Community Calendar

Join Us for Family Fun Days!

Family Fun Days are free, community-focused events hosted by YMCA Hayo-Went-Ha Camps in partnership with the Great Start Collaborative Traverse Bay. These days are a wonderful way for families to play together, explore the outdoors, and connect with local resources.

What to Expect:
Music & Storytelling: Don't miss special performances by Miriam Pico and Jen Strauss starting at 10:30 AM!

Giveaways & Prizes: Thanks to our sponsors, we are hosting raffle drawings every 15 minutes, including a chance to win a free week of Sparks Day Camp for kids ages 5–10.

Activities & Food: Enjoy arts and crafts, campfire s'mores, and a free lunch served from 11:15 AM to 12:15 PM.

How to Give Back:
While the event is free, we encourage families to bring a non-perishable food item to donate as they arrive to help support our local community.

There’s nothing more exciting than the first bloom of spring – especially here in northwest Michigan! This open call exhibit will feature work from a range of local and regional artists in a variety of media – all in celebration of spring!

Take in the beauty of Bloom! beginning April 4th in ourFisher Room Gallery.

Winter Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Sunday – Noon to 4:00 pmClosed Mondays, Holidays and for Occasional Events

Admission to our Galleries is always free!

Showcasing works in wood, paper, and fiber, featured artists will present furniture, textiles, paper assemblages, basketry, and more in both functional and decorative creations.

Exhibit runs from March 14 - April 18
Tuesday - Saturday from 10am-4pm
Sunday from 12pm-4pm

Artist talk April 18-2:00

Gopherwood is thrilled to see the return of Willy Porter to our stage. Some folks are lucky to find what they love to do at an early age and quietly settle in for the long haul expanding and developing their work over the arc of a lifetime. Willy Porter is one of those artists. He has followed his own path to explore the sacred language that music truly is. 30 years after his solo recording debut, he continues to reach further into his guitar & pen while stretching the form of what his own music can be. He recently released his 13th full length album, The Ravine, in September 2023.

Willy Porter continues on a musical and personal odyssey spanning over two decades, 13 albums, and multiple continents. His journey has been defined by an inquisitive love for humanity and the language that describes what we all hold to be true. Porter’s songs weave a universal perspective about the questions, struggles, and triumphs of human existence. His live shows are guitar-driven grit, soul, silence and muscle– at times electrifying, dynamic, and unique in the way that Porter’s voice blends and fuses with his fret work.

Northwestern Michigan College will host its first High School Jazz Invitational on Saturday, April 18, bringing together student musicians from several regional schools for a day of performances, clinics, and collaboration.

High school big bands from Traverse City West, Traverse City Central, Elk Rapids, and St. Francis will perform beginning at 1 p.m. in Milliken Auditorium. The afternoon performances are free and open to the public.

The day concludes with NMC’s Spring Jazz Concert at 7:30 p.m. in Milliken Auditorium. The evening concert will feature the NMC Jazz Lab Band, an All-Star High School Big Band made up of students nominated by participating directors, and the NMC Jazz Big Band. Smith will perform as a guest soloist with each ensemble.

The evening concert will be directed by Joshua L. Wagner. Doors open at 7 p.m., and tickets are required. Tickets are available in advance at a discount by going to nmcmusicdepartment.simpletix.com. Tickets at the door are $20 for adults and $15 for seniors and students, while NMC students are admitted free with a student ID. A brief intermission will take place between groups.

For questions or assistance purchasing tickets, contact the NMC Box Office at 231-995-1340.

This fun comedy begins with a theater-loving narrator playing his favorite cast recording. As the record spins, a 1920s musical springs to life in his apartment. The show-within-a-show follows a wedding disrupted by gangsters, mistaken identities and a tipsy chaperone. Hilarious and heartfelt, it’s both a loving parody and a tribute to the magic of classic musicals.

The Glen Arbor Arts Center’s next Coffee With The Authors conversation is April 19, 1 pm with Karen Mulvahill, author of The Lost Woman. Mulvahill, a Leelanau County resident, sets her novel in 1940’s Paris, just as the Nazis storm the City of Lights. What follows is a tale of one young woman’s resistance, art theft, and a long-delayed effort to restore stolen paintings to their rightful owners.

The Lost Woman is Mulvahill’s debut novel. Published in 2025, Mulvahill’s tale is fueled by history: the Nazi’s well-organized efforts to appropriate — through theft, murder and terror tactics — a vast array of cultural artifacts for installation in Hitler’s planned arts complex, the Fuhrermuseum, in Linz, Austria. Mulvahill will talk about how she crafted a story peopled by many characters over decades, and the role the arts played in the Nazi’s violent scheme to reorder the world to its specifications.

Coffee With The Authors is a series of conversational interviews with local, regional, and state authors about the art, craft, and process of writing, facilitated by GAAC Gallery Manager Sarah Bearup-Neal. There is no charge. Coffee With The Authors enjoys the support of the Cottage Book Shop and the Glen Lake Community Library.

This fun comedy begins with a theater-loving narrator playing his favorite cast recording. As the record spins, a 1920s musical springs to life in his apartment. The show-within-a-show follows a wedding disrupted by gangsters, mistaken identities and a tipsy chaperone. Hilarious and heartfelt, it’s both a loving parody and a tribute to the magic of classic musicals.

The Robert Giles “Truth Matters” Author Series Presents "A Conversation with a Palestinian and Israeli Who Both Lost Family to War And Why They Believe Peace is the Only Answer." Presented in Partnership with the International Affairs Forum.

“If you must divide us, let it be as those who believe in peace and equality and those who don’t ... yet.” ~ The Future is Peace

Aziz Abu Sarah is Palestinian. Maoz Inon is an Israeli. Both have lost family to the conflict and have known the bitterness of righteous anger. The world expected them to be enemies, yet they chose a different path. They forged a bond of brotherhood.

In The Future Is Peace, co-authors Aziz and Maoz take readers on a transformative weeklong journey across a sacred and bloodstained land. Together, they discover the mythic, political, and personal history that divides but also binds them.

Guest host is Ed Ronco, IPR News Director

General Admission Ticket: $20
Ticket + Book Pickup: $47
Ticket + Book Shipped: $55
Student and Teacher Tickets: Free

No age restriction with a valid school ID, student and teacher tickets admit one person to the live event. Books are not included.

Group Tickets
For discounted rates on groups of 20 or more, please contact: hanna@nwstc.org

Daily specials are offered by participating restaurants! Don’t miss this opportunity to try something new at fantastic prices.

Visit the downtown website to view menu items.