Remembering “Water Warrior” Holly Bird

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Holly T. Bird, a local attorney, indigenous activist, and member of the Traverse City Area Public Schools Board of Education—and whose family had roots on Little Glen Lake—joined the ancestors on April 3. Bird was co-executive director of TitleTrack and advocated for everything from indigenous visibility and racial justice, to clean water and energy, to LGTBQ+ rights. A proud member of the Thunder Clan, she traced her heritage from Apache, Yaqui, and Perépucha Tribes and joined the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipe Line in North Dakota in 2016. Click here to read the poignant note Bird wrote to her friend, now State Rep. Betsy Coffia, in September 2018.

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Remembering longtime Glen Arbor custodian Leonard Thoreson

Longtime Glen Arbor custodian Leonard Ole Thoreson, passed away on March 15 at age 98. Thoreson was born on November 28, 1926, in Port Oneida (on the Thoreson Farm). As a young boy his father worked the fields with horses until he purchased the Ford Tractor that is on the farm today. A lifelong resident of Leelanau County, Thoreson served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was a dedicated member of St. Philip Neri Catholic Church.

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Celebrating small towns and songs of Leelanau

Our story series celebrating songs inspired by Leelanau County and the Sleeping Bear Dunes continues with Blake Elliott’s “Small Town,” which the singer-songwriter released in 2012 “after a really hard winter.” The song offers an homage to “how our little communities in Leelanau County show up and helped us through.” State Rep. Betsy Coffia used “Small Town” for her first official political campaign song when she ran for Grand Traverse County Commission. The Accidentals took part in the recording for the music video of “Small Town,” which was filmed and recorded at Halohorn studios in Leelanau County with Andy Van Guilder.

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Piping Plover citizen volunteers sought, with Sleeping Bear Dunes employment in flux

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Ready or not, here they come. The endangered, migratory Piping Plover birds will return to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in April and set up their stony nests—regardless of National Park staff cuts and federal politics. Sleeping Bear staff might not be able to hire all the seasonal employees it needs to work with the shorebirds—or those workers might not arrive on time—since the federal hiring process resumed late in the winter. In their potential absence, volunteers are stepping forward. Grawn resident Maryellen Newport is recruiting local volunteers to monitor and protect the Piping Plover from predators. Read the story for a link to sign up.

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Northport couple sells syrup to honor late grandson

For Jim and Jan Brown, ’tis the season. No, not that one, and really not even really a holiday at all. But there is a season for making maple syrup. If there was a holiday attached to it, it’s a safe bet the Northport couple would be nearly as well-known as Santa and Rudolph. Each year around this time, they take to the woods, tapping the maple trees on a portion of their 42 acres south of Northport. They drill the spials into the trees, put out the buckets and gather the sap, then turn it into the liquid gold beloved by so many. “I’ve been doing it since 2009,” says Jim, a.k.a. Pa Brown. That’s what his grandson Rance called him. After Rance passed away from brain cancer in 2010, Jim and Jan decided to sell their syrup under the brand name Pa Brown’s Maple Syrup, and send the proceeds from sales to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Though Rance lost his battle with brain cancer, Jim and Jan were touched by the care and thoughtfulness of the staff at St. Jude’s. “So, I chose to give all the proceeds (there).”

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Your Sleeping Bear Dunes experience this year may feel very different — thanks to Trump’s and Musk’s wrecking ball

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UPDATE (March 12): The National Park Service once again has the green light to hire seasonal workers, but the late start has hampered the ability of Sleeping Bear Dunes to populate its seasonal roster. As of Glen Arbor Sun press time, approximately 80 percent of the National Lakeshore’s more than 100 seasonal positions remained vacant. The federal government chaos and the inability of seasonals from outside the area to find housing has prompted a slew of declines from candidates who were suddenly called and offered seasonal positions in March. Sleeping Bear Dunes staff have been paralyzed in other ways, too. Government-issued credit cards used by Park staff are frozen. They can’t buy ammunition or ranger supplies; they can’t even buy toilet paper for outhouses at hiking trails.

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Glen Lake Association names Kate Gille as first executive director

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The Glen Lake Association has named Kate Gille as its first-ever executive director. Gille will lead the organization in advancing its mission of “preserving and protecting the water quality, natural resources, and quality of life in the Glen Lake/Crystal River Watershed through leadership, education, and collaboration.”

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Reich’s Sleeping Bear Dune Overlook named Manitou Music poster

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The Glen Arbor Arts Center has awarded Barbara Reich’s pastel, “Sleeping Bear Dune Overlook #10,” the honor of being the official Manitou Music poster in 2025. It is an acknowledgment of Reich’s exceptional ability to transform a familiar subject into something entirely unique, and a testament to her extraordinary talent, writes Katie Dunn. Every year for the past two-plus decades, the GAAC has chosen a distinguished piece of art representative of the area, reproducing the image as a poster and offering it at an affordable price.

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Resisting retirement: Hugh Willey’s love for jazz

Louis Armstong said, “Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them.” By that measure, Hugh Willey has certainly not retired because he still lives and breathes music. At age 94, he still plays at his home and at Trinity Church in Northport, and if you walk with him, he will likely treat you to a vocal version of a favorite jazz tune. Hugh has been a cheerleader for young musicians. He brought them to perform at schools and clubs including the Sugar Loaf Resort and the Park Place Hotel. Another favorite event was the Northport Wine Festival at the Northport Marina.

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Reclaiming the remarkable stories of Black pioneers on Little Glen

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In September 2022, two Black women from Philadelphia opened a life-changing Facebook message from a White man in Grand Rapids. Kevin Brooks reached out to cousins Carmen Hopson and Coleen Burton with his discovery that their families were inextricably linked more than 100 years ago in Empire Township. The relationship was not born of freed slaves still economically dependent on their former owners, nor were they hired live-in employees. Rather, the respective families of Joseph Payment and Anna and Levi Johnson were neighboring farm owners and pioneering homesteaders along Little Glen Lake who forged a friendship born of necessity and steeped in mutual respect. What transpired from that visit and a subsequent one evolved into the documentary The Search for Anna and Levi. Subtitled “A Lost History of Black Homesteaders in Leelanau County” it was written and directed by Joe VanderMeulen, a local science journalist and documentary filmmaker. In honor of Black History Month, a special preview screening of the film The Search for Anna and Levi will take place on Sunday, Feb. 23, at 2 pm at The Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay. 

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