Twenty Years (20) of Dog Parades in Northport (or is it 21?)

Ho-hum. Another day in the bookstore....

What's this? Dogs going by?

While kids look at books, Sarah checks out sidewalk traffic.

Whose car is this? Cool plate!

Anticipation....

Then, somehow, I missed the very beginning of the parade! Missed the dog parade banner coming down the street! Did it mention "20 Years"? I don't know. I'm still working on the calculation myself, starting with the age of my bookstore (22), subtracting the three summers it was in Traverse City (19), adding back the two dog parades I know we missed (2) -- 21 years? I'm confused. Who's got the count?

Never mind. Here come dogs! This year's theme, "Woofstock," was truly inspired -- and inspiring.

Not all of my pictures turned out great, but I'm including a couple fuzzy ones nonetheless, because they are important parts of village life.

Northport Promise

Northport Wildcats!!!

Along the way, with dogs, dogs, dogs, were people marching with a Coming Attraction, the Leelanau UnCaged street fair the last Saturday in September.

The street fair is as much fun as the dog parade -- maybe more, in that it lasts all day long. But right now it's still August, and today was the day Northport went to the dogs. Beneficiaries of this year's parade fees were the Cherryland Humane Society, Black Sheep Crossing, and Silver Muzzle Cottage.

Sarah had a good time watching the parade, especially when she saw dogs she knows, like Laddie and Nessie.

Laddie

Nessie

We were also excited and pleasantly surprised to see Sarah's former groomer, Jamie. She is only Sarah's "former" groomer because she, Jamie, moved down to Grand Rapids. We miss her!

It's Jamie!!!

Omena has a big doggie presence. (Their mayor is a dog.)

And the dogs and hippies just kept comin'

Our librarian and her entourage and the Friends of the Library in the Stanley Steamer took the prize for bending Sixties slogans to their own agenda, and since it's an agenda I share, I loved their signs. 

Big dog makes big shadow!

It isn't a parade without a band

Neighbors and neighbor dogs

I hope someone counted all the dogs in this year's parade -- and then, too, all the dogs like Sarah along the parade route, enjoying the scene from the sidelines. 

Then the parade was over for another year, leaving behind smiles and memories. What a wonderful tradition! In Northport, we love our town, and we love our dogs.

Kirk in t- and bandana

The Summer Beat Goes On

That's the Northport Sailing School. I don't have anything to say about it today but liked the image, which is pure summer.


Here's more of what I see every day in summer: the inside of my bookstore! And that's fine, because things are always happening there, too. For instance, Elizabeth Buzzelli will be here today! The perennially popular creator of the Emily Kincaid murder mystery series will be at Dog Ears at 4 p.m., with her latest book, Dead Dogs and Englishmen, the fourth she has introduced to an appreciative Northport readership, which will make today's event a meeting of the Northport Buzzelli Fan Club.

Tonight is also Music in the Park, with Dog Ears Books co-sponsoring the Steve Sandner Quintet (jazz).


The Woolsey Airport Fly-in and the Northport Promise garage sale are tomorrow, both being held earlier than usual this year in hopes of better weather than they had in August 2010. Get there for pancake breakfast and watch the planes come in. Later in the day, from 5 to 9 p.m., when you’re all worn out from hours in sun and waves, there will be an opening of small works by eightl artists at the Wright Gallery on Mill Street, as Northport navigates easily between plain old fun and high culture.

But so much has already gone by, too, that I haven’t reported on. One evening there was an opening at Edie Joppich’s Bay Street Gallery, featuring new work by Edie and photographs by Sharon Kalchik, both on barn themes. Live music and soft evening sunshine led to the delightful ambience of Edie’s gallery and gardens.




And of course the most recent author to appear at Dog Ears Books was Loreen Niewenhuis, with A 1000-Mile Walk on the Beach. Loreen is great! She is personable and relaxed, putting at ease everyone she meets in the first minute of their meeting. David took Sarah home early, so when the customers cleared out of the bookstore I was able to close and get a bite next door at the Garage Bar & Grill with Loreen, her mother, and president of the Leelanau Township Friends of the Library Suzanne Landes before we all adjourned from the table and reassembled at the library, where Loreen’s slide show presentation and talk were well attended and well received.





Even with my still images, you can see how animated this author is in person. Wish you all could have been there!

Or, wish you all could be here, for all our local events. This is summer in Leelanau, and it flies by like a dream.