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PoWeR! Book Bags empower northern Michigan’s young readers
NewsA Suttons Bay-based nonprofit is quietly making a profound impact on the lives of underserved children. This organization, known as PoWeR! Book Bags (PBB), has been dedicated to nurturing literacy and fostering meaningful human interactions in children since its inception in 2016. The acronym PoWeR! stands for Play, Write, Read, embodying the organization’s mission to elevate children’s language skills and literacy through these vital activities. PBB believes that when children engage in play, writing, and reading, they not only acquire crucial language skills but also build the foundations of a brighter future.
Filmed in Leelanau County, Quicksand premiers in Traverse City
Upcoming EventQuicksand, a feature film that Nick and Chris Loud of The Boardman Review helped produce, debuts in northern Michigan with a showing on Thursday, Sept. 7, at the City Opera House in Traverse City and a Sept. 18 date at the Garden Theatre in Frankfort. The Loud brothers’ family lives in Northport, and part of the movie was filmed in Leelanau County. Visit the Quicksand website for more showings across the state.
Teaching like Yoda
Historical Feature, Local PersonalitySleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore deputy superintendent Tom Ulrich, who will retire from the Park later this month, once heard a poignant analogy at a leadership conference that compared the old style of managing a National Park to the Star Wars jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who deftly and constantly fends off outside threats with his light saber. By contrast, the new style of Park management is not to deflect or fight off criticism from the public, but to engage, listen and teach as Yoda does. Ulrich arrived at Sleeping Bear Dunes in late 2002 at a time when Lakeshore staff was reeling from widespread criticism after it promoted an unpopular new General Management Plan that would expand portions of the Park classified as “wilderness.” His tenure at Sleeping Bear Dunes dawned a collaborative relationship between the Park and local citizens.
A yearn to return to North Manitou Island
Historical Feature, Local PersonalityTwo Weeks in a Hammock is an education and outreach initiative by Cedar residents Vince and Stacie Longwell Sadowski to inspire regular folks to get out into nature. “As two middle-aged people with average fitness levels and more time than money,” they write on their blog, “we model an active lifestyle of adventure. The Sun recently interviewed them about their “Voices of North Manitou Island” project, a series of videos launched this year that explore the history of the North Manitou Island in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore through the people who have lived, worked, played, and been a part of island life over the years.
A farmer’s wisdom: Interviewing the Kolarik family
NewsJulius Kolarik’s sage farming and local knowledge are legend, even amongst his fellow farmers and neighbors. However, when Rebecca Carlson called him to set up an interview back in May with this treasure trove of Leelanau County farming wisdom, he said “no.” He was too busy. The farm was getting ready for planting, fertilizing and the upcoming summer harvest. What was she thinking asking him, or any of the farmers, for interviews during the early summer months, she writes in part eight of the Glen Arbor Sun’s Leelanau Farming Family Series? They are crazy, crazy busy from sun up to sun down. “I will talk to you in December,” Kolarik told her.
Multi-million-dollar bridges will replace Crystal River culverts: County Road 675 closes this Fall
NewsJust outside of Glen Arbor, a well-traveled section of County Road 675 is imperiled as it crosses three sets of undersized culverts slowly crumbling into the Crystal River. That’s a multi-million-dollar problem for the Leelanau County Road Commission. The engineering plans call for the construction of a concrete and steel structure to replace the culverts under CR 675 closest to M-22. That will keep the two road surfaces closely matched in elevation. The two sets of culverts further east, including the “shoot-the-tube” culverts, are to be replaced with classic wood bridges providing a lot of headroom for paddlers, ending the need for portages across the road. Plans call for the replacement of the Tucker Lake overflow culvert with a wide and substantial concrete box culvert.
Overlooking Jim Harrison
Poetry/EssayOne rainy October day, about a decade ago while visiting Horizon Books in downtown Traverse City, Tim Mulherin surrendered to his nagging curiosity about Harrison’s work and purchased “The Woman Lit by Fireflies,” one of his novella collections. That evening, he began reading the first novella, “Brown Dog.” It only took a few pages for him to become a fan of BD, the protagonist who would appear repeatedly in novellas to come as one of Harrison’s central characters. The middle-aged half Finn/half Michigan Chippewa Indian lives by impulse, finds utter joy in trout fishing and six packs of cheap beer, is easily entranced by the opposite sex, and has a nonnegotiable moral compass. For this former warhorse of the white-collar workplace, who would occasionally daydream from his desk of casting for trout in a crystalline northern Michigan river, Brown Dog’s exploits gave him vital comic relief.
Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear raises funds to move barn from beavers, rising water
Historical Feature, NewsPreserve Historic Sleeping Bear seeks to raise $50,000 to move the Goffar Barn in the National Lakeshore out of Narada Lake. The lake, east of the Port Oneida Rural Historic District, is a quiet spot to view wildlife from the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail boardwalk. But the 150-year-old barn is in danger of being lost, as its timber posts sit precariously in water and mud from encroaching water levels due primarily to beaver activity. The preservation project for the 25-year-old nonprofit is to move the barn away from the lake about 80 feet toward the Goffar farmhouse, which was recently restored by the National Park.
Health Department reports spike in tick-borne diseases
NewsThe Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department (BLDHD) is notifying residents of an increase of tick-borne diseases in Benzie and Leelanau Counties within the last month. Since January 1, BLDHD reported 25 suspected or confirmed cases of Lyme Disease and three suspected or confirmed cases of Ehrlichiosis. Of the 25 cases of Lyme Disease, 14 cases have been diagnosed within the last month.
Glen Lake Library hosts blood drive
Upcoming EventThe Glen Lake Library in Empire will host a community blood drive on Tuesday, Aug. 29, from 11 am-3:30 pm. The collection will be managed by Versiti Blood Center of Michigan, the primary supplier of blood to hospitals throughout the state. The summer months are a more challenging time to collect these critical supplies, so donors are encouraged to participate. This will be the second drive hosted by the library this summer.