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Ann Arbor News - Top of the Park Returns

Ann Arbor News - Top of the Park Returns

Thursday, June 8: Top of the Park returns, Westside Art Hop returns, Taylor Swift comes to Michigan, and a new universal basic income program

June 08, 2023

Morning, Ann Arbor! We’ve reached that wonderful time of the year when live music and events are everywhere. Between Sonic Lunch, A2 Summer Streets, and Top of the Park (more on that below), Ann Arbor summers are undefeated.

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ANN ARBORITES SHOULD KNOW

A2SF.org

🥳 Top of the Park: A2SF’s Top of the Park returns this weekend. Located on Ingalls Mall (a block on campus between East Washington and North University), the 16-day-long, open-to-the-public summer festival features over 200 concerts, art exhibitions, kids' activities, movie screenings, and more. Click here to see the festival’s robust event calendar.

🚨 Shooting Homicide: On Sunday night, 24-year-old Donrell Canda was shot and killed by 22-year-old Sekou Conde on the 2500 block of Sandalwood Circle. According to the initial police report, Canda was walking home when Conde confronted him and opened fire. Conde was arraigned shortly after. While a motive remains unclear, the Ann Arbor Police Department does not believe the attack was random and does not believe this should be seen as a community-wide threat. Canda’s family has set up a GoFundMe to cover funeral expenses and financial support for Canda’s 3-year-old son.

🎨 Westside Art Hop: 80+ artists will have their works on display at 30+ locations during the Westside Art Hop this weekend. For the show, locals living in Ann Arbor’s historic westside neighborhood convert their homes, garages, and lawns into art galleries for attendees to browse through Saturday and Sunday. Here’s a helpful map of the event.

💵 Universal Basic Income: Ann Arbor and U of M have greenlit a universal basic income program that will give 100 low-income entrepreneurs $528 a month for 2 years. The guaranteed-income program is designed to target residents who are pursuing “gig work or side hustles” to make ends meet. Ann Arbor and other cities around the country will study the effects of the program to help shape future civic initiatives.

🎸 Today’s Sonic Lunch Concert: Phillip-Michael Scales

Listen: Spotify or Apple Music
Style: Blues, Soul, Indie
Top Song: “Your Love’s Working Me to the Bone” with 432,000 plays
Popularity: 48,000 monthly Spotify listeners
Today’s Concert: 11:30 am - 1:30 pm on the corner of Liberty and Division in downtown Ann Arbor

MICHIGANDERS SHOULD KNOW

TaylorSwift.com

🎤 Taylor Swift Comes To Detroit: Swifties can rejoice - this weekend Taylor Swift’s record-setting Eras Tour comes to Ford Field Friday and Saturday night. Good luck to anyone hoping to scalp a last-minute ticket, all tickets listed on StubHub are above $1,000.

📵 New Distracted Driver Law: Yesterday Governor Whitmer signed a package of bills into law that will ban any cellphone use while driving. The new law expands upon Michigan’s decade-old anti-texting and driving law to also ban video calls, streaming, and social media use. The law officially goes into effect next month.

📜 Teaching Christian Foundations: A Republican-backed bill introduced in the Michigan House would require school districts to teach about the “Christian foundations” of the United States. Introduced by first-term lawmaker Joseph Fox, the bill would require schools to teach "how the pilgrims emigrated because of persecution" and how the pilgrims “cultivated democratic forms of government and Christian ethics simultaneously”. Democrats have pushed back on the bill.

🚄 Train to Chicago: Starting on July 31, Amtrak’s Wolverine Trains 350 and 353 (Ann Arbor’s Amtrak train to and from Chicago) will only run Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The schedule change will last 2 months while Amtrak and the Michigan Department of Transportation tackle infrastructure improvement projects along the route.