Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes expands bear tracks accessibility program

The Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes is expanding its renowned Bear Tracks accessibility program with the help of Elk Rapids-based Great Lakes RV Solar Solutions. New solar panels from Great Lakes are now attached to the Friends’ track chair trailer, allowing access to additional trails through the use of solar power. By cutting the cord, the track chairs can now be used on the Park’s popular Alligator Hill trail, expanding access for all to the beauty of the Lakeshore. “Accessibility is an important part of the Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes mission,” said Laura Ann Johnson, executive director of the Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes.

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Bay Theatre hosts special wine weekend featuring pairings of food, wine, films

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In celebration of Michigan Wine Month, the nonprofit Bay Community Theatre in Suttons Bay is hosting a special wine weekend May 15-17 in partnership with local wineries offering “perfect pairings” of wine tastings, delicious bites, and decadent films. Wine Weekend kicks off on Friday, May 15, with a 6 pm wine tasting and food bites mindfully paired by Simpson Family Estates — home to Good Harbor Vineyards, Aurora Cellars, Michigan by the Bottle, and Harbor Hill. A 7 pm screening will follow of Widow Clicquot, the riveting dramatized story of the Veuve Clicquot champagne family and business.

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Glen Arbor Arts Center hosts Hudson-Casanova, McWhorter

Chicago musician Michael Hudson-Casanova is the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s first artist-resident of 2026. During his two-week stay, beginning May 3, Hudson-Casanova will compose music for an ensemble consisting of four saxophones, four brass players, and a four-piece rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass, drums).  His instrumentation for this composition is inspired by the American big band tradition. Hudson-Casanova will talk about his residency during a public presentation May 14, at 10 am at the GAAC.

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Fred Sitkins readies Inland Seas for more sailing adventures

It’s a special year for the Inland Seas Education Association. Make that another special year: the organization is on track to serve its 200,000th person this year in its 37th season. At the same time, the ISEA is launching the bidding phase for construction and expansion on its Suttons Bay campus. “We’ve served 192,123 participants since our founding in 1989,” says Skyler Singleton, communications coordinator for the Suttons Bay organization. The numbers continue to grow each year. “We reached nearly 10,000 participants in 2025 alone, so we are definitely on track to hit that 200,000 milestone this fall.” Executive director Fred Sitkins says expansion of the campus will enable it to continue to grow and serve even more. “It’s going to be really strong. Every year is a little bit better,” he says.

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Crystal River high water: an omen and a lesson in resilience

The good news is that the Crystal River is healthy. She winds like a lazy snake through wetlands protected by the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, so when excessive rain or snowmelt inundate her environment—as happened during record flooding in early April—the extra water has a place to go. The other good news is that the removal of culverts in three locations under County Road 675 during the past five years has helped the river flow more freely and relieves pressure during high water events. The bad news is that two more culverts remain downstream of The Mill. Those culverts restrict water flow beneath Overbrook Drive. The other bad news is that scientists who study climate change in the Great Lakes region predict more frequent and more intense extreme weather events, including rainstorms.

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Folksinger Bill Staines’ music lives on at May 10 show

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In 1994, a tradition began when the Cedar Tavern hosted folk singer Bill Staines. Over the following years, the troubadour became a regular presence in the area, first at the Cedar Tavern and later at Sleder’s in Traverse City. He gained a loyal following, and his concerts became singalongs that heralded the arrival of spring. Staines performed about 200 shows a year, including those local stops. He appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage and The Good Evening Show. His extensive discography includes more than 20 albums. He died in 2021, but his music lives on. Now many of those loyal concert-goers are resurrecting the songs and the tradition, with “Bill Staines Remembered,” a show featuring his music as a fundraiser for the Benzie Emergency Fund. The concert will take place May 10 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Mills Community House in Benzonia.

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Traverse City’s Alluvion hosts The Afterlife of a Massacre: A Live Podcast Event About Rediscovering Family and History

The Alluvion on the second floor of Traverse City’s Commongrounds Building will host “The Afterlife of a Massacre: A Live Podcast Event About Rediscovering Family and History” on Friday, May 8, from 6:30-8:30 pm. The conversation will feature Traverse City resident Isiah Smith and Orice Jenkins, long-lost cousins reconnecting through a shared journey of genealogy, history, and identity. Their individual family stories converge around one common thread: uncovering the past to move forward. Glen Arbor Sun editor Jacob Wheeler will moderate the live conversation. This one-time live podcast explores the complex intersection of race, genealogy, and family history. Smith and Jenkins connect through a shared past, including a powerful artifact, Smith’s great-grandfather’s Bill of Sale, and the story of an ancestor freed from slavery in Georgia.

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Glen Arbor to celebrate Tree City USA designation, May 9

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It’s practically in the town’s name. So celebrating trees seemed like a no-brainer to Chris Sack of Glen Arbor. Sack, the co-owner of Great Lakes Tea and Spice with his wife Heather, will be on hand at the the town’s May 9 Arbor Day Celebration, the inaugural celebration of Glen Arbor being named a Tree City USA. “We want to get this off the ground on the right foot,” says Sack. The day will start at 10 a.m. with a tree planting ceremony at the corner of Lake Street and State Street, marking Glen Arbor’s first Arbor Day as a recognized Tree City USA community. It will be followed at 10:30 with a community “tree talk” at the Cherry Public House.

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Leelanau Wellness Collective hosts well-being summit

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What does a summit look like? Well, two things: One, a gathering of like-minded individuals to learn about and discuss a topic. The other is the top of a mountain. The two come together May 3 in Glen Arbor. The Leelanau Well-Being Summit will take place at and around The Homestead. Organizer Kat Palms says the event will include a vendor marketplace featuring local wellness brands, creatives, and makers, optional ticketed wellness classes led by regional practitioners, and a guided Bayview Trail Ruck with the Leelanau Ruck Club. Oh, and that second definition of summit? That works too, as the event will include a champagne toast at the top of Bay Mountain, the resort’s ski hill, followed by an optional dinner at Nonna’s.

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Traverse City immigrant joins hunger strike inside Baldwin ICE facility; local faith leaders pray, fast in solidarity

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Soon after Lynn’s husband arrived on March 5 at the North Lake Processing Center — the mammoth ICE detention center in Baldwin, Michigan — the food began to make him sick. “I haven’t seen an orange the whole time I’ve been here,” the husband told Lynn, a U.S. citizen and Traverse City resident who shared their family’s story with the Glen Arbor Sun this week. The couple, who have a 2.5-year-old son, worship at Guadalupe Chapel in southeastern Leelanau County, where local clergy held a prayer service and press conference on Monday to illuminate the plight of detainees in federal custody. Lynn’s husband is one of several immigrants detained, as ICE detentions mount in Northern Michigan.

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