A long-awaited wine tasting room, which also features small plates and seasonal dinners in downtown Suttons Bay, opened Sept. 1. Gilchrist’s tasting room will offer a selection of whites, reds, and frozen beverages. In addition to their wine menu, Gilchrist’s culinary team has developed a seasonal menu of 7-9 small plates that will rotate with the seasons and highlight local produce with a balance of creativity and simplicity.
Shady Lane Cellars plans to celebrate the harvest season in Suttons Bay style. This year, the estate winery will welcome crowds to a Celebrate Harvest Pig Roast on Sunday, Oct. 1, from 2-6 pm. Chef Larry Burdek of Traverse City’s Chef’s Pride Catering will prepare a succulent roasted pig and serve a full menu made to pair with Shady Lane Cellars wines. The estate winery’s 150 acres of rolling hills will serve as a backdrop to live music and the high-octane rockabilly sounds of Delilah DeWylde.
The Mill in Glen Arbor will launch its long anticipated restaurant this fall in the historic Braemmer flour mill on the Crystal River. The Mill announced its Supper Club on Instagram today with 12 dates between mid-October and mid-December. According to Kelsey Duda, owner of Fernhaus Studios, which manages The Mill, supper club tickets will start at $75 per person.
John Houdek arrived in the Leelanau area in the 1860s with wife Barbara and brother Wenzel, all from Bohemia, writes Rebecca Carlson in the latest installment in her series about the legacy of Leelanau farming families. The brothers settled and homesteaded in the area north of Leland and south of the Gills Pier Saw Mill, owning around 400 acres of land, according to the 1880 plat map. The farms and acreage of these two brothers got passed down through the next three generations. John and his wife Barbara were parents to nine children who became integral parts to the family farm and Gills Pier community.
Poppy flowers look so fragile, with flame-colored, papery petals held high on wiry stems. Yet these bold beauties are surprisingly resilient as well, returning each spring to delight the eye in garden and field. Just so with Poppy Things, the brand and eponymous boutique, which will be celebrating four years in Suttons Bay this autumn. Chelsey Sawallich Skowronski, creator of Poppy Things, knew she wanted to be an artist from a young age. She describes her delighted discovery at age 12 of an abandoned farmhouse near her family’s Centerville Township farm: “I had never seen poppies before; they were glowing against the weathered siding. From [then on], I knew. It’s something I’ve always loved.”
A fundraising event is planned for long-time local non-profit Row-by-Row (formerly Buckets of Rain) at Broomstack Kitchen & Taphouse in Maple City on Sunday, Sept. 24. Festivities run from 3 to 6 pm and include food, a silent auction, live music by the Dune Brothers and a tribute to the music of Gordon Lightfoot by Paul Koss, Patrick Niemisto and Chris Skellenger. Row-by-Row has been involved in food security in northern Michigan, Detroit, Guatemala, and several parts of Africa since 2007. The majority of their efforts in recent years focus on providing fresh, locally grown vegetables to area pantries and shelters via Northern Michigan Food Rescue.
On Tuesday, Sept. 19, at 1pm, the Leland Township Public Library will host Heather Smith, waterkeeper at the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay, for a program called “Microplastics in the Great Lakes.” Plastic is the most prevalent type of marine debris found in our oceans and Great Lakes. Plastic debris can come in all shapes and sizes, but those that are less than five millimeters in length (or about the size of a sesame seed) are called “microplastics.”
Peninsula Housing, the Leelanau County-based community land trust, has announced the acquisition of a duplex rental property on St. Joseph St. in Lake Leelanau, purchased with the help of a loan from Housing North as part of a pilot rental preservation program. The tenants will be able to remain at their present below market rates, even though Peninsula Housing paid market price for the property.
Update: Chris Yahanda and William Wright’s film Troubled Water, about their 36-day, 425-mile standup paddleboard journey from Mackinac Island to Lansing, will premier on Friday, Feb. 15, at the City Opera House in Traverse City. Click here for tickets and information. From staff reports Childhood friends William Wright and Chris Yahanda wanted to do their […]
Ann Arbor fiber artist Susan Moran will use her Glen Arbor Arts Center residency to begin a body of work “specifically inspired” by Leelanau County. Using photographs and sketches of mosses, fungi, and rock surfaces, Moran plans to create a series of hand-dyed, printed and stitched textile collages. She will talk about her project during a public presentation on Sept. 22 at noon, at the Glen Arbor Arts Center. The presentation is free. Click here to learn more about this and other upcoming GAAC events.