Entries by editor

New director takes over Glen Arbor Art Association’s Manitou Music Festival

The Glen Arbor Art Association recently announced that Jack Conners will take over the production of the Manitou Music Festival. In recent years, Conners took over managing the sound for the series where he worked closely with outgoing director Harry Fried. Conners has built a successful career in the music world and began his career in 1973 as recording engineer for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Over the years he has mixed concert sound for Stan Kenton, The Mills Brothers and Grover Washington, Jr.

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Winter wonderland: Siberia settles on Leelanau

Folks around town can’t exactly remember the last time the surface of Big Glen Lake froze by early January. Some say 15 years, some say 50. Captain Bob Smith at the Sportsman Shop says Big Glen doesn’t typically freeze until Martin Luther King, Jr., weekend in late January. Regardless, by Jan. 2, there were ice shanties on Big Glen (Little Glen had them by mid-December). A week later, the hum of snowmobiles could be heard from Glen Craft Marina.

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Glen Arbor, a year-round recreational destination

The Glen Arbor Sun spoke to Crystal River Outfitters co-owner Katy Wiesen about the impact this early, snowy winter has had on their business. “The key to surviving a Northern Michigan winter is getting out and embracing it. This year’s early winter definitely started winter business off much sooner than expected! Our first cross-country ski and snowshoe rentals went out Thanksgiving weekend. The snowy conditions give visitors even more of a reason to come up north knowing that there are more recreational opportunities.”

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National Lakeshore to expand multi-use trails

Heritage Trail grows; Kettles, Bay-to-Bay, mountain biking trails on tap? By Jacob Wheeler Sun editor Over the next couple years, the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore could vastly expand its network, and range, of trails. By July, the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail will expand south, from the Dune Climb to Empire, allowing bicyclists, rollerbladers, wheelchair-bound […]

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Feeding Leelanau’s locals

It’s cold and dark in the north country, and the cheery onslaught of tourists is many months away. But those of us who stick around through the winter still deserve to eat, and eat well. Thanks to a bevy of deals and discounts offered at local restaurants, we shall not starve.

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Winter Surfing on Lake Michigan

I always try to make a few good explorative surf trips when I’m home for the holidays. During the winter, you can usually rely on there being waves in Lake Michigan thanks to the water being (relatively) warm and there being larger gradients in temperature and pressure.

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Futsal (indoor soccer) scores big in winter

Futsal, while a relatively recent phenomenon in the United States (only three years ago, futsal balls were practically unheard of in Traverse City’s sporting goods stores, and had to be purchased online), has been a well-established sport for over eight decades in the rest of the world. According to the website of the English Football Association (the group was established in 1863), “futsal fever … owes a great deal of its success and all of its appeal to the streets and playgrounds of South America where the game was first conceived.”

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Who is Glen Arbor’s phantom snow plower?

Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes board chairman Kerry Kelly reports that a phantom snow plower is plowing 100 yards of a seasonal road that forms the section of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail between M-109 and DH Day Campground. That inhibits the ability of cross-country skiers to glide, uninterrupted, between Glen Arbor and the Dune Climb.

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Snowshoe Hiking in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Park Rangers say “Let it snow!” so you can explore Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on snowshoes this winter. Join the rangers for a guided snowshoe hike this holiday season and every Saturday throughout the winter. The first hike of the season will be on Saturday, Dec. 28 at 1 p.m. Then, snowshoe hikes will be offered every Saturday at 1 p.m. through the end of February. Meet at the National Lakeshore Visitor Center in Empire. If you don’t have your own, snowshoes will be loaned at no charge. Participants need only purchase the park entrance pass or have an annual pass to join in the fun. Reservations are required whether you need to borrow snowshoes or have your own. Ranger-led snowshoe hikes are limited to 30 participants. Please call (231) 326-5134, extension 328, for details and to make reservations.

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Reprinted: History of the Arbor Light building

Years ago, the booming music and jovial laughter wafting through Glen Arbor on warm Saturday nights didn’t necessarily lead you to Art’s Bar for a cold beer, but rather, across Lake Street to what is now the Arbor Light building, where the Warnes family held weekly town dances above a general store and ice cream parlor.

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