Entries by editor

Leo Creek Preserve gifted to Inland Seas Education Association

Inland Seas Education Association recently announced that Leo Creek Preserve has been gifted to them to serve as an outdoor learning laboratory for educational programming. This donation will allow ISEA to provide shoreside watershed-focused educational experiences while continuing to keep the property open to the public for all to enjoy. Leo Creek Preserve is a nine-acre outdoor learning laboratory, nature preserve, and botanical garden located south of Suttons Bay along the Leelanau Trail. It features more than 1,000 feet of waterfront along Leo Creek, a groundwater stream that feeds into Grand Traverse Bay.

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Lissa Edwards: Falling in love with her stories for nearly four decades

Can a brilliant career be born from a moment of angst while hunched over a bathtub? If you’re Lissa Edwards, that’s a yes. “From the time I was cognizant of anything, I loved Glen Arbor. And I always knew I wanted to be a writer,” she says. Laughing, the proprietor of Glen Arbor Wines professes, “I often say I can write and I can pour wine; those are my only two skills. I have no others!” Nine months ago, Edwards retired from what is now called Traverse, Northern Michigan, where her career as a writer and editor spanned almost four decades. Throughout, Edwards mastered the ability of sussing out compelling stories where no one else was looking. Her ideas were virtually inexhaustible and her process uniquely her own—so much so that her colleagues coined the affectionate term “Lissariffic.”

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Glen Arbor Art Center’s Sky exhibit more than just cosmic wallpaper

“Blue skies smilin’ at me. Nothin’ but blue skies do I see. Bluebirds singin’ a song. Nothin’ but blue skies from now on.” Willie Nelson’s words and voice carry a certain kind of optimism that feels infinite, much like the sky itself. The Glen Arbor Arts Center is honoring the sky with its first exhibition for the 2025 calendar year: The Sky Is Always There. The show explores that vast atmospheric expanse through a variety of creative offerings. Sarah Bearup-Neal, gallery manager of the GAAC, is the visionary behind this exhibition. It fosters a reconnection with the sky’s dynamic grandeur and gentle profundity. “In the purest and most constant way, the sky is always with us. During the early phase of developing this show, I began wondering if the sky—this enormous thing—was so familiar, so very much with us, that it becomes just more psychic wallpaper. Just another screen saver in people’s busy lives. There was a time when the sky was a place of awe for people who weren’t bombarded and numbed by an infinite number of images, input, and ‘information.’ People used to look at the sky for answers to the great questions that plague humans, like: why are the gods laughing at us? The sky had the power to humble mere mortals,” Bearup-Neal said.

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Preparing families for immigration enforcement as federal crackdown fears grow

The Trump administration, which takes power on Jan. 20, has threatened to deport millions of undocumented immigrants from the United States. Some of them have lived in our communities for decades and form the backbone of our workforce. Here in northern Michigan, they are integral to our farms and food production. To stand with them, the Glen Arbor Sun is publishing part of the handbook, “Preparing Your Family for Immigration Enforcement,” which was compiled by the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) and reprinted in our Jan. 16 print edition, with MIRC’s permission, both in English y en Español.

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Up North Pride, ACLU present “Know Your Rights”

Up North Pride, ACLU of Michigan and local legal experts will host a legal question and answer session, Know Your RIghts: An LGBTQ+ Legal Q&A at the Traverse Area District Library at 6 pm on Wednesday, Jan. 22. The evening will include discussion on a variety of issues, especially with the incoming administration and possible changes that may impact the 2SLGBTQ+ community, led by Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan’s LGBTQ+ Project. “Based on the policy positions of the Trump campaign, we can anticipate that these will be challenging times for LGBTQ+ rights. It’s important to know about the issues, the current laws, and how all of us can play a role in ensuring that LGBTQ+ people are afforded full equality and fairness,” said Kaplan.

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Empire pillar, historian Dave Taghon stood in a class by himself

The sudden death of Dave Taghon on Jan. 3 struck family and friends from far and wide. Despite the fact he spent most of his life in Empire, Taghon’s influence spread far beyond the little village. He was a ready source of information about the area’s history, but more importantly, a vital part of its present and presence through his work on the village council, at his church, with the local Lions Club, and at his family’s gas station for nearly 40 years.

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Leelanau’s influencers of 2024

With 2024 in the rearview mirror and 2025 upon us, we’re recognizing 25 “influencers” we covered in the Glen Arbor Sun this past year who are making a meaningful impact on Leelanau County communities, commerce, and culture. Read below about those 25 local influencers, who include everyone from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, to Leelanau Investing for Teens, to Empire’s polar dippers, to popular new destinations River Club Glen Arbor, the Sleeping Bear Inn, and the Lively’s NeighborFood Market.

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Sleeping Bear manhunt, Empire sugar bear, Pop-tart man Bill Post, Twin Flames wedding: Glen Arbor Sun’s top-viewed stories of 2024

Our coverage in 2024 featured crimes, celebrities, cool new businesses, and an homage to the now removed Crystal River culverts. Our top 10 most-read stories included: a manhunt in the National Lakeshore; the search for a black bear that broke into Grocers Daughter Chocolate and devoured a 50-pound bag of sugar; Jerry Seinfeld’s movie “Unfrosted” about Pop-Tart man Bill Post, and the Twin Flames Universe cult’s secretive wedding in Traverse City. Thanks for your readership. We look forward to sharing more stories of Leelanau County events, characters, businesses, and the arts in 2025. Here’s the list of our Top 10 stories by online views in 2024.

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Read our 2025 editions

Click here to read digital versions of our 2025 editions of the Glen Arbor Sun. We’ll publish monthly during the shoulders seasons and every other week between May and Labor Day.

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Trump’s local impact

This list of stories chronicles the impacts of the Trump administration’s policies on Leelanau County residents, businesses, tourism, agriculture and discourse—from tariffs to cuts to threats against immigrants.

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