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Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, Michigan Press Tour
Food, Art, Shopping, Music and Theater Down on Main Street
December 3-7, 2014

And sometimes even now, when I’m feelin’ lonely and beat, I drift back in time, and I find my feet Down on Mainstreet.

Bob Seger wrote his song Mainstreet about Ann Arbor, where he grew up. The song recalls a simpler time and place that is distinctively Midwestern. The time and place have moved on, of course, but Ann Arbor still has the feeling of Main Street USA in the midst of Midwest farm country.

On behalf of the Ann Arbor Convention & Visitors Bureau, Geiger & Associates invites you to join us for a press tour to the best little food and art town in the Midwest.

This unique blend of Midwestern rural and cosmopolitan urban is a college town–home to the University of Michigan, one of the eight original ‘public Ivies.’ It also has strong connections to Detroit but is an ‘exurb’ beyond the suburbs of Detroit, absorbing influences from the larger city and reworking them into its own personality. Live theater and the performing arts, here, are better than Detroit. There’s an important collection of public art, good museums, and a strong gallery scene with many resident artists, drawn to the sophisticated audience of a university community. Downtown is the best pedestrian shopping area in the Midwest. And, apart from Chicago, the dining scene is the best in the Midwest.

Some itinerary offerings on this tour include:

Cuisine: From the famous Zingerman’s Deli to ethnic dining reflecting the diversity of the university community, we will spend time with chefs—Alex Young of Zingerman’s Roadhouse, Takashi-Yagahashi of Slurping Turtle–interviewing them and sampling some of their favorite dishes. Ann Arbor has a large variety of ethnic dining reflecting the diversity of the university community. There are wonderful Ethiopian, Latin American, Turkish, Asian and Cuban fusion, and Central European restaurants, along with an unusual number of fine vegetarian options.

Performing Arts: Dance, theater and classical music concerts along with musicals are presented frequently on the University of Michigan campus. Performing arts venues include two important Midwestern theaters—the Performance Network Theater and Jeff Daniels’ Purple Rose Theater.

Art and Museums: We’ll visit galleries and artists’ studios, as well as the very fine new University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) and the collection of outstanding sculpture on the university campus, including Maya Lin’s famous Wave. Other museums include the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, the Exhibit Museum of Natural History, and especially for families the Hands-on Museum. The Kelsey is a research museum and displays results from some of the work university archaeologists conduct in places like Egypt.

Microbrews: An important and growing interest in the Midwest, Ann Arbor has its share of good microbreweries. For those interested, we’ll have a beer tasting class with a brewmaster and visit a number of the best microbreweries.

Live Music: Ann Arbor is an important contemporary pop music scene for acoustic, alt, folk, jazz, rock, and techno music. Live pop music, jazz, and blues are available nightly throughout the year. The Ark is the best contemporary folk music club in the country.

Holidays: Ann Arbor will be especially merry and bright this time of year, so we’re including some special activities: Kindelfest at the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market in Kerrytown, Midnight Madness shopping, and a performance of Handel’s Messiah. While everybody does Messiah, not everybody does it with the Grammy Award-winning University Musical Society Choral Union in one of the acoustically most perfect concert halls in the country, Hill Auditorium, designed by renowned Detroit architect Albert Kahn on the U-M campus.

As you see, lots of story opportunities await—food, art, theater, live music and more. Everything is included, of course. We hope you will join us for this tour. To receive a response form, saying that you’re saving the dates, let us know and we’ll gladly send you one.