The Glen Lake Chamber is requesting volunteers to be parade marshals for the big Glen Arbor 4th of July parade. We need volunteers to bring brooms to the parade to sweep back the candy from the street to the kids along the parade route as well as assisting along the route from Glen Haven into town. We need approximately 50+ people. Please contact Tim Barr from Art’s Tavern directly at (231) 499-2787 for more information, to sign up to volunteer, and to get a parade marshal shirt.

The Glen Arbor Art Association (GAAA) will exhibit recent works donated by artists who have participated in the GAAA’s Artist in Residence program during the past two years at the Glen Lake Community Library at 10115 East Front Street in Empire. The paintings are on view in the library’s community room through September during library hours.

The Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes have been selected to receive a 2012 Active Trails Grant from the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks. Now in its fourth cycle, the National Park Foundation’s Active Trails program promotes national parks as venues for community engagement, and encourages healthy living through various forms of recreation and volunteer service on land and water trails. The $18,000 grant will enable the Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes to purchase signage for the first segment of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail (SBHT), and to develop a “Trail Ambassador” volunteer program to assist in patrols and maintenance of the SBHT. The SBHT will be officially opened on June 20 at a 1:30 p.m. ribbon cutting event.

Former business owner, social worker, community activist and nature lover Mollie Weeks passed away last month at age 78. Weeks, who is survived by her husband, political syndicated columnist and author George Weeks, left a lasting legacy in Glen Arbor.

On a hot, sunny midsummer’s day, when Lake Michigan is still cold, a thick fog bank develops just off shore as the day heats up. Then an afternoon wind usually blows the cold mist inland, dropping the temperature and watering the near shore plants. Blooming in a riot of color in sheltered areas, typical dune flowers near Pyramid Point shown here are coreopsis, wood lily, ragwort, hairy puccoon, smooth rose interspersed with juniper and buffalo berry bushes. Wild strawberries are ripe in late June and grow right out of the sand with the other flowers. For a rare Midsummer Day treat — roll a wild strawberry up in a rose petal, and pop into your mouth!

Superintendent Dusty Shultz is pleased to announce that on Saturday, June 9, the entrance fee to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will be waived in honor of National Get Outdoors Day. “National Get Outdoors Day encourages healthy, active, outdoor fun and I can’t think of a better place to get outdoors and have fun than at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore,” said Superintendent Shultz.

Twenty paintings by Sally Wille of Winnetka, Illinois are currently on display at the Glen Arbor Art Association. Watercolor artist, Sally Wille, earned a BFA from the University of Arizona. She likes the transparency of watercolor and that is evident in the landscapes, night scenes and reflective surfaces that she paints. Her show may be viewed Monday-Friday, June 4-15, 9 a.m.- 2 p.m. There will be a Meet & Greet for Sally this coming Friday, June 8, from 6-8 p.m.

After several years of limited piping plover nesting activity in the Glen Haven area of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (National Lakeshore), four pairs of the federally endangered shorebird have made that beach their home for the summer. This easily accessible location provides visitors an excellent opportunity to view a rare bird in its natural habitat, as well as have questions answered by National Park Service employees and volunteers who will be on site throughout the nesting season.

From staff reports Upon the retirement last summer of Dick DeVinney, the Summer Singers director for many years, Patrick Kuhl, will be the new director of the Glen Arbor Summer Singers. Patrick is a summer resident of Northport where he has been the organist for the Omena Presbyterian Church since 1993. He has also been […]

To show our appreciation for those who serve in the U.S. Military, on Saturday, May 19 – Armed Forces Day – the National Park Service will begin issuing an annual pass offering free entrance to all 397 national parks for active duty military members and their dependents.