https://lakenhoody.com/where-the-heart-is daily 0.75 2021-05-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171007705-N2G4036FGD1B4EAJMC2K/2 Where The Heart Is Noah Koth, 16, the oldest and only son in the Koth family, helps Kenny Koth, cousin and farm hand of the Koth’s, with the gravity box. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171410164-YVNC7ANCH4J36M98MGTO/6 Where The Heart Is Noah Koth, 16, helps Kenny Koth, who’s inside the box, sweep the grain out of the gravity box. A gravity box, or slant wagon, is an angled hopper style wagon that utilizes gravity to make the unloading process easier for farmers. The Koth’s farm 3,000 acres, which is approximately over 3,000 football fields. Huron County, the “fingernail” of the Thumb, is the No. 1 farming county in the state, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608170889935-O8ZK60ZRLY2WHYKW20KT/1 Where The Heart Is Zeke Shepherd, one of the Koth’s farm hands, pulls up onto the farm in the early hours of the morning and parks in front of the barn in Kinde, Michigan, toting this plate on the front of his truck on August 25, 2020. The Koth family, Don, Kelli, and their three children: Noah, 16, Sara, 14, and Dana, 12, all work on the farm and have two hired farm hands, Kenny and Zeke. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171504424-VI955CC3PTGP6XRFQUF3/7 Where The Heart Is Noah and Kenny trade tractors before grabbing their lunches and taking a brief break to eat. Communication is key on the farm. There’s a radio in every tractor and truck so each of them can easily communicate back and forth if there’s ever a problem or even if they just saw a buck pass through the rows. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171681158-UHG1ZUTT4M2CD9WJM598/9 Where The Heart Is The Koth family gathers together for a steak dinner after a day of farming, school, practices, and activities. There’s always something going on in each of the Koth’s lives, however, they always come together at the end of the day to spend time with one another as a family. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171296749-VXLAWIZ69NJFF3HC4RQD/5 Where The Heart Is It’s just the beginning of sugar beet season. “It’s really nice to have the early dig, but then again, if you dig it all early, the beets still have another third to grow, so my we’ll get more money out of the late dig because the beets will be bigger and hopefully have more sugar in them,” Noah says. Rob Clark, director of communications and community relations at Michigan Sugar Co., stated Huron County is the company’s No. 1 producer of sugar beets, with 360 shareholders who grow more than 54,000 acres. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171138603-9M8TRA46LAM29LFHCL9W/3 Where The Heart Is Don Koth drives the sugar beet harvester down the rows, harvesting the beets. Don inherited the farm from his father, who inherited the farm from his father. Noah truly loves what he does on the farm and is likely to follow in his dad’s footsteps and take on the family farm one day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171244213-FZH1EPF0TLWXKWMIIXPZ/4 Where The Heart Is Kelli Koth, Noah’s mother, drives not even a minute down the road from their house to get to the farm to drop off Noah’s lunch. Lunch has to be quick most days in order for everyone to get right back to work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171604519-B32SQ8KAYTMI8A52VEOE/8 Where The Heart Is Noah takes a look at the cover crop that is growing and finds a beet starting to sprout. The cover crop’s root is like an anchor, so when all the water and dirt washes into the ditch, the cover crops don’t erode or wash away. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171504424-VI955CC3PTGP6XRFQUF3/7 Where The Heart Is Noah and Kenny trade tractors before grabbing their lunches and taking a brief break to eat. Communication is key on the farm. There’s a radio in every tractor and truck so each of them can easily communicate back and forth if there’s ever a problem or even if they just saw a buck pass through the rows. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171604519-B32SQ8KAYTMI8A52VEOE/8 Where The Heart Is Noah takes a look at the cover crop that is growing and finds a beet starting to sprout. The cover crop’s root is like an anchor, so when all the water and dirt washes into the ditch, the cover crops don’t erode or wash away. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171296749-VXLAWIZ69NJFF3HC4RQD/5 Where The Heart Is It’s just the beginning of sugar beet season. “It’s really nice to have the early dig, but then again, if you dig it all early, the beets still have another third to grow, so my we’ll get more money out of the late dig because the beets will be bigger and hopefully have more sugar in them,” Noah says. Rob Clark, director of communications and community relations at Michigan Sugar Co., stated Huron County is the company’s No. 1 producer of sugar beets, with 360 shareholders who grow more than 54,000 acres. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171681158-UHG1ZUTT4M2CD9WJM598/9 Where The Heart Is The Koth family gathers together for a steak dinner after a day of farming, school, practices, and activities. There’s always something going on in each of the Koth’s lives, however, they always come together at the end of the day to spend time with one another as a family. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171007705-N2G4036FGD1B4EAJMC2K/2 Where The Heart Is Noah Koth, 16, the oldest and only son in the Koth family, helps Kenny Koth, cousin and farm hand of the Koth’s, with the gravity box. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171138603-9M8TRA46LAM29LFHCL9W/3 Where The Heart Is Don Koth drives the sugar beet harvester down the rows, harvesting the beets. Don inherited the farm from his father, who inherited the farm from his father. Noah truly loves what he does on the farm and is likely to follow in his dad’s footsteps and take on the family farm one day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608170889935-O8ZK60ZRLY2WHYKW20KT/1 Where The Heart Is Zeke Shepherd, one of the Koth’s farm hands, pulls up onto the farm in the early hours of the morning and parks in front of the barn in Kinde, Michigan, toting this plate on the front of his truck on August 25, 2020. The Koth family, Don, Kelli, and their three children: Noah, 16, Sara, 14, and Dana, 12, all work on the farm and have two hired farm hands, Kenny and Zeke. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171244213-FZH1EPF0TLWXKWMIIXPZ/4 Where The Heart Is Kelli Koth, Noah’s mother, drives not even a minute down the road from their house to get to the farm to drop off Noah’s lunch. Lunch has to be quick most days in order for everyone to get right back to work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1608171410164-YVNC7ANCH4J36M98MGTO/6 Where The Heart Is Noah Koth, 16, helps Kenny Koth, who’s inside the box, sweep the grain out of the gravity box. A gravity box, or slant wagon, is an angled hopper style wagon that utilizes gravity to make the unloading process easier for farmers. The Koth’s farm 3,000 acres, which is approximately over 3,000 football fields. Huron County, the “fingernail” of the Thumb, is the No. 1 farming county in the state, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. https://lakenhoody.com/about daily 0.75 2025-12-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1628538817518-FP3IK5BUQ7AIKP5B2EYM/image-asset.jpeg About Photo by Quinn Kirby https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1628538817518-FP3IK5BUQ7AIKP5B2EYM/image-asset.jpeg About Photo by Quinn Kirby https://lakenhoody.com/videos daily 0.75 2021-05-03 https://lakenhoody.com/where-the-sidewalk-ends daily 0.75 2025-12-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070317763-8KLRF5PK4SV2YQ5WKPW2/9.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends As opening night’s concert approaches, ticket-holders tune into the live stream to watch on Thursday, April 22, 2021. As long as they have a ticket, Internet access, and a device to watch it on, viewers can watch anywhere. Laken tunes into the stream with her family and friends while out to dinner at Red Lobster, a few miles from Bush Theater where her dancer, Erin, is performing Where the Sidewalk Ends. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070204976-OUXQVQWKATTI55QKJL6M/6.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Backstage, the dancers wait silently for their turn to perform at a dress rehearsal to ensure their costume works cohesively with their choreography on the Bush Theater stage. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070240344-WU6Q8JJEPWE63RMVBDHB/7.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Erin continuously runs the choreography until it can become muscle memory. When the piece becomes muscle memory, she can make the choreography a little more her own, putting feeling, thought, and emotion into each movement to better tell the story behind Where the Sidewalk Ends. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620069960861-KFQMKI8O0LGEUS1H2TWT/1.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Erin Siebert, Central Michigan University junior, reflects on her journey learning and performing Where the Sidewalk Ends, a contemporary dance piece choreographed by CMU senior student choreographer Laken Hoody for CMU’s University Theatre and Dance Company’s (UTDC) Spring Concert of April 2021. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070090828-AVEL2872MGPKYDIQKART/3.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends The eight dancers, including Erin, second in from the right, gather together for the first time for their first Sunday Showcase where all the dancers perform the choreography they have learned of their piece so far. This is where everyone introduces their pieces to the rest of the choreographers and dancers, as well as the light and costume designers so they can begin creating the scene for each dance. The UTDC Spring Concert normally consists of several numbers that could be group, solo, duet, or trio pieces, but due to COVID-19, this year’s concert is made up of eight solos. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070047302-7Z7MSK72UFA59VMS5F4Q/2.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Erin learns the beginning of Where the Sidewalk Ends at one of her first few practices in the Rose studio on the campus of Central Michigan University on Wednesday, February 17, 2021. A knee drop takes a lot of energy and can be hard on the legs, knees, and back, which is always taken into consideration when a choreographer is putting choreography onto another dancer, who may not be as comfortable or as able physically to perform the same movements. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070112669-YPVIYKZH9ZDUGYEMAZHD/4.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Erin gets into her first spacing rehearsal to ensure the choreography stays on the stage in Bush Theater on the campus of Central Michigan University. This year’s spacing is different from any other year previous, because it’ll be completely live-streamed each night of show week. If a dancer steps beyond the marked lines of the stage, the dancer will be off the screen and missed completely by the audience. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070282632-I3KIS98UX8U1CKEXY5FU/8.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Heather Trommer-Beardslee, Dance Program Coordinator of CMU’s Department of Theatre and Dance and Artistic Director of the UTDC Spring Concert, gives her last pep talk and final critiques before opening night the next night. At this point, everything has been done in order for the show to be successful, and now it’s time to show what everyone has been working so hard to produce. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070156572-M5XLOGWF7DRLCRSY2TG4/5.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Erin practices twice a week for two hours each throughout the entire semester in the Rose studio. Practices can get tiresome and enduring, and that can be clearly seen through a dancer’s feet. Dancer feet show the journey of the physical battles they’ve worked mercilessly through in order to get to this point; they show all the accomplishments, defeats, and everything in-between through bruises, scuffs, swelling, and all different-colored markings. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070354795-XU29DKURW5VO5UZKOY15/10.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Bowing is a sign of gratitude to the audience for watching and listening, signaling the end of something. This bow is in the choreography specifically placed near the end of Where the Sidewalk Ends. Erin’s character, throughout the piece, struggles with deciding which path to take on her way through life, not knowing if she should listen to the ones close to her or to what her heart wants. She finally breaks free from the paralyzing guilt of what others want for her and quite literally leaps into the world she’s always wanted for herself, realizing this and dancing in the realm of her new mindset. She bows, but her story is not done here, though, her internal battle is. She is now exactly where she has wanted to be, the place where the sidewalk ends. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070112669-YPVIYKZH9ZDUGYEMAZHD/4.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Erin gets into her first spacing rehearsal to ensure the choreography stays on the stage in Bush Theater on the campus of Central Michigan University. This year’s spacing is different from any other year previous, because it’ll be completely live-streamed each night of show week. If a dancer steps beyond the marked lines of the stage, the dancer will be off the screen and missed completely by the audience. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070354795-XU29DKURW5VO5UZKOY15/10.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Bowing is a sign of gratitude to the audience for watching and listening, signaling the end of something. This bow is in the choreography specifically placed near the end of Where the Sidewalk Ends. Erin’s character, throughout the piece, struggles with deciding which path to take on her way through life, not knowing if she should listen to the ones close to her or to what her heart wants. She finally breaks free from the paralyzing guilt of what others want for her and quite literally leaps into the world she’s always wanted for herself, realizing this and dancing in the realm of her new mindset. She bows, but her story is not done here, though, her internal battle is. She is now exactly where she has wanted to be, the place where the sidewalk ends. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070047302-7Z7MSK72UFA59VMS5F4Q/2.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Erin learns the beginning of Where the Sidewalk Ends at one of her first few practices in the Rose studio on the campus of Central Michigan University on Wednesday, February 17, 2021. A knee drop takes a lot of energy and can be hard on the legs, knees, and back, which is always taken into consideration when a choreographer is putting choreography onto another dancer, who may not be as comfortable or as able physically to perform the same movements. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070156572-M5XLOGWF7DRLCRSY2TG4/5.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Erin practices twice a week for two hours each throughout the entire semester in the Rose studio. Practices can get tiresome and enduring, and that can be clearly seen through a dancer’s feet. Dancer feet show the journey of the physical battles they’ve worked mercilessly through in order to get to this point; they show all the accomplishments, defeats, and everything in-between through bruises, scuffs, swelling, and all different-colored markings. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070240344-WU6Q8JJEPWE63RMVBDHB/7.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Erin continuously runs the choreography until it can become muscle memory. When the piece becomes muscle memory, she can make the choreography a little more her own, putting feeling, thought, and emotion into each movement to better tell the story behind Where the Sidewalk Ends. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070090828-AVEL2872MGPKYDIQKART/3.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends The eight dancers, including Erin, second in from the right, gather together for the first time for their first Sunday Showcase where all the dancers perform the choreography they have learned of their piece so far. This is where everyone introduces their pieces to the rest of the choreographers and dancers, as well as the light and costume designers so they can begin creating the scene for each dance. The UTDC Spring Concert normally consists of several numbers that could be group, solo, duet, or trio pieces, but due to COVID-19, this year’s concert is made up of eight solos. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620069960861-KFQMKI8O0LGEUS1H2TWT/1.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Erin Siebert, Central Michigan University junior, reflects on her journey learning and performing Where the Sidewalk Ends, a contemporary dance piece choreographed by CMU senior student choreographer Laken Hoody for CMU’s University Theatre and Dance Company’s (UTDC) Spring Concert of April 2021. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070317763-8KLRF5PK4SV2YQ5WKPW2/9.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends As opening night’s concert approaches, ticket-holders tune into the live stream to watch on Thursday, April 22, 2021. As long as they have a ticket, Internet access, and a device to watch it on, viewers can watch anywhere. Laken tunes into the stream with her family and friends while out to dinner at Red Lobster, a few miles from Bush Theater where her dancer, Erin, is performing Where the Sidewalk Ends. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070204976-OUXQVQWKATTI55QKJL6M/6.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Backstage, the dancers wait silently for their turn to perform at a dress rehearsal to ensure their costume works cohesively with their choreography on the Bush Theater stage. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620070282632-I3KIS98UX8U1CKEXY5FU/8.jpg Where the Sidewalk Ends Heather Trommer-Beardslee, Dance Program Coordinator of CMU’s Department of Theatre and Dance and Artistic Director of the UTDC Spring Concert, gives her last pep talk and final critiques before opening night the next night. At this point, everything has been done in order for the show to be successful, and now it’s time to show what everyone has been working so hard to produce. https://lakenhoody.com/the-bait-guy daily 0.75 2021-05-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067617002-EC5HTZAOSSR3LH6ZAT7D/8.jpg The Bait Guy A customer pulls in as Kerry loads the truck up with emerald shiners for another delivery on Sunday, February 21, 2021. Bait catchers have to be pretty sneaky about where they find their minnows, and they don't give out information on the businesses they deliver their bait to, either. Knowledge is power here, and if you aren't doing your research and finding out where these minnows are, you're not making any money. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067413154-3G8ANN9P8JGS18Y1XWPL/2.jpg The Bait Guy Kerry has been wholesaling live bait for most of his life. He catches most of his bait during the summer in Port Huron, Michigan under the Blue Water Bridge in the waters of Lake Huron. During the fall and winter, Kerry has to search other bodies of water, like brooks or channels or cricks, to find where the minnows have traveled. There are a few live bait catchers/dealers in the thumb of Michigan near Kerry, and they all compete to find, catch, and sell the minnows. Even if Kerry knows where he's able to catch minnows, there could be another bait guy down there already scooping them up. It's an extremely competitive business. If Kerry's not there to grab them at the right time at the right place, somebody else has already got the minnows in the tank of their truck and driving them home. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067540135-23P4TFAEJUR5FFF7KWSN/6.jpg The Bait Guy After seining up the tank, Kerry fills buckets up with minnows and dumps them into the tanks on the truck for delivery on Sunday, February 21, 2021. Most people don't understand how much hard work is put into catching these minnows. An average catching day starts around 2 a.m. for Kerry and doesn't really have a specified clock-out time. He has to figure out when and where the minnows are running, and if they're not there, he's got to find them or try all over again the next morning. It's very hit-or-miss, minnows are very spontaneous and it's hard to figure out their movement patterns. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067456661-UYO8UN1FNOXZBE79UE8P/3.jpg The Bait Guy Kerry asks his youngest daughter, McKena, for help seining one of the tanks on Friday, January 3, 2020. Seining usually involves two people working together to enclose the minnows inside the net to get them all to one side of the tank for easier access to transport, sell, or sort the minnows. Kerry does everything for his business. He's usually a one-man-band, but he employs a couple well-trusted guys, or one of his daughters, that he'll call occasionally to help him on certain trips to the river or marina. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067493709-DWBXD7TT1K4NAC5M4RML/5.jpg The Bait Guy Kerry seines his pond to gather the minnows he kept in the water for the winter on Friday, January 3, 2020. Not only is the job mentally draining, but it's extremely physical as well. A constant cycle of running that break wall in constant search of a running school of minnows, taking the 14-foot-long net and dropping it down into the water and pulling it down the wall, and lifting it back up and over the break wall's railing with the occasional help of the other bait guy standing alongside. Once the minnows stop running or Hoody has enough to fill the tanks on his bait truck, he takes his minnows home and drops them into the tanks in his minnow shed. If he doesn't have the amount he needs, he seines the pond in hopes that will hit the number of gallons he needs to deliver to the stores. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1621783847442-HB3TIX8QJEHUW8XO0D9H/dad+fav+edit.jpg The Bait Guy - Make it stand out Kerry Hoody, commonly known as “the bait guy,” rakes the bottom of the tank with a dipper for dead minnows at his business Huron Live Bait in Imlay City, Michigan on September 20, 2020. “It’s all-day work, nonstop. And at any time of day the minnows could be running down at the river and I’d stop what I was doing and drive the bait truck over there. You always are trying to be one step ahead of the minnows.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067386240-8KDRDR2OX7QCZ0H2CGR6/1.jpg The Bait Guy Kerry, 54, makes a minnow delivery near Romeo, Michigan on Thursday, December 26, 2019. Kerry has worked in the minnow business all his life. After working for a few friends' business during his young adulthood, Kerry decided to open up his own live bait business, Huron Live Bait, in Imlay City, Michigan, where he sells perch bait, crick bait, and walleye bait. Going out for a day of fishing is usually a day meant for relaxing and enjoying yourself out on the water. It's a day to take your mind off of work and everyday life. That day is a lot different for your bait guy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067576568-69ECWF7M8ECFT28KUJAS/7.jpg The Bait Guy Kerry loads up emerald shiners from the in-ground tanks into the tanks on the back of the bait truck at Huron Live Bait in Imlay City on Sunday, February 21, 2021 in preparation for a delivery. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067224098-MHZUGW9GGF7LL1FLZS92/4.jpg The Bait Guy There's a lot of detail to catching, maintaining, and selling minnows. One false move, such as not providing enough oxygen or not getting the water cold enough, and those minnows are dead. Kerry knows all the details from experience, learning from the mistakes in order to improve and be successful. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067655636-TNZ5XLCGWAE9EQ19UPIQ/9.jpg The Bait Guy Kerry takes a break from the job to rest on the couch with his three-week-old granddaughter on his birthday on Saturday, April 3, 2021. Kerry doesn't really get to take many breaks off his job, even though he's his own boss. When the minnows run or when a business calls last-minute to place an order, he knows he has to be there despite what he has going on. On the breaks he does allow himself, Kerry makes the most of it. He catches, delivers, comes back home, and tries to get to bed as soon as possible to do it all over again the next day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1621783847442-HB3TIX8QJEHUW8XO0D9H/dad+fav+edit.jpg The Bait Guy - Make it stand out Kerry Hoody, commonly known as “the bait guy,” rakes the bottom of the tank with a dipper for dead minnows at his business Huron Live Bait in Imlay City, Michigan on September 20, 2020. “It’s all-day work, nonstop. And at any time of day the minnows could be running down at the river and I’d stop what I was doing and drive the bait truck over there. You always are trying to be one step ahead of the minnows.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067456661-UYO8UN1FNOXZBE79UE8P/3.jpg The Bait Guy Kerry asks his youngest daughter, McKena, for help seining one of the tanks on Friday, January 3, 2020. Seining usually involves two people working together to enclose the minnows inside the net to get them all to one side of the tank for easier access to transport, sell, or sort the minnows. Kerry does everything for his business. He's usually a one-man-band, but he employs a couple well-trusted guys, or one of his daughters, that he'll call occasionally to help him on certain trips to the river or marina. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067617002-EC5HTZAOSSR3LH6ZAT7D/8.jpg The Bait Guy A customer pulls in as Kerry loads the truck up with emerald shiners for another delivery on Sunday, February 21, 2021. Bait catchers have to be pretty sneaky about where they find their minnows, and they don't give out information on the businesses they deliver their bait to, either. Knowledge is power here, and if you aren't doing your research and finding out where these minnows are, you're not making any money. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067386240-8KDRDR2OX7QCZ0H2CGR6/1.jpg The Bait Guy Kerry, 54, makes a minnow delivery near Romeo, Michigan on Thursday, December 26, 2019. Kerry has worked in the minnow business all his life. After working for a few friends' business during his young adulthood, Kerry decided to open up his own live bait business, Huron Live Bait, in Imlay City, Michigan, where he sells perch bait, crick bait, and walleye bait. Going out for a day of fishing is usually a day meant for relaxing and enjoying yourself out on the water. It's a day to take your mind off of work and everyday life. That day is a lot different for your bait guy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067540135-23P4TFAEJUR5FFF7KWSN/6.jpg The Bait Guy After seining up the tank, Kerry fills buckets up with minnows and dumps them into the tanks on the truck for delivery on Sunday, February 21, 2021. Most people don't understand how much hard work is put into catching these minnows. An average catching day starts around 2 a.m. for Kerry and doesn't really have a specified clock-out time. He has to figure out when and where the minnows are running, and if they're not there, he's got to find them or try all over again the next morning. It's very hit-or-miss, minnows are very spontaneous and it's hard to figure out their movement patterns. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067655636-TNZ5XLCGWAE9EQ19UPIQ/9.jpg The Bait Guy Kerry takes a break from the job to rest on the couch with his three-week-old granddaughter on his birthday on Saturday, April 3, 2021. Kerry doesn't really get to take many breaks off his job, even though he's his own boss. When the minnows run or when a business calls last-minute to place an order, he knows he has to be there despite what he has going on. On the breaks he does allow himself, Kerry makes the most of it. He catches, delivers, comes back home, and tries to get to bed as soon as possible to do it all over again the next day. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067493709-DWBXD7TT1K4NAC5M4RML/5.jpg The Bait Guy Kerry seines his pond to gather the minnows he kept in the water for the winter on Friday, January 3, 2020. Not only is the job mentally draining, but it's extremely physical as well. A constant cycle of running that break wall in constant search of a running school of minnows, taking the 14-foot-long net and dropping it down into the water and pulling it down the wall, and lifting it back up and over the break wall's railing with the occasional help of the other bait guy standing alongside. Once the minnows stop running or Hoody has enough to fill the tanks on his bait truck, he takes his minnows home and drops them into the tanks in his minnow shed. If he doesn't have the amount he needs, he seines the pond in hopes that will hit the number of gallons he needs to deliver to the stores. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067413154-3G8ANN9P8JGS18Y1XWPL/2.jpg The Bait Guy Kerry has been wholesaling live bait for most of his life. He catches most of his bait during the summer in Port Huron, Michigan under the Blue Water Bridge in the waters of Lake Huron. During the fall and winter, Kerry has to search other bodies of water, like brooks or channels or cricks, to find where the minnows have traveled. There are a few live bait catchers/dealers in the thumb of Michigan near Kerry, and they all compete to find, catch, and sell the minnows. Even if Kerry knows where he's able to catch minnows, there could be another bait guy down there already scooping them up. It's an extremely competitive business. If Kerry's not there to grab them at the right time at the right place, somebody else has already got the minnows in the tank of their truck and driving them home. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067224098-MHZUGW9GGF7LL1FLZS92/4.jpg The Bait Guy There's a lot of detail to catching, maintaining, and selling minnows. One false move, such as not providing enough oxygen or not getting the water cold enough, and those minnows are dead. Kerry knows all the details from experience, learning from the mistakes in order to improve and be successful. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620067576568-69ECWF7M8ECFT28KUJAS/7.jpg The Bait Guy Kerry loads up emerald shiners from the in-ground tanks into the tanks on the back of the bait truck at Huron Live Bait in Imlay City on Sunday, February 21, 2021 in preparation for a delivery. https://lakenhoody.com/credentials daily 0.75 2025-11-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1624461758122-WME3Z43XKKD3KGXIJPHE/DSC_0248.jpg Credentials - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620225504267-097TKOPZCIPQ9NXNDYFP/Laken+Hoody+Defiance.jpg Credentials https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1624461758122-WME3Z43XKKD3KGXIJPHE/DSC_0248.jpg Credentials - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620225504267-097TKOPZCIPQ9NXNDYFP/Laken+Hoody+Defiance.jpg Credentials https://lakenhoody.com/singles daily 1.0 2025-12-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1725028238702-EKKVVKSBN3EE2RHEUHU5/DSC_0952.jpg Singles - Red Raiders (Copy) Red Raiders The Red Raiders Marching Band kicks off their 2024 marching season with a week long band camp featuring music under the theme “Dancing Through Time.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1725030868754-1JA3AWOF1VDN0V9C8L8J/image-asset.jpeg Singles - Streets of San Felipe Ayutla (Copy) Streets of San Felipe Ayutla A young man herds his cattle down a rural street in San Felipe Ayutla, Puebla, Mexico. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1612918774841-PQNAGQH2RVAU6WHG4G7I/dad+fav+edit.jpg Singles - The Bait Guy (Copy) The Bait Guy Kerry Hoody, commonly known as “the bait guy,” rakes the bottom of the tank with a dipper for dead minnows at his business Huron Live Bait in Imlay City, Michigan on September 20, 2020. “It’s all-day work, nonstop. And at any time of day the minnows could be running down at the river and I’d stop what I was doing and drive the bait truck over there. You always are trying to be one step ahead of the minnows.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1725027536031-1YK62D6PMCV7P6ABEPXT/image-asset.jpeg Singles - Color Guard - Weapons of Mass Destruction (Copy) Color Guard - Weapons of Mass Destruction The Red Raiders Marching Band kicks off their 2024 marching season with a week long band camp featuring music under the theme “Dancing Through Time.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1624396674719-ERQC9IWMDEZIYX7T7WVN/image-asset.jpeg Singles - The Shiners (Copy) The Shiners Emerald shiners caught from the waters of Lake Huron try to create a current while inside of a seine in the tanks of Huron Live Bait in Imlay City, Michigan on Tuesday, June 8, 2021. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1725028794612-1G5906JPE6PZFTXGWDID/image-asset.jpeg Singles - Voladores de Papantla (Copy) Voladores de Papantla Within the markets of Cholula, the Los Voladores de Papantla - an ancient Mesoamerican ritual belonging to the Totonac indigenous group from the regions of Papantla in Veracruz and other parts of central Mexico - is performed for all to see. This display of cultural heritage begins with five or so people climbing a 90-foot-tall pole. They prepare for the main event at the top, four of them tying rope around their waist while one or two remain at the top center playing handmade wooden instruments such as the flute and a drum. They begin spinning on the wooden square platform, and the four dive off off headfirst down with their arms spread free, soaring through the air as they cascade slowly to the ground below. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1641416131532-JDGUD8C1T1H5Q7KH8FZK/image-asset.jpeg Singles - The Figure 8 Derby (Copy) The Figure 8 Derby The Eastern Michigan State Fair hosts a derby every night for the last week of July of 2021 in Imlay City, Michigan. Unlike the traditional demo, the Figure 8 Demolition Derby Race is about your ability to outthink and out-maneuver the other drivers, while being the first to complete the required laps. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620142000974-01K9J5CEX587ZMYP7SED/image-asset.jpeg Singles - U HONK WE DRINK (Copy) U HONK WE DRINK Keeping themselves within COVID-19’s and Central Michigan University’s new safety regulations, the house at the corner of Washington and Bellows Street steps out to their porch for the night with beers tapped to their hands in anticipation for honking drivers in Mount Pleasant, Michigan on Friday, September 25, 2020. Setting out their homemade “U Honk We Drink” sign, the household of guys received several honks every other minute, toasting to the honking cars and taking a swig from their easily-accessible drinks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1612918733200-2YVVCNETS70RSY0ZZU4U/Laken+Hoody+Defiance.jpg Singles - The Intersection of the Left and Right (Copy) The Intersection of the Left and Right A Trump supporter, left, veers from his intended path toward President Trump to angrily approach the Trump protesters before getting stopped dead in his tracks by a protester, right, who caught him right in time to stop a fight in Freeland, Michigan on September 10, 2020. https://lakenhoody.com/star-lake-photo-studio daily 0.75 2025-12-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1725027536031-1YK62D6PMCV7P6ABEPXT/DSC_0935.jpg Star Lake Photo Studio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/cfc03c95-675a-4a33-818f-b67ec0312817/DSC_0670.JPG Star Lake Photo Studio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1725028238702-EKKVVKSBN3EE2RHEUHU5/DSC_0952.jpg Star Lake Photo Studio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1641416131532-JDGUD8C1T1H5Q7KH8FZK/DSC_0614.jpg Star Lake Photo Studio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/81dab376-d87c-44c9-acf2-5d867b0e06e0/DSC_0079.JPG Star Lake Photo Studio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/c591d884-bec7-47c7-9918-f9388065f451/DSC_0386.jpg Star Lake Photo Studio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1620072477597-U5XHAAEJSILCYJNBLTQS/DSC_0532.jpg Star Lake Photo Studio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/52c2eb2f-547c-454f-99e0-b9d3ce577879/DSC_0089.JPG Star Lake Photo Studio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/1628537417071-8HW39VAZD1A8RCPCPGSA/DSC_0039.jpg Star Lake Photo Studio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/40a36948-d599-4277-ba2a-1fec664be9af/DSC_0886.JPG Star Lake Photo Studio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/32ca97be-f592-4638-995a-2c4faf0590da/DSC_0515.JPG Star Lake Photo Studio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fda87d619eebc7e0247e963/ae302cd7-11f3-4be0-ab86-ecd07528a14c/DSC_0646.JPG Star Lake Photo Studio