Ponder Coffee Company Hosts Open Mic Night

Story and photos by Audriana Chenoweth

Ponder Coffee Company hosted their first of many consistent open mic nights thanks to Central Michigan University alumna Josh Stutsman.

Ponder has hosted fundraiser open mic events previously. Ponder Coffee Company owner Aaron Crowmar has wanted to expand on those events for the community.

“We want to be a place where people can come explore their talents and skill set,” said Cromar. “Josh is really the guy to make that happen for us and bringing musicians and the community together like this.”

Stutsman and Cromar created this event series in order to allow students and community members to feel open and free to share what they want to do in a low stress environment.

As a college student Stutsman enjoyed going to open mic events at coffee shops but realized there is now a lack of those events unless they are at a bar.

“Open mics were my favorite thing to go to, but now you only hear about them at a bar which restricts people from going because of age,” Stutsman said. “I wanted to have a place with no age restrictions at all and people could just come here and enjoy.”

One performer heard about the event through Stutsman who was once her teacher in high school.

“This was my first open mic night,” said Egan Daugherty. “It was really cool to say this is how I feel, and everyone was just okay with it.”

Any performance type whether singing, poetry, comedy and more is all welcome at the Ponder open mic nights.

Stutsman and Cromar plan to continue these events on the last Thursday of every month letting it gain some traction before potentially increasing it to twice a month in the fall.