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Sleeping Bear Dunes plants beech bark disease resistant trees
NewsThe latest effort to combat beech bark disease is underway at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Seven tree saplings made from cuttings taken from resistant American beech trees at the National Lakeshore were grafted and planted in early November 2022. The successful project came as a result of five years of planning and research in partnership with researchers at Michigan Technological University.
Meet the characters impacting Leelanau food
Business Feature, NewsMeet the characters, restaurants and farmers impacting the Leelanau food scene
Glen Arbor Sun’s top 10 stories of 2022
Local Personality, NewsFor Leelanau County, 2022 was a year of new businesses growing in our communities, a year of celebrating historic legacies, and a year of grieving the loss of community pillars who left us. The Glen Arbor Sun’s top 10 most-read online stories of the year included homages to Beryl Skrocki, whose family business Sleeping Bear Surf & Kayak helped popularize standup paddle boarding in Empire and along the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, longtime Cherry Republic general manager Kathy Baarstad, and storied Glen Arbor realtor and Sugar Loaf ski coach John Peppler.
Crystal River Outfitters host Strolling Lights Festival through New Year’s Day, eye new building in Riverfront Pizza space in 2023
Business Feature, Upcoming EventThe Crystal River Outfitters Recreation District on Glen Arbor’s east end, which includes the M22 and Coastal retail stores, is attracting customers to its Strolling Lights Festival, which continues through New Year’s Day. According to Katy Wiesen, who owns the three businesses together with her husband Matt, the year ahead will yield a new building across M-22 in the vacant lot which previously housed Riverfront Pizza & Deli.
Great ski conditions on Heritage Trail, report Friends of Sleeping Bear
Sports/AdventureSnow conditions are very good in most places along the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail, report Friends of Sleeping Bear, which grooms and maintains the popular multi-use trail in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Get out there before the weather warms up the middle of this week.
Christmas letter: We Shall Be a New Species
Poetry/Essay“Outside my window a crescent moon is slowly descending toward the snow-covered trees outlining the bend in the river. If my eyes aren’t deceiving me, the moon appears to become more orange the closer it gets to the earth,” writes Leelanau author Kathleen Stocking in this Christmas letter. “So much to know, so little time. We are all on the same path, just in different places, not only in the stages of one’s present existence—young, middle-aged, old—but in all the generations who have come before and might come later. This wild, unwieldy world. So much grief. The pandemic. The homeless under bridges. The Ukrainians, without bridges. The horrible wars.”
The Homestead resort upgrades skiing, food
Business FeatureThe Homestead resort, located just east of Glen Arbor, recently completed a three-vear plan to upgrade its on and off-mountain ski offerings. The Homestead ski hill opens at 9 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 26. All chairlifts are open and ready to go. As part of their efforts to support the community, the Sleeping Bear Dunes Visitors Bureau in partnership with The Homestead have provided 10 season passes and rentals for members of the LIFT Teen Center based in Suttons Bay.
Snowshoe hikes return to Sleeping Bear Dunes
Upcoming EventSleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is bringing back their free ranger-led snowshoe hikes this winter. Whether you are an experienced snowshoer or have never tried snowshoeing, the National Lakeshore invites you to join a ranger-led snowshoe hike to explore the park. The park is kicking off the winter season with two holiday hikes at 1 p.m. on Dec. 29 and Dec. 31 for all experience levels.
Glen Lake graduate engineers New York Times Daily podcast
Local PersonalityRowan Niemisto never took classes in audio engineering. He graduated from Glen Lake High School in 2011, then the University of Michigan in 2015 with a bachelor’s in Sociology. But as a kid he was always fooling around and getting fatherly instructions in his dad Patrick Niemisto’s Holy Wah! Studio near Maple City. And now he engineers The New York Times podcast “The Daily” with hosts Michael Barbaro and Sabrina Tavernise. It is one of the most popular podcasts in the United States.
Boy in the blue jacket
Historical Feature, Local Personality“Depending on how you look at things, it was either pure chance or divine intervention,” Chet Janik laughed as he described how he was able to leave Communist Poland as a young boy and immigrate to Cedar, Michigan. “Without the town supporting my great uncle, and without the kindness of the consular official, I never would have grown up here.” Reflecting on his life in the United States and his career as he winds down his time as Leelanau County’s longest serving administrator, Chet narrates the journey with vivid details.