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EDWARDSBURG – The Edwardsburg Area History Museum recently announced the speakers for its 2021 speaker series. All events will take place at the museum, 26818 Main St., Edwardsburg.

The museum will have three different speakers all with ties to Edwardsburg — a retired home economics teacher turned food service director, a fish and tackle business owner and a fishing guide in Alaska.

7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 10 — Elizabeth Westfall Thompson

A 1956 Edwardsburg High School graduate and Edwardsburg Hall of Fame inductee, Thompson will give an oral history of growing up in Edwardsburg. She and her husband, Larry, who died in 2018, jointly received the Hall of Fame’s Lifetime Award from Edwardsburg Public Schools in 2016.

Thompson put her degree in home economics to use and taught for 35 years, both at Sand Creek high School and the Allegan County Area Vocational Technical Center. As a dietitian, she also ran a catering business and worked as a food service director. She earned several state awards for her work in the Future Homemakers of the America and the vocational Industrial Clubs of America. She lives in Saugatuck.

7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16, 7 p.m. — Darrin Schaap

Schaap, the owner of Clear H2o Tackle in Edwardsburg, is also a columnist for the “Edwardsburg Voice.” He will focus on the changing technology in the world of fishing, as well as how to use different lures for different fish.

He graduated from Edwardsburg High School in 1995 and earned his business administration degree from Central Michigan University. He managed Brett’s Place on the Bay in Benton Harbor for five years.

His is the first of two presentations that complement the seasonal display, “Hooked on Fishing.”

7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21 — Jeff Duck

Jeff Duck has the fisherman’s dream job. The Edwardsburg native has been a professional fishing guide out of Port Alsworth, Alaska for nearly 20 years. He will share highlights of his work as part of the “Hooked on Fishing” photo display coming to the museum. He will speak on the similarities between fishing in Michigan and Alaska and share photos of his experiences.

No amateur before the camera, Duck was a part of a documentary by the Discovery Channel, has appeared in an episode of “River Monsters” and can be seen in professional videos on fishing for northern pike and rainbow trout. He heads tours for individuals as well as professional photographers in day trips in the Bristol Bay Region, an area covering thousands of miles south of Anchorage. While his focus is on five species of salmon, northern pike, rainbow and lake trout, steelhead and the graying, he also conducts tours of glaciers and volcanoes.