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.”
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.
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.
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.
This year we’re launching a new story series that celebrates the songs inspired by Leelanau County and the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Whether they were written last month or 100 years ago, their lyrics and melodies pay homage to this peninsula and the shoreline we love. We launch the series with the late Louan Lechler’s folk song, “I’m proud to say I live in Leelanau County, where people live in houses they built with their hands”—an homage to the homesteaders, the hippies, the craftsmen, the jacks of all trades who choose these woods to call home.
Can a brilliant career be born from a moment of angst while hunched over a bathtub? If you’re Lissa Edwards, that’s a yes. “From the time I was cognizant of anything, I loved Glen Arbor. And I always knew I wanted to be a writer,” she says. Laughing, the proprietor of Glen Arbor Wines professes, “I often say I can write and I can pour wine; those are my only two skills. I have no others!” Nine months ago, Edwards retired from what is now called Traverse, Northern Michigan, where her career as a writer and editor spanned almost four decades. Throughout, Edwards mastered the ability of sussing out compelling stories where no one else was looking. Her ideas were virtually inexhaustible and her process uniquely her own—so much so that her colleagues coined the affectionate term “Lissariffic.”
The sudden death of Dave Taghon on Jan. 3 struck family and friends from far and wide. Despite the fact he spent most of his life in Empire, Taghon’s influence spread far beyond the little village. He was a ready source of information about the area’s history, but more importantly, a vital part of its present and presence through his work on the village council, at his church, with the local Lions Club, and at his family’s gas station for nearly 40 years.
With 2024 in the rearview mirror and 2025 upon us, we’re recognizing 25 “influencers” we covered in the Glen Arbor Sun this past year who are making a meaningful impact on Leelanau County communities, commerce, and culture. Read below about those 25 local influencers, who include everyone from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, to Leelanau Investing for Teens, to Empire’s polar dippers, to popular new destinations River Club Glen Arbor, the Sleeping Bear Inn, and the Lively’s NeighborFood Market.
Glen Arbor resident and acclaimed artist Linda Dewey is the steward of a poplar tree that stands sentinel on her beach along Sleeping Bear Bay. It is her touchstone. Steadfast, resilient, evocative. Dewey most aptly anointed this magnificent poplar “Glory.” On what seemed like an otherwise ordinary afternoon this past November, Glory remained resolute in the face of a veritable tempest. Once the storm abated and the skies above the bay began to clear, a rainbow appeared. It was as if nature itself had exhaled. The rainbow gravitated toward Glory, slowly but persistently. Inevitably, the two fused into one. The convergence of Glory and the rainbow was a rarity of sorts—maybe nature’s own form of poetry. It was a gentle moment when the enduring and the ephemeral met.
Little Glen Lake’s Jerry Morawski is everywhere. The retired teacher, coach, principal, and athletic director seldom misses a local event, be it a ballgame, a tennis match, a Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate 20th anniversary party, or a gathering at either Cherry Republic or St. Philip Neri Church. He is always upbeat, positive, affable, approachable, smiling, and ready with a story. When he sees something in a local newspaper about an athlete, a family, or a local character, he carefully laminates it and then presents it to the subject of the story so that they can keep it forever. That’s how he got the nickname “The Leelanau Laminator.” His smile is infectious, and his stories are heartfelt and uplifting.