Dedicated to the memory of Elizabeth’s Aunt Helen Westie Wetterholt, a frequent contributor to the Glen Arbor Sun, and an Empire mainstay who passed away in May, at 93 years old. Read her obituary below.
It’s almost 10 p.m. and the hottest July 20th on record here since 1977. Undaunted, humans are thicker than mosquitoes on the deck above the beach at The Leelanau School’s C.H. Lanphier Observatory.
All the hot weather we’ve had led me to re-read the 19th century Boizard letters written during the winter time in Glen Arbor. Exploring how some early white settlers got through the cold, snowy winters here offered an instructive perspective on the heat. I also wanted to continue to mine the letters for references to the Civil War, as the Boizard letters offer many informative first-hand descriptions.
Over the past 20 years, Greg and Wanda Sobran of Sobran Studios, have become fixtures of the Glen Arbor arts scene — if two inveterate, peripatetic adventurers could be described in such stationary terms.
Duane Campbell, a civil engineer turned brat entrepreneur, serves up these delicacies at the Foothills Café in Burdickville on Thursday through Saturday evenings. “I try to make inspired brats. Anyone can go to the store and buy a package of Johnsonville Brats,” he says. “Compare those to a handcrafted raspberry chipotle brat, or one with turkey, feta, tomato and fresh basil.” Duane often uses local ingredients, and always a better grade of meat than run-of-the-mill bratwursts.
Some people might say that artist Lynn Uhlmann can’t see the forest for the trees — and the painter, whose affiliation with Leelanau County’s beautiful wooded places spans nearly three decades, would happily agree with that notion. Each of her landscapes, inspired by a deep familiarity with places such as Good Harbor, Shalda Creek, the Crystal River, and Port Oneida, depicts “the trees, light, and colors of small, intimate settings,” within the forest wilderness now enveloping the former farm fields, coastline settlements, and lumber operations of an earlier era.
Just don’t be surprised. Say you’re with your family and some friends on the sun deck at Boonedocks. It’s a Tuesday night, and Emma Cook and the Goodboy! Band launch into a sexy version of “Summertime”. You are ready to order, and the pretty blond server is smiling and nodding as everyone takes a turn asking for the perch dinner, or the burger with bacon, or the maple-flavored pork sandwich. But she isn’t writing anything down. Don’t worry! It’s just Kasey Klumpp, the girl with the perfect memory.
Glen Arbor artist Kristin Hurlin’s illustrations appear in the new children’s book Michigan Fruit: An Artful Coloring & Activity Book (Artful Educators, 2011). Hurlin co-authored the book with Susan Briggs. Michigan Fruit is filled with history, lore, recipes and beautiful pictures to color, including thematic farmscapes of strawberries, cherries, blueberries, apricots, peaches, plums, pears, apples, grapes, favorite fruit recipes, and a map and list of Michigan fruit festivals.
When Frank and Beryl Skrocki packed up their three tiny kids to start an unknown life up north, they never imagined their family would own and operate one of the only surf shops in Michigan just a few years later.
A graduate student in architecture at the University of Michigan, Keenan May has created an unassuming, simplistic space to show off his printed canvas photos and to disseminate his passion for Leelanau County. While most graduate students choose to celebrate the end of their first year with friends and brews, Keenan wasted no time converting the garage and designing the layout of the empty space for the Memorial Day gallery opening.