Some refuse to wear protective face masks in businesses, restaurants and airplanes—despite the Coronavirus and the effectiveness of masks in preventing the pandemic’s spread. They view mask requirements as an affront to their personal freedom, or they don’t take the COVID threat seriously.
Tina Greene-Bevington, owner of Bay Books in Suttons Bay, spun into gear even before the official shut down began. With family and friends all over the world, she had been following the COVID-19 stories avidly. Closing her shop doors on March 10, she put out the word via social media that she would take requests and orders by phone, preparing personalized book bags for a contactless pick-up from the front stoop of her village shop, or during the road work down St. Joseph, in the alley behind the shop.
No parades. No concerts. No fireworks in Leelanau County. This will be a quiet Fourth of July, a time to reflect on our nation, how we’re handling the current pandemic, and where we’re headed. But the Coronavirus hasn’t sacked all local Independence Day traditions. Even though we won’t do so in groups, on Saturday, the flag will be raised, and the Declaration of Independence will be celebrated.
Leland Gal Maggie Revel Mielczarek will temporarily move her creative fabrics and designer thread shop from Fishtown to the corner of River & Main in the heart of Leland. The new open-air market, dubbed “Leland Gal Under the Arbor” is the result of support from Benjamin Maier Ceramics and Dawn Fisher of River & Main. Mielczarek will set up and tear down each day and remain open daily from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., except when it rains.
Discovery of a 70-year-old glitch in deeds reveals that the National Park does not own the Glen Arbor Township Cemetery; Glen Arbor does. This marks a major turning point in what had been a growing list of massive indignities regarding the site—lost grave markers and lost records, resulting in lost names, then obliteration by a massive storm.
Glen Lake Community Schools held a belated high school graduation ceremony on Saturday, June 27, for 56 graduates. We spoke with graduate Margot Hazael-Massieux, whose parents Guillaume and Brooke own La Bêcasse restaurant, about what it was like to lose the last three months of her high school experience, how she dealt with social distancing, and what’s next for the fall.
Have you ever dissected a baby goat? Ever had a music teacher tell you to get your instrument ready and then to hit the mute button? Then you missed this spring’s virtual zoom lessons at the Leelanau School, the private boarding school located just north of Glen Arbor. Two of its teachers, Bruce (science and pottery) and Laura (music and senior seminar) Hood used their resilience as long time hands-on experiential educators to do the sudden switcheroo required of all teachers in March to teach on a screen. “Leelanau School is about establishing a relationship with each student,” Bruce explains.
We’re home. We’re self-quarantining ourselves. We’re practicing social distancing. The restaurants and bars are closed. Crowds no longer gather. What better way to spend these pandemic days than to read books newly published by Leelanau authors? Here’s a roundup of local books, or books by local authors, in 2020:
A series of coincidences culminated in an unexpected field trip for two Glen Lake eighth graders on June 9. The boys had been researching Civil War veteran Edmund Trumbull, who is buried at the Glen Arbor Township Cemetery. In late May, they learned that the veteran’s home is currently owned by Lakers basketball coach Don Miller and his wife, Sandy. The two are students of Melissa Okerlund, who teaches history in Miller’s old classroom. Okerlund arranged for them to visit the house in early June, where they met Trumbull descendant Dede DeWitt deManigold, a former student of Miller’s.
The restaurants are open for outside dining, the visitors are returning, and around Leelanau the dunes are alive with the sound of music. Several venues, from restaurants to bars to wineries, are offering live music in our area this summer. They include, in Glen Arbor, Boonedocks, Cherry Public House, M22 Wine, Glen Arbor Wines, and Whiskers at The Homestead, and elsewhere in the County, Hop Lot, Rove Estate, and Little Traverse Inn. Here are some of the wheres, whats, and who’s playins’.