Lake Michigan College is planning a presentation on the history of the Blossomtime Festival for this month.
Lia McCoskey with the LMC English faculty tells us “Deep Roots & Beautiful Blooms: The History and Heritage of Blossomtime” will be free and open to the public on Sunday, March 23. She’s been working with three historians since late last year to prepare for the presentation, noting there’s a lot to explore.
“The event has been around for 120 years this year, and it’s something that, even though we’re still celebrating it, it has a really rich past,” McCoskey said. “So, we wanted to look at that past and how it has been shaped by events and led to what we see today.”
McCoskey says the guest speakers will present research on the history of fruit farming in the area and the Israelite House of David Archives and Collections.
“We’re inviting a historian, Jayson Otto, who is a PhD candidate at Michigan State University. He’s going to be sharing some research that is part of his work on the history of fruit farming in our area. And we’ve also invited Olivia Beebe and Neave Carroll from the Israelite House of David Archives and Collections. They’re going to be looking at it from a different perspective and sharing some archival material, some objects and ephemera from their collections, and helping us understand how the past is really collected, preserved, and shared.”
They’ll also have historic items from Blossomtimes past on display.
“We’re going to actually have those historic objects there because it’s one thing to hear someone talking about the past and it’s completely different actually look at, this is a dress from a Grand Floral Parade or there are some of the cards that were distributed at the turn of the century.”
McCoskey says this event will be a chance to dive deep into a tradition unique to Southwest Michigan.
“It’s actually the first such event historically anywhere in the United States. It’s the oldest and largest multi-community festival. So it is really unique and I think that’s why it’s important to look at its history and to really appreciate the tradition.”
With the spring arriving and Blossomtime around the corner, McCoskey says this is the perfect time to talk about its past.
The presentation will be on the 23rd from 4 to 5 p.m. in room L-311 of the LMC Main Building in Benton Harbor. All are welcome.
