Sometime this month, the 1,364,835th visitor to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in 2012 will arrive at the Dune Climb, hike to Pyramid Point, or perhaps bike the Heritage Trail and enjoy its stunning autumnal beauty. In doing so, that visitor will officially make this the busiest year ever for the Glen Arbor region, the most profitable for local businesses, and perhaps the most hectic one too.
Matt and Keegan Myers’ M-22 brand is back in the news, but for the wrong reasons. The iconic logo, of course, graces t-shirts, hats, coffee cups, bumper stickers, wine, and other items sold at retail stores in Traverse City and in Glen Arbor. The Myers brothers, who live on Old Mission Peninsula and run the annual M-22 Challenge, have made a killing since trademarking the logo about a decade ago. Sales reached $2 million this year, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Does Glen Arbor truly embrace bikers? These citizens on two wheels represent a growing share of our tourism pie, as northern Michigan appeals to both recreational and athletic bikers. They represent an active lifestyle that fits our outdoor attractions like a glove; they don’t clog roads or parking lots; they don’t consume fossil fuels and pollute our air, and their leisurely pace makes them ideal targets to visit and financially support our shops, galleries and eateries.
With this year’s primary election upon us and voters casting ballots on Tuesday, Aug. 7, we reached out to Derek Bailey and Allen O’Shea — two progressive Democrats who are vying to oppose incumbent Republican Ray Franz for Michigan’s 101st House seat in the November election.
Each summer, while traveling through Michigan’s lake country, I notice a wide and depressing variety of roadkill, evidence of creatures not equipped for encounters with large, speedy machinery and an ever-increasing dissection of pavement across former habitat. I usually also encounter some few fortunate creatures like turtles, which have somehow avoided being struck or smashed — yet who are trapped in the roadway, trying to negotiate their ponderous way across alien terrain.
Our online story yesterday about a poll released by the Derek Bailey campaign that reportedly puts him in the lead one week before the Democratic primary apparently ruffled a few feathers, and raised questions, among Leelanau County Democrats.
The results in a new poll of 400 likely Democratic primary voters released in mid-July shows Derek Bailey, candidate for the 101st State Representative District, leading his opponent, Alan O’Shea of Manistee, by eight points as the August 7 primary approaches.
That pie you ate at Cherry Republic last week wasn’t the fruit of a local tart cherry farmer’s labor — not this year, at least. The Glen Arbor retail company’s quick-thinking president Bob Sutherland imported those pie cherries from Poland after extreme weather this spring all but wiped out northern Michigan’s tart cherry crop.
Phase One of the Heritage Trail, a paved, 10-foot-wide multi-use trail, which runs from the Dune Climb to Glen Arbor, is the first leg of what supporters envision will one day be a 27-mile trail from the Leelanau-Benzie County Line running north to Good Harbor Bay. Though it has been operational for over a month, the Heritage Trail’s official grand opening is scheduled for June 20 at 1:30 p.m. at the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has approved a bid by On the Narrows Marina to expand on Big Glen Lake, despite local opposition and concern by the Glen Lake Association (GLA). MDEQ officer Robyn Schmidt confirmed to the Glen Arbor Sun that the draft permit she sent on May 16 to the McCahill family — which owns the marina — was countersigned and returned to the department on June 6. With the exception of moving their mooring buoys closer to shore, On the Narrows is now free to continue its expansion.