The Ticker and other media outlets reported earlier this month that the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will receive the highest level of federal conservation protection for nearly 50 percent of our branch of the National Park Service.

It wasn’t quite a “road to Damascus” epiphany, but Rob Serbin did find the road to Little Traverse Inn last year. The Glen Arbor realtor finally sold the restaurant on M-22 for the second time in seven years, this time to Scotsman Graeme Leask, after it sat idle on the market for 18 months. The sale was emblematic of Serbin’s monster year, which saw his company’s net sales surge by 250 percent. Numerous realtors in the Glen Arbor area shared that good fortune.

The wineries of the Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail invite you to share the love of wine and the beauty of Michigan’s wine coast in wintertime at their annual Taste the Passion wine tour the weekend of Feb. 2-3. Your ticket allows you to chart your own course, enjoying food and wine pairings at 20 wineries. Each winery offer savory or sweet food & wine pairing. Many feature the ever-popular pairing of wine and chocolate, and some wineries even open up their vineyards for cross-country skiing or snowshoeing.

I work part-time at the Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor, located in a historic, 85-year-old log cabin that used to nestle over on Big Glen Lake. From its patinated floorboards, every nook and cranny is jammed to the bark-covered beams with books, posters, original art, books, maps, local authors, books, Native American traditional crafts, greeting cards … and books.

Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation Trails, Inc. is pleased to announce the success of the Traverse City Track Club challenge match for the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail. Thanks to more than 120 donors the $25,000 match was met by the Dec. 31, which secured an additional $5,000 bonus from the Club. The challenge match spurred the support needed to begin constructing the next four-mile segment from the Dune Climb to Empire this year.

Join the Leelanau Outdoor Center on Feb. 2 for its first annual snowshoe stampede, including a 5K race and one-mile snowflake race (ages 12 and under), food and entertainment in the dodge and prizes for first, second and third place. Net proceeds from the event go to tuition assistance for schools to attend the Outdoor Center, which is located at 1653 Port Oneida Road. Here are the costs: $15 early registration includes lunch; $20 day of registration; $12 snowshoe rentals $8 kid rentals. Race starts at 10:30 a.m.

The Glen Lake Community Library in Empire will host a demonstration of a new genealogy database on Tuesday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. Ancestry Library Edition provides access to millions of digitized records, including census rolls, immigration logs and military service records. The database can be used on any of the library’s public computers. The demonstration will be led by Kris Rzepcynski (Rep-zin-ski), an archivist with the State of Michigan. Seating for this program is limited, so please contact the library in advance to register by calling (231) 326-5361, or via email to info@glenlakelibrary.net.

Nature photographer Aubrieta Hope from DeKalb, Ill., will be the final artist in the Glen Arbor Art Association’s 2012 group of artists-in-residence. She particularly wanted a winter residency in order to photograph the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in all its winter glory and weather patterns. Hope intends to photograph the landscape in panoramic, wide-angle and macro images.

From staff reports The Little Traverse Inn on M-22 between Glen Arbor and Leland has announced its entertainment lineup for the winter. Despite the cold and gray, Graeme and Judy Leask hope to warm their guests with food and beer specials and good cheer. Check out these special events • Celtic Music Session, every Thursday […]

In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Superintendent Dusty Shultz is pleased to announce that the entrance fee to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (National Lakeshore) will be waived on Monday, Jan. 21.