The Leelanau Conservancy is hosting a free Speaker Series and Kids Harvest Party event at the Suttons Bay High School on Saturday, Oct. 19 from 3 to 5 p.m. The event, “Farming and Food: Past, Present, and Future” is Part Two of the Conservancy’s Leelanau: Looking Ahead Speaker Series.
The next Empire Area Community Emergency Fund Concert will be held on Sunday, Sept. 29 from 4-6 p.m. at the Empire Town Hall and will feature the dynamic sound of Jazz North with special guest vocalist Robin Lee Berry.
Fiction writer Karen Hildebrandt is currently the Glen Arbor Art Association (GAAA) artist-in-residence. During her two-week stay, the Farmington Hills author wants to “spend time writing my novel” about a militant British Suffragette.
One-third of the land in America is yours — public land where one can hike, bike, climb, hunt, swim, explore, picnic, or just simply relax. National Public Lands Day, Sept. 28, is an opportunity to enjoy and give something back to those places we love. In recognition of this special day, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will host a beach cleanup from noon to 2 p.m. No reservations are needed. Simply meet at the Philip A. Hart Visitor Center in Empire at noon and help clean up the beach. Join thousands of volunteers across the nation who are taking part in the 20th Annual National Public Lands Day.
Join Park Rangers and guest speaker Tim Dring for a special program at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore about the U.S. Lifesaving Service and U.S. Coast Guard rescue boats entitled “You have to go out, but you don’t have to come back.” The one-hour program will be held on Sept. 29 at 3 p.m. at the Cannery Boat Museum in Glen Haven. Learn about the various craft used in rescues on the Great Lakes and how they compare to East Coast Lifesaving Service station craft.
A Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI) is currently being issued by the National Park Service for the Sleeping Bear Inn in Glen Haven. The RFEI allows interested parties to submit their concept(s) for potential adaptive use of the Inn and its garage. The Inn was built in approximately 1865 and was used as a lodging and dining facility until 1972; the garage was built in 1928.
Pastel painter Jim Markle is the current artist-in-residence at the Glen Arbor Art Association (GAAA). The Grand Rapids artist will talk about his residency on Thursday, Sept. 26, at 7:30 p.m. at the GAAA. This presentation is open to the public.
Join Endurance Evolution on Sunday, Oct. 6, for a scenic marathon and half marathon in the heart of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Both races start and finish in Empire. The out-and-back marathon course will take runners by the Dune Climb, past Little Glen Lake, and through Glen Arbor, north to Dunn’s Farm Road, with breathtaking views of the Manitou Islands along the way. At the peak of fall color season, this tree-lined course will awe both runners and spectators.
Local nonprofits Buckets of Rain and Great Lakes Friends of Safe Passage are organizing a “music marathon” next week in Traverse City which, if successful, will feature Woody Guthrie’s patriotic ballad “This Land is Your Land” sung, over and over again, for 72 hours straight. The performance will begin at noon on Tuesday, Sept. 17 and conclude at noon on Friday, Sept. 20.
The Bay Film Series begins its new season of foreign films this Sunday, Sept. 15, with “Renoir” a biographical drama about famous French Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Set on the French Riviera in 1915, a young and radiantly beautiful young woman enters the life of the aging artist capturing his attention, as well as that of his son, Jean’s. She becomes Renoir’s last model.