Mary Wood of Sterling Heights bought eight pounds of asparagus, and then
found a spot on a bench to watch the parade in Empire Saturday along with
six other downstate friends.

She couldn't think of a better spot to be.

"I love asparagus and I love the Asparagus Festival," said Wood. "We
wouldn't miss this for anything."

Actually, there was a missing face among the women this year. Wood said that
for the first three years of the festival, she¹s been part of a "girls'
weekend" with seven others who always stay at The Homestead resort. This
year, one of the eight had to bow out because she was vacationing in
Australia.

The missing friend may not have been in Empire during the weekend, but her
picture was. A life-size cutout of the woman's face was attached to a stick,
so she could at least be part of the festival "in spirit," Wood said.
Good-natured fun is part of the three-day event, said festival organizer
Ashlea Walter.

"It's just a nice way to welcome the start of the growing season after a
long winter," said Walter. "We like to celebrate the importance of our rural
culture and the fact asparagus is the first commercial crop of the season,
plus we don¹t take ourselves too seriously. It¹s who Empire is."

Festival attendees had the opportunity to sample cream of asparagus soup,
French-fried asparagus, and asparagus bratwurst. There was also a 5K
run/walk, children's games, a recipe and cooking contest involving
asparagus, the "Ode to Asparagus" poetry reading contest, a wine tasting
featuring selections from three Leelanau County vintners, and the Lions Club
dinner featuring chicken, mashed potatoes, and of course, asparagus.

There were also two dances. On Friday night, the inaugural "Asquareagus"
dance ­ a square dance featuring Wanda Joseph and Friends and a caller to
announce each step ­ was held in the parking lot in the parking lot of Bear
North, the former Sleeping Bear Store. The festival concluded Sunday
afternoon with the Asparagus BBQ and Concert at The Village Inn.

Marchers, children on bicycles, fire and rescue vehicles, and floats ­ many
with irreverent touches that captured the asparagus theme ­ made two loops
around the parade loop.

In the cooking contest, Bonnie Nescott of Glen Arbor won the judges' award
for her lemon mustard asparagus dressing, while Judy Walter of Suttons Bay,
who made asparagus tarts, was second. Janelle Buchler's baby green asparagus
salad won the people's choice award.

In the Ode to Asparagus competition, which was headed by "Beach Bard" Norm
Wheeler, Leelanau School student Libby Benjamin won first prize in the youth
division and Tom Ulrich, assistant superintendent of Sleeping Bear Dunes
National Lakeshore, won the adult division with a moving poem entitled
"Spare Gus." Prize-winners earned gift certificates to the Cottage Book Shop
in Glen Arbor.

Walter said many people deserved thanks for staging the festival, including
members of the Empire Chamber of Commerce, Paul and Heidi Skinner, Jack Gyr,
Diane Navarro, and Robin Johnson.