Runners and walkers will take the starting line in Glen Arbor on Saturday, June 16, for the inaugural Glen Arbor Solstice Half Marathon & 5k. With something to offer both hardcore endurance junkies and recreational athletes, the 13.1-mile race and 3.1-mile run/walk is expected to draw 400 participants.
The county’s best-kept winter sport secret isn’t skiing, snowboarding, or the best ice fishing hideaway: it’s the weekly Zumba classes at the Empire Township Hall. The 5:45-7 p.m.
This winter will feature open skating on a new rink in Glen Arbor. Located in the Lake Street Woods (behind Leelanau Coffee Roasting and the Cottage Book Shop), the 40′ x 60′ sheet of ice will be open to skaters of all age.
Explore Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on snowshoes this winter. Join Park Rangers for a guided snowshoe hike this holiday season and every Saturday throughout the winter. The first hike of the season will be on Thursday, December 29 at 1 p.m. Thereafter, regularly scheduled Saturday snowshoe hikes will start up again on Saturday, January 7 at 1 p.m. Meet at the National Lakeshore Visitor Center in Empire. If you do not have your own, snowshoes will be loaned out at no charge.
This coming February, journalist Jacob Wheeler and filmmaker Aaron Dennis will follow a team of American and Palestinian athletes as they run the West Bank, from Hebron to Jenin (129 miles over five days) to raise awareness about the struggles facing olive farmers in Palestine. The “Run Across Palestine”, a project of On The Ground aims to reestablish sustainable olive growing practices in a place where the economy, culture and identity are rooted in the ancient tree.
Here’s an open letter from Rick Desrochers of the newly formed Sugar Loaf Mountain Club, thanking the local community for helping clean up the ski hill in advance of the long-shuttered mountain potentially opening up to cross-country skiing and ice climbing this winter.
Sun seekers tanning their hides on Empire beach were suddenly transported back in history on the afternoon of Sunday, July 31, when the Saginaw Voyageurs arrived in a birch bark replica canoe. The Voyageurs wore costumes to resemble the pre-American Revolution French fur traders, who opened up trade routes between Great Lakes Native American communities and Montreal. They were concluding the first day of a weeklong journey that began in Frankfort and ended on Aug. 6 in Traverse City.
After half a decade of planning, some debate, and the solidification of enthusiastic support across a broad spectrum of the public, the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail will officially launch with a groundbreaking ceremony at the Dune Climb on Friday, August 12 at 11 a.m. When completed, the 27-mile trail will run from the southern edge of Leelanau County, through the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to Good Harbor Bay.
On Tuesday, July 26, the Glen Arbor Women’s Club hosts the Fifth Annual “Running Bear 5K Run/Walk and ½ Mile Kids’ Run”. This event has become popular with locals and tourists alike who participate. Last year 680 adults and children took part.
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.