As member of the Michigan City Summer Festival Committee, Mike Hale does a wonderful job upholding plans behind the scenes and also attends many great events in the Michigan City community. Depending on what is needed, Hale takes part in many different areas and efficiently coordinates Summer Fest happenings.
“I like that the Summer Festival Committee is made up of volunteers; we work together to make positive, community oriented events happen around Michigan City. It goes beyond just accomplishing one thing. To me, we’re highlighting our known experiences and making new staples here in our city such as our fireworks and the Great Lakes Grand Prix,” Hale said.
Among his secretarial duties, web work is another task he heads for the Summer Festival Committee. His media background has helped him complete many projects and has also opened additional doors for him.
Hale designed http://mcsummerfest.org/, the Summer Fest Committee’s main website, and continues to help promote more media coverage through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The website’s upcoming events calendar is linked to Google Calendar for quick and useful planning. Web design and graphic design are just two of Hale’s many talents.
“I am also involved in the Mainstreet Association’s IT Committee where, as a group, we constructed a website for our community to use. We coordinate getting information out on the website and working with many highly influential individuals,” Hale said. “I’m very happy to work with the IT Committee and help spread positive awareness of our resounding history in Michigan City.”
Earlier this summer, Hale brought a new event to the Summer Festival Committee’s line up called The Southern Shore Music Festival. After a few years in the making, Hale was very excited to bring local musicians and venders together for a day of neighborhood fun. To him, this was a gift to everyone.
“The experience was great especially because this has many years and ideas behind it. Going from idea to reality was a little difficult though. It was eye opening for me because it gave me a new experience on leadership and organization,” Hale said.
He thought about the ins and outs of the event a hundred times over, but he shared that it’s not until everything comes together that one really learns the subtleties of directing. There are so many lessons to learn from beginning to end and you need to remember to never give up.
“As a member of the Summer Fest board, I believe we should make our work known even if we are just volunteers. Most people don’t really know about us as individuals or know what we stand for as a committee,” Hale said. “If we can find a way to get the public to connect our events to what we do as a whole, then we can possibly gain more volunteers and patrons that recognize us.”
As a Michigan City resident, Hale loves the location of his city. The lake and art district are definitely two major alluring aspects for him. He compared Michigan City to Chicago in saying that some parts of Chicago are always bustling even at 3 AM, but he likes how Michigan City “sleeps”.
“It’s cool to go out on Franklin Street in the wee hours of the morning and not see anyone else in either direction. It’s weird, but surreal. We have all the small town benefits, yet we are just an hour from a world class city like Chicago,” Hale said.
One thing that Hale is looking forward to is showing off his first art piece in the Michigan City art district. His project is based in the interactive sculpture category. In the next few weeks, he will be receiving parts for his arduino kit which includes a micro-controlled board that he will program to make his art move.
“I basically know nothing about this art, but I have existing knowledge and a quick learning ability when it comes to electronics. I want to hopefully include it in a gallery or First Friday event by next spring,” Hale said.
Family and friends are also very important to him. He knows he can always return home or call up a close friend and everything will fall back into place.
The music that Hale listens to also plays a large role in his life. He looks up to Maynard James Keenan from the band Tool because of his thought provoking lyrics. The founder of PayPal, Elon Musk, is a programmer that Hale admires as well.
In the future, Hale hopes to introduce Michigan City to ‘smart cities’ which highlights the importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) socially and environmentally by using big data, sensors, algorithms, robotics, and much more to create high tech communities.
If you are interested or would like more information on this transformation, then please feel free to contact Mike Hale directly at southshoremedia@gmail.com. He is looking forward to talking to like-minded people and creating partnerships and collaborations through this future goal.