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Event

Bite of Beaver Island, 2003

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeEvent
Date2003-10-04
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Event
Date
2003-10-04
Kind
Celebration
Where
Holy Cross Parish Hall · The Shamrock
Carried out by
Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce
Followed by
Bite of Beaver Island, 2004
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
celebrationcommunitytourismeconomy
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

The second “Bite of Beaver Island,” on Saturday, October 4, 2003, added the event’s first companion road race — the “Island Boodle” 5K run/walk, plus a kids’ one-mile fun run — and grew the food festival itself to over 250 attendees at Holy Cross Hall, more than double the first year’s turnout. An originally planned Barn Dance at McCafferty’s Equestrian Center was replaced at the last minute by live music from the New Third Coast Band at the Shamrock that evening.12

History

The event began the year before, at the first Bite of Beaver Island: an October 2002 Beacon notice announced the event, 4:00-7:00 p.m. on 5 October on the Convent lawn downtown, in which professional and amateur chefs sold small $5-and-under portions. Chef Deborah Harwood, who coordinated it, said she had taken part in a similar event “several years ago in Bozeman, Montana,” and that “it proved to be very popular.” Chamber of Commerce Director Steve West called it a “prototype event” with “great upside potential and add-on possibilities for future years” and stated the Chamber’s plan to make it an annual fall event.3 By June 2003 West was reporting the Chamber’s best year yet — 97 full members and 15 associates — and telling a spring meeting the Chamber wanted to “further develop the Bite of Beaver by including a 10K run and an old car festival,” the strategic intent behind that October’s expansion.4

August’s announcement described that expanded weekend: the food fest returning Saturday evening with more dishes, a Barn Dance, and a bigger old-car show, plus a new running event the Chamber called “the Beaver Boogie” (per the Beacon’s own OCR) or “the Beaver Boogle” (per the same article as web-archived) — evidently an early working name for what within a month was being promoted as the “Island Boodle.”56 By September the program had settled: Island Boodle 5K/1-mile fun run at 10:00 a.m. benefiting the Beaver Island Sports Booster Club, and the food festival 1:00-4:00 p.m. at Holy Cross Hall.7 The final program, per the October issue, dropped the Barn Dance in favor of the New Third Coast Band performing at the Shamrock that evening.8

Master Chef Deborah Harwood organized 10-plus food tables serving salmon rosettes, grilled shrimp, roasted lamb chops, warm crab dip on bread, chowder, savory galettes, deep-fried whitefish, and over two dozen desserts, with wine, pop, and free cider from a press also available. Live music was provided by Brenda LeFevre on keyboard and L.D. Ryan on saxophone, who also sang several of his own Beaver Island-themed songs.9

Significance

Attendance at the food festival was “more than double” the first year at 250 participants; the inaugural Island Boodle drew 76 entries, called “fantastic for a first year event” by Chamber Director Steve West, who credited Deborah Harwood and Gail and Mike Weede as “the keys to success.”9 The Charlevoix Courier independently corroborates a “second annual” Bite of Beaver Island Food Festival that year.10 A December 2003 Sports Boosters thank-you gives the Island Boodle’s proceeds as “close to $2,000 to offset travel costs associated with the sports program,” and reports that organizer Gail Weede trained for the Columbus marathon by running comparable distances on the island after that race.11 Within a single year the Chamber’s “prototype event” had grown a companion road race that itself became a standing fundraiser for the island’s school sports program — the clearest evidence in the record of the festival’s second-year expansion succeeding on its own stated terms.

Evidence and limits

Eight Beacon issues (October 2002; January, June, August, September, October, November, and December 2003) and one Charlevoix Courier bound-volume mention this event; the Courier citation here is a short, re-verified phrase from raw one-word-per-line ProQuest OCR, not a full re-read of continuous prose. The January 2003 “Bite of Beaver was tasty” mention is a reader’s letter looking back at the 2002 event and is not treated here as 2003 evidence.

Open questions

  • Did the planned Barn Dance at McCafferty’s Equestrian Center happen in any form in a later year, or was it permanently dropped after 2003?
  • Which spelling of the short-lived race name — “Beaver Boogie” or “Beaver Boogle” — is correct? Both appear in editions of the same August 2003 article; the name did not survive past that month regardless.

See also

Footnotes

  1. Beaver Beacon, October 2003. ↩

  2. Beaver Beacon, November 2003. ↩

  3. “First ‘Bite of Beaver Island’ to be held October 5th,” Beaver Beacon, October 2002. ↩

  4. Township/Chamber annual-meeting notes, Beaver Beacon, June 2003. ↩

  5. “Chamber has Big Plans: 2nd Annual Bite of Beaver Island Expanded Fall Events,” Beaver Beacon, August 2003. ↩

  6. Same article, web-archived edition, Beaver Beacon, August 2003. ↩

  7. “Island Boodle” and “‘Bite of Beaver’ plans move forward,” Beaver Beacon, September 2003. ↩

  8. “Don’t Miss the ‘Bite of Beaver’” and “The First Annual Island Boodle,” Beaver Beacon, October 2003. ↩

  9. “An explosion of Delectable Delicacies” and “Thanks,” Beaver Beacon, November 2003. ↩ ↩2

  10. “Second annual Bite of Beaver Island Food Festival,” Charlevoix Courier, 2003. ↩

  11. “Thanks from the Sports Boosters,” Beaver Beacon, December 2003. ↩

Sources

  1. "Chamber has Big Plans: 2nd Annual Bite of Beaver Island Expanded Fall Events," Beaver Beacon, August 2003.
    August announcement of the 2nd edition, scheduled for "October 4th and 5th": the food fest returning Saturday evening with more delicacies, plus a Barn Dance at McCafferty's Equestrian Center and a return/expansion of the prior year's old car show. States Mike and Gail Weede are adding a running event, called here "the Beaver Boogie," a 5K/10K race. The Chamber also planned to revise its 1977 Island map and distribute tens of thousands of rack cards. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2003-08_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held thirty-six-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 · 2003-08_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Same article as the print/OCR edition, held locally in full (not merely web research). Names the planned race "the Beaver Boogle" — spelled differently from the print/OCR edition's "Beaver Boogie," evidently the same short-lived working title for what became the "Island Boodle" by the following month.
    websites · www.beaverbeacon.com · 2003-08-August · Chamber_has_Big_Plans
  4. "Island Boodle" and "'Bite of Beaver' plans move forward," Beaver Beacon, September 2003.
    By September the race is being promoted as the "Island Boodle" 5K run/walk plus a one-mile kids' fun run, Saturday October 4, 10:00 a.m., benefiting the Beaver Island Sports Booster Club; entry $20/$35-family in advance or $25/$40 day-of; medals for the top three in the 5K and T-shirts for all. The food festival itself is confirmed for 1:00-4:00 p.m. that day, coordinated by Deborah Harwood, promising "an even greater variety and more servings than last 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 · 2003-09_Beaver-Beacon
  5. The held thirty-six-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 · 2003-09_Beaver-Beacon
  6. "Don't Miss the 'Bite of Beaver'" and "The First Annual Island Boodle," Beaver Beacon, October 2003.
    Final schedule: Bite of Beaver Island 1:00-4:00 p.m. at "the Hall" (Holy Cross Hall) on October 4; the planned Barn Dance is replaced by live music from "The New Third Coast Band" at the Shamrock Bar and Restaurant that evening, "back by popular demand." The Island Boodle (billed here as the "First Annual") starts 10:00 a.m. in front of Holy Cross Hall, organized by Mike and Gail Weede. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2003-10_Beaver-Beacon
  7. The held thirty-six-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 · 2003-10_Beaver-Beacon
  8. Beaver Beacon, November 2003 ("An explosion of Delectable Delicacies" and "Thanks").
    Recap: the 2nd Bite of Beaver drew 250 participants, more than double the first year, and the first Island Boodle drew 76 entries. Master Chef Deborah Harwood organized 10+ tables serving salmon rosettes, grilled shrimp, roasted lamb chops, warm crab dip on bread, chowder, savory galettes, deep-fried whitefish, and over two dozen desserts; wine, pop, and free cider (made in a press) were available. Music by Brenda LeFevre (keyboard) and L.D. Ryan (sax, plus vocals of his own Beaver Island songs). Steve West's thanks single out Deborah Harwood and Gail and Mike Weede as "the keys to success"; Harwood's own thank-you reports "every participant sold out of most of their food." No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2003-11_Beaver-Beacon
  9. The held thirty-six-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 · 2003-11_Beaver-Beacon
  10. Confirms the Chamber of Commerce hosted "the second annual" Bite of Beaver Island Food Festival in 2003, consistent with the 2002 founding. Raw ProQuest microform OCR; text is line-wrapped one word per line in the held file.
    charlevoix · issues · charlevoixcourie2003unse · charlevoixcourie2003unse_djvu
  11. Reader letter, Beaver Beacon, January 2003.
    A reader's year-end letter says "the 'Bite of Beaver' was tasty," looking back at the October 2002 event; it is the only 2003-issue mention of the festival that predates the year's own event and is not treated as 2003-event evidence. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2003-01_Beaver-Beacon
  12. "First 'Bite of Beaver Island' to be held October 5th," Beaver Beacon, October 2002.
    Announces the inaugural 2002 event, 4-7 p.m. on the Convent lawn downtown, small $5-and-under portions from professional and amateur chefs, coordinated by Deborah Harwood ("I participated in an event like this several years ago in Bozeman, Montana, and it proved to be very popular") with Chamber Director Steve West handling marketing. West called it a "prototype event" with "great upside potential" and said the Chamber's plan was to make it an annual fall event. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2002-10_Beaver-Beacon
  13. The held issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the first-year announcement.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2002-10_Beaver-Beacon
  14. Township/Chamber annual-meeting notes, Beaver Beacon, June 2003.
    Reports Chamber Director Steve West telling a spring meeting the Chamber had "its most successful year ever," with 97 full members and 15 associates, and that it had "begun the Bite of Beaver Festival" and wanted to "further develop the Bite of Beaver by including a 10K run and an old car festival" -- the strategic intent behind the race and car-show additions later announced in August. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2003-06_Beaver-Beacon
  15. The held issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the Chamber's spring report.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2003-06_Beaver-Beacon
  16. "Thanks from the Sports Boosters," Beaver Beacon, December 2003.
    States the Island Boodle, organized by Gail and Mike Weede, "generated close to $2,000 to offset travel costs associated with the sports program," and separately notes Gail Weede training for the Columbus marathon by running comparable distances on the Island after organizing "the recent Island Boodle." No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2003-12_Beaver-Beacon
  17. The held issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the Sports Boosters' thank-you and proceeds figure.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2003-12_Beaver-Beacon
  18. The held issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR Markdown source and preserves the issue-level provenance for this cited report or comparison.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2003-01_Beaver-Beacon

Added 3 August 2026 · revised 7 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Bite of Beaver Island, 2003”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/bite-of-beaver-2003/, accessed [date], citing "Chamber has Big Plans: 2nd Annual Bite of Beaver Island Expanded Fall Events," Beaver Beacon, August 2003. (and 17 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-07. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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