Metro Health – University of Michigan Health and the Metro Health Hospital Foundation would like to express gratitude for the outpouring of support from local businesses, restaurants and community members.
“West Michigan is stepping up to rally around the health care community and we are so grateful,”said Greg Meyer, Chief Community Officer, Metro Health – University of Michigan Health. “We are working around the clock to ensure that our staff has the supplies and equipment needed to save lives and continue to provide safe, excellent care to our patients.”
Hudsonville Ice Cream provided some sweet treats to Metro Health – University of Michigan Health staff. (Supplied)
A few highlights include:
Personal protective equipment (PPE) and other vital supplies donated from nearly 250businesses and individuals including Byrne Electric, Sherwin Williams, Amway, Steelcase,Home Depot, Lowe’s, Planet Fitness and Mitten Brewing.
Delicious meals and snacks for employees from more than 50 restaurants, businesses and individuals including Camp Bow Wow Byron Center, The Gluten Free Bar, CSA of West Michigan, Hudsonville Ice Cream, Buddy’s Pizza, Chick-Fil-A, Grand Rapids Griffins, Nuance Communications, Sprinkles Donuts and Pizza Parliament Food Truck.
Patient and caregiver messages submitted by the community through Metro Health’swebsite, handwritten cards for staff and inspiring signs and sidewalk chalk art.
City of Wyoming and the Wyoming Fire Department display of the American flag outside of the hospital.
Locally-made gifts for moms that deliver at Metro Health during visitor restrictions purchased with a grant from the Metro Health Hospital Foundation.
Nearly $121,000 distributed to 88 Metro Health employees facing financial hardships related to COVID-19 from a relief fund established by the Metro Health Hospital Foundation. This is funded by the generosity of fellow staff members and community donors.“The Metro Health Hospital Foundation is honored to be involved in these efforts, but it’s the community’s generosity that has made these added resources possible,” said Jaime Counterman, Director of the Metro Health Hospital Foundation. “We want to thank the community for their compassion during these unprecedented times.”
New moms received locally made gifts purchased through a grant. (Supplied)
Metro Health continues to accept donations of unused PPE, inspiring messages for patients and meals for our hardworking staff. All donation information can be found on metrohealth.net/covid- 19-updates.
Please also visit metrohealth.net/covid-19-updates for the most up-to-date information from the CDC and resources to protect yourself and prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Mitten Brewing Co. north, in Northport in the Traverse Bay area, will be a great place to stop by — summer or winter. (Supplied)
By K.D. Norris ken@wktv.org
It is unclear which Grand Rapids area craft brew U.S. Sen. Gary Peters likes to order when he makes a stop in the area, but he probably has one on the house coming from Mitten Brewing Company.
Thanks to some federal-level advocacy from Sen. Peters’ office, Mitten Brewing Co. has a new Traverse Bay area craft brewing brewery and pub after Chris Andrus, co-owner and co-founder of the Mitten Brewing Co., was able to expedite a license from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, shown with Sen. Joni Ernst at Washington, D.C.’s annual Rolling Thunder First Amendment Demonstration Run in 2018 (Supplied)
The story, as given by Sen. Peters’ office recently, is that Mitten Brewing Co. discovered that a brewery in Northport, Mich., was going out of business and “They saw this as an opportunity to expand their brewery as well as protect the jobs of those employees. In order to do so, Mitten Brewing Co. needed to obtain their licensing quickly from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to open in time for the (past) summer season.”
Andrus reached out to Sen. Peters’ office for help, we are told, and “The office helped cut red tape for Mitten Brewing Co. by contacting the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau regarding the brewery’s licensing application. Chris soon thereafter received approval for the necessary license. The Northport location was able to open in time and is now a thriving part of the Northern Michigan community.”
Don’t know about you, but I love Mitten Brewing’ local locales and brews. Maybe I’ll buy the senator one next time we belly-up to the bar together.
Mitten Brewing’s Andrus shared his story in a video released by Sen. Peters’ office, and can be seen here.
Sen. Peters office states that Michiganders in need of assistance with a federal agency to contact his Detroit office at (844) 506-7420 (toll-free) or can visit his website at peters.senate.gov.
Grand Rapids, regional distillery choices growing all the time
It is no secret that Michigan is a booming market for craft distilled liqueurs, but the quality of Grand Rapids area, or nearby, sources might surprise you as much as they continue to surprise me.
In Grand Rapids, there is Long Road Distillers, with cocktails, small-bites, and bottles to-go are available — you can also take a tour for a behind-the-scenes look at the distilling process and get to know what is in your glass from a distilling expert.
Eastern Kille (once known a Grey Skies, FYI) has a downtown tasting room to sample their whiskey, gin, or coffee liqueur. A seasonally revolving menu of cocktails are available to highlight the spirits made onsite.
Nearby, in the great day-trip location of Saugatuck, the New Holland Spirits offer tasting flights and cocktails made with award-winning spirits, along with light snacks and a retail area with bottles to go. Holland, too makes a good stop as Coppercraft Distillery not only has small batch cocktails but an extensive dining menu.
And in the summer, when you are really in the mood for a road trip to the Traverse Bay area, we are told “Michigan’s oldest award-winning ‘Grain to Bottle’ Craft Distillery” is Grand Traverse Distillery. Grand Traverse Distillery distills all of their vodkas, whiskies, gin, and rum in a 1,100 liter Holstein twin column copper reflux pot still.
And I can personally vouch for the idea of getting a “Latitude Adjustment” at Northern Latitudes Distillery in Lake Leelanau, where their gin is to die for and their limoncello — aptly named Limoncello di Leelanau — is worth living for. The tasting room is open seven days a week, and tastings are free and you can buy your favorite selection by the bottle and/or have it mixed into an incredible cocktail.
OK, sharing a bottle of Northern Latitudes is a good reason to spend the night or weekend out of town.
Among the activities will be the annual Trunk or Treat when city and community organizations decorate their trunks and hand out candy to area children. Participants will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite decorated trunk. Also taking place will be face painting, hayrides, a bounce house, and games.
Go Hike, Get a Prize
Urban-thru-hiker Liz Thomas
If you head out on the trails this weekend, you might be lucky enough to score a surprise from Merrell, the shoe company. Merrell team members will be handing out swag bags and gift cards along The Ales Trail starting at Outside Coffee Co., 734 Wealthy St. SE, and making its way to several area breweries, ending at the New Holland Knickerbocker. The event is lead by urban-thru-hiker Liz Thomas who has been making her way through the local trails to help encourage residents to get out and hike.
Brewed Spirits
The phantom footprint preserved in the upstairs bar.
Co-owner Christ Andrus said he believes that whatever is haunting the former Engine House No. 9 is just playing pranks on people. Regardless if you believe or not, it makes for some great tall tales over some award-winning brew. (The Mitten’s West Coast Swing Amber took a Gold Medal at the 2018 Great American Beer Festival.)
Fun Fact:
5,062 Years
That is how old a bristlecone in California is, making it the oldest individual living tree. (For reference, wooly mamnoths died about 4,000 years. Want to learn more about trees? Then snatch up a copy of "The Hidden Life of Trees" by Peter Wohlleben, and then join the book discussion on Nov. 8 at the KDL Kelloggsville. The program will be lead by the City of Wyoming Tree Commission starting at 6:30 p.m..
Beer and cocktails — and drinking responsibly — will be the center of attention in November as several special events come to West Michigan. (Courtesy New Holland Spirits)
Mitten Brewing Company — located in an old firehouse at 527 Leonard St. NW, in Grand Rapids — reportedly has ghosts with a taste for beer. But even spirits need to be 21 years of age to get a cold one, you know.
According to supplied information,, one night in 2012, during the second week of being open, brewery owner Chris Andrus was the last person to leave the Engine House after doing the final floor mop, at 2 a.m., and the first to open the next morning. The story goes, as he inspected the taproom, he noticed footprints left in the dried mop water on the floor.
“At first, Chris thought nothing of it,” we are told. “But after a few minutes of going about his business, he realized no one else had been in the building between his leaving and return, and that the prints were made by bare feet. He returned to the footprints and made a perplexing discovery: they were the footprints of a child.”
More footprints would show up over the years, as did shadows, silhouettes and — of course — noises.
The Mitten’s tap house is the Engine House No. 9 building: built in 1890, a former West Side Grand Rapids firehouse and one of the city’s few remaining Victorian landmarks. It remained an active firehouse until 1966. It was purchased and restored by The Mitten Brewing Company in 2012. So, it would not be the first haunted firehouse.
So, in case you are into such things, the next time you’re in for a beer, ask the bartenders about the ghosts, or just keep watch.
Kalamazoo Craft Beer Festival to have 250+ brews on pour
Talk about the ultimate tasting room …
More than 80 breweries will have more than 250 brews favorite and special up for sampling at the Wings Event Center Saturday, Nov. 4, as the Kalamazoo Craft Beer Festival — and while Michigan brews will, as always, be the focus of the event but there will also be brews and breweries from all over the United States in attendance.
Among the special brews of note, according to supplied information, are Imperial Voodoo Vator in celebrate of Atwater Brewery’s 20th anniversary, Roak Brewing’s Cucumber IPA, and Hazy Sunset, a New England IPA from Kalamazoo’s own Boatyard Brewing Co.
Since man (or woman) does not live on beer alone — despite what Guinness stout’s makers might say — there will be food trucks on-site at this year’s festival.
The Kalamazoo Craft Beer Festival also is offering ways to make sure everyone gets home safe and sound, so while designated drivers are encouraged, taxis, Ubers, and Lyft rides are also available to and from the event— and cars left at Wings Event Center over-night will not be ticketed. Mobile homes can park and stay in the Wings Event Center parking lot, but there are no hook ups to electrical or water.
Hemingway cocktail expert at GR ‘Wine, Beer & Food’ event
Drink what Hemingway drank …
The 10th Annual Grand Rapids International Wine, Beer & Food Festival at Downtown Grand Rapids’ DeVos Place will host Philip Greene, who has studied and written about the influence of cocktails on the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning author Ernest Hemingway (among countless others notables) as part of the festival.
The festival runs Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 16-18.
Greene is the author of “The Manhattan: The Story of the First Modern Cocktail” and will release “The Drinkable Feast: A 1920s Paris Cocktail Company” in 2018 — named in honor of Hemingway’s posthumously published work, “A Moveable Feast”.
Greene’s program, “To Have and Have Another” will be presented Friday at 9 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m. There is no charge for these demonstrations and cocktail samples will be provided to the audience. He’ll also present four workshops throughout the course of the using spirits from Holland-based Coppercraft Distillery.
The Grand Rapids International Wine, Beer & Food Festival will coincide with the final weekend of Cocktail Week GR, presented by Experience Grand Rapids.
For more information on the festival, visit devosplace.org . For more information on Cocktail Week GR, visit experienceGR.com .
Taste of Redwater event to benefit CASA child advocacy group
Party for a good cause …
West Michigan’s Redwater Restaurant Group will host an evening of “food, philanthropy and fun” — their words, not mine — with food, wine and beer samples available and a portion of the proceeds going to CASA, the Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children in Kent County program which “empowers everyday citizens to stand up for vulnerable children in the family court system.”
To be held Saturday, Nov. 11, from 6-9 p.m., at Redwater’s Work Wine & Grille, located at 500 Cascade Road SE, Grand Rapids, the event costs $40 per person with $5 per person going to CASA.
According to supplied information, attendees will taste appetizers, entrees and desserts prepared onsite by the Chefs from Reds at Thousand Oaks, FireRock Grille, Rush Creek Bistro, Cork Wine & Grille, Vintage Prime & Seafood, and Gravity Taphouse, as well as RedWater’s pastry chef. Live music will be prepared by the band Oxymorons.
For more information visit corkwineandgrille.com/specials/
Local music, local food, and of course local beer, will once again be part of the annual LocalFirst Street Party set for June 3.
The 14th annual LocalFirst Street Party will run from 3 p.m. – midnight in the parking lot near Bistro Bella Vita, 44 Grandville Ave. SW, in downtown Grand Rapids.
“The Local First Street Party celebrates the vibrant and diverse local talent we have in Michigan,” said LocalFirst President Elissa Hillary. “From the music and performers to the food and beverage, it’s all evidence that the work we do is supporting and bringing together a strong community.”
New to this year’s event is an expanded kids area with the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum and Sanctuary Folk Art providing programming. Also the Happy Henna will be providing Henna tattoos and there will be an interactive photo booth by Smitten Booth.
Of course, if you are crafty, there will be lots of sidewalk chalk available to decorate the streets. Also returning to this year’s event with activities for everyone are 61Syx Technique Street Dance Academy, Audacious Hoops, and AM Yoga.
If you are looking to bust a groove, local groups such as The Crane Wives, Molly Bouwsma-Schultz & Friends, Cabildo, Convotronics, JRob & Bedrock: The Foundation, Hollywood Makeout, and Wealthy & Diamond will be providing the music to do just that.
Of course food is always on the mind whenever attending the LocalFirst Street Party and there will be plenty of it from a number of local restaurants and food trucks. This year’s line up includes A Moveable Feast, Love’s Ice Cream, Daddy Pete’s BBQ, The Maine Dish, Patty Matters, What the Truck, Twisted Rooster, Grand Rapids Pizza and Delivery, The Candied Yam and Malamiah Juice Bar.
And of course, you have to have something to wash it all down with and local favorites as Founders, Brewery Vivant, Mitten Brewing Company, Farmhaus, and Cider Company will all be on hand providing a range of local beverages to choose from. There also will be free water from Gordon Water.
“We are so grateful for all the support we receive of over 50 sponsors and community partners,” Hillary said. “The Street Party is one of the biggest ways we have to show off what local ownership and collaboration means for West Michigan.”
For more information and updates on the event, visit localfirst.com or follow #LFStreetParty.
