The Leelanau Farmers Market experience

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After a particularly long and dreary, not to mention snowy, winter, Leelanau’s warmer weather—as well as the spring and summer bounty that comes with rising temperatures—is especially welcome. And there’s no better place to find seasonal food grown, canned, baked, dried and produced locally than a farmers market. Leelanau Farmers Market Association (LFMA), a nonprofit organization developed in 2000 by the Leelanau Agricultural Alliance in collaboration with Leelanau’s Michigan State University Extension, offers farmers markets five days a week in six locations within the county beginning in June: Empire, Glen Arbor, Lake Leelanau, Leland, Northport and Suttons Bay.

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The doctor, the knitter, the bookstore owner and the boy who came home

Worried about the viability of this aging community without its long-term doctor and without a prescription shop, the Glen Lake Chamber of Commerce took the proactive step in late April of circulating an email that explored whether it should go out and recruit a new, young doctor to Glen Arbor. But the response from Chamber members was resounding: there was no need—for an energetic and dynamic young doctor had just arrived in Empire.

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Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail expands toward Empire

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Phase 2 of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail, a 5.5-mile stretch between the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb and Empire, is close to completion. All spring, workers and heavy machinery have been clearing and flattening the path, and they began paving the trail on May 21. The National Park has set a deadline of July 1, but the Trail will likely be complete before then.

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Glen Arbor celebrates grand re-openings and anniversaries

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Glen Arbor and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore area enjoyed an economic and tourism boom in the mid-1990s, and now the businesses borne of that boom are coming of age. Brad Anderson was a youthful 27 years old when he bought Steffens IGA in 1994 from Bill and Jan Heston and renamed it Anderson’s Market. Bit by bit he updated the interior and modernized the inventory, but not until this year did the grocery store in the heart of Glen Arbor get a complete facelift.

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The Betsie Current, flows again in Benzie

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Another sort of rebirth took place down the road in Benzie County last month—the rebirth of a community newspaper. The Betsie Current returned in April after an eight-year hibernation to chronicle Benzie’s news and events, businesses, characters and culture.

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Help Leelanau Conservancy claim $5,000

The Leelanau Conservancy has been presented with an exciting opportunity to gain recognition and raise money on a national level. The Michigan-based company Moosejaw Mountaineering has partnered with Patagonia and CrowdRise to help 20 organizations round up donations and earn a chance to be awarded additional funding. Plus, donors get a chance to win $500 worth of gear from Patagonia. The 10,000 Challenge Thing ends March 13.

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Leelanau County Business Grant Program awards $19,000 to area businesses

Eighteen Leelanau County-based businesses will receive grants of $1,000 or $1,250 through the county’s Business Grant Program. The 18 businesses were selected from more than 60 applications received by a review committee charged with dispersing remaining funds from the recent dissolution of the Leelanau County Economic Development Corp. in the form of small grants to county-based businesses.

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Polselli, Rock Investment Advisors, admit to Sugar Loaf ownership; two suitors vying for purchase

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In a rare and extensive interview with the Glen Arbor Sun today, Remo Polselli admitted that he is the owner of Sugar Loaf resort, through his share in Rok Investments LLC. Polselli did not specify the extent of his ownership, or who else is involved in the corporation, but added that Liko Smith has no — nor has had any — part of Rok Investments.

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Liko-polooza: timeline of a media frenzy over Sugar Loaf

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Neither the Glen Arbor Sun nor any other media outlet in Northern Michigan seems to know exactly if/when Liko Smith will show up to claim Sugar Loaf/allow Leelanau County inspector Steve Haugen to tour the premises. Claims that Smith and Haugen would tour the property today, January 31, and that Smith would meet the public over karaoke tonight at the Cedar Tavern proved incorrect. Liko Smith emailed various media sources today that the inspection will now take place on Friday, February 7. Meanwhile, it remains a mystery as to who actually controls/owns the long-shuttered ski resort, and what their true intentions/motives are. One thing is certain: we journalists are pecking and clawing for every little scrap like vultures in a garbage dump.

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Will Sugar Loaf suitor Liko Smith return to Leelanau this week?

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Eneliko “Liko” Smith has told Leelanau County Construction Code Authority Steve Haugen that he will “probably be here some time this week” to prove to Haugen that he is, in fact, the owner of Sugar Loaf resort. The enigmatic Samoan boxer with a dubious legal history has claimed since late September that he owns the long shuttered Northern Michigan ski resort. But Smith has offered no documentation to back that claim.

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