Bee Well in Cedar buzzes with excitement

By Ross Boissoneau

Sun contributor

When the building across the street from the Cedar yarn shop Wool & Honey had a vacancy, its landlord approached the owner. Liz Neddo immediately was intrigued: It would be a great place for her excess inventory. “I’d always been interested in that space for storage,” she says.

Then she had another idea, one born in part from personal experience. Two and a half years ago, her daughter Cecily was diagnosed with brain cancer at age 7. The subsequent surgery and follow-up treatment took up time, money, energy and joy. Cecily was able to recapture some of the lattermost when playing with other kids at Detroit’s Gilda’s Club, the nation-wide organization for those battling cancer and their families.

So as she looked around the space, Neddo reflected on the family’s journey and Cecily’s ongoing recovery. “I went in and the wheels started turning,” she says. Instead of just using it for storage, she decided to transform it into a space where children could enjoy toys, games and one another, a place that was worry-free for parents. “In Leelanau, we have art, food, etc., but we don’t have places for locals where kids and parents can relax,” says Neddo.

That changed when Bee Well opened in December last year, and Neddo says the response has been everything she could have hoped for. “The community has been so excited. People were ready for something like this,” she says.

Bee Well is open Monday through Friday from 10 to 5, with an asterisk: when the Folded Leaf bookstore upstairs features live music Wednesday nights, Bee Well is open till 8:30 or 9, benefiting families who might want to enjoy the music while providing space for the youngest ones. For the same reason, it is open 9 to 8 on Saturday. “We’re open when the Folded Leaf has a community event,” Neddo says. On Sundays Bee Well is open 11 to 4.

And the cost? It’s—variable. While Neddo pursues non-profit certification, she is operating Bee Well as such, depending on donations and income from Bee Curious, the retail side of the operation. She says 25 percent of sales from Bee Curious go to supporting Bee Well activities, 25 percent covers overhead and the remaining 50 percent covers the cost of the items sold.

“Most events are free,” she says, though the facility is available for a fee for birthday parties or the like. “It’s structured as a non-profit, but we’re not there yet.” She says Bee Well will host a “friendraiser” benefit on Oct. 18, an opportunity for people to visit and experience it for themselves. There will be a scavenger hunt, games for kids and family, a photo booth and more, enabling those who haven’t been there previously to experience it for themselves.

Neddo says the facility has mostly served younger kids, but she’s hoping to make inroads with those in middle school, even high schoolers. Activities such as painting, storytime, even spinning and knitting are all either taking place or being explored while she considers more ways in which to engage kids of all ages.

The name came from in part from its sister operation across the street. “Wool and Honey is the hive, with a bee theme. So the second space is Bee Well,” says Neddo.

The nomenclature doesn’t end there, as Bee Well includes three defined spaces. “Bee Playful” is a community play space available for public use, a space where children and families can play, read, and relax. “Bee Curious” is the retail store, boasting a variety of items for sale, including sensory-supporting toys, imagination-boosting items, children’s books that highlight mental well-being, and all manner of things that spark creativity. And “Bee Creative” is the common space for adults and youngsters to engage in workshops, classes, and other events.

“It’s fun to see,” says Neddo of the lattermost. Though in truth, she could be speaking of the entirety of Bee Well.

She says Bee Well reflects the lessons she learned through her daughter’s illness. “I learned from Cecily’s journey with cancer. You can be overwhelmed with (offers of) help,” she says. The temptation for many people, herself included, is to be strong and say no, we’re fine. Instead, say yes. “That’s how community works,” Neddo says. “That’s how relationships work.

“This is my chance to give back. It fills my basket so much.”

Not that it’s always easy for her. Sometimes things hit close to home and trigger her, taking her back to when her family was in the midst of crisis. “It’s hard to see, and at the same time I get to do something amazing. It’s full circle.”