In close collaboration with Historical Idlewild Tours and Services, Mr Eat Right, and Rev Robert Jones, Tiny World Tours is offering this immersive and multi-faceted introductory experience of Idlewild, Michigan on Saturday 25 June 2022. This outdoor event, designed for people of all ages is intended to echo the popular Idlewild Chautauqua outdoor events of a century ago - the TED talks of their day. From 11 AM to 1 PM, there will be great live music, storytelling, and lunch. From 1 PM on there will be a car-based caravan tour with live commentary via FM radio.

 
 

Idlewild, MI is a legendary black summer resort community in Lake County founded after the Civil War that spectacularly flourished during a large part of the racially segregated Jim Crow era in the 1920s and 30s, and especially between World War II and the 1960s. It first attracted black elite from Midwestern cities, then from across the nation, and then ever-broadening segments of black society, who bought or rented summer properties and attracted followers with their enthusiastic praise for Idlewild’s natural setting perfect for rest, recreation, and social exchange. In time it became one of the most nationally renowned stops for great entertainers following the “Chitlin Circuit” compared to the “Borscht Belt” collection of Jewish summer resorts. Idlewild was considered a utopia and referred to as “Black Eden.” There are many fascinating stories (positive and negative) from its past, present, and potential future, with attending insights, lessons, and opportunities to intrigue, excite, and inspire you.

This ticketed outdoor experience, limited to 50 participants, will include the following opportunities:

  • Enjoy masterful storytelling and live music performance by knowledgeable and entertaining speakers (Dr. Micala Evans and Rev Robert Jones) in an outdoor Chautauqua setting reminding you of Idlewild’s illustrious past and hopeful future.

  • Drive you own car on a caravan tour of selected Idlewild historic sites enjoying exclusive historical content by Dr. Micala Evans who will provide real-time commentary broadcast over your car’s FM radio.

  • Enjoy a lunch designed by healthy-food advocate & culinary globetrotter Mr Eat Right, and prepared with West Michigan sourced ingredients featuring Black-owned businesses and farms including Fawns Den Catering (Idlewild), South East Market (Grand Rapids), Groundswell (Zeeland), and Agape Organic Farm (Dansville).

  • Opportunity to Purchase Idlewild-related merchandise and to learn about Idlewild businesses

  • Mix and mingle with others interested and/or involved in Idlewild, Black History, Music, Food, Education, Michigan Tourism and Economic Development, and topics related to Social Justice, Racial Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion.

  • This event will be wheelchair accessible.

  • This event will be particularly interesting for adults and children 10 and older (no ticket required for children 12 and under)

  • Please inquire to mark@tinyworldtours.com about the option for round trip transportation from Grand Rapids including a guided tour of the historic sites

We’ll be delighted to advise you on local places to stay and other area activities to consider.

Purchase Tickets Below (availability limited)

The text excerpt below is is from the book “Black Eden: The Idlewild Community”.

“In the late 1920s and early 1930s, chautauquas, or open-air forums, were commonplace at Idlewild. They reflected a deep concern about the plight of black people in this country. The chautauquas were in keeping with the early notion that Idlewild would be a place where, among other things, the best thinkers in the race would come together and share their views with those of a like mind. A sampling of the topics held in 1926 and 1927 provide some insight into the issues and concerns of the leadership of the day.  The topics discussed included: “The Future of Idlewild,” “The People of Idlewild,” “The Negro Women’s Contribution to History,” “The Church’s Role in Race Relatons,” “Education of the Handicapped,” “The Unpublished History of the Negro versus the Published,” “Negro Poets and Musicians,” “The Inner City Insurance Cancellatons,” “Poems of Negro Life,” “The Negro in Transition,” and “The Crisis of Negro and White Leadership in a Free Society.”16

In 1927, Dean William Pickens, national field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.), lectured on the value of having an organization that would speak for and represent black needs and desires throughout America.17 In 1926, Chandler Owens (editor-organizer-champion of Race Rights in Chicago) and Robert A. Bagnall (director of branches of the N.A.A.C.P. and lecturer and organizer in New York City) were major presenters at the resort.18  In 1927, the Chautauqua Committee Invited Governor Fred Green of Michigan to address the meetings at the resort, but he declined.”