This was our first visit to the State Fair since it moved from Detroit to Novi and while the fair was great, when compared with the old fair grounds in Detroit it came up a little lacking. The old fair grounds was simply gigantic and you could spend hours just in one building. The old festival had many many vendors but the new one probably had a few dozen that you could go through in about a half hour.

As festivals go it was great, its just when compared with the old State Fair it comes up short, mostly because of space both outdoors and indoors.

James went on several rides and enjoyed all the festivities so it was a worthwhile venture. Plenty of rides for sure but again the old fair grounds had more.

Still, a great experience and very worthwhile.
Continue reading “2023 Michigan State Fair” →

The annual Blues festival in Marshall Michigan took place this day and we were in attendance for the festivities. The 2023 Marshall Blues Festival is a FREE family-oriented music and entertainment festival sponsored by the Marshall Downtown Development Authority. Rain or Shine. Full slate of Blues music with a cash bar beer tent along with plenty of food along the street. This is also the home of the American Museum of Magic so we usually stop off and make a visit to support this historic museum, along with several antique shops that are also located in the festival area. We saw 2 bands while we were there, Tony Thompson & Friends and Dann the Band Feat. The music was awesome and a great time was had by all.
Continue reading “2023 Marshall Blues Festival” →

James volunteered to do some work for the VIP camp booth at the Lincoln Park festival so we took advantage of the opportunity and spent a little time at the Festival. James helps the weekend before when he and others from VIP camp police the entire park so that it is clean for the festival.

Once the festival starts VIP camp has a booth there where they do fund raising for the camp which is why James showed up today to put his one hour of work in.

After his work time was over, the family enjoyed the Festival and spent some time checking out all the exhibits. Continue reading “Lincoln Park Festival 2022” →

We had tickets to the Friday show at the Abbott Magic Get Together and while the event has some of the best magicians in the world during their convention (IE Lance Burton, Mac King), we wanted to see the Friday show because it was an old fashion magic spook show. Starting way back during the Great Depression, magicians would do a magic show before the midnight showing of a B rated horror flick. The magic show always concluded with a black out, where all the lights in the theatre go out and spooks of all manner begin running about the theatre.

The magicians doing the show were world famous magicians John Bundy and Morgan, and it was the first time there was a spook show at Abbotts since World War 2 when Bill Neff did a show in a huge tent.

A great time was had by all. Continue reading “Abbott’s Magic Get Together 2022” →

This was our first trip to the Marshall Blues Festival since the pandemic. We started the visit by watching a magic show in the American Museum of Magic. Mom visited the many gift and antique shops on main street (which was blocked off for the festival). We did notice the crowd was not a large as the pre-pandemic crowds, but there was a chance of rain in the forecast and that might have turned some people off.

James and Dad made a quick visit to Colon while Mom was shopping and picked up a book on spook shows from the magic shop. It was actually a proof that was going to the museum.

We returned and met up with Mom at a small restaurant on main street where we enjoyed beverages, then we continued back to Jackson and ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant there. A very nice day for all. Continue reading “Marshall Blues Festival 2022” →

After dropping off the family at Great Lakes Crossing, Dad went about ten miles down the street to Canterbury Village to check out the shops and see if new Halloween or Christmas items were in. Usually Canterbury was quiet but not today, the entire village had dinosaurs in it. These were high tech animatronics and pretty cool. Dad did a quick walk around the village taking these pictures, then went into the store to check on the gifts. Dad then headed back to Great Lakes Crossing to pick up the family.

This is one time for sure that Dad got the better part of the shopping deal. Continue reading “Canterbury Village 2022” →

Our first family concert since the pandemic was at the Magic Bag in Ferndale where we saw two great Blues/Rock bands live. The first band was GA-20 which is a band from Boston and was simply awesome. The second was J.D. Simo who had a definite Stevie Ray Vaughn, Robin Trower style guitar.

After the concert, Mary and James got a chance to meet the band members, buy CD’s and T-shirts (which they autographed), and get their pictures taken with the band members. They were all great and a great time was held by all.

I should mention that this was the first time we had to actually provide proof of vaccination for anything.

Continue reading “Concert At Magic Bag in Ferndale 2021” →

We visited Novi (second time in two days as the Wounded Warrior fund raiser was the day before) for their Halloween convention. All sorts of celebrities were there signing autographs, most of them we did not know but it was nice to see fun they were generating. We ended up getting several items including a Zombie Girl prop for our upcoming Halloween party in October.

The event was held at the Sheraton on 8 mile in the Farmington/Novi area and was a great break in the action for the family who had not been able to go to events like this the past year due to the pandemic. Continue reading “Novi Halloween Convention 2021” →

James attended the 82nd Abbott Get Together in Colon Michigan along with his Mom, Dad, and Dynamike the Magician. Mom was hoping to get good seats for the show because her favorite performer, fellow Nashville Native Stephen Bargatze, was performing this particular night. Mary got to know Stephen several years back when he was performing at Abbotts Closeup Convention. When she was a child, she remembered her bus driver was called Sim Bargatze and she wanted to meet Stephen to see if that was a relative of his. She worked with Hank Moorehouse of Abbotts who introduced them and as it turned out, it was Stephens Uncle who drove her on the bus.

The show was great, Stephen was fantastic, and the seats were awesome, thanks to Abbotts for making this a very memorable experience for the whole family. Afterwards we went to the dealers room to see the latest magic for sale and everyone loved the “Devils Candle” effect which would be perfect for Halloween. After watching several demo’s we watched Abbott’s make the presentation of awards to the young magicians who completed in the stage talent contest earlier in the day.

A great time was had by all and we even included a short video of the Devils Candle!

Continue reading “82nd Abbott Get Together 2019” →