FSW property to receive help from state of Michigan

From the Chelsea Standard:

FSW project receives backing from MEDC

The Federal Screw Works property in downtown Chelsea will get a boost from the state after Governor Jennifer Granholm announced state and local tax capture support for the redevelopment project.

The grant is valued at $281,450 and will be issued as a reimbursement for Brownfield cleanup at the historic site to Magellan Development.

[Read full article from the Chelsea Standard]

Upcoming Fundraiser for Chelsea Girl Scouts

The Chelsea Girl Scouts invite you to bring your family to a Big Boy Celebrity Server event on March 25, from 5 until 8 pm. Chelsea Girl Scouts will be working alongside Big Boy employees, helping to take orders, serve food, clean tables, and to keep the customers happy. In return, the Chelsea Girl Scout Service Unit will receive all of the tips and a percentage of the proceeds made during that time. This money will be used to reduce the cost of the fall camping trip for 2009 for all the Chelsea Girl Scouts and to eliminate the fee for camp for those Girl Scouts in need.

Location:
Big Boy Restaurant
497 Zeeb Road
Ann Arbor, MI

Date/Time:
March 25 from 5 til 8pm

For more information, contact Anita Mosier at 734-717-3580

Source: Press release from Chelsea Girl Scouts.

Call for artists/sculptors for upcoming Chelsea Sculpture Walk

The River Gallery is seeking submissions of outdoor sculpture for Chelsea's first annual year long “Sculpture Walk Chelsea.” The selected sculptures will be secured on cement pads at ten, high profile downtown locations in beautiful, historic, Chelsea, Michigan (located 14 miles west of Ann Arbor).

Artists are invited to submit up to three works. SculptureWalk Chelsea is funded in part by the Chelsea Downtown Development Authority in collaboration with the City of Chelsea, the Chelsea Center for the Arts, Sounds & Sights on Thursday Nights, and River Gallery. All sculptures must be able to endure the outside weather conditions typical of Michigan. Ten finalist will be selected, and each artist will receive a $200 compensation.

The postmark deadline for submissions is May 1, 2009. The event will launch June 25, 2009. Click here to download the application from the City of Chelsea website.

For questions or more information, contact River Gallery at 734.433.0826 or email info@chelsearivergallery.com

Patti Schwarz, Director
River Gallery Fine Art
120 S. Main Street
Chelsea, MI 48118
734.433.0826

Source: River Gallery Press Release

Do you have kids? Do you live in Chelsea? SRSLY wants to hear from you!

Passing along a message from the Janice Ortbring, one of the community volunteers and a Chelsea parent involved in SRSLY.

“Hi all. I am sending you this email to ask for your help. I am helping to spread the word for SRSLY to get parents to take the 4 minute survey. The results will help us sculpt the coalition activities and provide direction for programming. We have only had 92 replies from adults and should have close to a thousand by now. We did receive 100% of the Chelsea School District 7th and 8th graders as it was encouraged in school.

This is a completely anonymous survey so please be honest and open.

Please forward and encourage your friends to participate. We need this information to get us going in the right direction.

To go directly to the survey:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB228SS5G3SYY

To learn more about SRSLY:
http://www.srslychelsea.org ”

I took the survey when I first received the link a month or so ago. It is very quick task that will help make a big difference for our community as a whole.

I "heart" Michigan, too

As we near the end of winter (speaking optimistically here!) and as spring break approaches, a lot of us are feeling the urge to get out and DO something. What about staying right here in Michigan and exploring some of reasons tourism is such a big industry in our state?


On my "to do" list this year is to explore a Michigan wineries or two. Might be a good excuse to drop the kids off at Grammie's house, and have a mini-getaway with my hubbie.

Sound fun? Check out MichiganVine.com - Exploring Michigan Wineries. This website and book are written by Michigan authors Sharon Kegerreis (from Chelsea) and Lorri Hathaway (from E. Lansing). It is available at Cranesbill Books, on the MichiganVine.com website and at your local bookseller.

If you'd like to just stay home and drink Michigan wines, the New Chelsea Market has a recently expanded --and pretty awesome-- selection of Michigan products, and great wines from other parts of the world as well. And being a small town, if you go in there and ask them to help you find a wine "from that book about Michigan wines".... they'll actually know what you are talking about! (First hand experience from when I was choosing a wine to go with the signed copy of the book for a cool Michigan gift)

Want to learn more from the authors themselves? Visit Chelsea District Library on Thursday, March 26, 2009 for From the Vine: Exploring Michigan Wines - a presentation and book signing. For a full list of the authors events, see the Upcoming Events page on MichiganVine.com

We had a wonderful vacation in East Tawas last summer. Any plans to travel in and around Michigan this travel season?

Also of interest from the Chelsea Blog archives: "Must See" Things To Do in Michigan (Aug. 2007)

Critical alert regarding Chelsea Cash gift certificates

I received this email from the Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce, regarding the Chelsea Cash gift certificates.

Attention all members:

We have just received word that Certfichecks, the company that manages our Chelsea Cash program has ceased operations as of 2/26/09. We had absolutely no warning regarding this announcement. DO NOT accept any Chelsea Cash certifichecks. We will be following up with additional information as soon as it becomes available. Please follow this link for information from Certifichecks: http://www.certifichecks.com/

Folks can email or call us at the Chamber office with any questions or concerns.

Bob Pierce
Executive Director
Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce
734-475-1145
www.chelseamichamber.org

Not only is this an inconvenience for merchants and customers, but it's a shame that there wasn't any warning. I hope the Chamber of Commerce will be able to replace this program. It was really handy to be able to pick up gift certificates we could use anywhere in town.

UPDATED, 3/6/09 with more information from the Chamber:
This update came in from the CACC yesterday:

On February 26, 2009, CertifiChecks, Inc., the vendor for Chelsea Cash gift certificates, ceased operations and, according to its website, claims to be in the process of filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Any member of the public who holds a Chelsea Cash gift certificate should deliver it to the Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce office. At the proper time, the Chamber will present the Chelsea Cash gift certificates to the bankruptcy court as part of a claim against CertifiChecks, Inc.'s assets.

The Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce will post updates on this website about this situation as soon as information becomes available: www.chelseamichamber.org. Bob Pierce, Executive Director, is working closely with the Board of Directors and The Michigan Association of Chamber Professionals to bring this situation to a resolution. If you have any questions, please email Bob at bpierce@chelseamichamber.org or contact the office.

To view CertifiChecks, Inc.'s official notification on its website, please follow the Chelsea Cash links as though you were going to purchase a new gift certificate: Chelsea Cash (this is now an informational link only, the gift certificate program is currently suspended).