Traverse City painter Royce Deans exhibits a new body of working that offers a glimpse into his ongoing relationship with the Leelanau landscape Aug. 31-Sept. 13 at Center Gallery, 6023 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor. An artist’s reception to open the show is Friday, Aug. 31 from 6 p.m. until sundown in the gallery.
After a year’s hiatus for construction, the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s (GAAC) Artist-in-Residence program resumed in May 2018. This program of working residencies was established in the 1990s, and now attracts applicants from throughout the United States. Kathleen Kalinowski is one of seven artists selected in 2018. She will create drawings and paintings based on the themes of “nocturne” and “memory” in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore during her two-week residency.
Empire Area Community Center revives popular annual event. The Labor Day Bridge Walk over the Glen Lake Narrows bridge (M-22, south of Glen Arbor) will be held at noon on Monday, Sept. 3.
The planning and design work for the next section of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail—between County Roads 669 and 651—has begun. There will be a public open house on Wednesday, Aug. 29, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Cleveland Township Hall, 955 W. Harbor Highway (M-22 between Bass Lake and Little Traverse Lake).
The 20th annual walk across the mighty Leland Bridge in honor of Labor Day will take place on Monday, Sept. 3, at noon. Leland residents, family and friends will begin gathering at 11:30 a.m. in the parking lot behind the Blue Bird in preparation for the historic walk.
Adirondack chairs painted by local artists and sponsored by local businesses have been on display around Glen Arbor this summer. This “ARTirondack Chair Event” is a new fundraiser for the Glen Lake Chamber of Commerce, a 501c organization, to help continue to represent and promote the region.
Andy Fles, the vineyard manager at Shady Lane, and a team of workers hedge the vines and pull leaves around the fruit clusters to give them more exposure to the sun. August is the veraison, or the onset of ripening, when the grape berries change their colors.
Lee Jameson, facility manager at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, retired on Aug. 3 after 41 years with the National Park Service (NPS)—nearly 24 of them at the National Lakeshore. Jameson, a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources Forestry, worked one summer for the Washington State Department of Fisheries before landing a seasonal laborer position with Sleeping Bear Dunes in 1978 restoring the lighthouse complex.
In its fifth decade serving the community, Leelanau Books has reopened after new owners and management completed a major renovation including the addition of a “Back Porch” family activity center at its location on Main St in Leland.
I’m ashamed of the neglect for one of Glen Arbor’s most impressive landmarks. A historic monument to the areas pioneer past that stands in quiet solitude and stark decay. The lack of concern and care for the Glen Arbor Mill now appears to only welcome vandalism and fire, rather than an opportunity to preserve the old for the new. The Glen Arbor mill, once the heart of a community, deserves better.