The Honda corporation is holding a lotto for five of America’s Drive-Ins and will pay for the conversion from analog to digital for the theater that gets the most votes. The Honor Area Restoration Project encourages residents of Leelanau and Benzie Counties to vote once a day until Sept. 9 and support the Honor-based Cherry Bowl Drive-In.
When the Glen Arbor Athletic Club closed this past May, it left the Old School building on M-22, arguably among Glen Arbor’s most recognizable landmarks, sitting vacant. But thanks to a group of local artists, the schoolhouse has again found a purpose.
On Sunday, Aug. 11 at 8 p.m. the jazz/swing singer-guitarist extraordinaire George Cole will perform with his quartet at Studio Stage, located at Lake Street Studios in Glen Arbor, as part of the Glen Arbor Art Association’s Manitou Music Festival. On Wednesday, Aug. 14 at 8 p.m. the singer/songwriter Trina Hamlin and the jazz/swing duo The True Falsettos will perform outdoors on the Leelanau School Green, located at the Leelanau School in Glen Arbor. The rain location for both concerts is the Glen Arbor Town Hall. The festival is celebrating its 23rd season of jazz, classical, blues, folk, country, celtic, bluegrass and world music on the Leelanau Peninsula.
Local chef Jennifer Blakeslee of The Cooks’ House will team with Nasser Abufarha, founder of Canaan Fair Trade to hold a special Taste of Palestine on Sunday, Aug. 11 at 5 p.m. at The Box in Traverse City (425 Boardman). Guests will venture into the rich food culture of Palestine with a six-course meal, crafted with fresh ingredients from local Northern Michigan farms and accompanied by fine Northern Michigan wines. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to explore Palestinian culture, farming and cuisine among friends in a state-of-the-art open kitchen.
Jim Dorsey is the living grandson of 1850s pioneer John Dorsey. He and his wife Velma, and daughter and son-in-law, Christine and Duane Shugart, still live on the old home place on the south shore of Little Glen Lake. Where the farm and its sheep and cows used to be, is now a well-kept summer trailer park with a view of the dunes in the distance. Jim Dorsey says the Indians helped his grandfather locate this place, pervaded even now by an unusual peace and beauty.
The Glen Arbor Art Association exhibits paintings by Barbara Doepke Cochran, Aug. 9-11 at the Art Association, 6031 S. Lake St. Cochran spends her time painting in the Chicago area, Boca Grand, Florida and nearby Maple City. After graduating from Principia College with an art major, she continued her art education at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. She pursued a career in graphic design for news shows, specials and was awarded a Chicago Emmy for an animated film. In recent years she has returned to painting oils and watercolors. The exhibit opens with an Aug. 9 reception from 6-9 p.m. Subsequent hours are Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
“Bodies,” an exhibition oil paintings of water by Steven Walker, opens Aug. 9 at the Center Gallery at Lake Street Studios, 6023 S. Lake St. in Glen Arbor. There will be a reception for the artist at 6 p.m. Walker, a resident of Westerfield, Ohio, uses bodies of water to illustrate light and the ways in which it is conveyed in crashing waves, ponds, creeks and streams. In addition to his studio practice, Walker teaches oil painting at the McConnell Arts Center in Columbus, Ohio. “Bodies” continues through Aug. 15.
On Aug. 9, the Beach Bards bonfire rounds out its 25th season of by-heart storytelling, poetry and music. The festival is held every Friday night from mid-June until early August at The Leelanau School beach one mile north of Glen Arbor. Children’s hour begins at 8 p.m. with slapstick, sing-along performer James “ Fuzz” Foster and the occasional appearance by Cherry Republic president Bob Sutherland.
History comes alive at six historic sites during the annual Port Oneida Fair at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The Port Oneida Fair will be held Aug. 9 and 10 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In addition to the many popular demonstrations, animals and exhibits, the fair will be a zero-waste event, will feature a chicken dinner on Friday, and will end with an astronomy party on Saturday night.
On Tuesday, July 9, the National Park Service (NPS) welcomed the 40 millionth visitor to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Superintendent Dusty Shultz, Deputy Superintendent Tom Ulrich, and Interpretive Park Rangers greeted Mary and Jerry Keller of Cincinnati with enthusiasm and gifts, at the Philip A. Hart Visitor Center in Empire. An announcement was made and the rest of the visitors applauded.