Beaver Island Dark Sky astro-photography Event
What are They all looking at? 
Photos below by Taffy Raphael, Becca Foli and Cynthia Johnson are all from an Astrophotography Workshop with Alex Mullins.  Alex travelled from Delaware, Ohio to teach members of the Dark Sky Committee and Taffy Raphael how to take pictures in Space.
Tony Miller, Astronomer contributed greatly to the project, aiding with the purchase of telescope parts, finding Alex Mullins and helping the committee coordinate efforts to create Dark Sky Events this year.
Cynthia Johnson, Point of Contact for the committee presented Michigan State Legislation recently passed declaring July 2021 as Michigan’s Official Dark Sky Month.  Johnson also said the Dark Sky Sanctuary Application is completed, thanks to some expert editing assistance from Anita Mauro, and the committee expects an announcement in October.  Read more about that application and status by clicking below. ​

    June 20, 2021  Solstice Celebration
 Nathan Altman and Sarah C. Mueller and crew erected a magnificent art sculpture at Paradise Bay, Beaver Island, Michigan today.  The Inner Sun Project sculpture was unveiled near the recently named “Best Harbor in the U.S. at Paradise Bay, Beaver Island.  Beaver Island Municipal Marina, North is next-door neighbor to the Inner Sun and the Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce.  Chamber director, Paul Cole was on hand with a small gathering of thirty people, just dropping in to see what was happening in the harbor.
Cole said, “Beaver Island has always possessed an “inner sun”  within its pristine environment,  peaceful and quiet shorelines and in the self-reliant and friendly people.  This sculpture adds more.”  Photos below,  Residents and visitors gather to view the sculpture.  Left, the hands.  Right,  Nathan Altman, securing the structure.
Why Beaver Island?

St. James Township Campground to Start Renovations in the Spring The St. James Township Campground, located just off Donegal Bay Road on Beaver Island, will begin a major renovation and addition of facilities this Spring. Currently the campground is for rustic camping only with a policy of “first come first served’; has three pit toilets; and a manual water pump which services 10 lovely rustic camp sites on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan.

​Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. In March, bids will go out for the addition and development of a full-service bath house with flush toilets, sinks and showers for both men and women. Six of the campsites will be upgraded to electric. While the rest of the camp sites will remain rustic, there are future plans to expand the number of rustic campsites to include a group gathering site which can house multiple tents and campers. The campground will be renovated with the plan ...Click below to read more...

​

go to www.stjamestownship.org to read all the news from St. James Township

​The Clarke Historical Library, a part of Central Michigan University, is pleased to announce that over the next few months The Beaver Beacon, published between 1955 and 1958, will be digitized and made freely available online.
 The Beaver Beacon  was begun in 1955 by the Beaver Island Civic Association. Individuals who paid for a membership in the Civic Association received the newsletter. Each issue was filled with the news of the Island happenings, contact information for servicemen and women, weddings, births, deaths, birthday and anniversary celebrations and school events. It was run as a public service more so than profit-making venture.
 

BelowThe Northern Lights were visible on Beaver Island, March 13 and 14th, 2021 and clearly seen with the naked eye as a white gleaming display of towers and bars across the harbor.  Glimpsed as a pearly spread of light across the Northern tip of the island and farther,  skywatchers saw the lights rise up and down from 9 pm-1:00 am on both nights from the St. James Township Campground, down East Side Road, Sloptown road and from behind the CMU boathouse.  
In the camera, a long shutter exposure captures and reveals the colors not seen by the naked eye,  as illustrated above and below in the phots by Cynthia Hector-Johnson, editor of the NorthernIslander news.  Watch for more geo-magnetic activity beginning March 18th and onward, as the earth experiences a new cycle of solar activity that sometimes causes amazing displays of this un-earthly phenomenon. Below:  as seen in the camera and with plain eyeballs...

Covid-19 delayed the process of a grant that would have completed improvements to the St. James Township campground this Spring.  The grant was extended and now St. James Township Board members and the planning commission forged through paperwork and more delays to keep the project going.  The campground is opened with the rennovation completion not known until the bidding process is completed and work begun later in the year.   More information to come soon!