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Winter Blues Festival
February 15 - 21, 2010
The second annual Winter Blues Festival kicked off on Monday February 15 with wonderfully fun events for the Petoskey community. The Festival featured events every day during the week-long celebration which included three competitions: the 2nd annual Pro-Am Hotdish Cookoff ; the Petoskey Pat Singing Competition; and the Beard Growing Contest Finals. Petoskey congratulates the winners of these three competitions.
Mackinaw Trail Winery hosted the 2nd annual Pro-Am Hotdish Cookoff at 4pm on Monday. Three restaurants featuring four hotdishes competed in the professional category. They were Inn at Bay Harbor, Stafford’s Perry Hotel and Grain Train Natural Foods Co-op. Meghan Wruk, deli manager of the Grain Train, won the professional category with Reuben Bread Pudding.
Eight amateurs competed with a variety of meaty and vegetarian dishes. The winner in the amateur division was Jim Koslosky with sweet and sour chicken over rice. He also received the prize for best meaty hotdish, and Debbie Norris won best vegetarian. Our best in show winner received dinner for 4 at Sagamore’s at the Inn at Bay Harbor, and a cookbook from Stafford’s Perry Hotel. Debbie received a $20 gift certificate from Fustini’s Oils and Vinegars and a bottle of Michigan wine from the Grain Train.
Mackinaw Trail Winery served samples of their wide varieties of wines along with their hospitality to a packed house of samplers (judges). Downtown Petoskey thanks Mackinaw Trail, all of our competing restaurants and amateurs for their delicious participation. Paul Huffaker won $200 in Downtown Treasure Certificates from a drawing of participants that evening.
Tuesday evening offered local singers and a full house at the Noggin Room a new event called Petoskey Pat. The name, Petoskey Pat, which is applicable to either male or female singers, was drawn from similar, long-time, and very successful competitions in the Midwest. Six local singers competed by singing two songs for the audience, who then selected the winner by applause. Competitors included our hotdish winner, Jim Koslosky, as well as Blind Eddie Holiday, Bob Fawcett, Ron Fowler, Amanda Huffaker and Anthony LaJoye. The crowd enjoyed all of the entertainment, and with a huge round of applause selected Anthony LaJoye, a 19-year-old student at North Central Michigan College, as its first Petoskey Pat. Anthony received a gift basket valued at $75, from WTCM Radio, as well as a $25 Treasure Certificate, and a trophy. Amanda Huffaker received second place with a similar gift basket. Marjorie Mehney won the $200 in Downtown Treasure Certificates from a drawing at the end of the event. Downtown Petoskey thanks the Noggin Room for its hospitality, and all of the competitors.
On Thursday afternoon, the winners of the Beard Growing Contest were selected at the City Park Grill. Nine men signed up on January 8 to grow beards for the contest, and to raise money for breast cancer awareness. The judges were Mallory Corbin of La Dolce Vita Salon, Ruthi Krauss of Trillium Salon, and Tracy Sneddon of Tracy Lee Salon. The winners were:
1. Andrew Meyer for best beard. He received an overnight stay at Stafford’s Perry Hotel, including breakfast, and a mini male makeover from a participating salong.
2. Michael Mann won for mountain man. He received a $25 gift certificate from Mitchell Street Pub and a mini male makeover from one of our salons.
3. Marty Scott won for good effort, and will receive a mini male makeover.
More than $300 was raised for the American Cancer Society. Downtown Petoskey thanks our contestants, our salons, prize donors and everyone who attended the event. The $200 in Downtown Treasure Certificates was awarded to Carol Gardner, wife of one of the beard-growing contestants, Jeff Gardner.
The finals for the PetosKEY Hunt were held on Saturday, at noon, at the Petoskey Downtown offices at 216 Park Avenue. Many contestants submitted their clue cards during the week and on Saturday morning. Christine Struck had all correct and won the treasure chest full of gift certificates and prizes from participating businesses.
Other events included the Torchlight Parade on Wednesday evening with 25 entries in this new parade event for Downtown; and the Whine and Dine progressive dinner, which sold out with 40 participants. Whine and Dine participants wound their way through Downtown from Coffee and Connect for appetizers, Whitecaps Grill for soup, Fustini’s Oils and Vinegars for salad, followed with a visit to Mackinaw Trail Winery for wine samplings. The event continued to Stafford’s Perry Hotel for the main course, and ended at Grand Traverse Pie for coffee and dessert. Downtown extends its thanks to all participating restaurants and businesses and our ticket holders.
Downtown Petoskey ended the week on Saturday night, February 20 with blues music throughout the city. We are still tallying the monies from the Winter Blues Festival button sales, and will be announcing soon the contribution to Manna Food Project.
Look for the Winter Blues Festival next year, with some of our winning favorites from 2010 and new events and activities for all. The dates for the Festival will be February 14 through February 20, 2011.
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Always the Saturday after Thanksgiving
