Cedar residents David and Theresa Gersenson are the new owners of the Sylvan Inn, the guesthouse at 6680 Western Avenue in Glen Arbor. They closed the deal Feb. 11, almost three years after moving to Leelanau County from Nederland, Colo., a small mountain town located about 15 miles west of Boulder.
Perhaps you were listening to Michigan Public Radio’s “Stateside” last winter, when an expert from Michigan State University (MSU) weighed in on the day’s topic — music education. That voice may have sounded familiar, especially to Empire residents. It belonged to Cynthia Taggart, Ph.D., who is world-renowned on the subject. Taggart also owns the Secret Garden gift shop, a place to find one-of-a-kind artisan items in Empire.
Food For Thought has played a critical role in the local foods movement here in Northern Michigan. But when he started the business out of his house south of Empire in 1995, Timothy Young was one of just a handful of pioneers in this niche market. The demand for local foods has exploded over the last decade, and Young’s business has expanded to 10 full-time, year-round employees and a spattering of part-time and seasonal employees.
When Trish Vanderploeg and her husband, Wayne, moved to Glen Arbor four years ago, nobody knew her. Now, an entire community is pulling together to support her. With that support may come the gift of life.
Since the mid-winter freeze is here, and since Empire and Glen Arbor’s “Winterfest” celebrations return this weekend, we decided to chat with Wayne “Soni” Aylsworth, whose all-season apparel outfitter, Empire Outdoors, is wrapping up its first year in business.
The Glen Arbor Art Association (GAAA) “Talk About Art” series opens its 2015 season with Traverse City author Doug Stanton on Jan. 29 at 7:30 p.m. at the GAAA, 6031 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor.
So, you’re a woman of a certain age. You’re looking into the mirror that is TV, and the idealized face reflected back looks nothing like the one you’re wearing. What’s a girl to do?
I wanted to have African-American relatives long before I learned that, through marriage, I did. It just made sense to me that with the Stocking family in America for almost 400 years that sometime, somewhere, somehow, we had married people who were black.
Burdickville historian Tom Van Zoeren reports that Dottie Lanham passed away on December 30 — five days after her 90th birthday. She was born on Christmas Day in 1924. Van Zoeren penned the book Dottie Lanham of Burdickville: Images, Recollections, and Observations of a Northern Michigan Woman and Her Community.
When Randy met Mari, it was loathe at first sight. “She’d just moved back (to Northern Michigan) from California,” said Randy Chamberlain, who is today the chef-owner of the Glen Arbor restaurant Blu. But when Randy met Mari Patton, he was sous chef, the deputy head chef at Windows, an Elmwood Township restaurant. This was the 1980s, and Mari Patton had brought back with her all sorts of West Coastisms, including “purple highlights” in her “wavvy” hair. “So before there was any interaction or conversation, (I) immediately had an impression of her,” Randy said of Windows’ newly hired server. “It was something you’d sneer at.”