Dune Dogs slumber: Dotti and Bill Thompson reflect on 26 years in Glen Arbor

Bill and Dotti served Dune Dogs’ last genuine, Chicago-style hot dog (never with ketchup) at 5:30 p.m. the day before Labor Day. Photo by Taylor Wilcox

By Norm Wheeler

Sun editor

The sign on the porch wall of Dotti and Bill Thompson’s White Gull Inn says “Downers Grove There’s No Place Like Home.” That can be interpreted as both a bit of nostalgia and a message. It harkens back to 1993 when they left Downers Grove for good and made Glen Arbor their home. Bill’s roots around here go way back to 1925 when his relatives “took the boat up from Chicago to the big dock at Glen Haven and walked to their cottage on Sleeping Bear Bay.” So Bill’s dad was already coming here as a boy before it was Bill’s turn to visit “Aunt Madge”. Then Dotti chimes in, “I came first in 1959 when we were dating.” It was obviously just a matter of time before the Thompsons made Glen Arbor their “home,” and Downers Grove a place to visit.

Bill Thompson ran a floor covering sales agency in the Windy City until 1993. In 1990 they had purchased the house that is now their home, and a sister and brother-in-law ran it as a B&B. “Then in ’93 we moved here and bought the Dairy Bar (by the Glen Lake narrows) from Bill Casier,” Bill remembers. They tricked it out like a 1950s diner with pictures of Elvis and a big juke box connected to a couple of small table-side juke boxes that played ’50s music on 45s. You could sit at the old “soda fountain” counter on the round chrome spinning stools and eat your burger and fries, then finish with a big sundae topped by a bright red maraschino cherry while Buddy Holly rocked around the clock. They sold “gallons and gallons and gallons” of ice cream over several years until Bill realized, “We bit off more than we could chew. We had the Dairy Bar and the motel next door, plus the B&B, and we had purchased the little place next to our house and started the TnT Video rental shop. The motel paid the overhead for the Dairy Bar, but it became too much.” In those days they employed “two shifts of four kids each, plus the video store, so about 10 kids were working for us.”

In 2000 they sold the Dairy Bar/Motel to Greg Nicolaou; then in 2003 they stopped renting out the room in their B&B. “I said I’d do it for 10 years,” Dotti laughs, “and exactly 10 years to the day after I started renting, I stopped!” 

“We really enjoyed our customers who stayed here,” Bill nods. “And some of them liked Glen Arbor so much they bought places of their own around here.”

Because he was so accustomed to being busy, Bill eventually set up his popular Dune Dogs food cart next to their home. With the help of granddaughters Haley Gray and Taylor and Hana Wilcox, they sold “genuine Chicago-style hot dogs” every summer until their much-celebrated final day of operation on the day before Labor Day. “I wanted to close the wagon quietly, because I thought it would be a sad occasion,” Bill smiles. “I put the news on Facebook for four hours,” Dotti says, “then I took it off again.” But news travels fast around here. TV 7&4 called and then did a big story, the Leelanau Enterprise featured Bill and the girls in the Sept. 5 issue, and there was a long line from the wagon out to M-22 all day Sunday. “We ran out of hot dogs at 5:30,” Bill recalls. “Then we popped the bottle of champagne that was ready, and Dotti had made a cake. We celebrated with the girls, and we were closed. It was a good move; we had a wonderful time with Dune Dogs. So it’s bittersweet to shut ‘er down.”

For many years Dotti and Bill have dedicated themselves to working for Glen Arbor Township. Bill was an elected township trustee for 17 years until he retired from it in 2016. He is proud of what was accomplished during his tenure on the board. “We worked hard to put in the park. It was a fight to put in gardens and rest rooms, but now I think everyone appreciates it. I personally love our new park! We also built the new Emergency Services Building and moved the Fire Department there. It was a good board and we got a lot done.”

Dotti is still working as Deputy Township Treasurer, having been appointed by Terry Gretzema back in 2000. She also continues as office manager at the Roman-Jones computer engineering office in Empire. And they have a studio cottage they rent. So the Thompsons are staying busy. Bill is still a member of the zoning commission, and Dotti is the recording secretary. They’ve seen lots of changes in Glen Arbor over the years, with many businesses coming and going, a shortage of workers in the busy summer season, and too few places for those workers to live. “We are still involved and will always be involved,” Bill declares. “If you live in the town you should give back to the town.”

For 26 years now Dotti and Bill Thompson have been enhancing the quality of life around Glen Arbor through their business ventures and their work for the township. We celebrate their efforts and accomplishments. Now if you want to buy a cool little fully equipped hot dog wagon, there’s one for sale next to the White Gull Inn. Stop by and talk to Bill. Maybe he’ll throw in the t-shirt I gave him years ago: “What did the Buddhist say to the hot dog vender? Make me one with everything.”