Runners and walkers will take the starting line in Glen Arbor on Saturday, June 16, for the inaugural Glen Arbor Solstice Half Marathon & 5k. With something to offer both hardcore endurance junkies and recreational athletes, the 13.1-mile race and 3.1-mile run/walk is expected to draw 400 participants.
Glen Arbor residents Bill and Vicki Anderson, who were among the first supporters of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail (SBHT), have issued a challenge pledge with a 2:1 match for all donations to the new trail through the end of March. The campaign still needs to raise $30,000 in order to secure the full Anderson Challenge match of $50,000. Bill Anderson shared with Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation (TART) Trails his family’s motivation for posing the challenge match.
An Empire group attempting to revive the “community center” in the old schoolhouse across the street from the Township Hall. According to Lea Ann Sterling, the group will hold its fourth gathering on Sunday, March 18. In the past, the group has hosted a Halloween party, a Christmas potluck with Santa and a Teen Night. The group aspires to renovate the old Empire School.
Ladies, it’s time to channel your inner road warrior and come together to impact your community and the world. Come join us Sunday, March 18 for “The People & The Olive” Women’s Progressive. The fun begins at 1 p.m. at Charlie’s Natural Food Market in Frankfort with a middle-eastern luncheon and a presentation by filmmaker Aaron Dennis.
Longtime northern Michigan musical favorite Claudia Schmidt will play a house concert at the Shiffman home in Empire on Thursday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m. Schmidt now lives in Minneapolis, so this is a special homecoming for “the creative noisemaker”.
During the night trees snapped and limbs crashed around my house, but Saturday was characterized by an uncommon quiet. Even the snowmobilers that regularly race the nearby road were nowhere to be heard. I suppose they too were home digging out from the overnight snowfall — 29 inches in some places, I’m told — and attending to basic survival.
Northern Michiganders, and residents of Leelanau and Benzie counties in particular, faced the worst snowstorm in decades this past weekend. Old Man Winter threw one of his last tantrums of the season Friday night, and by 8 p.m. much of the area had lost electricity. Here are a few perspectives from your northern Michigan neighbors on how they weathered the great winter storm of 2012.
Much of Leelanau County is still without electricity following Friday night’s massive late-winter snowstorm that snapped trees and left roads impassible all over northern Michigan. Expect a story later this week about how Leelanau County residents fared during this 2012 “Snowpocalypse” — one of the worst storms to hit the region in decades.
A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 1,280,932 visitors in 2010 spent $120,482,000 in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (National Lakeshore) and nearby communities. That spending supported 2,070 jobs in the local area.
Ed Love won the 2012 Glen Arbor Winterfest Perch fishing competition with a 12 1/2 inch perch. Second was Gray Raymond at 12 3/8. And third were Paul Bloom and fourth Deb Warnes. All shared $430 and T-shirts. See more pictures below.