The Glen Lake Community Library in Empire will host a series of children’s programs beginning June 23. No advance registration is needed. All programs will take place on Thursdays at 11 a.m. unless otherwise noted.
Fiber artist Rachel Meginnes from San Francisco will present her Artist-in-Residence talk for the public on Thursday, June 23, at 7:30pm, at the Glen Arbor Art Association building on Studio Lane across from Cherry Republic. The program is free and light refreshment will be served.
At the top of a green and wooded hill near the Bow Lakes area of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore lies the meticulously handcrafted homestead of builder, philosopher, musician and community activist Joe Spaulding and his equally dynamic wife, painter and classical musician Carol Spaulding. The approach to their home winds along a bridge-like boardwalk that takes a visitor past a thriving vegetable garden, outbuildings fancifully clad in shingles as playful as a flapper’s dress, and stained-glass lanterns that herald the festive atmosphere and occupants within.
Volunteers can help restore the cultural landscape at the Ole Oleson farm in the Port Oneida Rural Historic District on Friday, June 24 between 9 am and 4 pm. Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear seeks 10-15 volunteers for their annual field clearing project to remove invasive and non-native plant species, as well as spreading tree saplings.
Tournament bass fishing has exploded nationwide as a professional sport and there are numerous club events throughout northern Michigan. On May 21, the first bass fishing tournament specifically for local high school students was held on Green Lake in Interlochen. The inaugural event saw a competition between 11 teams from four area schools.
The Dunegrass Festival — which since the early 1990s has been held the first weekend of August, either in Empire or on the Empire Eagles Field on M-72 eight miles east of town — has officially announced its move to Benzie County.
Visit Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (the local branch of the National Park Service) on Saturday, June 18, at 9 p.m. for an evening with the stars. Join a Park Ranger and the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society at the mouth of the Platte River on Lake Michigan Drive in Benzie County to learn about and celebrate the night sky. Watch the sun set into Lake Michigan, view the starry constellations, and spot the rings of Saturn through huge telescopes. If you are lucky, you may even get to see the elusive green flash as the sun sinks below the horizon.
At 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 11, 548 athletes took off from the start line on M-109 in Glen Arbor and prepared to race up the Sleeping Bear Dunes “Dune Climb.” It would only be the start of a challenging event which also includes a 17.5-mile bike race around Big and Little Glen Lake and a 2.5-mile paddle in Little Glen Lake.
Rachel Reid, 18, of Rochester and Maple City, Michigan, has been awarded an NCAA Division I equestrian scholarship to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas where she will attend as a freshman this fall. An honor student and student council member at Glen Lake High School, Reid graduated in June.
Don’t miss the third annual M22-Challenge Saturday morning. This year’s competitors will run 2.5 miles up the Dune Climb, bike 17 miles around the Glen Lakes, and paddle 2.5 miles in Little Glen Lake. Due to rising demand, founders Matt and Keegan Myers opened up this M-22 Challenge to 550 athletes. Watch videos of last year’s race below.