Traditional Irish Dinner and Ceiliah

Join us for a Traditional Irish Dinner and Ceiliah at Kettunen Center, Sunday, March 18, at 5:30 p.m.

Ceiliah is an informal social gathering with folk music, singing, dancing and storytelling. Celtic music will be provided by Mulligan Stew, a 7-member band accompanied by the Pine River Irish Dancers.

Cost: Adults $25.00 in advance, $30.00 at the door
Youth, 12 and under $15.00, $20.00 at the door

Winter Family Fun Day

Saturday, February 18, 2012
10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Kettunen Center
Join families from across Michigan for a day of winter fun. Try cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, ice fishing, sledding, learn about winter survival skills, snow science, bird study and tracking winter wildlife. The day is designed for school-age children and their parents.

Call the Kettunen Center at (231) 829-3421 or email kross@kettunencenter.org. Pre-registration is required by Feb. 17, 2012.

Cost: $7/person (includes use of all equipment, a hot buffet lunch and snacks)

4-H Teen Leadership & Community Change Conference

January 21-22, 2012

By Betsy Knox

Over 140 participants from 32 Michigan counties gathered at Kettunen Center to learn teen leadership skills and how to be agents of change in their home communities. A sampling of sessions offered include: Get Involved in a 2012 Political Campaign; Service Activities that Build Career Skills; Communicating through Conflict, Generating Ideas & Moving to Action; The Photovoice Project: Recording Your Life & Community and Seven Billion People: Global Sustainability & Limited Resources. We also offered a session called Outdoor Winter Club Activities, taking advantage of the beautiful surroundings and natural teaching lab that Kettunen Center provides.

As a result of participating in the program, 95% of the participants think that they can make a difference in their communities; 90% feel a sense of responsibility to their communities; and 94% will teach others what they learned at the conference. This conference was supported by the Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation, the Sandra Clarkson Stuckman Endowment and the Turner-Ousterhout Endowment.

Tree Donation to the City of Detroit

On Nov. 2, the nonprofit agency that manages Detroit’s Campus Martius Park accepted a delivery of a statuesque, 60-foot Norway Spruce tree that crowned the 2011 Detroit Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony and related Winter Magic-Detroit festivities. The 50-year-old evergreen was a gift from Kettunen Center.


The Detroit 300 Conservancy had launched a statewide search for a Michigan tree in August without success. The Michigan Christmas Tree Association pledged support, and through its vast grower’s network ultimately located the tree with help from Michigan State University Extension. The tree was planted a half-century ago to celebrate the opening of the Kettunen Center. It has become a fixture at the Center, where it dominates the arboretum, said John Grix, director of the Kettunen Center. “It’s like a page out of the children’s book The Giving Tree,” Grix said. “It’s a magnificent tree and has given us so much over the years, helping create a beautiful sanctuary for our staff and guests. It’s a fixture here and will be missed, but unfortunately has long out-grown the arboretum. When we learned of the Detroit Christmas Tree search, we couldn’t think of a better use for it.”

The tree was harvested on Oct. 31 and arrived at Campus Martius Park Nov. 2 where it was transformed from wild, forest beauty to glittering, holiday royalty. It took more than a week to ready the tree for the Nov. 18, 2011 Detroit Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony and Winter Magic-Detroit festivities, presented by DTE Energy Foundation.

Read more about the tree and lighting ceremony in the press:

• Cadillac News 9&10 video of tree cutting (John Grix interviewed)


• My Fox Detroit news video of tree arriving in Detroit


• Detroit Free Press story


• Detroit News story


• WXYZ ABC 7 Detroit