Summer Solstice Celebration

The Friends of the Porkies invite the public to the second annual Summer Solstice Celebration at the Porcupine Mountains Folk School, which is inside Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Ontonagon, Michigan, on Friday, June 21. There will be a traditional bonfire, music and friendship beginning at 7 p.m. On that day the sun will rise at 6:02 a.m. and set at 9:55 p.m. in Ontonagon. Darkness will not descend until 12:50 a.m., resulting in 15 hours and 52 minutes of daylight, making it the longest day of the year. Fine local musicians for this year’s event include Dale Venema, Yvonne Blake and family members, Dick Sarnwick, Peg Carrothers and her family, Eli Halpin and Jim Jessup. The evening will begin inside the folk school with a short introduction on the science as well as cultural traditions surrounding the solstice. Guests may bring snacks and refreshments, a lawn chair or blanket and acoustic instruments for later in the evening. This year a few solstice poems will be read to welcome summer 2013, and there also promises to be dancing. The celebration will take place rain or shine. There's no charge. The Porcupine Mountains Folk School is next to the Union Bay Campground on the Lake Superior side of Engineers Memorial Highway 107. No pets, please. For more information, call 906-884-7663, or go online at porkies.org.