I'm joined now by Danielle, who's the director of events and operations of Saint Joe today.

Danielle, how are you?

I'm good.

How are you doing this morning?

I'm good.

You must feel like coming out of hibernation in Saint Joe right now, into this beautiful weather.

I bet it's getting really busy.

There it is.

Yeah.

We're fortunate enough at our office to host an event every month except April, so we're always on the go.

But it definitely feels nice to be outside and not a little chilly.

So, yeah, there's there's no, like, ice sculptors or, you know, not right now.

Give it maybe a week, you know.

Yeah.

It's nice to get back out in the sunshine again.

And I know that even though you have events all throughout the winter as well, and this is the time of the year where it gets, like, super busy, where even a parking spot is kind of hard to find.

Yeah, it definitely is a lot different than yeah, this, this January.

Yeah.

So tell me about some of the things coming up.

I know that throughout the the whole summer just started recently.

You have the Saint Joe Lighthouse tours.

We do.

We're so excited for the lighthouse tours.

This is our second season hosting those lighthouse tours.

They run Saturdays now through September 5th, so you can join us anytime through Labor Day on Saturdays.

They run 10 to 7.

And so the way that works is you can explore the first floor for free, and you can just come in any time during that time of day.

You know, our docents will be happy to share that information.

You can kind of do a self-guided tour, whatever you prefer.

We do host 1:10 a.m.

walking tours, so it's about 45 minutes long.

If you're interested in a little bit more history of the of Saint Joe and the Lighthouse Lighthouses themselves, and you can start at the top of the North Pier for that.

But all that fun information you can find at Saint Com Lighthouse, or you can, of course, stop in our welcome center.

And so when it comes to our website, Saint Joe today, what was the reasoning behind.

I know we've more things to talk about, but what was the reasoning behind calling it Saint Joe today?

Like, is it really just a place where people can find out what's literally happening today?

Was that the thought process behind the web?

Yeah.

So our organization has been around for over 45 years, and that's technically our full name is the Saint Joseph Today Association.

So just as kind of a play off of our name.

Yeah, but a kind of fun, fun way into.

Yeah.

What am I doing in Saint Joe today?

And I know as well that you have the Lake Bluff Artisan Fair.

So can you tell me a little bit about that?

Because that happens on different dates throughout the summer.

Absolutely.

That's coming up this weekend actually.

So we host that four times throughout the summer.

Those are all on Saturdays.

We've got May 30th, July 18th, August 15th and September 5th.

So we host over 50 regional and local artisans.

And they set up along Lake Bluff Park with that beautiful Lake Michigan backdrop.

And they sell their handcrafted, one of a kind goods.

So it's a lot of fun that those Saturdays you can join them from 10 to 5.

And it also coincides with our farmers market.

So there's over between farmers and artisans.

There's over 90 vendors, usually to shop in Lake Wolf Park, so you'll never get bored.

You can pop down down for some food or to cool off in a store.

And it's just a really great way to spend your Saturday.

And so you set a coincides with the farmer's market.

But of course, the farmer's market is every week.

It's not just those selected dates.

So because that's really popular in Saint Joe.

Absolutely.

We love our farmers market that runs Saturdays.

We just kicked it off last weekend.

So on Memorial Day weekend and that runs every Saturday, 9 to 2 in Lakewood Park, from 9 to 2 all the way through October 10th.

And you can join us for over 25 vendors.

We've got meats, cheeses, coffee, baked goods, produce.

So much is going on at the market.

You can buy flowers, you can buy, you know, by cherry tomato plants and start your own garden.

So it's a lot of fun to chat with our farmers, get some recipes from them, get some gardening tips from them.

And yeah, that is a really cool season that runs all the way through October 10th.

So there's plenty of time and it's really fun to watch the produce change.

We're always on pumpkin watch as we get closer into the fall, and always excited to see those return.

Don't talk about pumpkins yet, okay I know not.

Yeah, it's too early.

Yeah, yeah, we're just getting started.

What are you going to talk about next Christmas?

You know, the Christmas lights?

I know what farmers markets.

You know, I didn't realize this was such an issue in some areas where they have to, like, really dig deep to make sure that it is farmers and it is local, fresh produce.

Like, how do you really make sure that the caliber of the farmers market is really high for people?

Yeah.

So we have three very unique events.

We've got the farmer's market, our antiques on the Bluff, and Lake Bluff Artisan Fair.

So they all have very different merchandise requirements.

There's a lot of farmer's markets in the area that kind of mix antiques and farmers, which is really fun.

It's just something different that we don't do.

But we do have like, you know, our rules and regulations for regarding farmers.

It's got to be 75% of their own goods.

And if they do, you know, if their peach crop didn't come in and they need to supplement it from someone else, they just need to make sure that it's marked and it's from somebody, you know, regionally.

So we try not to sell anything that's out of season.

Of course, we do have some farmers that use greenhouses, so you can get some things a little bit earlier than, than you would normally.

But yeah, we try to stick to, you know, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, those kind of growing seasons to kind of keep up with the what we're going going on in real time.

Nice.

And you did mention antiques and I know as well I know for people watching we're talking about a lot of things.

And of course, thank Joe TODAY.com is the website where you can find all of these things.

But we are also going to talk about antiques.

I love antiques, I don't know what it is about it.

Maybe that's a sign where you're truly know you're getting old, where you start having an interest in antiques.

But you do also have antiques on the bluff.

And this is actually on a Sunday.

This is a really cool event for us.

Yeah, it runs the first Sunday of the month, May through October.

So we've got five more coming up this season.

You can catch us in just two weeks on June 7th, but that runs from 10 to 5 again in Lake Bluff Park.

We host a lot of our events in downtown Saint Joe and Lake Park, and this hosts over 50 antiques vendors.

So this is a Sunday event, so there's no other markets going on that day in downtown.

But it's a lot of fun.

There's a lot of cool things.

You know, if you're looking for vinyls, I've seen, you know, like my grandma's China on the block.

And it's really cool to reminisce with mom.

And when that happens or, you know, just finding different pieces, we do try to stick to antiques or vintage antique is going to be anything over 100 years old, which is really hard to just do.

So vintage is going to be anything 50 and older.

We do accept things from the 1980s, which is really weird to say that that is, you know, vintage now and we do collectibles as well.

So it is a little bit of a market, but we do try to stick to that vintage and antique mainly and know handcrafted goods because that's for our artisan fair.

But it's a lot of fun.

It's a great way to spend a Sunday on the bluff, and we've been doing this since the early 2000.

So it's been, I think, over I think we're celebrating our 26th year or 25th year this year.

So hang on.

If I was born in 1983, that mean I'm technically vintage, I think.

Yes, I'm also a late 80s, so I think we're starting to get vintage.

It's a little frightening to say that out loud.

Wow, that it is like when you listen to the radio and you hear classic hits now it's like the Backstreet Boys.

You're like, what?

What's going on?

Like what?

That's right.

I think we're technically retro right now until we hit.

Yeah.

Is that what it is?

We'll get we'll get to vintage.

Yeah.

Retro sounds cool, I like that.

So yeah.

And I know as well that you have Chalk the Block.

Now, as somebody who has an almost three year old, chalk has become a very prominent part of our life, which I never realized it would.

Is that what it's about?

Is it about actually chalking the block?

It is.

It is.

Artists take chalk and they chalk the block.

It is quite literally that.

So we work with professional artists and amateurs here locally, and some of them are traveling throughout the country.

And it's just a really fun weekend that celebrates art here in downtown Saint Joe.

They take over Broad Street.

They get the choice of doing like a six by six, eight by 8 or 10 by ten.

And then some of our professionals do even these much larger 3D pieces that you'll see, but it's a lot of fun to see what they create, you know, in the moment or what they've been working on that week leading up to it.

But we have this professional and amateur chalk zone that we sign up artists for, so you can watch them create and then come back and see those final pieces.

We also do have a kid Zone that's over by Silver Harbor Brewing.

So that's a really fun way for the community to get involved.

And we want to be respectful and not have kids or adults.

We've had adults chalking by the professional artists or the amateurs on Broad Street.

So we do have a separate section for that.

But it's a lot of fun because these kids are creative and it's kids.

I say kids of all ages.

So whether you're two, whether you're 80, you can you can join us in for the fun.

It's a lot of a lot of great fun.

And then that weekend to we've got yeah.

Farmers market artists are not artisan fair farmers market antiques on the block.

So there's all these different, you know, unique Saint Joe events happening all into this chocolate block weekend.

And last year we introduced these vertical pieces.

There are these eight by eight plywood panels that artists paint.

We did have somebody chalk, but they use like a exterior paint.

And we were able to auction off some of those pieces.

And it's just a really fun way to build the event and again, celebrate a different medium of art.

Nice.

That is cool.

Well, you know, every time the rain comes that washes away my daughter's masterpiece on the driveway.

So, you know, to blank canvas every time.

But so Saint Joe TODAY.com is where you can find all the information.

And I know it's a great website with lots of resources on there.

So it really sounds like a great summer ahead in Saint Joe.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Like you said, you can also stop in our welcome center.

We're located right in the middle of downtown 301 State Street, right on the corner of State and Pleasant, across from the Chocolate Cafe.

Start your adventure here and we'll give you all the things to do in Southwest Michigan.