It all begins with a photograph for Maple City painter Don Drabik. The camera is the tool he uses to record scenes of unexpected, overlooked settings that become his watercolor paintings. An exhibition of new work opens Aug. 24, 6 p.m. at Center Gallery, 6023 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor.
With this year’s primary election upon us and voters casting ballots on Tuesday, Aug. 7, we reached out to Derek Bailey and Allen O’Shea — two progressive Democrats who are vying to oppose incumbent Republican Ray Franz for Michigan’s 101st House seat in the November election.
The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will host the 11th annual Port Oneida Rural Arts and Culture Fair on Aug. 10-11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors to the event may take a shuttle, drive, hike, or bike between six unique historic sites to enjoy a variety of activities. Each week leading up to the fair, details will be made available about one of the following sites: Burfiend Barn, Kelderhouse Farm, Olsen Farm, Thoreson Farm, Dechow Farm, and Port Oneida Schoolhouse.
Be one of the first to participate in a new five-mile run on Aug. 18, showcasing the new Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail. Starting and finishing at the Dune Climb, runners will race through miles of rolling sand dunes, Michigan lakeshore and historic Glen Haven, experiencing the beautiful scenic runs.
Guillaume and Brook Hazael-Massieux are spreading their wings. The owners of the legendary La Becasse (“the woodcock”) French country restaurant in Burdickville are humming this week into their second nest at 118 Cass Street in downtown Traverse City named Bistro Foufou (“hummingbird”). Their new eatery is the fruit of a three-year process that finally ripened last winter when they negotiated the purchase of Hanna Bistro, a prime location just a block off Front St. in the busy center of Traverse City.
The Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail fundraising committee is conducting a raffle of a lovely Crystal Red Chevy Volt that can be seen at various ticket vendors around Glen Arbor. Ticket sales are limited to 1,200 of the $100 tickets, and should net $100,000. This, in turn, will be used to help pay a $400,000 fee due in September. With the fee paid, the Heritage Trail will be able to commence with the next segment of construction, a path leading south from the Dune Climb along M-109, which will connect Empire to the Dunes. The Heritage Trail will one day stretch 27 miles, from the Leelanau-Benzie County Line, north to Good Harbor.
Each summer, while traveling through Michigan’s lake country, I notice a wide and depressing variety of roadkill, evidence of creatures not equipped for encounters with large, speedy machinery and an ever-increasing dissection of pavement across former habitat. I usually also encounter some few fortunate creatures like turtles, which have somehow avoided being struck or smashed — yet who are trapped in the roadway, trying to negotiate their ponderous way across alien terrain.
Enter Row4ROW, a fundraiser created by Jenn Gibbons. Gibbons is the founder and coach of ROW (Recovery on Water), a nonprofit in Chicago that provides breast cancer survivors with an exercise group in the form of a rowing team. To raise money for the organization, last month Gibbons set out to row the 1,500-mile perimeter of Lake Michigan, beginning in Chicago and moving along the coasts of Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana.
The Manitou Music Festival is celebrating its 22nd season of diverse concerts featuring jazz, classical, blues, folk, country, celtic, bluegrass and world music in some of Michigan’s most idyllic settings. The festival showcases regionally and nationally known artists performing in beautiful Glen Arbor.
The Leelanau Press is searching for artists who painted the Sleeping Bear Dunes and surrounding landscapes before 1970 for possible inclusion in the historical preface for its 2013 publication, The Art of the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Several artists known to have painted in the area include Frank Dillon, Fred Dickinson, Mathias Alten, Charles Vickery, Charles Hetherington, Mary Moore, Kit Miller Knowles, Harry Weese, Sue Frank, Clarence Brower and Kay Smith.