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Event

Bite of Beaver Island, 2010

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeEvent
Date2010-10-02
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Event
Date
2010-10-02
Kind
Celebration
Where
Holy Cross Parish Hall · Beaver Island Community Center building
Carried out by
Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce
Followed by
Bite of Beaver Island, 2011
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
celebrationcommunitytourismeconomy
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

The 2010 “Bite of Beaver Island” ran Saturday, October 2, described by the Beacon’s own September preview as “the 9th annual” — a label that, taken at face value alongside the Charlevoix Courier’s separate 2009 “ninth year” claim, would make 2009 and 2010 both the “ninth” edition. This discrepancy is recorded below rather than resolved. The food festival ran 1:00-4:00 p.m. at Holy Cross Hall with the Community Center hosting an art and craft show; founding organizer Deb Harwood served as chairperson, “a decade” after first bringing the idea to the Chamber.1

History

The September preview lists the year’s program: Island Boodle 5K Walk/Run at 10:00 a.m., organized by Mike and Gail Weede, benefiting the Sports Boosters; the food festival 1:00-4:00 p.m. at Holy Cross Hall; fresh Island apple cider pressed on site; the annual pie contest and benefit auction; live music from Third Coast; free harbor hayrides courtesy of Andy’s Grooming Barn and Beaver Island Financial Center; prizes for the top two apple pie contestants and for the best decorated table; and a Beaver Island Community School student naming contest whose subject is cut off mid-word by a page break in the OCR.1 The October recap resolves that cut-off: the festival’s resident island-beaver mascot, a gift of Connie and Ed Eicher housed by the Historical Society, was named “Pierre” by sixth-grader Erin Myers-Dixon, whose entry won among twenty-five submissions that also included Buck, Bucky, Buckaroo, and Bucephalus.2 The same recap describes a costumed comedy-troupe performer playing Julia Child, Glen Felix “dancing his full plate to the last free chair,” and a well-received Community Center art and craft show; partial Boodle results name Rick Speck as fastest walker (37:52) and Tina Morgan as first woman finisher (41:54).2

A separate October item describes an artist collecting Beaver Island apple varieties for a Hyde Park Art Center project in Chicago, timing her departure to just after “the Bite of Beaver’s pie-baking contest concluded” so Mike and Gail Weede could help transport the apples south — a tangential, dated link between this year’s pie contest and an unrelated art project.3

Significance

By 2010 the festival had been running under Chamber sponsorship for close to a decade, and the September preview credits founding organizer Deb Harwood — “the Island chef who took her dream of starting an Island food festival to the Chamber a decade ago” — with serving that year as chairperson, tying the 2010 edition directly back to its 2002 origin. The Chamber’s December year-end report calls it “the ever expanding Bite of Beaver Island,” listing it alongside the Marathon and Bike Festival as events crediting the Chamber’s marketing for improved island business “despite the extremely weak economy” in the island’s primary Michigan and Midwest market that year. The mascot-naming contest tying a Beaver Island Community School student competition to the festival, and the Community Center’s added art and craft show, show the event by 2010 drawing in institutions — the school and the historical society, which housed the mascot — beyond the Chamber and its original chef-vendors.

Evidence and limits

Ten Beacon issues (February through October and December 2010) mention this year’s event — the year’s second-highest count in the held run after 2007. The “9th annual” label in the September 2010 Beacon conflicts with the Charlevoix Courier’s 2009 “ninth year” claim reported in the hub and the 2009 edition article; no source held here reconciles the two, and neither is silently adopted as the count.

Open questions

  • Which year was actually the festival’s ninth: 2009 (per the Charlevoix Courier) or 2010 (per the Beacon’s own September preview)? Both claims are attested in held sources and are recorded, not resolved, here.

See also

Footnotes

  1. “October 2 - Bite of Beaver Island,” Beaver Beacon, September 2010. ↩ ↩2

  2. “The Bite of Beaver saw many familiar off-Island faces,” Beaver Beacon, October 2010. ↩ ↩2

  3. “An Island Story of Art,” Beaver Beacon, October 2010. ↩

Sources

  1. The Chamber’s advance notices identify the October 2 Boodle 5K and Bite festival, the Sports Boosters beneficiary, venues, and program timing. They establish planning and promotion, not attendance, proceeds, or final results.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 02 · t002649
  2. The Chamber’s detailed advance notice gives the 10 a.m. Island Boodle, its Sports Boosters beneficiary, the 1–4 p.m. Holy Cross Hall food festival, Community Center craft display, and related program. It is a schedule and promotion notice, not an outcome record.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 02 · t002714
  3. The Chamber announced the October 2 locations, entry forms, $30 craft and chef-table fees, and progressive chef-table sales culminating in a sold-out notice. These are advance organizer reports; the Beacon and October recap control the event outcome.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 02 · t002742
  4. The Chamber’s final advance program lists the Boodle, food festival, cider, pie contest, auction, Third Coast, hayrides, crafts, and a Sports Booster bike ride. It is a detailed schedule, not an attendance or proceeds record.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 02 · t002814
  5. Beaver Beacon calendar listings, February-August 2010.
    Repeated calendar entries fix the date across seven 2010 issues: "October 2 - Bite of Beaver Island and the Island Boodle 5k Run/Walk." No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2010-08_Beaver-Beacon
  6. The held fifty-two-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2010-08_Beaver-Beacon
  7. "October 2 - Bite of Beaver Island," Beaver Beacon, September 2010.
    States "The 9th annual Bite of Beaver Island Food Festival will be held on Saturday, October 2." Program: Island Boodle 5K Walk/Run at 10:00 a.m., organized by Mike and Gail Weede, benefiting the Island Sports Boosters; the food festival 1:00-4:00 p.m. at Holy Cross Hall; Deb Harwood, "the Island chef who took her dream of starting an Island food festival to the Chamber a decade ago," is this year's chairperson; fresh Island apple cider from a cider press; the annual pie contest and benefit auction; Third Coast performing at the hall; free harbor hayrides from Andy's Grooming Barn and Beaver Island Financial Center; prizes for the top two apple pie contestants and for best decorated table; a Beaver Island Community School student naming contest tied to the event (the OCR text naming what is being named is cut off mid-word by a page break, "the winning name for the His-"). No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2010-09_Beaver-Beacon
  8. The held fifty-two-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2010-09_Beaver-Beacon
  9. "The Bite of Beaver saw many familiar off-Island faces," Beaver Beacon, October 2010.
    Recap: partial Boodle results (Rick Speck fastest walker at 37:52, Tina Morgan first woman across at 41:54). The festival's island-beaver mascot, a gift from Connie and Ed Eicher and housed by the Historical Society, was named "Pierre" by sixth-grader Erin Myers-Dixon, whose entry won among twenty-five submitted names, including Buck, Bucky, Buckaroo, and Bucephalus — resolving the September issue's cut-off naming-contest mention. A costumed comedy-troupe performer appeared as Julia Child; Glen Felix "danced his full plate to the last free chair"; the Community Center's art and craft show "did well." No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2010-10_Beaver-Beacon
  10. The held forty-eight-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2010-10_Beaver-Beacon
  11. "An Island Story of Art" (Beaver Island apples for a Chicago art project), Beaver Beacon, October 2010.
    An artist collecting Island apple varieties for a Hyde Park Art Center project timed her departure to just after "the Bite of Beaver's pie-baking contest concluded," so that Mike and Gail Weede could help transport the apples toward Chicago — a tangential but dated link between the festival's pie contest and an unrelated cultural project that year. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2010-10_Beaver-Beacon
  12. The held forty-eight-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2010-10_Beaver-Beacon
  13. Chamber of Commerce year-end marketing report, Beaver Beacon, December 2010.
    Frames "the ever expanding Bite of Beaver Island" as one of several Chamber-promoted visitor draws (alongside the Marathon, Bike Festival, and 9&10 TV News visits) crediting these events with improved business "despite the extremely weak economy." No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2010-12_Beaver-Beacon
  14. The held forty-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2010-12_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Bite of Beaver Island, 2010”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/bite-of-beaver-2010/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce, "Please Sign Up For Island Boodle 5k - Oct 2" and "The 9th Annual Bite & Boodle 5K is Set For Oct 2," Beaver Island Forum, August 9–30, 2010. (and 12 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-03. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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