This is Ethan Vance’s last year as a 4-H’er. “I went out with a bang,” he said. Indeed he did.

For 16-year-old Crystal resident Krysti Jolley and her American quarterhorse Ralph, participating in the Montcalm County 4-H Fair’s showmanship contest Monday was a surprise. “I was like, ‘Wait, what?’” Jolly said. “I need to do what?” Jolley found out the night before the event it was required for her at the Montcalm County 4-H Fair.

Carson City Hospital and Carson City Police Department have formed a unique collaboration to provide a better law enforcement presence after City Hall closes at 5 p.m. The Community Policing Partnership, which begins in June, is designed to assist the city and hospital at the same time.

The sound of a gobble builds anticipation for the hunter seeking the gobbler with his strutting posture and red, white and blue head. The hunter needs to be stealthy, clever, persistent and patient.

It was a windy and sometimes wet occasion at the 40th annual Frontier Days in Carson City this past weekend, but that didn’t stop people from attending and enjoying the local festival, all the way up until a fabulous fireworks show Saturday night. For 5-year-old Corin Medler of Fenwick, the evening fireworks were the moment she had been waiting for.

Entering two-by-two, dressed in royal blue and silver robes, it was evident just how excited the class of 2012 was to graduate from Carson City-Crystal High School when Nathan LaVictor scooped up fellow graduate and best friend Shelby Kipp in his arms and carried her to their seats before sitting down. The two were part of 77 anxious seniors who walked through the doors of the school gymnasium one final time before becoming official graduates of Carson City-Crystal High School.

Sixteen hot air balloons will float into town May 31, bringing the 40th annual Frontier Days celebration with them. Frontier Days is scheduled for May 30-June 3 in Carson City.

When he was just a young boy, Logan McClintic used to wait anxiously for his grandfather to buy him his next Lego set so he could put his imagination to work and build whatever flying devices popped into his mind. Today, the Carson City-Crystal High School senior still has those visions of building things that can fly, but rather than playfully build on those ideas with a children’s toy, he will pursue his dreams to design and work on aircraft as an aerospace engineering student at the University of Michigan this autumn.

Four Greenville and Belding foreign exchange students who attend Grattan Academy were at Carson City Hospital on May 21, learning about da Vinci in the surgical ward. However, the students were not learning about the legendary inventor. These students got the hands on experience of the da Vinci Surgical System, a robotic surgical device, which is designed to facilitate complex surgery using a minimally invasive approach.

The Carson City Council learned Tuesday that its water utility earned the Water Utility of the Year award from the Michigan Rural Water Association. Tim Neumann, executive director of the Michigan Rural Water Association, presented the award to the city council during its regular meeting.