08/22/2006

24 hours in Fishtown

Students document Fishtown life in pictures

By AL PARKER
Special to the Record-Eagle

Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
Lindsey Fox, 15, of Omena, photographs boats from the Leland Township Marina Thursday afternoon in Fishtown.

LELAND — It's 7 a.m. on a Thursday morning in August. While many of us were still rubbing the sleep from our eyes and groping for a cup of coffee, Lorie Forton and other Leelanau County students were already out capturing the early morning beauty of Fishtown.

"I love this place," said the Suttons Bay High School senior.

Forton was one of almost two dozen Leelanau County students who took part in "24 Hours in Fishtown," a photographic project that is the result of a partnership between the Fishtown Preservation Society and the Leelanau Historical Society.

The Fishtown Preservation Society is a non-profit organization formed to acquire and preserve the historic property that was placed on the market last year. The group negotiated a purchase agreement and is now raising funds toward a total of $2.5 million needed by Dec. 31, 2006 to move forward with the purchase.

The two groups' goal is to make Fishtown a community-based project as much as possible and to draw upon the resources within the county, according to Laura Quackenbush, curator of the Leelanau Historical Museum. It will also tap the knowledge and skills of people in academia, state agencies and other resources outside the county.

For Forton, "24 Hours in Fishtown" was also an outstanding opportunity to hone her photography skills. She's an advanced placement art student and wants to be a professional photographer some day.

"I've taken pictures of friends," she explained. "But this really gives me a chance to do some other things. I've got some nice photos of the ferries leaving, pictures of the sidewalk sales and some great photos of people."

For 9-year-old Anna Bahle, the project was simply a chance to enjoy herself before school starts.

"It's fun and it's interesting," said the Suttons Bay fourth-grader. "And I've been learning a lot too."

The students involved in "24 Hours in Fishtown" were led by Suttons Bay High School art teacher Scott Tompkins. They arrived early on Aug. 17 and shot their images in shifts, a few hours at a time.

"We have students from the third or fourth grade up through high school, shooting in both digital and black and white," Tompkins said, estimating that the students would shoot thousands of images over the 24 hours. From those, about 50 will go on display in an exhibit at the Leelanau Historical Museum. The photographic project is the first directed by the partnership and has several objectives, including:

• To engage the community's students in learning about, documenting and sharing the activities and culture of Fishtown.

• To create a visual document of what goes on in Fishtown around the clock. A selection of the images will become a permanent record of Fishtown in the Leelanau Historical Museum archives.

• To select images that can be used in an exhibit beginning in late ber and running through the end of the year at the museum.

• To show the public — through the "24 Hours in Fishtown" exhibit and other venues — the extent of activities and the variety of people who work and play in Fishtown.

"We want everyone to be more aware of how vital Fishtown is to not only Leland, but the entire northwest Michigan region," explained Quackenbush. "And we want to get the kids involved."

For more information about Fishtown, go to www.preservingfishtown.org or call 256-8878.