Category Archives: Chelsea

Photo of the Early Christmas Festivities Now: 3 December 2011

Area kids got to descend on a downtown Chelsea church to make gingerbread houses on Saturday. It was a popular event. Also, it was serious work.

It may have been serious work, but the serious workers still were festive.

The front of his house was as festive as his hat.

When the sun went down, a crowd lined Main Street for the light parade.

Do you know what’s in a light parade? LIGHTS!

Do you know what else? MORE LIGHTS!

What would a light parade be without an entry from Chelsea Light & Power? It wouldn’t be much of a light parade, that’s for sure.

Oh, and do you know what else is in a light parade? A MARCHING BAND!

(Hey, some of the musicians were wearing lights.)

The parade ended at the Chelsea Teddy Bear Company, where there was food and live music.

As part of the party, the company invited several kids to run through the factory and collect as many bears as they could hold. One participant collected almost more than she could carry!

Those bears were then boxed so they could be donated to area children’s hospitals for Christmas.

Up next: the Nutcracker, and…no, just the Nutcracker.

Photo of the Early Christmas Festivities Now: 2 December 2011

Each year in early December, Chelsea has a weekend packed full of Christmas-related festivities. No, wait: “packed full” isn’t a strong enough phrase for the weekend’s schedule. Clowns in a Smart Car? Commuters on a New York City subway at rush hour? Pixels on an 18mp APS-C sensor? They have acres of space compared to the schedule for Chelsea’s Hometown Holidays weekend. There are events on top of events on top of events on top of Christmas cheer.

Like previous years, I was tasked to photograph a sampling of events from the weekend. Unlike previous years, I had to photograph the hectic weekend immediately after returning from my 10-day trip to Albuquerque. So yeah, I was a little ragged, but it still was a fun weekend.

The weekend always begins with the tree lighting in Pierce Park.

The past couple tree lighting ceremonies took place on frigid cold nights during snowstorms, but this year’s ceremony occurred on a surprisingly mild evening. That weather attracted an even better crowd than usual.

(No, wise guy, that’s not the whole crowd.)

The Chelsea Fair Queen showed up to help Santa flip the switch to light the tree.

The park looked much more festive after the ceremony.

Afterwards, Pam from The Office showed up at the Chelsea Farmer’s Supply to read books to kids.

No, no, I’m just kidding. That’s actually Robin, a librarian from the Chelsea library. Despite plenty of distractions and noise, she did a good job of staying focused on the book.

Speaking of the library, there was a live nativity not far from the library.

Hey! Put down the phone. Relax. Don’t call your lawyer. The nativity wasn’t at the library. It was by a church.

However, the library did host a concert by the Common Chords handbell choir.

And for those who were hungry for a little food and a little music, Back to the Roots had live music.

Up next: gingerbread houses, Christmas lights and teddy bears.

Photo of the Hockey Now: 19 November 2011

Chelsea hockey faced Riverview. They’re called the Pirates, but it was the Bulldogs who made off with the loot of victory. Arrrrrrr! (Special note for the MHSAA: there was no actual loot involved. Only victory. Arrrrrrr!)

Midway through the game, one Riverview player leveled a Chelsea player with an illegal hit.

After a few minutes, he managed to make it to his feet and woozily skate off the ice with some help.

He spent the rest of the period talking to the trainer.

He didn’t return to that game, but there is good news: he’s now back in action.

Chelsea won the game by a large margin, so there was plenty of celebrating.

There also were a few penalties. Here, Connor can’t believe they called that penalty:

One Chelsea fan got especially excited about one of the Bulldogs’ goals:

I was tasked to shoot a few photos for the newspaper that covers Riverview. Here’s one.

There. That proves I’m an equal-opportunity blogger, right?

There’s an old axiom that says “When push comes to shove, you’re probably playing hockey.”*

*This axiom is not old because it does not exist.

Later in the game, Joe managed to maneuver around both the defense and the goalie to give himself a wide-open net.

Yeah, he put it in the net.

Always remember: Coach Wright is watching you.

Photo of the Cross Country Finals Now: 5 November 2011

The MHSAA cross country lower peninsula championship is a great event held at a remarkable venue: Michigan International Speedway. It’s become one of my favorite events to shoot, in part simply because of the venue.

Like last year, both Chelsea boys and girls qualified for the championship. Here you can see the division 2 girls race starting with the racetrack in the background. (The Bulldogs are in the center of the photo in the yellow and white uniforms.)

After getting a few photos at the start, I took up residence at the finish line.

A little while later, the division 2 boys race made its way through the course and approached the finish line. When the lead runners rounded the final bend and came into my view, do you know who was leading the way to the finish line? Well…you might. But if you don’t, I’ll tell you: it was Chelsea’s own Bryce Bradley!

In the following photo, you may notice that his knee brace is no longer bracing his knee. Instead, it’s bracing his ankle.

Despite his knee brace’s well-intentioned but entirely unhelpful relocation, Bradley crossed the finish line in first. And not only did he finish in first, but he had the fastest time across all four divisions. In other words, Bryce Bradley was the fastest high school cross country runner in the lower peninsula. Is that impressive? Oh man, that’s impressive. That’s impressive.

(If you’re curious, his championship time was 15:20.6.)

At the awards ceremony, Bradley received congratulations from the second-place finisher.

He then smiled just a little bit. Just a little tiny bit.

It Takes 11: Week 2 vs East Lansing

Varsity 2011 record: 1-1 (0-0 SEC White)

The Enemy:
Opponent: East Lansing
Mascot: Trojans
Last Year’s Record: 7-3
Previous Result vs. Chelsea: 24-16 EL win (2007)
Last 10 years vs. Chelsea: 1-0
Miscellany: East Lansing High School is just across town from Michigan State University. MSU is the Spartans; ELHS is the Trojans. MSU is green and white; ELHS is blue and white and wears uniforms strikingly similar to those of Penn State, an MSU rival. Perhaps best of all: ELHS fans frequently utilize the cheer “Go Blue!” — a favorite cheer of Michigan, MSU’s hated rival. I might be tempted to make MSU-related jokes, but whether by accident or by design, ELHS is as far from MSU as ethics are from OSU football.

The Photos:


Mark Moundros covers the points. Do you cover the points?


Grant Fanning will give you five good reasons.


The marching band paid tribute to CHS cross country runner Kersch Ray, who had been hit by a car that morning and was in a coma.

In the first half, Tyler Geiger grabbed an interception and returned it for a touchdown:

After that, the Chelsea defense got back to its regularly-scheduled tackling.


The student section saw the signs. They opened up their minds. They saw the signs.


This isn’t quite the intent of the slogan, but…hey, it works. Actually, it works remarkably well. Excellent work.


Frowny face.

Photo of the Kersch Ray Fundraiser Now: 25 October 2011

If you’re in the Chelsea area, you’re probably familiar with the Kersch Ray story. If not, let me catch you up:

Back in early September, the Chelsea High School cross country team was out on an early morning run when two runners were hit by a car. One of the runners — Kersch Ray — suffered two broken legs and a closed head injury and spent ten days in a coma. He woke up, began rehab, and started speaking again. And then, just over two months after the accident, he went home to continue his recovery.

With the family supporting Kersch in his recovery, the community of Chelsea stepped up to support the family. On the 25th of October, a variety of local businesses and individuals gathered together and put on a spaghetti dinner and silent auction at CHS.

It was very well-attended.

There was an abundance of silent auction items around the room.

There was one particular donation that was extremely well-received:

No, I didn’t partake. I was working.

The spaghetti dinner was provided by the folks at one of Chelsea’s most legendary restaurants: Thompson’s Pizzeria. What’s that? You haven’t eaten at Thompson’s? GO. GO NOW. If you’re in southeastern Michigan and you haven’t had Thompson’s pizza, you’re missing out. It’s delicious.

The Ray family was grateful for the support from the community.

Photo of the Fire Station Open House Now: 16 October 2011

Every year, the Chelsea Area Fire Authority opens up the fire station to allow local kids to check out the firefighting equipment. It’s a great event that’s been happening for years — I remember visiting the fire station when I was a kid — and once again this year it was well-attended.

Yes, CAFA has a hovercraft. CAFA is that cool. A while back I asked a firefighter about the hovercraft, and he told me it’s great for rescues on the ice. There are a number of lakes around Chelsea, so it’s a useful tool. And it’s also really, really cool.

The fire station is in the shadow of the famous Jiffy Mixes silos:

Behind the station — back near the silos — they had a firefighter with a hose set up for kids to try. That’s what I most clearly remember from my visit to the station as a kid. It’s fun.

As usual, it was a popular attraction.

This little guy was very intent on his task:

If you didn’t make it to the open house this year, be sure to make it next year. Your kids will have a great time checking out the trucks, and you’ll get a chance to meet our local firefighters and to let them know you appreciate the work they do.

Photo of the Veterans Day Now: 11 November 2011

Chelsea held a Veterans Day ceremony at the city’s veterans memorial. The event attracted a great crowd of veterans.

See those veterans kneeling in the front row? Those are the World War II veterans.

A group of students from South School — South Meadows Elementary for you newcomers who don’t know any better — walked down to the park to sing a couple songs for the crowd.

Chelsea mayor Jason Lindauer introduced the speaker.

The speaker was Col. James Coolican.

Coolican served 28 years in the U.S. Marine Corps; his assignments included: Brigade Chief of Staff Advisor to the South Vietnamese Army; Company Commander, Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C.; U.S. Naval Academy Faculty; Chief of Staff, Plans and Operations Division-NATO HQ, Italy; Director Marine Corps Doctrine Center; and Chief of Staff, Marine Corps Forces, Europe.

His personal awards include the Navy Cross; Legion of Merit; Navy-Marine Corps Medal; Bronze Star with Combat Distinguishing Device; Purple Heart; Defense Meritorious Service Medal; Combat Action Ribbon; Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry; and Vietnamese Honor Medal.

Col. Coolican started out by talking to the kids.

He then spoke to the crowd as a whole. His speech wasn’t short, but it was worth every second.

When the ceremony was finished, the students thanked the veterans for their service.

Afterwards, the veterans headed to the conference center at the Comfort Inn to watch the Chelsea library’s documentary detailing the experiences of local World War II veterans.

Before the documentary, Jeremy Ziegler gave the Toast for the Fallen.