Entries by editor

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Solstice half marathon circumnavigates Big Glen Lake

Endurance Evolution puts on some of the best races in northern Michigan. This year, the USATF-certified Glen Arbor Solstice Half Marathon and 5k takes place on June 17. The half marathon starts at 7 a.m. and the 5k starts 10 minutes later. As you may have guessed, this annual event takes place right around the summer solstice. The solstice marks the onset of summer, one of the jolliest times of the year in Northern Michigan. Running a race in Glen Arbor is the perfect way to kick off the start of this long-awaited season.

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Larry Bruckner: Cedar’s volunteer behind Polka Fest

If you’ve ever wondered how the Cedar Polka Fest, a Cedar Chamber of Commerce event that attracts as many as 8,000 people over four days, is organized, look no further than the community — and to volunteers such as 82-year-old Larry Bruckner. “Mr. B,” as he is often called, a Cedar Chamber of Commerce member, has been volunteering with the Polka Fest for at least 15 years, by his estimate. “I haven’t worked since the beginning of the festival,” he said. “That was in 1975. The first few festivals were for the community to get together and raise a little hell,” he added. “But then we were getting so many people that it had to be more organized.”

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Sleeping Bear offers barn restoration workshop

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will again be hosting its successful barn restoration workshop June 19-24 at the Frederick Dechow Barn four miles north of Glen Arbor on M-22. This year marks the 21st year that the National Lakeshore has hosted and developed this series of “hands-on” workshops which started in 1997. The park maintenance staff is providing the skilled labor to put on this workshop.

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With drowning deaths on the rise, Park increases water safety awareness

Last June 22, before Scott Tucker had finished his first week as the new superintendent at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, a vacationer drowned while snorkeling in Loon Lake near the Platte River. Two weeks later, an 81-year-old man from southeast Michigan perished in Big Glen Lake when his boat drifted away while he was swimming. And on Sept. 5, a 21-year-old died when his kayak capsized near Platte Bay in Lake Michigan waters. Three drowning deaths in or near our National Lakeshore.

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ShareCare at Red Schoolhouse

ShareCare of Leelanau will host an afternoon of Music, Wine and Cheese on Friday, June 16 from 4- 6 p.m. at the historic Red Schoolhouse on M-22 (962 E. Harbor Hwy., Cedar). Music will be provided by the Abbott Brothers and a tour of the schoolhouse will be given. Everyone is welcome.

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Op-Ed: Glen Lake School Board should choose grass over turf field

The Glen Lake School Board has a tough decision to make. The current stadium grass was improperly installed 20 years ago, causing potential injuries to athletes and limiting usage due to lack of drainage. Options on the table for the June 12 meeting are essentially to properly install new grass or go with artificial turf.

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Nicholas Amato of Suttons Bay makes last minute charge to win M22 Challenge

More than 900 athletes came out to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore early Saturday morning to participate in the ninth annual M22 Challenge. Nicholas Amato, 20, of Suttons Bay, was the first in the men’s group to cross the finish line at a time of 1:15:06, with Jamie Endicott, 24, of Oak Park, securing the top honor among the women with a time of 1:26:46.

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Tom Fordyce reaches 36 years of Cabin Fever

When you greet Glen Arbor’s ubiquitous cottage remodeler, musician, and leader of the Cabin Fever Band, he holds out a polished rock. It is probably a Lake Superior agate with a brilliant center full of wispy clouds surrounded by concentric rings of layered complexity in a warm colorful glow. You soon realize that the character of Tom Fordyce is just the same.

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Millennials in Leelanau seek a place to call home

“So like, what do you guys do out there?” We get this question a lot, often loaded with presumptions of who we are and what we like to do. Which is fair. Let me be clear, my wife and I, a young married couple in our mid-20s, are outliers.

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Splash into Summer at the Sleeping Bear Dunes Water Adventure Expo

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is partnering with area government agencies and private organizations to host a free water adventure expo on Saturday, June 17, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Platte Point at the end of Lake Michigan Road.

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