Feb 24, 2021
Courtesy Photo
The above products are available at Soaps and Such in downtown Alpena. Soaps and Such is one of the merchants participating in Thursday’s Snowed In virtual shopping event on Facebook.
ALPENA The Alpena Downtown Development Authority is collaborating with six downtown merchants to host Snowed In: A Downtown Facebook Live Shopping Event from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Participating merchants include: Soaps and Such, Boudoir by Michele Zee Photography, Olivet Book & Gift, Traveling Ladders, Parallel 45 Books & Gifts and Myers’ Fashions Etc.
Downtown Merchants will go live on their own Facebook pages for 15 minutes at their designated time in the schedule below.
Feb 6, 2021
News Photo by Darby Hinkley A view of downtown Alpena from the corner of Park Place looking down Second Avenue. The DDA has launched a new Recruitment Grant Program to help attract more businesses to the downtown.
ALPENA The Alpena Downtown Development Authority has launched a new Recruitment Grant Program to encourage existing businesses to relocate or expand into Downtown Alpena.
The program offers grants up to $10,000 per business that can be used toward eligible expenses such as capital improvements, moving costs, signage, rent differential, and utility switchovers to their new location in Downtown Alpena.
Businesses must have been established for five or more years with a proven track record of success to be eligible for the program and must be entering a three-year minimum lease or purchasing property within the downtown district.
Alpena News guest columnist
After last week’s presidential inauguration, there was a lot of buzz as I scrolled my friends’ and families’ posts on various social media platforms.
The fabulous array of bold and symbolic coats worn by our country’s leading ladies. The musical performances by Jennifer Lopez and Lady Gaga. The promise and hope of a new era of healing for our country. Amid all the buzz, one figure stood out that left many in awe and in conversation in the days to follow: Amanda Gorman.
Named a National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017, Amanda Gorman was asked by Dr. Jill Biden to read a poem at the inauguration. At age 22, Amanda Gorman became the sixth and youngest poet ever to deliver a poetry reading at a presidential inauguration.
cnelson@thealpenanews.com
News Photo by Crystal Nelson
Madison Fishett, owner of Shear Envy Salon, dyes a client’s hair Wednesday at her salon in downtown Alpena.
ALPENA More than two dozen Alpena businesses were called out in a Facebook post because of their perceived political affiliations, social justice viewpoints, or how well they supported masking during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The post, which was making the rounds on social media this week, encourages locals to boycott 24 local businesses and support nearly a dozen other businesses. The News could not immediately confirm who authored the post, and it was not clear how businesses were selected for either list.
Alpena News guest columnist
This past Monday marked the winter solstice, the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest day of the year.
Monday also marked a rare astrological event: from our view here on Earth, Jupiter and Saturn appeared aligned in the night sky in an event called the Great Conjunction.
Although the two planets appear near each other in the sky every 20 years or so, the last time they appeared this close in our view was March 4, 1226, according to Rice University astronomer Patrick Hartigan.
This year’s conjunction was also notable as the two planets met in the air sign Aquarius. Over the past 200 years, the planets have only met in the earth signs of Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn. Air signs, compared to earth signs, are typically associated with the realm of the mind, including action, ideas, and motion.