White Lake Restoration Celebration
The White Lake Restoration Celebration was held on October 30, 2014, at the Book Nook & Java Shop in Montague. It was a transformative "standing room only" community event.
The celebration was made even better with the announcement of White Lake's official delisting as a Great Lakes Area of Concern earlier in the day!
Speakers included Greg Mund, White Lake PAC Chaiman; Tanya Cabala, White Lake PAC Outreach and Education Coordinator; Jim Neubauer, Mayor of Montague; "Mac" Hatch, Mayor of Whitehall; Ken Mahoney, Vice-President of the PAC, and Muskegon County Commission Chairman; Montague Middle School students (poem readings); U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow; Greg Van Woerkom for U.S. Representative Bill Huizenga; Cameron Davis, Senior Advisor to the U.S. EPA Administrator; State Representative Collene Lamonte; State Senator Goeff Hansen; State Representative Marcia Hovey-Wright; and Jon Allan, Director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's Office of the Great Lakes.
Artwork designed for the event by Whitehall Middle School students was displayed.
Five of Mrs. Szegda’s Montague Middle School sixth grade students wrote diamante poems about White Lake—its pollution, recovery, and delisting as a Great Lakes Area of Concern. Diamante poems are diamond-shaped poems that are created in a specific format: nouns are used in the first and last lines, adjectives on the second and fourth lines, and gerunds (noun formed from verbs by adding –ing) in the third and fifth lines. We were honored and pleased to have the students read their poems at the White Lake Restoration Celebration. We think they are quite heartfelt and well-done!
The students whose wrote poems were: Alexis Marsh, Bailey Belinger, Cody Pufpaff, Gary Knapp III, and Megan E. Brown. You may click on their names to download and read their poems as PDF* documents.
* Adobe Reader is required to open and view PDF documents. Depending upon your browser, the downloaded document will either open in a new window or be downloaded directly to your computer. You may then print it and/or save it to your computer.
After an hour-long program, there was live music, refreshments, and socializing. Many in the audience spoke of the strong sense of community pride at the completion of delisting. Thanks to all who participated and thanks also to the Book Nook & Java Shop for their support and hosting of the event!
View photos from this event
Navigating the White Lake PAC Pages
Use this table of contents to navigate the various PAC pages. You will find this at the bottom of each PAC page.
- White Lake PAC Welcome
- About The White Lake Area Of Concern
- Restoring White Lake: A Brief History
- Current Status
- About The White Lake Public Advisory Council
- A Brief History of the White Lake Area
- What Happens After White Lake is Delisted?
- Planning for White Lake’s Future Beyond Delisting
- White Lake PAC Events
- Publications & Videos
- Partners
Return to the Home Page of the Restoring White Lake website