Though Gay Pride month—commonly celebrated in June—is over, some businesses continue to fly their pride flag. They include Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate in Empire, who posted on social media on June 30, “We choose to fly the progress pride flag every day of the year” despite some angry backlash from customers who oppose the rainbow flag.” Response to Grocer’s Daughter’s statement on social media (Facebook and Instagram) has been overwhelmingly (almost exclusively) supportive.
Dana Boomer is a pure Leelanau “local.” Born and raised along M-72 in the little valley between Fritz and Gilbert Roads on her family’s fruit farm, Boomer went to Glen Lake School part-time and was homeschooled part-time. “Six years ago, I started fostering dogs for ‘HANDDS to the Rescue.’ It is a network of dog-fosterers run by a diverse board in people’s own homes, there’s no central kennel. All of the dogs go to foster homes so that we can see their personalities in order to find the right family to adopt them,” said Boomer, who is also the Kasson Township Clerk.
Randy Chamberlain is well-known as an innovative chef. His experience at multiple restaurants around the region led to his establishing the fine dining experience, Blu, on the water in Glen Arbor. Running a successful restaurant requires a dedicated staff. Like virtually every other restaurant, the Chamberlains have scrambled to find enough workers. They eventually opted to hire foreign workers to make up for the shortfall, much like others before them in the hospitality industry. One of those workers, Süleyman Kanal, returned to his home in Turkey after working at both Boonedocks and Blu last summer, with plans to come back to work here this summer. But the massive earthquake that struck his home country in February changed everything. “His father is a furniture maker, and his shop was gone. Their home was gone. They had to dig through the rubble for mementos.” said Chamberlain, who began a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the Kanal family. Click here to read the story and for a link to the campaign.
Before the parades, the picnics and the fireworks begin, a telltale sign of Fourth of July in Leelanau County are the flags flying aloft Deering Tree Service’s green crane truck and bucket truck on the busy corner of M-72 and Maple City Road. The Deering brothers who co-own the company—Josh, 43, Jack, 39, and Patrick, 34—have flown the Stars and Stripes 80 feet in the air each Independence Day ever since they moved to that intersection in 2012. Deering Tree Service, which turns 50 years old in 2023, has nearly 50 employees, and whoever drives the crane truck on that day is responsible for raising the flag.
Broomstack Kitchen & Taphouse, the popular restaurant which shares a building with the Leelanau Curling Club, has new owners. The managing partners are: Alfiero Silveri, a restaurant veteran and sommelier who managed Trattoria Stella in Traverse City for more than 10 years; Stephen Brotschul, a former boarding school teacher who once worked at The Leelanau School (and is now president of the Glen Lake Chamber of Commerce), and Maria Leggett, an adjunct professor at Northwestern Michigan College’s Culinary Institute who runs the Grand Traverse Sauce Company. The group also hired Culinary Institute alum Rose Duggan as their executive chef.
John Arens, co-owner with his brother Steve of the Leelanau Coffee Roasting Company, reflects on 30 years of running their iconic business in Glen Arbor during a time of rapid growth and visibility. The Coffee Roasters will host a celebration on Saturday, June 24, in the closed-off parking lot in front of the café. Stop by for live music, coffee drinks and specials.
The goal of Empire resident Gerry Shiffman’s Seaside Sailing Excursions & Charity Charters is to take at-risk and underprivileged youth out for sailing adventures at no cost. Anyone who pays to sail automatically supports that mission. Shiffman’s is a carpe diem story of seizing opportunities. He grew up in Toronto, left a dysfuctional home six weeks after turning 16, and immigrated to the United States in 1978. The following year he started Master Plaster Patcher in Grand Rapids, refurbishing many of the former furniture barons’ Victorian homes. Shiffman helped start the Empire Area Community Center as president in 2011. The organization holds concerts to raise money for locals who have fallen on hard times while also protecting their anonymity.
It is time to kick off summer with a special event combining the love for wine, dogs, and music to support a great cause. Join Black Star Farms as they celebrate 25 years with a dog-themed party, Pours for Pups, benefiting the Great Lakes Humane Society, a local non-profit Leelanau County organization dedicated to animal welfare. The event will be held on Saturday, June 10, from 5 to 8 pm at the tasting room patio and front lawn at this picturesque farm-winery in Suttons Bay.
The Corn Dog Company food truck opened before Memorial Day weekend in Glen Arbor in the lot across M-22 from Coastal and M22 Wine in the Crystal River Outfitters Recreational District. In other business news, Sonja and Bret Richards have expanded their Harborview Lavender business to include locations in Suttons Bay (in its third year) and now Glen Arbor. They also own the Cherry Stop.
For the longest time, the owners of Inn and Trail Gourmet called him “flat white guy” because they didn’t know his name. Steve would frequent the Glen Arbor business almost every day and order a flat white—an espresso coffee drink. Turns out that Steve Reddicliffe edited “The New York Times Essential Book of Cocktails”—a spirited tome of recipes, stories, and reflections written by quaffing legends. On Thursday, June 1, from 5-6:30 p.m., Steve will sign copies of the book at Inn and Trail while guests sample a couple special drinks he has created for the event.