Entries by editor

Manitou Music Festival presents Celtic Fusion ensemble Nessa

The Manitou Music Festival is pleased to welcome Nessa on Sunday, July 17. Nessa, an exciting new Celtic fusion ensemble, led by flutist/vocalist Kelly McDermott, presents a dynamic array of freshly arranged ancient Celtic ballads and folk songs from the U.K. This upbeat band combines classical, jazz, and Irish influences with accents of world music, along with clever, soulful arrangements of classic themes. Nessa is a fun, funky group with depth and color.

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Peter Phinny remembers Jim Harrison

When word spread in late March that Jim Harrison, the poet, novelist, master of the novella, memoirist, gourmand, and long-time Leelanau County resident had died at 78 in his casita in Patagonia, Ariz., while writing a new poem, friends and fellow writers responded with instant shock and grief. Jimmy Buffet, Tom McGuane, Phil Caputo, and local luminaries Mario Batali, Doug Stanton, Michael Delp, Jerry Dennis, Pamela Grath, and others soon posted their recollections of the conversational brilliance, the Rabelaisian lust for life, and the prodigious literary output and talent of one of the most unique and gifted humans any of them had ever known. The Glen Arbor Sun published several of these testimonials at that time (see our Memorial Day edition), but one notable great friend to Harrison whom we missed was the writer, rancher and local Glen Arbor character Peter Phinny.

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Wisdom from under the hood

Dennis Taghon laughs a lot. There’s a reason for that. A tragic event in his life altered his perception of what’s important and how to look at life.

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“Gem Hunter” to visit Becky Thatcher Designs

On July 19, Glen Arbor will welcome “Gem Hunter” Gary Bowersox who will speak at a special Tea Talk in the garden of Becky Thatcher Designs.

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Where are the Workers?

The streets of downtown Glen Arbor are packed these days with tourists, beachgoers, and shoppers. The tills hum at apparel shops, rented bikes and kayaks roll off the assembly line at Crystal River Outfitters, and there’s a hungry line out the door at Art’s Tavern. But “help wanted” signs on storefronts, restaurant entrances and social media appeals, have become as ubiquitous in our tourism boomtowns — in Glen Arbor and up and down the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Lombardo, Burian visit Center Gallery

Ohio artist Joseph Lombardo continues his study of Glen Arbor with a series of new paintings, July 15-21 at Center Gallery, 6023 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor. The show opens with a public reception July 15 at 6 p.m.

Chris Touhey’s boomerang home

Meet Chris Touhey and his wife Laura, both 34 and exceptions to Michigan’s “brain drain”. Chris grew up near Glen Arbor (his family lived for a time in a farmhouse near Port Oneida that’s now in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore), left for school in Ann Arbor then spent a decade in sunny southern California. He and Laura moved this past January into a one-bedroom home that he built near the old Dickinson Gallery on south shore of Little Glen Lake. Their daughter Finley was born in February. Touhey, an architect by trade, works for a construction firm that, as luck would have it, is doing a project for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in nearby Peshawbestown.

Empire Anchor Day Festival schedule of events

Schedule for the 2016 Anchor Day Festival in Empire, Michigan.

Preserve offers summer volunteer projects

Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear has several preservation projects and workshops open to volunteers this summer. Volunteers should wear closed-toe shoes, bring basic tools, a bag lunch, water, and dress for the weather. To RSVP please call 231-334-6103 or 334-PARK.

Researcher to discuss invasive dune plants at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Invasion by exotic plants is an increasing problem worldwide that causes severe environmental and economic impacts. Sand dune ecosystems throughout the Great Lakes are currently experiencing invasion by multiple plant species, including baby’s breath (Gypsophila paniculata) and blue lyme grass (Leymus arenarius). The dunes at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore have not escaped these scourges, but researchers are actively documenting their impacts and the effectiveness of management efforts.