti and let us help you make the most of summer! Whether you’re local to the area or just passing through, The Newton is downright idyllic in the summer. The breezes waft through the open windows, the front porch is a great spot to read and have a coffee, and the courtyard is a secret garden - perfect for an afternoon hammock nap! 

Summer brings festivals, fairs, and outdoor concerts. Fresh fruit and vegetables await picking - at a u-pick farm or a local farmers’ market. At The Newton, you can enjoy the fruits of your labor with a glass of crisp rosé. We can join you at one of the fabulous local farmers’ markets and design a cooking class just for you! Or Chef Allison can prepare a phenomenal seasonal meal using produce from nearby farms.  Michigan’s freshwater resources are an embarrassment of riches - the Great Lakes, the many inland lakes, and the scenic rivers. Ford Lake has so many lovely parks for picnicking or fishing, and the Huron River flows right through Ypsilanti. There are countless ways to enjoy this incredible resource - by kayak, canoe, paddleboard, or inflatable tube! Ypsilanti is celebrating its bicentennial this year, and there is a great lineup of events in the works! 

Festivals • Fairs • Outdoor Performances

• Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra closes its 2022-23 season with a free concert at Riverside Park on Saturday 5/27.

• Ypsi Jazz Fest puts on Saturday evening performances at Riverside and Montibeller Parks beginning July 1, while the John Lawrence Summer Jazz Concert Series begins its Friday concerts on June 30 at Ford Lake Park.

• The Ypsi Pride celebration is June 2, 4-10pm.

• The Ann Arbor Summer Festival has events most evenings from June 9 through June 25.

• The renowned Ann Arbor Art Fair runs from July 20 to July 22.

• Shakespeare in the Arb is presenting Much Ado About Nothing during the month of June for an incomparable outdoor theater experience.

• There’s nothing like the Thunder Over Michigan Airshow happening on August 12 and 13 this year.

• Check out the incredible lineup of events included in Ypsilanti’s Bicentennial Celebration!

• Visit YpsiReal to see more event listings!

U-Pick Farms • Farmers’ Markets • Cooking Classes

• Asparagus, strawberries, peas, blackberries, raspberries, tomatoes, herbs, flowers - you name it, and there is probably a u-pick farm nearby! We’ll help you find the right one!

• The Ypsilanti Farmers’ Market is open on Saturdays 9am-1pm.

• The Ann Arbor Farmers Market is open on Saturdays and Wednesdays.

• Chef Allison can design a cooking class (right here at The Newton!) for you to make a delectable meal or treat using your fresh produce!

Outdoor Adventuring

• Let us pack you a picnic and enjoy it at one of the beautiful Ypsilanti parks!

• Fish the Huron River right at Riverside Park! Head over to Schultz Outfitters to gather supplies and find out where the fish are biting (and if you want a guide, they can HOOK you up!).

• Paddle the beautiful Huron River. The Huron River Water Trail spans 104 miles, and there are so many ways to enjoy it! 

• There are two distinct approaches to tubing the Huron River: long and lazy, or fast and furious! We think they’re both amazing, and we’ll help you with the logistics!

This is just a small sample of the fantastic activities and events happening this summer - give us a call, or book online to plan your adventure!

Michigan Beer Summer

Michigan has an inordinate number of craft breweries, and many of them produce truly excellent beer. As the weather gets warmer, and the days get longer, there’s no better time to enjoy these offerings, and we’ve got some ideas on how you can get ready to embark on a truly gratifying Michigan Beer Summer ™. Craft beer is a big deal in Michigan - we have over 400 breweries (the 6th highest number in the nation!), and (legal) Michiganders drink an average of 3.5 gallons per year. Michigan craft beers take home awards every year - in 2022, six Michigan breweries took home awards from the World Beer Cup (aka The Beer Olympics)!

One of the best ways to sample many of these delightful beers (along with ciders, hard seltzers, and kombucha beers) is to check out the Michigan Summer Beer Festival, in its 24th year on Friday 7/21 and Saturday 7/22 right here in beautiful Ypsilanti! Over 100 Michigan brewers will be pouring samples of new beers alongside tried-and-true favorites. It’s an incredible event, and a fun way to try some beers that can be hard to find! There is also live music and beer-friendly food. There is a list of the beers that will be offered (it’s not published yet for 2023, but here is the list from 2022), so festival-goers can strategize on what they might want to try, and in what order (beer drinkers do not joke around about this kind of thing)! Tickets always sell out, so get yours ahead of time when they go on sale on May 4. That’s this coming Thursday, people! Mark your calendars! The Newton of Ypsilanti is within easy walking distance to the festival, so book a room for your stay and we’ll prepare some delicious food to fuel you for the festival!

Come join us on Thursday, May 25, as long-time beer enthusiast and writer Patti Smith takes us on a journey to explore the history and current success of the Michigan beer brewing industry. Patti’s book, Michigan Beer: A Heady History, was published in January of 2022 and has received glowing praise and tells the stories of “great invention, great failure, and boozy success” that characterize the history of Michigan beer brewing. You’ll get to taste eight local craft brews, and Innkeeper and Chef Allison Anastasio is planning some tasty snacks for pairing! Get your tickets here, and check out some of our other upcoming events while you’re at it!

Find more information on Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor area breweries here!

The March of the Morels (They’re Almost Here!)

No matter our politics, our beliefs, our values, our faith, there is at least one matter on which we can all agree: WE ALL LOVE MUSHROOMS. Right?! No? Okay, maybe not everyone - mushrooms are actually one of the most polarizing foods we eat, right up there with cilantro, smelly cheese, and olives. In our own cooking adventures, we have marveled at the near-surgical precision mushroom-haters can employ to extract mushrooms from a risotto or a soup. Many mushroom lovers really love mushrooms, though, and for an even smaller subset of people, the morel mushroom is just about the most exciting food in existence. The emergence of the morel heralds the coming of spring, and many Michigan foragers guard their morel hunting spots closely. Right around now, they’re beginning to check their secret spots for the first signs of the mushrooms, because once the heads are visible, there is a harvest window of only a few days. Skilled (and/or lucky) foragers can sell morels to chefs eager to put them on menus, but most morel hunters are just hoping to put morels on their own plates. Morels are notoriously difficult to cultivate, so for the most part, they are only available during their brief growing season (late-April to mid-June in Michigan). More than a few poems have been written about the morel, and they read like Victorian love poetry - morels are elusive, mysterious, shy, bashful, and precious gems whose beauty goes unnoticed by all but the fastidious few. 

We are perched on the cusp of morel-hunting season here in southeast Michigan; there was a sighting just south of us earlier this week! If you want to give morel-hunting a try, check out some of the resources we have linked below. Morels are fairly distinctive looking, but there are a few toxic look-alike species which are generally lumped together as “false morels.” And be prepared to channel your inner criminal persona, as one writer described morel hunters thus:

“These are the… people who, if you come upon them in the forest, always look suspicious and paranoid, like someone waiting for a drug deal. They walk slowly through the pines, heads bent. When they see you they try to look casual, like they just happen to be taking a little stroll. Never mind the basket they carry or that funny, curved knife in their hands. They barely offer a wave before scooting off to a quieter part of the forest.”

Should you be so fortuitous as to find a morel or two (or even a patch!), you’ll find countless recipes for cooking them. We think that the best way to prepare them, though, is to simply sauté them with a little butter and salt, and eat them right out of the pan! It’s certainly not a complicated recipe, but it’s a shame to hide this mushroom’s flavor with elaborate preparations. If you do want to get a little fancy, the great chef and food writer J. Kenji López-Alt recommends a sauté with a few more ingredients that highlight the morel’s delicate earthiness. López-Alt’s recipe post also includes some excellent graphics if you’re not sure how to clean and trim your morels.

 Let us know if you get lucky!

Resources and reading:

• The Great Morel is a blog dedicated exclusively to the morel, and it has a sighting map that tracks the emergence of morels so that hunters can be prepared.

• Modern Forager shares a great deal of information on foraging, including burn maps and gear lists. Kristen and Trent Blizzard’s book, Wild Mushrooms: A Cookbook and Foraging Guide, is a great resource!

• The Michigan Mushroom Hunters Club shares information with beginners and hosts several public hunts to help hunters get started.

• The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has lots of information on how and where to get started hunting.

• The poem Morel Mushrooms by Jane Whitledge is just one of the morel mushroom genre. 

• Boyne City hosts the National Morel Mushroom Festival, which includes cooking contests, tastings, seminars, morel giveaways, and a competitive hunt. It takes place May 18-21, 2023.

• MichiganMorels is a Facebook page where enthusiasts gather, but as previously mentioned, they are not likely to share specific locations.

Tonight! First Fridays Ypsilanti Returns!

Just when you start to wonder if this might be the year that winter sticks around forever, the gray skies start to crack and the sun begins to warm us up. Those determined crocuses and daffodils begin to unfurl, and we start looking through seed catalogs, filled with giddy relief that spring is happening again! Alongside those crocuses, another sure sign of spring in Ypsilanti is the beginning of First Fridays Ypsilanti. First Fridays is a monthly event (held on the… first Friday of every month!) that strives to connect Ypsi businesses and community members with arts-related events and celebrations. This year marks the program’s 10th anniversary! The overall event runs from 5-10pm, though individual venues set their own hours. Tonight’s theme is Ypsi in Bloom, and the attractions include swing dancing lessons, fairy door supplies, ice cream, art shows, an Easter egg hunt, a makers’ market,  and so much more! (See the detailed event listings, as a few events have age restrictions and/or a small fee.) Shake off the winter dust and come on out, Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor neighbors! We’d love to see you there! We’ll be there! Keep your eyes peeled for our Innkeeper, Chef Allison Anastasio, and ask her what she did with this rhubarb that got her so excited! She’s really excited for local fruits and veggies to start showing up in the garden at The Newton, and at local farmers’ markets!