Enthusiastic and experienced leader MaryAnn Crawford, a former college English professor, hosts this program for adults who write or want to give writing a try. New participants are always welcome. $25 for six sessions; visit once free. Sessions start at 10:30 Saturday morning at the Harrisville branch of the Alcona County Library, 312 W. Main, Harrisville.

Kim Casey and the BobCat Band played from 6 to 8 p.m. at the pavilion at Harrisville State Park. Their repertoire consists of many Patsy Cline hits, some Joni Mitchell and a variety of country hits. Attendance was about 75 people at the outside venue.

Inspiration Alcona sponsored its first brunch under the big tent above Harrisville Harbor, serving breakfast burritos in several combos. Response overwhelmed us; we sold out in less than an hour and a half in a planned three-hour event. We'll make more food next time.

This annual summer event covered drawing, watercolor, pastels and sculpture in eight sessions.

More than 90 people came to this educational event about the finances, help available and success stories in growing food for profit in northeast Michigan. Breakfast and lunch each featured locally grown food.

Teachers Jack Ridl, Anne-Marie Oomen, Craig Holden, Maureen Dunphy and Whit Hill led this all-Michigan version of the writers retreat.

David Klingenberger of Ann Arbor's The Brinery taught a crowd of almost 100 about natural fermentation. A dinner of certified local products was praised. After dinner, a mini farmers market sold local food to participants.

Inspiration Alcona was a gold sponsor of this annual weekend of folk music, dancing, food and friendship.

Film historian John Blakemore, who summers in Black River, led a six-session class about movie comedies.  The films were "Duck Soup," "Roman Holiday," "The Thin Man," "Top Hat," "Dr. Strangelove" and "Blazing Saddles."

This event marked Inspiration Alcona's second benefit for the newly re-formed Alcona Schools band. More than $800 went into the band activity fund.

Forty-seven students signed up for the sixth annual retreat at Lost Lake Woods Club. They explored art journaling, making jewelry with silver clay, watercolor and collage, and portrait painting.

Free weekly art lessons for elementary through high school students, taught by local professional artists, drew 20 young artists to the first class, drawing with Joe Jenney. (Some came late and missed the picture.)

This event celebrated the completion of the Spruce Windows Project. There were art and craft booths, antique booths, kids games for all ages, antique tractors, and more. In the evening there was a pig roast followed by a country style dance.

First Baptist Church of Lincoln hosted this year. Our prized director, Jean Wilson of Saline, Michigan, was back again to lead the mass choir. The choir numbered 58 singers, plus musicians Susan Armstrong, Jeremy Smith and Terry Thomas, and assistant director Pam Barkel. The public event once again began with a dinner provided by and benefiting the church in late afternoon to early evening.

Actors from Thunder Bay Theatre in Alpena performed a modernized version of the fairy tail "Three Billy Goats Gruff" for elementary students at Alcona Elementary School. The troll, an otherwise nice young woman in a pig nose and weird green glasses, wasn't quite as frightening in this rendition, largely because she wasn't interested in eating the billy goats. Resolving the problem about crossing the troll's bridge involved pizza.

This fundraiser for the Alcona Community Schools band program featuring vocalist Casey Makela and a live band drew more than 500 people to the Alcona Community Schools Auditorium. It raised more than $3,400 for the band.

Inspiration Alcona and the Alcona County Library co-hosted the first ever showing of the Thunder Bay International Film Festival away from its home base in Alpena. Attendance numbered 75 people. The two-hour show featured an intermission at which refreshments were served.

Inspiration Alcona helped the high school organization with this event, which drew 60 people who danced to live music. It raised money for the popular and academically valuable school program.

A full house of about 75 listened as this Michigan author discussed her career in true crime fiction and memoirs.

Twenty-two people learned how to use local foods in daily menus during demonstrations by chef Ben Kline.

Six teachers and 37 students came to the 2016 retreat.

Four classes attracted 43 students to the fifth annual set of workshops for artists.

An ecumenical choir of 41 local residents and 16 members of the One Voice Gospel Choir of Saline performed. The audience numbered 157, for a total attendance of 214 people. Director Jean Wilson returned to lead the ecumenical choir for the second year. St. Anne Catholic Church hosted.

Four talented Michigan songwriters entertained an audience of 29 despite a late, heavy snowfall that kept many people off the roads. Kitty Donohoe of Ann Arbor, Jim Bizer of Detroit, John D. Lamb of Royal Oak and Laura Frawley of Hubbard Lake played original songs.

Singer-songwriter Carl Behrend of Munising drove through a blizzard to perform at his concert. His stories in prose and in song about the Great Lakes included Native American legends and recountings of shipwrecks in Lakes Superior and Huron. Local radio station WFTX rebroadcast the performance.

Two presenters from Historic Fort Mackinac came to the Alcona Elementary on March 8, 2016, to show students from third through sixth grades how people lived in northern Michigan from the early days of the Native Americans up through the War of 1812. The children tried on clothing of the era, danced in historic patterns, listened to music of the times, sold real pelts at the trading post and heard more about life when Michigan was still covered in forest.

In cooperation with First United Methodist Church of Harrisville, which provided the space, Inspiration Alcona sponsored a Valentines dance for the general public. A live four-piece band provided music from swing to classic ballroom to a polka for the crowd. Proceeds from the event went to My Brother's Hope, a local charity that helps with food, clothing and household items for people in need.

Two presenters from Magical Rain Theaterworks came to the Alcona Elementary on December 22, 2015, to show students Latin American culture through storytelling, song and laughter. The children especially liked, of course, the dancing skeleton.

Michigan author Judith Guest, best known for her novels "Ordinary People," later a hit movie of the same name, and "The Tarnished Eye," spoke during the 2015 Lake Huron Discovery Tour. Inspiration Alcona, Women to Women Michigan Magazine and the Harrisville Arts Council were the main sponsors. Then-Inspiration Alcona board member Mary Ellen Jones, now a leader at Mitten Women Productions, a film production group, did the interview.

Inspiration Alcona co-sponsored the first showing of an award-winning short film by Alcona County filmmaker Mary Ellen Jones. The movie explores a young mixed-race girl's journey from bullied teen to Broadway star with the help of an unexpected mentor.

Five classes attracted more than 40 students to the fifth annual set of workshops for artists and writers.

Sixty kids, with a few grandparent-age ringers, played with art at the second year of this fun event, under the direction of local artists as teachers.

The first writers retreat Inspiration Alcona sponsored brought noted Michigan writers Phillip Sterling (right, above) and Anne-Marie Oomen to Alcona County to teach a dozen students.

The 2015 Alcona GospelFest was blessed with an ecumenical choir of 37 local residents. The audience numbered 166, for a total attendance of 203 people. Director Jean Wilson of Saline, Michigan, led the ecumenical choir. She is also a founding director of the One Voice Gospel Choir based in Saline. First United Methodist Church of Harrisville hosted.

The arts retreat featured a collage class among its seven workshops.

Five teachers and 37 kids, plus a few grandparents, made a day of creativity under the big tent above Harrisville harbor a lot of fun. Lessons included watercolors, fingerpaints, stenciling and more.

The second arts retreat included not only visual arts but also dancing and songwriting.

The first event Inspiration Alcona held was the 2012 Alcona Arts Retreat, which drew 37 students.