Presented by the Muskegon County Convention & Visitors Bureau

Beatrix Potter’s 150th Birthday
January 3 – 22 @ 8:00 am – 9:00 pm
The Muskegon Community College Hendrik Meijer Library is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of world famous English author Beatrix Potter, with a display of her books and a personal collection of 50 miniature Warne animal characters.  An iconic author, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist, Potter is best known for her children’s books featuring animals, such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit.  She was a trailblazer for women of her time.  This informative exhibit can be viewed now through Sunday, January 22.  For more information on the exhibit, contact Darlene DeHudy at (231)-777-0268 or (231) 777-0269 for library hours.

White Lake Classical Series
January 3 @ 7:00 pm
Tuesday, January 3 at 7:00pm, come to the Book Nook & Java Shop for the White Lake Classical Series featuring guitarist, Jeremy Verwys.

Jeremy is a local Grand Rapids area musician and teacher.  Currently, he is working towards a graduate degree in performance as well as music therapy at Illinois State University where he studies guitar with Dr. Angelo Favis. He received his Bachelors of Music in performance from Grand Valley State University, studying with Carlos De la Barrera and an Associates degree from Grand Rapids Community College with instructors Andrew Bergeron and Brian Morris.  He has performed with the Grand Rapids Symphony, as well as with the dance faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp where he was commissioned in 2015 to compose and perform original works.  The cover is $5.  Come early for dinner at 6:15pm to enjoy Three-Meat Meatloaf, Horseradish Smashed Redskins, Veggies, Glass of House Wine and Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie for $17.  RSVP to The Book Nook & Java Shop by calling (231) 894-5333.

Calvin College January Series
January 4 @ 12:30 pm – January 6 @ 12:30 pm
January 4 – 6 at 12:30pm, you’re invited to the Beardsley Theater for the Calvin College January Series!  The 30th year of Calvin College’s award-winning lecture series will again be live-streamed into the Beardsley Theater.  The lectures are free and no tickets are required.  Be sure to bring your lunch!

Wednesday, January 4 – Karin Maag “500 Years Later: Why the Reformation Still Matters”
Karin Maag is the director of the H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies at Calvin College, one of the world’s foremost collections of works on or by John Calvin. She is also a member of Calvin’s History department, having begun her work at Calvin in 1997. She obtained her PhD from the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland and is the author, editor, or translator of nine books, including Seminary or University? The Genevan Academy and Reformed Higher Education, 1560-1620; Worship in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Change and Continuity (co-edited with John Witvliet); and most recently, Lifting Hearts to the Lord: Worship with John Calvin in Sixteenth-Century Geneva. She has obtained five major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities to direct summer seminars and institutes at Calvin College. The most recent of these, “Teaching the Reformation after 500 Years” brought twenty-five faculty and graduate students from across the US to Calvin College for an intensive three-week institute in July 2016.

Thursday, January 5 – Matthew Desmond “Poverty and Profit in the American City”
Matthew Desmond is John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Science at Harvard University and the co-founder of the Justice and Poverty Project. His writing on poverty in America has appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker and Chicago Tribune.  In 2015, Desmond was awarded a MacArthur “Genius” grant.  His newly released book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, draws on years of embedded fieldwork and painstakingly gathered data. The reality in our country is that most poor renting families spend more than half of their income on housing, and eviction has become ordinary, especially for single mothers.  In his book, Desmond provides a ground-level view of one of the most urgent issues facing America today.  Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.

Friday, January 6 – Mark Charles “Race, Trauma and the Doctrine of Discovery”
Mark Charles is a speaker, writer, and consultant who works on issues of race, culture, and faith. He works through the ministry 5 Small Loaves and is a program affiliate with the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship in the area of worship and culture. Mark also works with numerous tribes and indigenous communities in the United States and around the world on how best to hold onto indigenous cultures, languages, world views and educational models while living in highly Western and assimilated environments. His desire is to build “cross-cultural relationships of forgiveness, repentance, love and hope that result in walking in beauty with one another and God.” He regularly writes on his blog Reflections from the Hogan.  He is the son of a Dutch American woman and a Navajo man.

For more information, call 231-727-8001.

Open Public Tours at the Muskegon Museum of Art
January 5 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Enjoy free docent-led guided tours at the Muskegon Museum of Art on Thursdays, December 1 – February 16 from 5:00-7:00pm!  www.muskegonartmuseum.org

Featured Artist: Gale Howarth
January 5 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
For “Many Miles”, the Nuveen Center’s featured artist has traveled and photographed countless unique and beautiful moments.  Her name is Gale Howarth and she has captured things that can only be seen by someone willing to leave the highways behind and let the backroads of America show what they truly have to offer. Come see our country from Gale’s perspective, in the Nuveen Center’s 2017 Emerging Artist exhibit.  From January 3 – February 25, Gale’s work will be featured in the Byam-Terryberry Exhibit Room for all to come and enjoy!  If you’d like to meet the artist herself and hear about her experiences while capturing these images, please join them for the official public reception on Thursday, January 5 from 5:00 to 7:00pm.

Nuveen Center hours are 10:00am to 5:00pm, Tuesday through Saturday.  For more information, call 231-893-2524 or find them online at artswhitelake.org as well as on Facebook.

First Friday Fan Fun-Raiser
January 6 @ 7:00 pm
The first Friday of the month, the Book Nook & Java Shop features a celebrity bartender and encourages their fans to show up and raise money.  Tips and 20% of all proceeds will benefit the charity of their choice.  January 6 at 7:00pm, the celebrity bartender will be Amy VanLoon of the White Lake Chamber of Commerce and the charity will be the White Lake Community Fund of the Community Foundation of Muskegon County.  There’ll be live music from Legal Rehab and the dinner special will be King Ranch Casserole & Side Salad for only $7.95.  The drink special will be mulled wine.  For more information, call 231-894-5333.

Muskegon Lumberjacks Home Game
January 6 @ 7:15 pm
Friday, January 6 at 7:15pm, come to the L.C. Walker Arena as the Muskegon Lumberjacks take on the Youngtown Phantoms!  The Muskegon Lumberjacks are proud members of the United States Hockey League, the nations only Tier I junior hockey league and the leading producer of NCAA players and National Hockey League draft picks in the United States. The Lumberjacks’organization prides itself on developing not just premier hockey talent, but also exceptional young men outside the arena of sports. For more information, visit www.muskegonlumberjacks.com.

Muskegon Center for the Arts: January Workshops
January 7, 14, 21 & 28 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Join talented artists of the MCA for the January Workshops at the Red Lotus Gallery!  You will want to register for these classes now as they will fill up quickly.

January 7, 2:00pm-4:00pm – Pattern Beading Necklaces
$23 per student, materials included. MCA Members $20, materials included.
This workshop is calibrated to help students of previous pattern beading workshops move onto the next stage of jewelry design, necklaces. Students will learn to design and make their own necklace, which they will be able to keep. Maximum of 10 students. You must be registered 2 days before the scheduled class day. Contact Sabryna at sabrynasnaturalcreations@hotmail.com to register.

January 14, 2:00pm-4:00pm – Feathered Earrings
$10 per student, materials included. MCA Members $8, materials included.
This workshop will tach students how to design and create a pair of earrings using real feathers. Students will be able to keep their very own unique creation. Maximum of 10 students. You must be registered 2 days before the scheduled class day. Contact Sabryna at sabrynasnaturalcreations@hotmail.com to register.

January 21, 11:00am – 3:00pm – Beginner’s Stained Glass
$45 per student, materials included. MCA Members $35, materials included.
Each participant will create one sun catcher after a short instruction period. All students must be signed up and paid one week prior to the scheduled class date. Minimum of 2 students and maximum of 6 students. Contact Ruth at fragments1@comcast.net to register.

January 28, 2:00pm – 4:00pm – Beginner’s Chainmaille Workshop
$20 per student, materials included. MCA Members $18, materials included.
This workshop will teach students how to create jewelry using the vintage art of chainmaille. In this session, we will focus on the Celtic Pattern of chainmaille. Each student will make a bracelet from the focus pattern that they will be able to keep. Maximum of 10 students. You must be registered 2 days before the scheduled class day. Contact Sabryna at sabrynasnaturalcreations@hotmail.com to register.

Muskegon Lumberjacks Home Game
January 7 @ 7:15 pm
Saturday, January 7 at 7:15pm, come to the L.C. Walker Arena as the Muskegon Lumberjacks take on the Chicago Steel!  The Muskegon Lumberjacks are proud members of the United States Hockey League, the nations only Tier I junior hockey league and the leading producer of NCAA players and National Hockey League draft picks in the United States. The Lumberjacks’organization prides itself on developing not just premier hockey talent, but also exceptional young men outside the arena of sports. For more information, visit www.muskegonlumberjacks.com.

Howling Harbor! Muskegon Artists’ Market
January 8 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Harbor Cinema hosts an indoor Artists’ Market every second Sunday of the month from 2:00-4:00pm.  The market features live performances by a variety of talented Muskegon performers as well as local artists and crafters.  For more information, call 231-375-5228.

Howl n’ Blues Concert Series: Rochelle & the Spoilers
January 8 @ 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
The 5th annual Howl n’ Blues Concert Series for this winter is titled “HOT BLUES”!  January 8, it’s Rochelle & the Spoilers!  Concerts take place at the Watermark 920 the second Sunday of each month from 2:00-5:00pm to raise awareness and donations for the PoundBuddies animal shelter.  There’ll be a cash bar, food, 50/50 raffles, dancing, and good times…guaranteed!  Tickets are only $15 and include a raffle ticket.  For more information find “Howl n’ Blues” on Facebook.

West Michigan Lake Hawks Basketball Game
January 8 @ 6:00 pm
Back to Back North Central Division Champions! Catch their home games at Reeths-Puffer High School located north of Muskegon at 1545 N. Roberts Rd. January 8, they play the Kalamazoo Cobras at 6:00pm. All tickets are just $8 each. Ages four and under are FREE! Purchase Lake Hawks tickets at the Frauenthal Center or at the door. www.lakehawksbasketball.com

Winds of Ancestry
January 9 @ 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
“Winds of Ancestry,” an exhibit of artifacts and videos by artists Rae Goodwin and Casey McGuire, will be on display in the Muskegon Community College Overbrook Art Gallery from January 9 – February 23.  In the summer of 2016, McGuire and Goodwin rode their red rocking horses across this grand nation. They followed the Lewis and Clark Trail to Montana and stopped along the way to memorialize their foremothers and to acknowledge the fleeting winds of ancestry.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Overbrook Gallery hours are 9:00am – 4:00pm, Monday-Friday with special weekend and evening hours during performances and concerts in the adjacent Overbrook Theater.  For more information, call (231) 777-0324.

Ruth and Max Bloomquist
January 9 @ 6:00 pm – 7:45 pm
Monday, January 9 at 6:00pm, join Max and Ruth, Muskegon’s own folk singers, for an evening of wonderful music at Hackley Public Library.  Ruth and Max Bloomquist have been making music together since they met in 1975 and discovered their shared love not only for each other, but for music and songs made with acoustic instruments and featuring lyrics from the heart.  Ruth and Max immersed themselves in folk, bluegrass, country, singer songwriters, and other acoustic music to create a sound and style all their own.  Learn more at www.ruthbloomquist.com.