MARQUETTE, Mich.—The complicated-yet-rich relationship between the people of the Upper Peninsula and its natural world and landscape will be the focus of a new exhibition at the Beaumier Upper Peninsula Heritage Center. “U.P. Mosaic: A working landscape and its people” will open on Saturday, Oct. 26, with a family oriented program featuring costumed interpreters, traditional games, storytelling, music and gallery talks. The event runs from 1-4 p.m. Admission is free. The Beaumier Center is located in 105 Cohodas Hall at Northern Michigan University.

“U.P. Mosaic” includes a wide array of cultural artifacts, images and graphic displays. The exhibition also features other interactive components for visitors of all ages, including hands-on object stations and a video interview booth where visitors can answer the “question of the week.”

The opening will include more interactive components and the following timed activities:

1-2 p.m.: Gallery talks with the exhibition committee and Beaumier Center staff; and indoor/outdoor old-fashioned games presented by the Future Historians from the Michigan Iron Industry Museum, including jacks, cup and ball, tabletop 9 pin, hoop and stick, graces, stilts, blind man’s bluff and snap apple.  

2-3 p.m.: Performance by Bill Jamerson featuring songs from the lumberjacks and the Civilian Conservation Corps.

3-4 p.m.: Anishinaabeg storytelling session with Kenn Pitawanakwat, Center for Native American Studies at NMU.

The exhibit planning committee was composed of Gregg Bruff, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (retired); Scott Demel, anthropology department, NMU; Courtney Herber, Beaumier Center; Mimi Klotz, Clear Lake Education Center; Nancy Matthew, cultural historian and consultant; Adam Papin, Beaumier Center; John Saari, Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition; and Daniel Truckey, Beaumier Center. The center also thanks the Future Historians from the Michigan Iron Industry Museum and Kenn Pitawanakwat for their assistance with the exhibition opening.

The exhibition will run through Jan. 15. Museum hours are  10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.