When the conversation turns to how the arts are represented in a community, one might point to a museum within the city’s limits; or to a restored movie theater where art house films are screened alongside blockbusters. Those are outward, bricks-and-mortar symbols of a community’s cultural life. But what, then, are the less visible characteristics of a community in which the arts are an integral part?
There you are, all ready to take the kids to the beach, when it begins to rain. What to do? The Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore offers a variety of indoor and outdoor spots to visit on any summer day, whether or not it’s a good beach day.
By Linda Alice Dewey Sun contributor We all love to take our children and grandchildren to lakes and rivers on “beach days.” But when the weather turns cold or rainy, kids can get tired of stay-at-home activities. We wondered where the “locals” here take kids in the summertime. These are some of the answers we […]
The Manitou Music Festival (MMF) presents exciting and diverse concerts featuring national and regional performers in idyllic outdoor & family friendly locations. The MMF has been a summer tradition in Glen Arbor since the mid 1990s. This year the Glen Arbor Art Association is partnering with the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to offer three additional concerts for a total of 14 concerts, many are free and they are all free to children under 18.
Kathleen Bittner wears a garland of amber around her collar like a regal monarch, and her light eyes peer out happily behind delicate black frames as she welcomes customers into her store. She’s the benevolent queen of her domain, the Polish Art Center, and knows her kingdom well. Point to an object, and she’ll tell you the folk history, from which part of Poland it originates, and how it works. As Bittner watches her customers poke around the food section of her store, she doesn’t hesitate to call merrily, “Try one! They’re on my counter! You can try one, they’re delicious. It’s apricot marmalade. It’s really, really good.”
From staff reports The Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail partnered with Michigan landscape artist Stephanie Schlatter to capture the natural beauty of the wine region through art. “This is a landscape that needed to be seen,” shares Schlatter; “a beauty in our own back yard that is rivaled by none.” During the past year, Schlatter visited […]
Everyone here has a favorite Lake Michigan beach. But what about those smaller lakes that dot our woods and meadows, or the creeks and rivers meandering through our woodlands? Which inland waters are preferred by locals who have lived in the area for a long time?
Ella Skrocki of Empire loves North Bar Lake, not only for its beauty and wildlife but for its dark history. Ella’s grandmother, Faith Lewis, once lived on Lake Michigan near the North Bar Lake channel. She would talk about the “land pirate” who used to live there. Skrocki’s mother, Beryl, passed the tale on to her children. Ella says that knowing this makes it even more fun to paddle and swim there. That may be true for you, too, once you know what happened.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is looking for educators who want to partner with the park. Educators will assist the National Lakeshore with developing educational programs that can be used both in the classroom and for field trips. Interested educators can email the National Lakeshore’s new education technician, Joshua Schultz, at joshua_schultz@nps.gov.
In 2016 there are 14 art galleries in Glen Arbor and Empire, as well as innumerable creative people practicing their craft in the privacy of a home studio. It was not always this way. The locality’s first art gallery was established in 1985, and up until that point, the Glen Arbor/Empire art scene might have been more accurately characterized as an art vignette. But with the arrival of Glen Lake Artists Gallery (GLA Gallery), the foundation was laid for today’s perception of the Greater Glen Lake Area as a place that attracts art and craft makers.