Chocolate making is an incredible journey. For Grocer’s Daughter this journey starts in Ecuador. Near the small town of Calceta, in western Ecuador, sits the Fortaleza Del Valle cocoa cooperative. Nearly 900 small, family cacao farms rely on the cooperative to obtain expensive Fair Trade and Organic certifications, carefully process their beans and ensure that they will be sold for a fair, living wage.
The ninth annual Plein Air Weekend is August 2-5 in Glen Arbor. The event, a project of the Glen Arbor Art Association (GAAA), offers a weekend of painting events for artists, that culminates in two exhibitions.
Indie folk guitarist Jetty Rae makes her first appearance on the Glen Arbor Art Association’s Manitou Music Festival Studio Stage on Sunday, July 30, 8 p.m. Studio Stage is located behind Lake Street Studios, 6023 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will celebrate its second ever Astronomy Day at the Dune Climb. The event will take place on Saturday, July 29. All astronomy events are free with a park pass.
An exhibition of painter Amy Gamble’s deep visual dive into the garden is on display July 28- August 3 at Center Gallery, 6023 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor. An artist’s reception is Friday, July 28, 6-8 p.m.
Tom and Phyl Davis have been part of the Glen Lake community since the 1950s. It started with a cottage on Big Glen Lake. Each year the then young family spent summer vacations in a rented cottage that was part of Peppler Glen View Resort near Old Settlers Picnic Grounds. Their three boys learned how to sail and waterski, honed their swimming skills, and fished to enjoy occasional family fish fries featuring the day’s catch.
Most races take place on Saturdays and Sundays, but the annual Glen Arbor Running Bear 5k Run/Walk happens on Tuesday, July 25, at 9 a.m. The kids’ ½ mile run starts 5 minutes later at 9:05 a.m. This event takes place rain or shine, so come prepared!
I heat with wood. Most of us up here do. Wood is still cheaper than any other fuel, and it’s available. Some of us cut our own wood, but to do that you have to have a woodlot, a truck, a saw in good condition, and time. My husband and I cut our own wood one winter, but in retrospect it seems like that’s all we did.
JoAnne Cook of the Grand Traverse Band will speak on the “History of the Odawa Anishinabek people from the Grand Traverse Region” on Tuesday, July 25, at 4:30 p.m. at the Leelanau Historical Society’s Norbert Gits Family Gallery (inside the museum), located at 203 E. Cedar Street in Leland.
Paintings of Leelanau County’s land and water—as processed through the imagination of Grand Rapids artist Margo Burian—are on display July 21-27 at Center Gallery, 6023 S. Lake St. in Glen Arbor. A public reception opens this 10th anniversary show on July 21 at 6 p.m.