RIP Tim Nichols, the longtime owner of Glen Arbor’s popular Riverfront Pizza, who passed away on May 6 at age 75. A memorial service will be held for Tim on Saturday, Oct. 10, from 2-4 pm at the Glen Lake Fire Hall.
The Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes is expanding its renowned Bear Tracks accessibility program with the help of Elk Rapids-based Great Lakes RV Solar Solutions. New solar panels from Great Lakes are now attached to the Friends’ track chair trailer, allowing access to additional trails through the use of solar power. By cutting the cord, the track chairs can now be used on the Park’s popular Alligator Hill trail, expanding access for all to the beauty of the Lakeshore. “Accessibility is an important part of the Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes mission,” said Laura Ann Johnson, executive director of the Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes.
The Glen Arbor Sun was named local news media publication of the year and won 18 awards in 11 different categories from the Michigan Press Association’s 2025 Better Newspaper Contest for stories published between August 1, 2024, and July 31, 2025. The awards were unveiled on Thursday, April 23, at MPA conference at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday handed Michigan’s Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel a victory, offering a unanimous decision that laid to rest a years-long debate over whether her case to shut down Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline should be heard in state or federal court. In an 14-page opinion penned by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court held that Enbridge had missed its 30-day window to have the case removed to federal court, with the Canadian energy company making its request 887 days after receiving Nessel’s initial complaint. The company’s Line 5 pipeline has been a long-running concern for tribal nations and environmentalists in the region, with Nessel calling it a “ticking time bomb” for the Great Lakes.
Goodbye analog; hello digital! Exciting changes have happened in The Leelanau School’s auditorium, and no one is more enthusiastic about them than the Glen Arbor Players. The theater group’s 2026 season starts this spring as Phase 1 of auditorium renovations, funded by grant money and generous community donations, has just been completed.
Following months of deliberation and impassioned public hearings, the Leland Planning Commission tonight rejected Apollos Properties’ special use permit application for a Youth for Christ “Lighthouse” ministry in Fishtown. In so doing, the Commission sided with findings-of-fact from outside attorney Tom Grier that found grounds to deny the special use permit. Conversely, Grier—an attorney with Running Wise & Ford—also prepared a separate document that offered the Commission a path to approve the ministry. The apparently dueling reports seemed to give the Commission defensible legal ground in the event that Apollos’ owner Jim VanSteenhouse, known as the “Bear Man,” appeals the decision or sues the Township. Much of the debate centered around whether a Youth for Christ ministry could qualify as a “club” allowed in Leland’s C-1 business district. Grier’s analysis that opposed a special use permit concluded that “private clubs, meeting halls, churches and religious institutions are not allowed as permitted or special land uses in the C-1 district.”
Heavy rain in recent days has resulted in flooding at The Mill, the iconic restaurant and cafe just east of Glen Arbor, which remains open with regular operating hours despite the hurdle. Three culverts were removed in the past couple years upstream and under County Road 675. A remaining culvert downstream from The Mill, beneath Overbrook Drive, is underwater and stemming the flow of the river. The problem could worsen with more heavy rain expected tonight and in the days to come. The problem is not new, but has exacerbated since a late winter snowstorm in March and ensuing spring melt overwhelmed the river’s watershed.
After eight years of development and more than 42 miles of pathways constructed, the Leelanau Conservancy has completed the multi-use trail network at Palmer Woods Forest Reserve, the Conservancy reported in a press release in early April. The finished system includes more than 27 miles of purpose-built mountain bike trails and 15 miles of hiking trails. These pathways are open year-round, guiding hikers, bikers and skiers through the peaks and valleys of this glacially formed landscape. Palmer Woods, a 1,115-acre Old-Growth Forest, is the Conservancy’s largest property and was acquired in 2016. Trail development began in 2018.
River Club Glen Arbor Music Lineup 2026 Performer Date Day of Week Time Notes Loose Change 5/2/2026 Saturday 5-8pm Chris Smith 5/9/2026 Saturday 5-8pm Dave Martin 5/10/2026 Sunday 5-8pm Mother’s Day Larz Cabot 5/16/2026 Saturday 5-8pm Keith Scott 5/23/2026 Saturday 5-8pm Luke Duo 5/24/2026 Sunday 5-8pm Clint Weaner 5/25/2026 Monday 5-8pm Memorial Day Drew Hale […]
Traverse Indivisible and Leelanau Indivisible are teaming up to hold a third No Kings national day of action in Traverse City on Saturday, March 28, as millions gather nationwide to protest the Trump administration’s policies and politics, at home and around the world. Organizers say they expect as many as 7,000 people to march in Traverse City “as small-town America pushes back against authoritarianism.” In a city of 16,000 people, that would make No Kings Day one of the largest protests in Northern Michigan history. The march begins at 1 pm at F&M Park in downtown Traverse City. Click here to read our coverage in the Glen Arbor Sun of the impact of the Trump administration’s politics and policy on Northern Michigan communities.