M-22 is a scenic road that hugs the Lake Michigan shoreline, it’s the namesake of a triathlon, it’s an apparel brand, and apparently also a hot commodity for thieves. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) says it has replaced approximately 90 M-22 road signs in the past three years.
Once again, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is conducting an artwork contest to select an image for the front of the park’s 2017 Annual Park Entrance Pass. The focus of the contest centers around the Every Kid in a Park program, which has the central goal of connecting fourth graders with the great outdoors and inspiring them to become future environmental stewards, ready to preserve and protect national parks and other public lands for years to come. For this reason, the art contest is open to anyone 12 years of age or younger.
The Glen Arbor Art Association invites artists to submit original paintings for the annual Manitou Music Festival poster competition. Deadline for the 2017 poster competition is October 1. The limited edition posters are hugely popular and sold through the art association and selected shops and art galleries. Competition is open to anyone who is a current member of the Glen Arbor Art Association. Subject matter must be appropriate to the Manitou Music Festival. That is, work that represents recognizable area scenes. All artwork must be original and previously unpublished. There is no entry fee. Detailed guidelines and a submission form is available at GlenArborArt.org.
Let’s dispel the rumor right away. Deering’s Market in Empire is not closing. It’s 11 a.m. on a Wednesday in July, and Deering’s Market owner Phil Deering is taking chicken out of the fryer, getting things ready for the lunch crowd. The man is working hard. “It’s the way it is,” he comments. “Ya gotta make it in 90 days.” He dumps the chicken into a large metal bin lined with red and white checked paper.
At the age of 18, musician Luke Woltanski has attained several significant accomplishments: Named one of Plainwell High School’s “Top 16 of 2016,” the Allegan County native and seasonal Glen Arbor resident graduated this spring with a 4.0 grade point average; was a National Honor Society member; Academic All-State varsity swimmer; and member of the internationally renowned Kalamazoo Children’s Chorus. He heads to Hillsdale College this fall, with plans to major in pre-med and possibly minor in musical theater. Oh, and in his theoretical spare time, he has created three albums of original alternative folk music, with a fourth in progress — on which he sings and plays a wide variety of instruments — that he recorded and mastered himself, and now sells through the Glen Lake Artists Gallery, iTunes, cdbaby.com, Amazon and Spotify.
To close out the traditional tourism season on Labor Day weekend, Glen Arbor businesses will hold Sidewalk Sales from Thursday, Sept. 1 until Monday, Sept. 5. Visit downtown for the best deals of the season. #shopsmall in #glenarbor
Nature abhors a vacuum. The same can be said for creative writers without an outlet for publishing their work. And that, dear reader, is one way of explaining how The Dunes Review, a local literary journal, came to be.
Traverse City artist Lisa Flahive paints the immediacy of local streets, beaches, cafes and jazz clubs. Her view of these diverse worlds will be on display at Center Gallery, 6023 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor, Sept. 2-15. A reception opens the exhibition on Sept. 2, 6-8 p.m.
Cheers to local craft breweries! Two of six breweries on the newly minted “Sleeping Bear Ale Trail” made the top five of MLive’s Best New Michigan Brewery search. Frankfort’s Stormcloud Brewing Company won the gold medal earlier this month, and Hop Lot in Suttons Bay came in fourth.
Kids going to college who are planning to vote absentee, take note. Same for the elderly who want to vote but no longer have a driver’s license.