Business Feature

Leelanau County boasts fine, fun golf

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Avid golfers are in luck when it comes to Leelanau County. With five courses to choose from, offering a variety of scenery and different degrees of difficulty, there is no lack of doglegs, water hazards and treacherous greens to deal with. If that makes it sound challenging, well, welcome to golf. It is at once the most exasperating and the most addictive sport. Any round will typically include a shot that makes you cringe. Maybe it’s that putt that fell off at the last minute, or that drive that somehow hooked to the left even though you thought you hit it perfectly. On the other hand, there was that chip shot that backed up perfectly, leaving a gimme for a birdie. Or that long putt that snaked around the cup before dropping in. And you find yourself hooked once again. So read on for brief descriptions of Leelanau’s links. Then get out there and have some fun.

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World Cup fever grips Leelanau; global soccer offers antidote to imperialism

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Mike Sheldon, owner of River Club Glen Arbor, flew to Los Angeles to watch the U.S. national team play Turkey on June 25. Gary Jonas, co-owner of Farm Club and The Little Fleet in Traverse City, hit Dallas together with his father and his son on June 27 to witness Argentina’s date with Jordan. Greg Graetz and his son scored tickets to a friendly match between the United States and Germany at Chicago’s Soldier Field, just prior to this summer’s World Cup. Venues including The Little Fleet and River Club are packed with enthusiastic crowds gathered to watch the world’s greatest sporting event, co-hosted this summer by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Crowds hush and gaze at the television as footballers send creative passes and move in unison up the field. Hundreds of voices crescendo into a roar as the ball cannons toward the goal.

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New proprietors enliven historic Omena store

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Sitting on a curve of M22 looking onto an idyllic bay, the Omena Bay Country Store has been a landmark in the village of Omena since 1889. This April it reopened under new ownership by Regina and Joe Phillips, a Louisville, Kentucky couple whose family now calls the store home. The Phillips first visited Michigan 8 years ago, when encouraged to take a vacation and explore the beauty of the Great Lakes State by a friend and coworker originally from Saginaw. “We just fell in love,” Regina says, “and anytime we’d get a chance we would come up. We felt immediately at home here and each time we visited it became harder and harder to leave.”

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Indigo Bluffs app connects travelers to the best of Leelanau County

For a few seasons now, campers at Indigo Bluffs RV Park and Resort on M-72 east of Empire have enjoyed a free-to-download app that details things to do in the area. It highlights everything from hiking trails to wineries, restaurants to farmstands, and sorts the attractions not alphabetically, but instead by distance (in miles) from the campground. A “favorites” button was added most recently for users to easily save the things they’re interested in, “which is way easier to work with instead of a billion screenshots from Google,” said Gary Becker, the owner of Indigo Bluffs.

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Beth Bricker is “still standing” and cancer free

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Two years ago Glen Arbor artist and co-owner of Forest Gallery Beth Bricker was diagnosed with stage-4 cancer and given a prognosis of months to live. She underwent chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, but also pursued alternative treatment methods including reiki. Today Beth is cancer free and still standing. “Still standing” is the title of the exhibit currently on display at Lake Street Studios Center Gallery until June 26. The exhibit, which opened on May 29, celebrates the art and wild creativity of Beth—“our iconic townie gallerina extraordinaire”—with the gorgeous collaboration of driftwood sculpture by Naomi Call.

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Iconic Bluebird continues family tradition, now as riverfront restaurant

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The highly esteemed Bluebird in Leland reopened quietly this past fall by owners Skip and Lynn Telgard along with their family and loyal staff. The original Bluebird was the family home as well as the local café. The restaurant is a family tradition, with four generations of Telgards who have brought the business from a two-room little shack to a thriving corner business known far and wide. An iconic and nostalgic place since it was established in 1927, the Bluebird, affectionately nicknamed the “Bird,” takes full advantage of its location on the historic Leland River. Indoors, it gives diners delightful up-close and year-round views of the river through its new wide glass windows.

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New Farm (Club) market eases operations

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Loma Farm and Farm Club now have a third farm operation in the family: the on site farm market and processing facility opened earlier this year. For owners Gary and Allison Jonas, and Sara and Nic Theisen, it’s been a long time coming. “When we did the first drawings, we had the market on it,” says Nic Theisen. Until it opened, they compressed the bakery, brewing operation and market into the existing Farm Club restaurant. Which worked, sort of — space was at a premium, especially in the kitchen. That was then, and this, finally, is now. The nearly 2,000-square-foot market boasts two levels. The upstairs is home to the market and bakery; the lower level is mostly for storage. “We use the new building for canned and bottled beer and cider conditioning and cold storage,” says Theisen.

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River Club Glen Arbor holds Drinks, Putts & Fire Trucks to benefit Glen Lake Fire Department

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The Glen Lake Fire Department and River Club Glen Arbor plan to hold their first annual community building and fund-raising event, “Drinks, Putts & Fire Trucks,” on Wednesday, June 17, from 4-8 pm at the River Club. The event will celebrate the massive contribution the Glen Lake Fire Department makes to the greater Leelanau County region. The two primary goals are to create closer ties to community members with individual fire department personnel and to raise funds that help the department flourish and stay modern given the vast needs of the community. River Club will donate a portion of their profits for the day to the Glen Lake Fire Department’s general fund along with providing community members a free round of golf on their next visit.

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Paul Skinner helps drive Empire along

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“Come on in,” says Paul Skinner as he opens the door at the Miser’s Hoard. “Don’t mind them. Hush,” he says to Brandi and Gizmo, the Shih Tzu security team. The tall, ungainly building on Front Street in Empire is home to the two tiny guard dogs, Paul and Shelly Skinner, and the Miser’s Hoard, their catch-all store which sells an eclectic mix of gifts, jewelry, furnishings, accessories and antiques—which celebrates 25 years of operation in Empire this year. And more than that, if you want to know the truth. It’s also the headquarters for the Empire Asparagus Festival and the Empire Hill Climb, both of which Paul oversees. That’s quite a bit for one place in the diminutive village in the southwestern corner of Leelanau County. But the Skinners make it work.

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Dune Bird launches Woolsey Red to support airport restoration

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On Thursday June 4, from 4-8 pm Dune Bird Winery, set along Michigan’s scenic M-22 in the heart of Leelanau County, celebrates the launch of a new varietal red wine, Woolsey Red, a partnership with the Save Woolsey Airport Terminal project, a group of dedicated community volunteers and partners working with Leelanau Township to Save Woolsey Airport Terminal, an 1870s-era, hand-laid stone building that once served as a farm creamery.

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