I’ve fielded the “Whaddaya do up there all winter?” question. A lot. I’m a seasonal employee at a retail establishment in Glen Arbor. My place of employment is visited during the summer and fall months by out-of-towners, many of whom express a reasonable curiosity about life UpNorth after summer’s omnipresent sunny-ness fades. One such inquisitor was completely sold on Glen Arbor in the summer. But the winter? Not so much, she said.
The Glen Arbor Art Association announced the cast for its December Readers’ Theater production of the play “A Christmas Carol”. All of the performers and staging assistants are locals to Leelanau County. Several of the cast members will play multiple roles, including four students from Glen Lake School.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is requesting public comment as the Park considers an increase to entrance and camping fees beginning in January 2016. The current entrance fees and first come-first served camping fees have been in place since 2004 with only a slight increase in fees for reservable campsites which occurred in 2006. The National Lakeshore is one of only 131 of the 401 National Park Service (NPS) sites that charge entrance fees and were recently authorized by NPS Director Jon Jarvis to consider fee increases based upon a new fee structure.
Cherry Republic employee Andrew Moore found more than radiant fall colors and beachgrass on a walk in the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes earlier this fall. He came across shards of clay that appear to be specimens of Native American pottery from long before the white man landed in the Americas.
It’s here again. A Glen Arbor original, “better than a bustling city’s Black Friday,” our version of the day-after-Thanksgiving shopping, is the annual PJ party, on Friday morning, Nov. 28, from 5-8 a.m.
On her way to work one morning this past summer, Kama Ross noticed some sick-looking oak trees near a recently cleared right-of-way in Bingham County. Luckily, Ross knew what she was looking at: the first confirmed case of oak wilt disease in Leelanau County.
A “Bay to Bay” hiking, paddling and camping trail proposed for the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has generated excitement among local business owners and recreation enthusiasts but also attracted significant opposition from private property landowners who live near the trail’s potential route. Staff at the National Lakeshore have subsequently slowed planning for the Bay to Bay Trail initiative. They extended the public comment period by an extra month this fall, and have drawn out the project’s scoping phase until next summer.
Join the staff of Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate to celebrate the company’s 10th birthday in Empire, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Founder Mimi Wheeler will make a special appearance from 10 a.m. until noon to serve complimentary chocolate birthday cake while it lasts. Grocer’s Daughter will launch a brand new chocolate bar and will preview a soon-to-be-released Michigan-made wholesale packaging.
The Glen Lake Library in Empire will host a presentation for senior citizens on basic iPad and iPhone operation on Tuesday, Nov. 11, at 7 p.m. Andrew Clements, a local website designer, will demonstrate key functions of these popular mobile devices, and address questions from users. There is no charge for this program, which be held in the library meeting room. Attendees should bring their fully charged iPad and iPhones. For more questions, contact the library at 326-5361, or visit Glenlakelibrary.net.
The League of Women Voters Leelanau County will host a presentation on Public Education: The Future on Wednesday Nov. 5 at noon in the lower level public meeting room of the Leelanau County Government Center. The November meeting is the second session of a two-part discussion on public education. The presenters will be Jim Rowlett of the Poverty Reduction Initiative, Mary Marois, former Director of the Leelanau/Grand Traverse Counties’ Department of Human Services and Chris Parker, Superintendent of the Northport Public Schools. The panelists will address the issue of poverty as it relates to schooling and achievement gaps and the impact of teachers and principals on student achievement.