Category: Culture

Fresh, warm donuts are the sweetest fall treat to enjoy for any meal or snack. Who can resist enjoying fresh apple or pumpkin donuts along with a day at the orchard, picking up some fun fall flavors on your way to work to share with your team, or even sweetening up your breakfast? Right now […]

Have you seen that tall, lime green “tacos” banner flying in the wind next to a brilliantly white, new food truck? The name, “Teresa’s Kitchen” is printed across the side with a shadow of a monarch butterfly. More than a decade ago, Maria Teresa Hernandez began sharing her recipes with the community. She would wake […]

Southwest Michigan is home to a great deal of our state’s more than half a million Latinx population. An initiative that started almost 40 years ago, El Concilio is committed to supporting a thriving community that is equipped to preserve the diverse Latinx cultural identities in our region. “Our mission is to empower our community […]

A lover of fresh and local produce from a young age, Bridgett Blough was shocked when she left her home in Berrien County, Michigan’s fruit belt, that not everyone had that type of access. “I grew up thinking it was normal to have access to local fruits and veggies that are just so much more […]

The Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan (GSHOM) has been working hard on its mission to build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place even throughout the pandemic. Going above and beyond to make sure that programs are still available and all girls are still being taken care of are […]

The shores of Woods Lake Park and the Oakland Drive/Winchell neighborhood have offered Kalamazoo residents a retreat from the hustle and bustle of downtown since 1893 when the electric railway was extended. From amusement parks, balloon rides, a bike shop, and theatre shows to more recently a beach, quaint homes, and small businesses, the area […]

As a formally trained chef graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, California with vast experience abroad, specifically in Southeast Asia, Noel Corwin was ready to settle down in his career when the Great Recession hit in 2008. “A lot of pastry chefs and sommeliers were the first heads to roll in fine […]

You may recall that National Pancake Day already happened this year back in February—No, this is not the movie “Groundhogs Day.” In some places, it may be frowned upon to eat cake for breakfast, but here, enjoying a pile of fried batter is perfectly acceptable. Plus, with the way 2020’s going, we could all use […]

Supporting all residents who say, “I yam, who I yam,” the Vine Neighborhood encompasses one square mile situated between downtown Kalamazoo and Western Michigan University. Vine Neighborhood Association Executive Director Steve Walsh, who has lived in the neighborhood for 18 years described the community as an “eclectic mix of artists, musicians, writers, educators, students and a […]

With roughly 6,500 different languages in the world, it’s clear that people love to communicate. Being able to talk, write, and read are essential in every part of life. In Kalamazoo County, 13 percent of adults, roughly 25,500 people, are not able to read a job application, but Kalamazoo Literacy Council (KLC) is working to […]

For over 20 years, Touchdown for Diabetes, a local charity event, has been raising money and awareness for local causes that help change the lives of people with diabetes. Luckily, the team organizing the event isn’t made up of rookies, which has allowed them to quickly pivot and run for the touchdown with a virtual […]

Both Ken and Cassie Paul’s first jobs involved pizza, but years later they never imagined they would run their own mobile pizza company. “It’s ironic because both Cassie and I worked in pizza,” said Ken. “Her first job was working in a pizzeria convenience store, and my first job was working in a restaurant that […]