Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear invites artists to the Thoreson Farm in Port Oneida, for a Plein Air Event on Saturday, May 24, from 9 am to 4 pm. The event is to encourage artists to paint and submit artwork of the farm to be considered for the 2025 Port Oneida Fair poster.
Art is often encountered in curated stillness—hushed in museums, framed behind velvet ropes, and stripped from the context of its making. But what happens when we encounter art at its source, in the textured, paint-splattered, light-filled rooms where imagination finds form? That spirit of transparency, invitation, and intimacy echoes here in Leelanau County in the quiet corner of Burdickville. Along Bow, Lanham, and Fritz Roads, a small but vibrant community of artists has embarked on something extraordinary: opening the doors of their studios to the public. They have come together under the banner of the Burdickville Studio Tour—11 artists inviting visitors into the heart of their creative process over Memorial Day weekend.
Our story series celebrating songs inspired by Leelanau County and the Sleeping Bear Dunes continues with Illinois resident and summer visitor Jeff Maharry’s homage to Good Harbor Bay. “For years my family has come to Leelanau County in early August and have explored just about every point where you can access Lake Michigan,” said Maharry, a singer songwriter and musician from Homewood, Illinois, near Chicago. He performs solo as well as with his band Falling Stars. “There are amazing spots across the whole peninsula, but there’s something just perfect about Good Harbor Bay so we find ourselves going back there again and again. I wrote this song in the summer of 2010 after we spent a simply wonderful day on the beach, and I can hear the waves and feel the sun on my face every time I sing it.”
It feels inviting to approach a beech maple forest on an early spring day when the snow is just thinning. Each beech tree has a ring of open forest floor around it, as the trees radiate the sun’s heat—islands of open earth in a snowy landscape. The forest floor is newly exposed and gives off the faintest scent of life returning, writes Jess Piskor in this second in a two-part series about Northern Michigan beech trees and the now extinct passenger pigeon. Part of the forest is actively dying now, full of disease. There are the obvious fallen giants. The dead beeches rest in shattered grey tangled masses, like a pile of dead elephants. A few healthy-looking crowns have snapped off, 30 feet up—trunks weakened with disease. The branches show swollen pointed buds, as if the tree would leaf out one last time. It won’t. Many still stand, but are holed by woodpeckers. Shelf fungus grows up the sides, dropped limbs catch the foot. Here and there a few giants still look, dare I say, okay? At least one more year then, old friends. Let me gather your nuts.
The Homestead in Glen Arbor is excited to welcome Greg Miesch as its new executive chef. Miesch will oversee the food and beverage programs for the resort’s five restaurants, weddings and receptions, meetings and other special events.
May is National Lyme Disease Awareness Month, a time to focus on protecting your health and staying informed about tick-borne illnesses. The Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department reminds residents that Lyme disease, caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most common tick-borne illness in Michigan. Ticks are most active in spring and summer, and wooded, grassy, or brushy areas increase your risk of exposure. Early detection and prevention are key to avoiding Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections.
As the Lively NeighborFood Market on M-72 east of Empire prepares to enter year two, owner Jim Lively continues to build on its success by increasing the store’s stock, as well as making improvements at the campground. Don’t forget the music, and it just recently received word that funding for its solar array has been approved. Lively will host the inaugural Neighbor Fest on May 25. Lively says the free show is a way to give back to the community that has supported the market, including those who donated through the GoFundMe crowdfunding effort. The show will also serve as the monthly fundraising concert for the Empire Area Emergency Fund.
Join Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes, the National Lakeshore’s nonprofit partner for a volunteer training on Sunday, May 18, from 1–3 pm at the Glen Arbor Town Hall. The Friends are kicking off the summer season with an afternoon of connection, updates, and inspiration. Come learn about volunteer opportunities and hear directly from National Lakeshore rangers and staff about what’s ahead for the Park this year.
The four public libraries of Leelanau County are pleased to host Nita Prose on Saturday, May 17, at 7 pm at the Glen Lake Schools Auditorium. She will discuss her first book, The Maid. Prose has authored a sequel, novella, and a third book in the The Maid series, “The Maid’s Secret,” which was released in April. She will be interviewed by guest host Sarah Bearup-Neal of the Glen Arbor Arts Center.
“I’m terrified to cross the border.” “We’re disgusted.” “The annexation threats and tariffs are a ‘screw you’ to Canada.” “We have canceled our 2025 vacations in the USA. I no longer feel welcome there.” “I won’t go until Trump is gone. What he’s doing is horrific.” Those are the voices of Canadians who live in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario—just across the international border from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and longtime friendly neighbors in trade, in culture, in shopping, and in hockey. Apparently, no longer. Or, at least, not until Trump leaves office.