Strawberries command a short but sweet season

June brings a veritable explosion of colorful produce to farmers market stalls, and there are few offerings more welcome than this month’s first fruit: strawberries. While not everyone knows that the bright red orbs aren’t botanically berries (those fruits produced from one flower with one ovary and containing seeds on the inside), most know that hands down, strawberries are a universally favorite fruit.

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Pygmalion on the Frontier

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One of the most puzzling marriages in Michigan history, perhaps in American history, has to have been that between Henry Schoolcraft and his Native American wife, Jane. Henry, whose name now graces roads, schools, and counties in Michigan, was an explorer who worked for the United States Department of War. He was the Indian agent at Sault Ste. Marie from 1823 to 1833. Jane was the daughter of an aristocratic Irish fur trader, John Johnston, and his wife, Ozhaw-Guscoday-Wayquay, daughter of a powerful Chippewa chief.

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“Find Your Park” After Dark: Sleeping Bear Dunes holds Summer Star Party

The sky is the limit at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (National Lakeshore). Join park rangers and astronomers from the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society (GTAS) on Saturday, June 24, at the Dune Climb parking lot. On this date, two events offer you opportunities to focus on the sky. The first event is from 4- 6 p.m., and will allow visitors to safely view our closest star, the Sun, using a solar telescope. The second event will be from 9-11 p.m., and is a great chance to view distant galaxies and star clusters, as well as the evening planets of Jupiter and Saturn. Please park in the row furthest from the dunes with your headlights facing M-109.

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Harnessing power of the sun, with stunning view of the Glen Lakes

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By Jacob Wheeler Sun editor When Gary Cozette and Joe Lada climb the ladder to the roof of their “Tower House” in Burdickville, they behold a breathtaking view of the Glen Lakes, with the Sleeping Bear Dunes and Lake Michigan in the distance. In their immediate foreground is an array of recently installed, cutting-edge solar […]

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Lakeshore restores route to Shell Lake

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is restoring an 0.8-mile section of National Park Service-owned dirt track in the Sleeping Bear Dunes Wilderness in the vicinity of Good Harbor. The unnamed route traveled south from West Lake Michigan Road to Shell Lake.

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Iranian Arya Khoshnegah recalls his escape to the Leelanau School

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The Leelanau School featured a special graduation speaker during its commencement ceremony on June 3. Alum Arya Khoshnegah, together with his sister Laila, left Iran as teenagers and enrolled at the private boarding school north of Glen Arbor, just before the 1979 revolution that changed the fortunes of their family and their country. Leelanau, which specializes in experiential learning and small class sizes in a beautiful setting, graduated 19 seniors who hail from 11 states. Distinguished alumni have included survivors of wars and natural disasters, children of statesmen and accomplished actors.

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Solstice half marathon circumnavigates Big Glen Lake

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Endurance Evolution puts on some of the best races in northern Michigan. This year, the USATF-certified Glen Arbor Solstice Half Marathon and 5k takes place on June 17. The half marathon starts at 7 a.m. and the 5k starts 10 minutes later. As you may have guessed, this annual event takes place right around the summer solstice. The solstice marks the onset of summer, one of the jolliest times of the year in Northern Michigan. Running a race in Glen Arbor is the perfect way to kick off the start of this long-awaited season.

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Larry Bruckner: Cedar’s volunteer behind Polka Fest

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If you’ve ever wondered how the Cedar Polka Fest, a Cedar Chamber of Commerce event that attracts as many as 8,000 people over four days, is organized, look no further than the community — and to volunteers such as 82-year-old Larry Bruckner. “Mr. B,” as he is often called, a Cedar Chamber of Commerce member, has been volunteering with the Polka Fest for at least 15 years, by his estimate. “I haven’t worked since the beginning of the festival,” he said. “That was in 1975. The first few festivals were for the community to get together and raise a little hell,” he added. “But then we were getting so many people that it had to be more organized.”

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Sleeping Bear offers barn restoration workshop

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will again be hosting its successful barn restoration workshop June 19-24 at the Frederick Dechow Barn four miles north of Glen Arbor on M-22. This year marks the 21st year that the National Lakeshore has hosted and developed this series of “hands-on” workshops which started in 1997. The park maintenance staff is providing the skilled labor to put on this workshop.

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With drowning deaths on the rise, Park increases water safety awareness

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Last June 22, before Scott Tucker had finished his first week as the new superintendent at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, a vacationer drowned while snorkeling in Loon Lake near the Platte River. Two weeks later, an 81-year-old man from southeast Michigan perished in Big Glen Lake when his boat drifted away while he was swimming. And on Sept. 5, a 21-year-old died when his kayak capsized near Platte Bay in Lake Michigan waters. Three drowning deaths in or near our National Lakeshore.

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