[Michiganweek-l] Easy Ways to Celebrate Michigan's Heritage

[Cindy Krueger]

Please reply to this message with your suggestions.

Easy Ways to Celebrate Michigan's Heritage 
 
1.	Issue a Michigan Week declaration, resolution or proclamation.
2.	Sponsor a contest for best store window display with a Michigan
Week theme in your downtown or mall shopping area.
3.	Videotape living histories at senior centers.  Make copies
available for families, libraries and historical centers.
4.	Hold a Michigan Week parade, festival or other special event.
5.	Hold an old-fashioned community softball or baseball tournament
during Michigan Week.
6.	Coordinate a storytelling festival with tellers from the area
sharing tall tales, legends and histories of the county.
7.	Develop a speaker's bureau, encouraging residents from various
ethnic backgrounds with differing cultural heritages to participate.
8.	Prepare a Year 2005 time capsule!  Invite community members to
submit artifacts and tie the ceremony in with local celebrations.
9.	Fund a restoration project of an older building in the
community.  Send out a call for donated artifacts.
10.	Encourage local restaurants to develop all-Michigan meals and
have a "taste-off" to support a local charity. 
11.	Nominate someone for a Michigan Week Community Achievement or
Volunteer Leadership award
<http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17447_18630_22802---,00.html>
! 
12.	Encourage your local library to offer a revolving exhibition of
local artists' work or host readings for local writers.
13.	Present a special certificate to all babies born during Michigan
Week.
14.	Dedicate or establish the Michigan Week theme for already
existing community news.
15.	Create a community cookbook, complete with recipes and
reminiscences from residents.  Sell it as a fund-raiser for the local
historical society or library.
16.	Sponsor a Michigan Week essay or photo contest in which students
in your area tell or show which local tradition or custom is most
treasured by them and why!
17.	Put together a self-guided tour for out-of-town visitors
(develop a children's tour as well).  Include many cultural, historical,
architectural and natural resources, as well as events that reflect the
spirit of your community.
18.	Plan a community-wide volunteer/clean-up day.  Focus on a park
or other site used by many residents.
19.	Use the Michigan Week logo
<http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17447_18630_22469-62127--,00.html>
in publications and on your Web site; create a link to the Michigan Week
Web page from your site. 
20.	Honor your community's oldest citizen, house or family.
21.	Develop a volunteer recognition program in your community.
22.	Participate in the annual Mayor's Exchange
<http://www.mml.org/mam/2004_exchange.htm> coordinated by the Michigan
Association of Mayors and the Michigan Municipal League.
23.	Donate artifacts from your community to the Michigan Historical
Museum
<http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17447_18595_18596---,00.html>
collection.  The museum's exhibits detail everyday life in Michigan
through the 20th century.
24.	Hold an open house at a historic site.  See Michigan's Historic
Sites Online <http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/hso/>.
25.	Come up with your own unique way to celebrate Michigan's
heritage during Michigan Week
<http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17447_18630---,00.html>, May
21-27, 2005!