Community Archives - Ann Arbor Observer

Where the Car Is King

Mar 2, 2026 | Community, Culture, Event Reviews |

I’ve never been much interested in the inner workings of a car dealership, and since watching the Purple Rose Theatre’s latest play, The Classic King, I can’t say that has changed. The comedy, which runs until March 15, follows four car salesmen on a mission to save their failing dealership. Directed by Jeff Daniels, the show is a world premiere and the first professionally produced play by Richard Johnson. Johnson began playwriting after retiring from a career as an automotive journalist, including serving as editor of Automotive News.

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Charcoal and Chill

Feb 28, 2026 | Community, Culture, Event Reviews |

When I try to capture, in charcoal, the foreshortened foot of today's model, the drawing looks a bit like a potato. No time to fix it; we're immediately on to the next 5-minute pose.

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Summer Camps and Activities

Feb 25, 2026 | Summer Camps |

Campers unite! Get ready for a summer of fun, exploration, and friendship with full-day, half-day, and overnight summer camps. Create the summer you want, and tailor themes to best suit your camper. From clay glazing to star...

Caution Tape Around the Gallup Park Sculpture?

Feb 24, 2026 | Community |

Why is this beautiful sculpture surrounded by caution tape at Gallop Park, Huron River? It has been surrounded since it landed. We are waiting to see it free!

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So You Think You Can’t Dance?

Feb 24, 2026 | Community, Culture, My Town |

Founded by Werderitsch in 2024, Elemental Ecstatic Dance is inspired by his experience of two decades of Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythms classes in California, which combine physical workouts with meditation, along with the West Coast ecstatic dance scene. He combines these two approaches with his own free-form dance history that includes everything from disco roller skating to warehouse parties to grass roots festivals.

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Comedian Jacob Barr

Feb 24, 2026 | Community, Culture, Profiles |

"I put my disabilities right out in front,” says Jacob Barr, who, at twenty-eight, has become one of the city’s most distinctive standup comedians. “That was my cheat code when I started. Comedy is mostly straight white guys. Lots of guys have faces like mine, but not bodies like mine. So I use that to my advantage.”

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When Home Isn’t There

Feb 24, 2026 | Community, Community Services/Resources, Featured, Government, News |

A recent report by the Washtenaw County Continuum of Care (CoC), a major player working to coordinate local efforts to end homelessness, paints an urgent picture: as of December 2025, at least 842 people in the county are experiencing homelessness—a 42 percent increase since 2024.

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Fragments Made Whole

Feb 24, 2026 | Community, Culture, Featured |

Elisabeth Thoburn has covered her home on Silver Lake in Pinckney with second-quality tiles from Motawi, creating a home-sized work of art—and a love letter to local clay.

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Lisa Brush and Jim Frey

Jan 27, 2026 | Community, Environment, Profiles |

Brush and Frey fell in love nearly twenty years ago. They first met less than a mile from the Longshore building, while collaborating on Leslie Science & Nature Center’s shift to an independent nonprofit.

Townie Homes

Jan 27, 2026 | Community, Marketplace, Real Estate |

The Zillow listings seem too good to be true: A 2-bed, 2-bath, 800-square-foot house on S. Maple for $125,000. A 3-bed, 3-bath 1,372-square-foot townhome on S. Wagner for $225,000. A 3-bed, 2-bath, 1,232-square-foot home on Jewett for $325,000.

Live to Tell

Jan 27, 2026 | Community, Culture, My Town |

Public speaking consistently ranks as people’s number one fear. It comes before spiders, the dark, nuclear war, death. Death? Yes, before death.

Weathering ICE

Jan 27, 2026 | Community, Featured, Government, News |

“You see vehicles that look suspicious with dark windows and [when] you look inside you see [people] in bullet-proof vests and you know, it’s them: its ICE,” says a community advocate who wishes to remain anonymous. “It’s happening in our lovely county. It’s here.”

John Hilton

Dec 22, 2025 | Community, Profiles |

Last October, he retired after thirty-nine years as the Observer’s editor.

Dimanche

Dec 22, 2025 | Community, Culture, Event Reviews |

Furniture melts. Walls shake. A shark swims through a flooded home. In a series of vignettes that together run seventy-five minutes, Dimanche imagines the future horrors of the climate crisis using puppetry, mime, acrobatics, clowning, and video.

Second Chances

Dec 22, 2025 | Community, Community Services/Resources, Featured, Government, News, Nonprofits |

After forty-three years, eleven months, and twenty-three days, Billy Cole was released from prison. It was 2019 and he found himself scrambling, trying to find his footing. He took on factory work, delivery work, anything he could find to bring in money and avoid returning to prison.

Renee Baumunk’s Wild Women Years

Dec 22, 2025 | Community, My Town |

What she didn’t know was that this old house on a quiet, tree-lined road would become the birthplace of a beloved, long-running tradition: the Wild Women parties.

Creating a Dementia-Friendly Community

Dec 22, 2025 | Community, Community Services/Resources, Nonprofits |

“Dementia is not only emotionally upsetting, it’s literally life-changing—and not just for the people diagnosed,” says Jim Mangi. “Most people who are thrust into a job as a caregiver have no idea how best to handle the situation.”

Holiday Guide 2025

Dec 2, 2025 | Community |

Wishing you a joyful holiday season! Experience all Ann Arbor has to offer throughout the month of December—from local performances to holiday concerts, dining, religious services, and of course, shopping.  It’s the perfect time...

Farewell, Question Corner

Nov 25, 2025 | Community |

After twenty years, Question Corner is retiring. Since the segment debuted in July 2005, author Tim Athan answered hundreds of questions from readers across Ann Arbor. Although there are a handful that remained unanswered, there’s one that Tim considers his white whale.

Full Circle

Nov 24, 2025 | Community, My Town |

On a windy evening in late October, I sat in the impressive Michigan Union Rogel Ballroom, with its vaulted ceilings, arched doorways, and dark, wood-paneled walls. The event? The 19th Annual Prechter Lecture, hosted by the Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Program, featuring keynote speaker Ellen Forney and moderated by program director Dr. Melvin McInnis.

Community

Where the Car Is King

Charcoal and Chill

Summer Camps and Activities

Caution Tape Around the Gallup Park Sculpture?

So You Think You Can’t Dance?

Comedian Jacob Barr

When Home Isn’t There

Fragments Made Whole

Lisa Brush and Jim Frey

Townie Homes

Live to Tell

Weathering ICE

John Hilton

Dimanche

Second Chances

Renee Baumunk’s Wild Women Years

Creating a Dementia-Friendly Community

Holiday Guide 2025

Farewell, Question Corner

Full Circle

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Nightspots