Entries by editor

The Korson Family: Angel harvesters

Martin Korson’s great-grandfather, Martin, was one of the Bohemian families who settled the Gill’s Pier area, writes Rebecca Gearing Carlson in installment seven of our Leelanau Farming Family Series. Korson, pronounced Keer-shan, first settled and worked in Leland at the charcoal foundry that fueled the steam ships running Lake Michigan. Then the work became about clearing the land for homes and farms. Thus, timbering and the saw mill at Gill’s Pier gained importance as the community grew.

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Lake Street Studios host authors Robertson, Oomen

Like so many who love this area, Jenny Robertson and Anne-Marie Oomen claim a kinship of place with Leelanau County and the Glen Arbor area—no matter where they happen to be living. In addition, both have entered literary spaces with great passion and dedication. The two authors are teaming up for a celebratory launch of their latest books at the open yard of Lake Street Studios in Glen Arbor on Thursday, August 24, at 7 pm.

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Introducing the Bohemians of Leelanau County

Bohemian Valley, Bohemian Beach, Bohemian Road, the Bohemian Settlement, and the Bohemian Cemetery. From where does the name Bohemian originate and why do we find it in Leelanau County? Rebecca Gearing Carlson asks this question in part six of our Leelanau Farming Family Series. “When I think of the word Bohemian, the social and cultural movement of the 19th century comes to mind: writers, journalists, painters, actors, and other creative people living outside the norms of society. Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, Puccini’s La Boheme, and Bizet’s Carmen are beautifully written stories about the Bohemians who purposely pushed the accepted limits of societal practices and despised conventionality. The only similarities, however, between Bohemianism and the central European Bohemians are the names.”

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Sleeping Bear Gateways Council holds annual meeting

The Sleeping Bear Gateways Council will host its annual meeting as a virtual event on Zoom at 5 p.m., Monday, August 21. The session will feature updates on the group’s projects as well as comments from leadership of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. All individuals with interest in the Sleeping Bear area are invited to join. Click here for a link.

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Sleeping Bear Dunes host “Night Sky Navigators” workshop

Thanks to grant funding from the National Park Foundation’s Open Outdoors for Kids initiative, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is expanding night sky educational programming with a teacher workshop and a series of night sky themed daytime events open to both local schools and the public. On Saturday, Aug. 19, a ranger-led “Night Sky Navigator” teacher workshop will be held at the Dune Climb from 4-6 p.m.

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Celebrating forty years of Glen Arbor arts

The Glen Arbor Arts Center (previously called the Glen Arbor Art Association) celebrates 40 years in 2023. We republished this excerpt from the Arts Center’s website that recounts the organization’s history, beginning with its founders, Becky Thatcher, Ananda and Ben Bricker, Midge Obata, Suzanne Wilson, Richard and Barbara Sander, and Barbara Siepker.

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Peninsula Perennial Nursery helps shape Leelanau landscape

Betsy Ernst gazed at a lobelia cardinalis, admiring the perennial flower’s cardinal red blooms as she worked at Peninsula Perennial Nursery, the business she owns with her husband, Kris Ernst. The 20-acre nursery, located on Swede Road near Northport, cultivates and sells a variety of perennials, flowering shrubs and trees, ornamental grasses, and groundcovers suited for the 45th parallel’s climate. “We try to take moments of gratitude,” Betsy said. “People are really friendly. They come in with unique ideas and issues. We are very happy to be here.”

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Manitou Music series hosts Drummunity, Sarah Shoemaker

Percussionist Lori Fithian brings her collection of hand drums and percussion instruments to the Manitou Music series on Saturday, August 19, from 1-3 pm at the Glen Arbor Arts Center. Then on Aug. 26 at 11 am, the GAAC continues Coffee With the Authors, a live, conversational interview with local and regional authors about the writing craft and process. Next up is novelist and “Children of the Catastrophe” author Sarah Shoemaker in a conversation about historical fiction. Sarah Bearup-Neal, GAAC gallery manager, leads the discussion.

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No whales or sharks in the Great Lakes, but Empire has a dinosaur

He’s a showstopper, that’s for sure. Any number of people driving past Gilbert on M-72 are stopping to get a photo with him. Because who doesn’t love a copper-colored, life-size T-Rex? Gilbert is the brainchild of Curtis Warnes, and was crafted by sculptor Enoch Flaugher. Warnes is the owner of Steel Appeal, a firm specializing in metal work & custom furniture. He hired his cohort Flaugher to build the dinosaur, which now stands next to the building Warnes is using as a gallery to promote the “functional art” side of his business. “People are lining up” to see and take photos of Gilbert, says Warnes.

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Glen Lake Library hosts Road to Empire author

The Glen Lake Library in Empire will host local author John Wemlinger on Tuesday, August 15 at 6:00 pm. Wemlinger will present his newly-published novel The Road to Empire, which follows the journey of a young helicopter pilot from the small town of Empire, Michigan in the wake of 9/11.

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