Our first decade

1996: A humble beginning
Fresh out of high school, and with no journalism experience, 18-year-old Jacob Wheeler decides to follow his mother’s advice and launch a summer community newspaper. Leelanau School classmate Richard Taber comes up with the generic launch name, Glen Arbor Sun, and originally intends to co-found the paper with Wheeler, but eventually sits out the first summer.
After a month of carefully courting local businesses for advertising support, Wheeler produces Volume 1 Issue 1 of the Glen Arbor Sun on an 8 x 11-inch page on June 25, using nothing but a trusty copy machine. The inaugural issue boasts 40 business card-sized ads and little text. Only two short articles appear, one on the upcoming (and now defunct) Glen Arbor Days Festival, and the other on the Beach Bard’s Bonfire poetry circle.

The first editorial decision is to eliminate ads on the front page. But the rough and sometimes careless page design continues, as borders are often drawn in pencil without the benefit of a ruler, and shorthand comments appear, without warning, in the margins. Some businesses tell the editor to shape up, while Leelanau Coffee Roasting Company owner John Arens is willing to “take a gamble on Jacob’s cute little paper”.
Bob Sutherland, president of the Cherry Republic empire, remarks that his first business venture in town was selling t-shirts out of a ramshackle hut called Petoskey Pete’s, which was nearly run out of town. And look at him now!
1997: A two-man wrecking crew
Out of compassion for his friend, Richard Taber boards the ship the following spring and insists that the paper go through a printing press before reaching the reader’s eye (Guttenberg does it; why can’t we?). Gone are the hand-drawn borders and business cards run through a low-quality copy machine. Gone are the penciled in one-liners at the bottom of every page.
Taber opts for the layout program PageMaker and colors the masthead orange, and later red. Design consultant, and Leelanau School admissions director at the time, Mike Buhler suggests “Here to enlighten you” as a slogan to spice up the masthead. Most importantly, Linda Ihme buys the back page for Leelanau Vacation Rentals — the first advertiser to go beyond a business-card size. By mid-summer Wheeler finds other writers to contribute, and the Glen Arbor Sun acquires a literary feel.
We print news pieces about the National Park’s decision to charge entrance fees and foreign workers living at The Homestead, as well as features about skateboarders in Glen Arbor and locals at Art’s Tavern watching hockey.
1998: A good-looking tabloid
In its third year, the Sun finally takes the page design you recognize today with a masthead sketch of the sun setting into Sleeping Bear Bay. Local cook Josh Miller draws the catchy masthead to replace a dizzying scene designed by our Russian artist friend Alexandra Chernozatonskaya. Taber colors the setting sun red after the first issue, and his masterful photography catches the attention of people all over town. We first hear the phrase “the local paper” after expanding to 12 pages on July 17.
Bylines appear under articles for the first time, though most are still written by Jacob Wheeler. The Sun receives praise for balanced articles on the new cell phone tower in town and the controversial canceling of Glen Arbor’s fireworks. We also hone in on colorful locals like pianist Andy Anderson and the knitters at the Yarn Shop. Miller shakes things up in the July 3 issue with a cartoon asking, “Who is Art’s Sexiest Bartender?”
1999: A family thing
A fundamental problem faces the paper. Richard wants to upgrade to full-color and plant the Glen Arbor Sun firmly in the minds of area residents, but Jacob is off in Germany, gallivanting with Fraüleins through the Black Forest. Up to the plate steps his father Norm, an English and astronomy teacher at The Leelanau School, to handle the editorial side of things.
Taber hires Chris Walker to sell advertisements, Norm sounds the call for contributors, and dozens of writers come forward to help, suddenly turning the Sun into a community-produced newspaper. The names of talented writers like Ian Richardson, Jenny Robertson, Tom Reay, Anne-Marie Oomen, Chase Edwards, Jo Anne Wilson, Holly Spaulding and Sam Duwe grace our pages for the first time. The Glen Arbor Sun doesn’t quit when the leaves turn, churning out 10 issues in its fourth year of existence.
Norm introduces several series to the paper: a Green Thumb column on gardening; a poetry section; and coverage of Glen Arbor’s only sports team — the colorful Western Avenue Grill softball team.
2000: A new base of operation
College diploma in hand, Jacob Wheeler returns to Glen Arbor in May and finds that the paper has taken on a life of its own. But this time it’s Richard’s turn for a sabbatical, leaving the Wheeler boys on a train without an engine.
In steps Mike Buhler, the man behind “Here to enlighten you”. A computer design guru, Mike hammers out business terms with Jacob and Norm over a pitcher or beer at Art’s Tavern — where most business is conducted in Glen Arbor. To this day, they represent the brain trust of the Glen Arbor Sun. The staff box in the first issue of 2000 reads, “Editors Emeriti: Jacob Wheeler, Richard Taber” and “Working Stiffs: Norm Wheeler, Mike Buhler”.
With responsibility for providing content firmly in his hands, Norm focuses on local characters and lets their quirks color the paper’s pages. The late fishing legend Carl Oleson, Glen Arbor’s first firewoman Mary Sutherland, Jerry Decker’s sewage-pumping “honey wagon” and children’s author Ron Schmidt (who happens to be blind) all make cameo appearances.
2001: The taste of home
“What’s there to do around here when the weather turns sour,” the Fudgies ask. The Glen Arbor Sun answers that question with a sensuous dish or a local chef on every front page. The bountiful spread at Pat Settles’ and Dave Kahn’s potluck wedding and culinary guru Nancy K. Allen’s food columns and recipes grace our covers. Norm’s palette succumbs to La Bécasse’s terroir superb, and Jacob features organic jams and salsas made by Food for Thought in the July 12 issue — when the staff works overtime to produce a 16-page issue (haven’t done it since).
Harping on extreme sports, Norm features several out-of-towners who have just completed impressive journeys: Jeanne and Gene Sacha just pedaled across the United States on their Rans Recumbant bicycles, and Whit and Andre rowed across Lake Michigan in 31 hours and 40 minutes.
The Sun also boasts its literary edge with nature essays by Anne-Marie Oomen, Jane Greiner and Mary Sharry. And native New Yorker Bronwyn Jones remembers the September 11 attacks with a memoir entitled “The Birds are Burning”
2002: The talk of the town
Having solidified his Danish skills, Jacob returns from a three-year absence to co-edit the Sun with Norm, bringing with him a desire for investigative coverage. The paper warns locals about the National Park’s plan to turn much of the Lakeshore into wilderness and reports on the coming of the humongous Le Bear Resort.
Shortly before his passing, the Sun features Arthur and wife Helen Huey, who kept The Leelanau School open during the Second World War and then sold the land at the mouth of the Crystal River that would become The Homestead resort. We also publish breaking news of near unanimous local opposition to a land swap The Homestead is trying to engineer with the National Park, and report that The Homestead has hired powerful lobbyists to convince Washington legislators that the land swap enjoys local support.
The public successfully convinces Congress to shut down both the Park’s wilderness plan and the land swap — the subjects of numerous letters.
Not everyone agrees with the Sun’s tone all the time, but we do keep our readers informed of important issues.
2003: Writers with initiative
Sometimes what appears in the editor’s Inbox on the morning of layout Sunday makes the paper great. Jane Greiner’s piece on Linus, the Empire deer-licked cat, finds Jacob eating his pancakes, and sends him to the floor laughing. The wit of freelance writers Greiner and newcomers Thomas Benn and Christina Campbell makes 2003 a standout summer. Greiner also pens a piece on Clive Haswell, the 90-year-old Honor poet and train-hopping hobo.
Meanwhile, Benn explores the past and future of Empire’s historic Schoolhouse, and remembers migrant workers who toiled here in the ‘50s and ‘60s, harvesting the fruits of Leelanau County orchards. Campbell writes the “Mysteries, madness and intrigue of the Manitou Passage” and debates whether jet skis are a “lake lice or a harmless thrill”.
Other highlights of 2003 include the search for Ralph Dorsey’s sunken steamboat, Rescue, which he apparently sank intentionally 90 years ago in Big Glen Lake, and Mike Buhler takes us on an afternoon ride to South Manitou Island in Hugh Gordon’s 1967 Amphicar.
2004: “No more politics, please”
During a presidential election campaign that seeks to overshadow our vacations “up north”, the Sun begins the summer by paying homage to artist Suzanne Wilson and church leader Grace Cochran, who each left important legacies behind, and ends with a pile of letters (mostly) critical of editor Jacob’s decision to attack George W. Bush and the war in Iraq.
Notables include a travelogue on “Suzanne’s van: the gift that keeps on giving”, Benn’s “A Boatwatcher’s Guide to the Manitou Passage”, Campbell’s piece on Taghon’s Garage (“the community lifeline”) and Helen Westie’s report on recycled houses within the National Park.
Norm tries to lighten the mood with his series on what’s “Ripe in the Land of the Sleeping Bear”, while Jacob stirs things up with reports from inside the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, and Bush’s campaign appearance in Traverse City in mid-August. More letters appear in our fall issues than at any other time in history, and Jim Dorsey’s note entitled “No more politics, please” sums up the mood. On November 2 Glen Arbor Township votes for Bush, Empire Township picks John Kerry, and the Glen Arbor Sun ultimately loses one faithful advertiser.
2005: Picking up Latin vibes
The paper catches Latin fever, and not just because Jacob spent the winter in Guatemala. We also learn that the Sutherland brothers Mike and Paul have done humanitarian work for people living in the dump in Guatemala City, and that realtor John Martin’s daughter Liz has worked in a makeshift medical clinic for Mayan Indians deep in the jungle. Furthermore, Max Miller, once a hoops star at Glen Lake School for his uncle, Coach Don Miller, studied photography at the San Miguel de Allende art school near Mexico City.
The Sun contracts chef Nancy Allen to pen another popular recipe series, and maritime expert Jed Jaworski revisits the mystery of local Lake Michigan shipwrecks. Native American writer/activist Lois Beardslee kicks off a series on Indian stories and issues. The Sun staff attends the Pow-Wow in Peshawbestown (outside of Suttons Bay) and hopes to incorporate more Native American stories in our future coverage.
We’re thrilled and equally amazed that the Glen Arbor Sun has lived 10 years, and we understand that the local community and summer residents fully expect to read it every summer when t-shirt weather arrives. So we’ll keep chugging along.