Endurance Evolution and On The Ground have teamed up to raise funds to build a library in a remote village in Ethiopia. Area runners are invited to run The Solstice Run, which will travel from the northern tip of the Leelanau Peninsula to the beaches of West Grand Traverse Bay in Traverse City. Runners can choose the a full 40 miles, 20 miles, or a four-person relay (roughly 10 miles per runner).
Writer Elizabeth McBride from Grand Ledge, Mich., will be the artist-in-residence at the Glen Arbor Art Association (GAAA) from May 19 to June 1, with a presentation on May 30. She plans to continue to revise and work on a collection of poems to be published and to develop a portfolio of nature poems of place and discovery.
Park Ranger-led programs will be featured at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Visit the National Lakeshore on Memorial Day Weekend and tour the Glen Haven Maritime Museum, watch a blacksmith, take some photos, and learn more about lighthouses, owls and other birds.
Dave Barrons, chairperson for the 2013 Leelanau Peninsula Birding Festival, reports that the festival will hold a fundraiser on Sunday, May 5 at the Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay. The featured film will be The Big Year starring Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson. In birding, a Big Year is seeing or hearing as many different species of birds as possible in a calendar year. The characters of this comedy begin their big year for lots of different reasons. The film will begin at 12:45. Tickets are $8 per person with proceeds to benefit the birding festival. The website for the festival is www.mibirdfest.com.
Don’t miss the next Empire Area Community Center benefit concert on Sunday, April 28 from 4-6 p.m. at Art’s Tavern in Glen Arbor. Local folk musician Jim Crockett will perform in tandem with The Beach Bards poetry troupe. Click here to learn more about the Empire Area Community Center’s philanthropy toward locals in need.
From staff reports Michigan’s coastline and habitat diversity have long been a draw to bird watchers and nature enthusiasts. Birders and eco-tourists spend millions each year in the enjoyment of their pursuits. Now, the Sleeping Bear Birding Trail, Michigan’s first birding trail, has been formed to connect exceptional birding areas and promote the area that […]
Kent Kelly reports that the group, Friends of Sleeping Bear — which is independent of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore but helps the local Park maintain amenities such as the new Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail — seeks trail ambassadors for the Trail. Friends of Sleeping Bear will hold a kick-off meeting on Thursday, May 2, at 2 p.m. at the Blacksmith Shop in Glen Haven, one mile west of Glen Arbor.
The People and the Olive, a feature-length documentary about the daily joys and struggles of Palestinian olive farmers living under the occupation, and last year’s Run Across Palestine (an initiative of the Traverse City-based nonprofit On the Ground, which supports fair-trade farmers around the world), will show at The Leelanau School north of Glen Arbor on Tuesday, May 7, from 2-4 p.m. The event is free, and the public are invited to attend. The film was created by Traverse City filmmaker Aaron Dennis and journalist Jacob Wheeler (founding editor of the Glen Arbor Sun). Wheeler will attend and take part in a question-and-answer session following the screening.
The Glen Lake Community Library will host a poetry contest as part of the 10th annual Empire Asparagus Festival. Aspiring poets are invited to submit their asparagus-inspired verse to the library by Monday, May 13. Entries will be judged in youth (ages 18 and younger) and adult categories, with prizes awarded in both groups. Poems may be emailed to info@glenlakelibrary.net; or mailed to Glen Lake Community Library, P.O. Box 33, Empire, Mich. 49630; or can be dropped off at the library itself. On Saturday, May 18, at 2 p.m., all verses submitted in the contest will be shared in a poetry reading at the Empire Township Hall. Contestants are encouraged to attend this fun gathering to present their own “Ode to Asparagus”!
The Glen Arbor Art Association (GAAA) will host nine artists in 2013 — five visual artists, two writers and two photographers — from May to October, in a series of two-week residencies. The GAAA Artist-in-Residence program provides artists with uninterrupted time to focus on their practice. Janice Dumas, a watercolor artist from Milford, Michigan, is the first resident of the 2013 program.