Entries by editor

Anishinaabeg Like Me: Voices from People of Color in Leelanau County

Samantha and Aaron TwoCrow are rising leaders in the Native American community in Leelanau County, based in Peshawbestown. Samantha, the Indian Education Director at Suttons Bay Public Schools, inherits the scars her mother suffered at an Indian boarding school, and that inspired her to pursue education. Her husband Aaron, who recently ran for a seat on the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians’ Tribal Council, contrasts the dominant narrative that we learn as white Americans with the historical trauma suffered by Native peoples. This series is inspired by the #BlackLivesMatter movement, which is provoking conversations nationwide about racial inequities. Read other stories by and about people of color and how they are treated here in Leelanau County, including profiles on African-American Marshall Collins, Jr., Mexican-American Bea Cruz, and second-generation Iranian-American Cyrus Ghaemi.

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Five Years After the Storm: Making Positive Out of Negative

They remember it like yesterday: August 2, 2015. The Pryors were in their summer home in the Woodstone neighborhood of Glen Arbor. “Around 4 p.m. it got super dark,” Zach recalls, “dark as night. There was deep thunder but no lightning. Then the wind hit. We heard the cracking of trees going down in our front yard.”

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Brewing (again) in Northport

Many places are struggling to stay open these days, and some of our small towns and businesses are having to adjust to make things work. At the tip of the peninsula, Northport has a strong local community, and has been able to stay thriving during these difficult times. In Northport, a great example of “making it work” is the Mitten Brewing Company. They’ve been able to open safely, and provide for the local community. We caught up with taproom manager, Dan Frank, to get an update on what they’re doing to keep the taps open in Northport.

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Baseball is Back (… kind of)

Diehard Detroit Tiger fans Tim Sutherland (l) and Jack Lane (r) showed up at Comerica Park for the home opener on July 27, but of course were unable to get inside the ballpark. Major League Baseball is playing—for now at least—in front of empty stadiums to mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus.

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Glen Arbor Arts Center features outdoor arts double header

The Glen Arbor Arts Center has two upcoming, outdoor arts events. A public celebration and dedication of the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s new Outdoor Gallery are July 30, 5:30–8 pm. “Who owns the water?” People? Communities? Corporations? Nobody? That question is the basis for the July 31 Words For Water open-air poetry throw-down at the Glen Arbor Arts Center. This event is offered in collaboration with FLOW [For Love Of Water].

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COVID community outreach, teen-style

In early July tourists were swarming Leelanau County, large crowds were gathering, COVID-19 cases were rising—particularly among teenagers and 20-somethings—and the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department needed help. Up stepped Leland resident Johnston Mitchell, who has a communications background and two teenage daughters. Mitchell suggested that the health department develop a “Teen Toolkit” and he contacted area high schools to find volunteers. His daughter Helene, who just graduated from Leland High School and will study at the University of Michigan this fall, designed four posters and wrote teen-friendly copy for them.

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Walling Off Water?

Storm Hill lakefront property owners just south of Empire’s public beach are paying the price for record-high Lake Michigan water levels. The association has applied for permits from the Michigan Department of the Environment, Great Lakes & Energy and from the federal Army Corps of Engineers to build steel and rock “riprap” walls to prevent bluff erosion and keep out the water.

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Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore resumes collection of entrance fees

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will resume the collection of entrance fees beginning Saturday, July 25. The $25 park entrance pass allows everyone riding in a private vehicle to recreate in the National Lakeshore for seven days.

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Michigan’s Region 6 remains at “medium” COVID risk level; health officials request testing resources from Governor

The following is yesterday’s (July 22) public health statement from Lisa Peacock, health officer with the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department.

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Leelanau’s Storyteller Scott Craig is laughing

Great storytellers are born and made. Scott Craig of Leland exemplifies this maxim. “I grew up in the home of a professor of speech and drama,” Scott remembers about his father. “He was an excellent actor and fine director who graduated college in 1929 in the dark days of the Great Depression. He acted in summer stock with the Gish sisters, Lillian and Dorothy, and directed at the Phoenix Theater in New York City. So our home was a mecca for theater people.” As a teenager Scott remembers coming home from school one day to change into his baseball togs only to find the famous British stage and film actor Charles Laughton there reading to his brother. Scott’s father brought Thornton Wilder to Wooster College and directed him in Our Town. “Performance and storytelling permeated our home,” Scott continues. “Dad was a popular after-dinner speaker at things like Rotary Club meetings and annual dinners. He had his canned speeches, one of which was called Why We Laugh! He had a string of jokes.”

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