The Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department reported 51 new COVID-19 cases in Leelanau County on Tuesday, Jan. 4. In Benzie County, 31 new cases were reported. Both represent single-day records. The previous high was set on Nov. 12 when Leelanau recorded 37 and Benzie recorded 29 cases.
You sit down with this wild-bearded, twinkly-eyed man at a table full of colored pencils and ornate coloring sheets that he created. You’re not sure why you’re here, except for feeling nostalgic for simpler times when you were just a worry-free kid. Soon, you’re pouring your heart out to Grandfather Color as you scribble, finding joy and solace through the creativity of color. Grandfather Color, otherwise known as Richard Stocker, is the facilitator behind myriad efforts to heal the world, person by person, by guiding them through their healing process using color. He is also the facilitator of the new “Get Well World” and “Color COVID Away campaigns that are just unrolling across Leelanau, Benzie and Grand Traverse counties.
Here’s a roundup of the Glen Arbor Sun’s coverage of workforce and affordable housing issues in Leelanau County.
Happy New Year! Onward to 2022. But first, let’s take a look back at our top 10 most read online stories in the Glen Arbor Sun in 2021. The highlights were fires and good samaritans who sounded the alarm, preserving the Crystal River and an iconic Leelanau County barn, profiles on Leelanau daughter Martha Teichner and the Reay family who lost their son to mental illness, a lament for Oxford, Michigan, and our coverage of the Grist Mill on the Crystal River and the referendum on its zoning. Thanks for reading.
As the clock ticks down on 2021, it’s time to recognize a few Leelanau County “influencers” we’ve covered in the Glen Arbor Sun this year who have made important impacts on local news, culture, business and the arts. The influencers of 2021 include public health workers, Turner Booth and LOGA, Crystal River Outfitters and Riverfront Pizza, Lake Street Studios, a Good Samaritan from Ohio, Grocers Daughter Chocolate, LivelyLands, Cedar River Coffee, Habitat for Humanity in Maple City, Nittolo’s Pizza, the North Manitou Light Keepers, new owners of Leelanau Cheese, Northport beach protectors, and the Leelanau Commissioners who saved funding for early-childhood services.
Nestled in the rolling hills of Leelanau County, home to many family farms and homes, you’ll find the unique feed store, Hillside Market. It’s a well-stocked, close to home kind of place for our animal friends and their human parents to peruse. The store holds a plethora of live-stock feed, pet foods, straw and hay, and other pertinent supplies. But even more, Hillside carries unique hand-picked by the owner toys and treats for cats and dogs, and an abundance of supplies for the horse, bird and other animal lovers and farm folks among us.
Leelanau Fiber moved in early November to its new and larger Suttons Bay location in the space on M-22 previously occupied by Cherry Country Quilters, which went out of business. The fiber shop was previously located behind Bayside Coffee.
Aaron Uherek’s Nov. 4 photo at Tucker Lake near the mouth of the Crystal River captures leaves falling down like rain. “We woke up to this snow and rushed here to get some photos in the morning before it melted,” he said.
“What if we have lived, not just this lifetime, but millions since the earth began? Was I a leaf in a past life? What if we are truly part of everything that lives? Is it possible that there is no boundary between us and the world?” writes Kathleen Stocking in her latest essay. “When times are hard, like during a plague, sometimes people regress. What would late science teacher Mr. Bolton think of people taking horse de-wormer to protect them against the COVID?” Phil Deering, who has a small hobby farm, can’t get horse de-wormer for his animals. “Now they’re hiding it behind the counter,” he says, “So people who need it for their animals can still get it.”
In Rosie’s kitchen, there are no recipes, no measuring cups or spoons or scales. Ask Rosie how long it takes to make, say, her saag paneer (spinach with cheese), she will answer two to three hours. But more accurate is a lifetime: a lifetime of learning Indian cuisine, a lifetime of devotion to it. In Leelanau County, for people who love food, Rosie is like Oprah. Her first name is enough. Born and educated in India, she has become the queen of authentic ethnic food in a county with very few Indian residents or tourists. But her cuisine is beloved, all of it prepared from scratch in a tiny old kitchen at the back of N.J.’s Grocery in Lake Leelanau and sold from a cooler near the store’s single check-out lane.