Westen’s Carpet & Flooring REOPEN after devastating fire!

Located in downtown Middleville for 14 years, Westen’s Carpet & Flooring has rebuilt a beautiful new showroom with a better than ever offering of quality flooring products.  Come and see Jeff and Sherri Westen at 210 E. Main, Middleville.  Open Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 10-5 and Tuesday, Thursday from 10-6:30.

SON-Life Camp is an inter-denominational camp located 1 mile west of Gun Lake.  Nestled on 40 beautiful acres, we are committed to providing campers and families with a great time of fun, memory making experiences.  Through summer youth resident and day camps for kids from 1st-12th grade, a family camp over the 4th of July week, tent/RV camping sites with water and electric hook-up, or renting the facilities for a church, family or group retreat we are sure your time at SON-Life Camp will be memorable.  SON-Life Camp is open year-round with heated cabins that sleep 88 total people, a large meeting room and game room area for indoor recreation, large dining room and kitchen, and a great outdoor space including playing fields, sand volleyball and beautiful waterfront for boating, swimming and fishing.  For more information or to set up a time to come and tour the camp please call 269-792-2081.

Thirsty Needle Tattoos is a local family owned establishment.  We have been in the Gun Lake area since 2007. Originally we were known as Gun Lake Tattoos however, we expanded and opened another store in Hastings, MI in January 2011 and  our accountant advised us to do a L.L.C.  We then decided to use the name Thirsty Needle Tattoos for both locations. We do custom, commercial, tribal and cover-up tattoos.  Our motto is that “If you can think it, We can INK it”. We also do standard body piercings and we sell a variety of jewelry which revolves around the piercings our clients seek.  We have a couple promotions going for the month of October: “Tats for a Cure” in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month – $50 Breast Cancer Ribbons with $10 from each tattoo being donated to Pennock Mammogramy Diagnostic Center… Also MONDAY MADNESS which is “$200 for ALL the INK You Can TAKE” up to 4 hours. You can find our web site @ ThirstyNeedle.com.  You can also find us on Facebook. Our Business Hours are Monday -Saturday Noon-9:00pm. We welcome walk-ins. You can reach us @ (269) 672-3111 Gun Lake or @ (269) 945-9711 Hastings. Thank you for taking time to read this article and we hope to see you in one of our stores very soon.
Sincerely,
CORY WHITE  Owner/Artist

 Winterfest – February 17, 18, 19, 2012

If you have not been to one of our meetings lately, we meet the third Tuesday of each month.  Location of meeting will be held at a different location each month.  Our members are teaming together to create a new bright future for the Gun Lake area, Gun Lake Businesses and the new Gun Lake Business Association.  We are filled with hope and enthusiasm.  PLEASE JOIN US, your opinions and support do count.  We will be publishing our Gun Lake Business Directory by November 1, 2011.  If you have not received your new GLBA Plaque or have any questions, comments or concerns, please contact me at 269-792-3044.

Please hold Jim Linderman, our past president, in your thoughts and prayers as he is undergoing treatment for lung cancer.

Thank you for your support of the new GLBA.
~Paul Walker

The next meeting is Tuesday, October 18 at 6:00pm at The Sand Bar

The Orangeville Day’s Festival has become a successful annual event and 2011’s 6^th annual was no exception. Held the third weekend in August, it would have not been possible without the hard work of nearly 80 volunteers and 60 plus sponsors all under the direction of Mark Paradowski. Parking lots were at maximum capacity (2000 people) shortly after noon, despite the pending summer thunderstorm.  Families enjoyed such things as rides on Laura the elephant, browsing over 30 vendor booths, the spectacular opening ceremony featuring 4 skydivers culminating in an airborne presentation of the American Flag, and oohing and ahhing over the classics cars in the car show, new this year.   Everyone took pleasure in dunking their local celebrities in the new dunk tank.  Throughout the day teams competed at horseshoes, 3 on 3 basketball, softball and disc golf (also new this year), which drew 14 teams to tee off against each other.  Once again the ever popular “Orangeville Jail” was a huge success.  Children and adults alike purchased arrest warrants and had their loved ones thrown in jail while “law abiding” citizens purchased t-shirts and buttons to avoid “doing time.”

Kids participated in the orange eating contest on stage and activities such as treasure hunt, face painting, “throw your dog a bone”, and the orange bowl contest all free of charge.

The Taste of Gun Lake was held the week leading up to the festival.  Seven area restaurants competed for bragging rights for best each of breakfast, lunch and dinner.  The Gun Lake Family Diner won both breakfast and lunch and The Bib won the trophy for dinner.  Customers purchased a wrist band for $5 which entitled them to special discounts at participating eateries during the week then were asked to vote for their favorite.

Although the day was cut short due to the dangerous weather, after the storm passed more than 100 brave soles took part in the “Surfin @ the Inn” contest at the Gun River Inn.  With the help of generators, participants were able to ride the surf board and enjoy music, food and drink.  Even a member of the Barry County Sheriffs Posse got in the spirit and rode the surf board.  One member of the Posse was heard to remark “we work many of these types of events but this one is our favorite because of the level of organization and the respect with which people are treated”  Orangeville Days has become a true “Coming together with community Pride”.