Celebrating Leelanau County’s influencers of 2021

As the clock ticks down on 2021, it’s time to recognize a few Leelanau County “influencers” we’ve covered in the Glen Arbor Sun this year who have made important impacts on local news, culture, business and the arts. The influencers of 2021 include public health workers, Turner Booth and LOGA, Crystal River Outfitters and Riverfront Pizza, Lake Street Studios, a Good Samaritan from Ohio, Grocers Daughter Chocolate, LivelyLands, Cedar River Coffee, Habitat for Humanity in Maple City, Nittolo’s Pizza, the North Manitou Light Keepers, new owners of Leelanau Cheese, Northport beach protectors, and the Leelanau Commissioners who saved funding for early-childhood services.

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Hillside Market: local convenience store for animals

Nestled in the rolling hills of Leelanau County, home to many family farms and homes, you’ll find the unique feed store, Hillside Market. It’s a well-stocked, close to home kind of place for our animal friends and their human parents to peruse. The store holds a plethora of live-stock feed, pet foods, straw and hay, and other pertinent supplies. But even more, Hillside carries unique hand-picked by the owner toys and treats for cats and dogs, and an abundance of supplies for the horse, bird and other animal lovers and farm folks among us.

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Leelanau Fiber moves to M22 in Suttons Bay

Leelanau Fiber moved in early November to its new and larger Suttons Bay location in the space on M-22 previously occupied by Cherry Country Quilters, which went out of business. The fiber shop was previously located behind Bayside Coffee.

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Leaves fall like rain

Aaron Uherek’s Nov. 4 photo at Tucker Lake near the mouth of the Crystal River captures leaves falling down like rain. “We woke up to this snow and rushed here to get some photos in the morning before it melted,” he said.

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Looking for God’s Infinite Plan in the Footprints of Wolves

“What if we have lived, not just this lifetime, but millions since the earth began? Was I a leaf in a past life? What if we are truly part of everything that lives? Is it possible that there is no boundary between us and the world?” writes Kathleen Stocking in her latest essay. “When times are hard, like during a plague, sometimes people regress. What would late science teacher Mr. Bolton think of people taking horse de-wormer to protect them against the COVID?” Phil Deering, who has a small hobby farm, can’t get horse de-wormer for his animals. “Now they’re hiding it behind the counter,” he says, “So people who need it for their animals can still get it.”

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A passage to India, in Lake Leelanau

In Rosie’s kitchen, there are no recipes, no measuring cups or spoons or scales. Ask Rosie how long it takes to make, say, her saag paneer (spinach with cheese), she will answer two to three hours. But more accurate is a lifetime: a lifetime of learning Indian cuisine, a lifetime of devotion to it. In Leelanau County, for people who love food, Rosie is like Oprah. Her first name is enough. Born and educated in India, she has become the queen of authentic ethnic food in a county with very few Indian residents or tourists. But her cuisine is beloved, all of it prepared from scratch in a tiny old kitchen at the back of N.J.’s Grocery in Lake Leelanau and sold from a cooler near the store’s single check-out lane.

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Christmas tree on Glen Lake floats again, lit for the season

The Dec. 15 windstorm that blew through Northern Michigan and left much of Leelanau County without power also capsized Frank Siepker, Jr.’s beloved floating Christmas tree on Big Glen Lake. Three days after the storm, Siepker and his wife Tracy donned their waders and wetsuits, recovered the capsized Christmas tree boat and hauled it back to shore for repairs. After welding up holes and rebuilding the Christmas tree light’s electronics, Siepker relaunched the tree by nightfall the following day.

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Glen Arbor’s foodies get The Inn and Trail Gourmet

Julie hatched the Inn and Trail idea after years of combining fly fishing and fine food. She moved to Glen Arbor in 2017 after she had owned a fly fishing shop in Ketchum, Idaho called Ketchum on the Fly. She sold gear and also made lunches. “I was named Guide of the Year mostly because people loved my lunches,” she smiles. “When one of the head guides bought the fly shop, I pivoted into a catering business called A-Z Catering with business partner Tracey Allen.” Once in Glen Arbor, Julie spent the first year “looking around.” The next year she worked in the kitchen at the Leelanau School to cook and to meet people. She settled in and got comfortable with the locals and the local food culture. 

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Health Department records five COVID deaths between Dec. 17-19, all unvaccinated people

The Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department recorded five new COVID-19-associated deaths between Friday, Dec. 17, and Sunday, Dec. 19. All five individuals, whose ages ranged between the 50s and 70s, were unvaccinated. Nine residents of the two counties are currently hospitalized with the Coronavirus. Their ages range from the 30s to the 70s. Seven of the nine are not fully vaccinated. The highly contagious Omicron virus has not yet been officially detected here.

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Will Sleeping Bear Dunes break another visitor record in 2021?

With December yet to be counted, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is just 10,142 guests shy of setting another annual record for visitors to our National Park.

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