Committee seeks ways to renew Crystal Lake

Link to August 10 Iron Mountain Daily News article, "

Excerpt: The history of Crystal Lake has been studied and well-documented by the Michigan Technological University Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering under the direction of Dr. Martin Auer.

At one time, it was popular as bathing beach, and well as a fishing.

Tionesta Indian Festival kicks off today

Link to August 8 Oil City Derrick article.

Excerpt: It is the annual Tionesta Indian Festival, a celebration of the community and its heritage that has its origins in the mid-1960s.

The festival, one that began using a Native American theme with the presentation of a play called "Out of the Forest," was started by local businessmen, including the Faulkner brothers, owners of the Red & White Grocery Store, Ren Agnew, Paul McWilliams and others.

Big ideas for Midway

Link to Jamestown Post-Journal article.

Excerpt: Midway Park was privately operated by the Walsh family for about 50 years prior to the state park system's purchasing the park in 2006. It is one of the longest continously-running parks in the country, being first established in 1898 as a trolley park. Adler said the park was purchased by the state after it was identified as "a priority acquisition" due to the access it could provide to Chautauqua Lake, in addition to its historical nature.

Niagara Falls: Canadian side overflows with kitsch kitsch

Link to August 2 Pittsburgh Post Gazette article.

Excerpt: The Vegas of Canada is a perfect inversion of all common assumptions. Canadians have been famously defined as polite, unarmed Americans with health insurance. Yet in this one corner of the world, stereotype has been turned on its head. The Canadians bellow, their signs all but jump off the buildings, commerce reigns supreme, and a people ordinarily famed as the guardians of every leaf on every tree have left it to the Americans across the river to maintain a sedate park where it is the birds, not a recorded Dracula, that are heard during a walk.

All facets of downtown revival under scrutiny

Link to Rockford Register Star article.

Excerpt: The vision of Crystal Properties Holdings is ambitious. Concept drawings show the crumbling Amerock building revitalized with retail, residential and entertainment offerings. A skywalk would link the MetroCentre with an expo center for conventions and trade shows, occupying the entire block south of the arena.

But remaking the Amerock building, let alone downtown Rockford, has been a gamble for plenty of developers over the years, with the odds seemingly stacked against them. In this case, the same critical question comes up: Will Crystal Properties be the company to hit the jackpot?