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Here’s a roundup of news and photos around the Old Mission Peninsula…
No Legion Hall Dinner This Week. There will not be a dinner at the Old Mission Legion Hall on Feb. 4, as the chef and his helper are headed to California to see their new grandbaby. Big congrats, Asavas! The next dinner will take place on Feb. 18.
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Old Mission Eggs. I’ve had a few requests asking if anyone on the OMP is selling fresh eggs. Here’s a couple … Sheila Johnson is selling fresh eggs for $5/dozen. Washed and unwashed available. Message her on the NextDoor app if interested.
Also, Amie Shaw has farm-raised organic eggs for $7/dozen. Their farm stand at 1212 Gray Road is closed for the winter, so message her on the NextDoor app to coordinate pick-up times. She says, “Our hens are pastured in summer, in winter supplemented with additional organic grains, greens and grubs. Healthy, happy chickens make for darn good eggs.”
Fire Department Gets New Helmets. Thanks to a $2500 grant from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Peninsula Township Fire Department is getting seven new fire helmets to ensure firefighter safety and stay compliant with the National Fire Protection Association.
Also, the Department has a job opening for a firefighter/paramedic. See below or contact Fire Chief Fred Gilstorff, (231) 223-4443, [email protected].

Native Sons of the OMP. The next meeting of the Old Mission Peninsula Historical Society will take place this Thursday, Feb. 6, 6 p.m. at Peninsula Community Library. The program will feature “Video Reminiscences of Native Sons of the Old Mission Peninsula,” including the late State Senator George McManus, Steve Sobkowski and Cal Jamieson. The recordings were made by past OMPHS President Kennard Weaver, whose many videos of the meetings and OMP happenings can be viewed at his Youtube channel here.
Peninsula Community Library is located at 2893 Island View Road, at the intersection of Island View Road and Center Road. A brief business meeting and refreshments will follow the presentation. Admission is free and open to the public, and you’re welcome to become a member of the Historical Society while you’re there.

Book News
February Book Club – The Prospectors. I don’t always get the books for Pageturners Book Club read in time, but I’m currently reading this month’s selection — The Prospectors by Ariel Djanikian — and hope to finish it in time for the next meeting on Thursday, Feb. 20, 6:30 p.m. at Peninsula Community Library! It tells the sweeping rags-to-riches story of a family transformed by the Klondike Gold Rush. The story spans 100 years, from when Alice Bush joins the wave of white settlers making the dangerous trek to the Klondike, to 2015, when her great-great-granddaughter Anna must grapple with moral conflict and questions of justice as she travels to the Klondike to bequeath her would-be inheritance to the First Nations peoples who paid the price for its creation.
The books are available at PCL on a first come basis, but you can also order it for Kindle here. I always look to see if the books are available to download from the Traverse Area District Library, but there’s usually a wait-list for book club books.
An Evening With Geraldine Brooks.
UPDATE, Feb. 7: Due to an illness, Geraldine Brooks will not be available for the NWS event on Feb. 8. They are working on hosting an online event in the future.
The National Writers Series (NWS) recently became an Old Mission Gazette sponsor, and I’m happy to help spread the word about their events. The next event, on Feb. 8 at Lars Hockstad Auditorium, features Geraldine Brooks, author of Memorial Days, a memoir about the sudden loss of her husband and her journey towards peace.
In their early years together, Geraldine Brooks and Tony Horwitz were foreign correspondents reporting in conflict zones. They eventually settled down to raise two boys on Martha’s Vineyard. The life they built was one of meaningful work, good humor and tenderness, as they spent their days writing and their evenings cooking family dinners or watching the sunset with friends at the beach. But all of this ended abruptly when, on Memorial Day 2019, Tony, at just 60 years old, collapsed and died on a Washington, D.C. sidewalk.
Doors open at 6 p.m., with the conversation beginning at 7 p.m. The event includes a Q&A session, followed by an author signing event. The book will be released tomorrow, Feb. 4, and locals who’d like to read the book prior to the event may have the option to pick up their copy at Horizon Books. For more info about the event and tickets (available in-person or virtual), visit the National Writers Series website here.

Also Read…
SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWSPAPER: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So I started my own newspaper.
Because Old Mission Gazette is a "Reader Supported Newspaper" -- meaning it exists because of your financial support -- I hope you'll consider tossing a few bucks our way if I mention your event, your business, your organization or your news item, or if you simply love reading about what's happening on the OMP. In a time when local news is becoming a thing of the past, supporting an independent community newspaper is more important now than ever. Thank you so much for your support! -Jane Boursaw, Editor/Publisher, Old Mission Gazette
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