The Leelanau Historical Society will offer a “Researching Digital Newspapers” workshop on Thursday, April 4, at 1 pm at the Glen Lake Community Library in Empire for the public to learn about Central Michigan University’s Digital Michigan Newspaper Portal. The portal is a free website for researching Michigan’s historic newspapers. Click here to register for the workshop.
Five years ago, Leelanau County residents passed a millage for early childhood services. The millage is now up for renewal in a vote scheduled for August. With the goal of informing the community about how this funding has been used, the League of Women Voters Leelanau County is sponsoring an April 3 forum titled “The Early Childhood Millage—What it Supports and Why it Matters.” The forum takes place from 7-8 pm at the Suttons Bay High School auditorium.
Leelanau County businesses have found an innovative solution to the region’s vexing affordable housing and workforce recruitment crisis. County government, chambers of commerce, and local businesses will team up to build a vast tent encampment at the vacant and abandoned Sugar Loaf property, which was once a cherished ski resort and Leelanau’s biggest year-round employer before gangsters, con-men and real estate tycoons closed it for good nearly 25 years ago. “We had the same housing and workforce crisis in the metropolis of Traverse City,” said Rikardo Liko, former Traverse City chancellor and Leelanau’s current interim county administrator. “But the tent encampment in the pines in the Grand Traverse Commons solved all that. We found that hardworking people who can’t afford to pay $3,000 per month for rent in northern Michigan, and can’t afford a $1 million home on the water, could instead live in tents in the woods and keep our tourism and service economics afloat.”
Coffee With The Authors is a live, conversational interview with local and regional authors about the craft and process of writing. The 2024 series kicks off April 6 at 1 pm at the Glen Arbor Arts Center with Heather Spooner, owner of Ampersand Lettering Lab, an art and hand lettering business in Traverse City. Spooner will talk about The Letter League, an adult pen pal project she created to encourage writing letters by hand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sarah Bearup-Neal, GAAC gallery manager, leads the conversation.
The first internationally recognized Montessori Diploma Course in Michigan will begin this June, with Leelanau Montessori Public School Academy in Lake Leelanau co-hosting the renowned program alongside The Children’s House in Traverse City. Offered in conjunction with Washington Montessori Institute, the one-year accreditation course will train future Montessori teachers to help guide and support the development of children 3–6 years old. A Montessori diploma in early childhood is equivalent to a master’s degree and qualifies graduates to work as “Level Two” professionals, or Lead Instructors, in a childcare setting. Leelanau joins Atlanta and Charlotte as the only national locations to host the WMI program, and it could help address the shortage of prepared early childhood educators and professionals in our area.
Patient, selfless, nurturers. The American farmer intrinsically understands these three words 365 days a year without complaint, without dedicated health benefits, and without guaranteed vacations, writes Rebecca Carlson in this feature on the Skeba family, part of her ongoing series on Leelanau farming families and their impacts on the County. The Skeba family farm began in 1877 which translates to 147 years of continuous, single-family management with lots of backbreaking, hard work, but ultimately resulting in a rewarding vocation and livelihood.
The following op-eds by Bob Sutherland and Julie Zapoli—both Little Traverse Lake residents and Glen Arbor business owners—were written in response to the Sun’s coverage of Little Traverse Lake Association opposition to an expansion of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail, a portion of which would run near the north shore of the lake. Sutherland writes, “It is unfortunate that we are going to lose more trees in the development of this trail, but in the big picture, this four-mile extension completes an infinitely positive recreational trail and a key transportation alternative for residents and vacationers in Leelanau County. The recent study that opposition used to stir up doubt in this final section should not take away from the decade of environmentally sensitive planning the National Park Service, Michigan Department of Transportation, Leelanau County Road Commission, and Army Corp of Engineers executed to meet all the federal wetlands, dune and endangered species regulations.”
Scott Bouma, a resident of Cedar, is the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s (GAAC) new executive director, as announced last week in a media release. Bouma joined the GAAC staff in 2013 as an office manager and rose to the position of operations manager. He replaces Sarah Kime, who served as GAAC’s executive director from 2019 until this month. Kime leaves the GAAC to join the staff of North Carolina Outward Bound School as director of advancement.
Living in Leelanau invites the wearing of many hats, with individuals often finding themselves sitting on multiple boards, working more than one job, or filling numerous needs throughout our small communities. Many of the most successful businesses also operate in this way, meeting multiple needs under one roof: the coffee shop that is also a music venue, the vintage store with the art club, the restaurant with an inn above. At one such multi-functional establishment—Farm Club—writer Mae Stier sat down to talk with Elijah Nykamp, who is himself a wearer of many hypothetical hats. Owner of the clothing studio and shop Nykamping in Suttons Bay, Nykamp is the designer and sewist of all the clothing he creates. Not only does he design and create beautiful, wearable pieces, he is also a community builder, frequently partnering with other artists.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will hold a public storytelling webinar on Monday, March 18, at 6 pm. The free event is offered as a partnership between the National Lakeshore and the Nurturing the Eighth Fire team of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. The guest speaker is Isaac Murdoch whose Ojibwe name is Bomgiizhik (“Revolving Sky”). His presentation will focus on the ancient traditional knowledge of Ojibwe communities regarding the night sky. He will delve into the cultural significance and meanings behind these celestial stories, highlighting the unique perspectives of star knowledge within Indigenous cultures. Additionally, he will explore how these narratives are both distinct and universally relatable on a global scale.