Crystal River Outfitters

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Run faster than the bear at Glen Arbor’s Running Bear Run

Please join the Glen Arbor Women’s Club at the Running Bear 5K Run/Walk & ½ Mile Kids’ Run on Tuesday, July 28. Come out and take the challenge as the run takes off for its 19th year. What makes a beautiful summer day even better? Spending it with family and friends who take the challenge. You can run or walk the 5K. As a chip timed event, the Women’s Club has 16 categories from 10 & under to 80+ as well as an Overall Best Award for our top male and female runner. Winners will receive medals and prizes from Cherry Republic and Crystal River Outfitters and The Cyclery. Ninety percent of all proceeds go for college scholarships for Glen Lake students with the balance going for community projects.

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Remembering longtime Johnnie Salami’s Riverfront Pizza owner Tim Nichols

RIP Tim Nichols, the longtime owner of Glen Arbor’s popular Riverfront Pizza, who passed away on May 6 at age 75. A memorial service will be held for Tim on Saturday, Oct. 10, from 2-4 pm at the Glen Lake Fire Hall.

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Glen Arbor Winterfest crowns chili, perch winners

Lucky 7’s took the gold medal for the best chili at Glen Arbor’s annual Winterfest held on the deck at Boonedocks on Saturday, Feb. 14. The crew at Crystal River Outfitters finished second. Boonedocks placed third. Meanwhile, Paul Blome won the inaugural Ken Fosmore Memorial Ice Fishing Tournament on the Glen Lakes with a 14 and 1/8-inch perch. Nick Rice finished second with a 13 and 5/16-inch catch. Madeline Carrol took third-place honors with a 12 and 7/8-inch fish. And Ron McNeal finished fourth with a catch of 12 and 3/4 inches. Proceeds from Winterfest are given out on senior scholarship night at Glen Lake School to deserving students to help offset college tuition.

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Crystal River Outfitters Recreational District hosts fifth annual Strolling Lights Festival

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The Strolling Lights Festival within The Crystal River Outfitters Recreational District has become an annual tradition for both families, groups or individuals to join together to decorate a holiday tree in honor of a worthy cause, or to get visitors in the holiday spirit when they light up The District in Glen Arbor. Proceeds from the 2025 Strolling Lights Festival will support the Empire Area Food Pantry which serves all of Leelanau County. This once-a-week Food Pantry, which is hosted at Glen Lake Community Reformed Church on Tuesdays year-round, serves an enormous need in our community to help support those who are struggling to put food on their tables.

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Honoring the workers who powered us through the summer

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Many local Leelanau County businesses rely, in part, on J-1 international student workers to shoulder the load through the busy summer tourism season. Each Labor Day weekend, we honor and thank those workers. Meet a few of them here—from Anderson’s Market, Art’s Tavern, Grocers Daughter Chocolate, Blu, Crystal River Outfitters and La Becasse.

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Hunt for Easter eggs in Glen Arbor

The Crystal River Outfitters Recreational District will host the fourth district-wide Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 19, at the M22 Glen Arbor store. The afternoon will be full of Easter activities with spring drink specials and Peep S’mores by the fires. The event will kick off at 12:30 pm with the Easter Bunny arriving via kayak on the river.

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Sleeping Bear manhunt, Empire sugar bear, Pop-tart man Bill Post, Twin Flames wedding: Glen Arbor Sun’s top-viewed stories of 2024

Our coverage in 2024 featured crimes, celebrities, cool new businesses, and an homage to the now removed Crystal River culverts. Our top 10 most-read stories included: a manhunt in the National Lakeshore; the search for a black bear that broke into Grocers Daughter Chocolate and devoured a 50-pound bag of sugar; Jerry Seinfeld’s movie “Unfrosted” about Pop-Tart man Bill Post, and the Twin Flames Universe cult’s secretive wedding in Traverse City. Thanks for your readership. We look forward to sharing more stories of Leelanau County events, characters, businesses, and the arts in 2025. Here’s the list of our Top 10 stories by online views in 2024.

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Video: Timber Bridge replaces Crystal River culverts

The Crystal River culverts under County Road 675 are gone and have been replaced by an 80-foot timber bridge (Click on the story to watch our video). Grand Traverse Engineering & Construction and the Leelanau County Road Commission completed the work earlier this month, and CR-675 is now open to traffic. Work to replace other bridges over the Crystal River will commence in summer 2025.

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Crystal River Outfitters hosts Strolling Lights Festival

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The Crystal River Outfitters Recreational District is excited to kick off the holiday season in Glen Arbor with another fun, family-friendly Strolling Lights Festival. This event is a great way for families, friends, teams, businesses and organizations to express their festivity, all while supporting a great cause. Whether highlighting your favorite thing to do in Michigan, representing a family tradition, or supporting a cause, each Strolling Lights tree is a blank slate ready to be decorated.

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Goodbye culverts, hello timber bridge over the Crystal River

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“Shooting the tube” through the Crystal River culverts under County Road 675 is now an experience of the past. This month the Grand Traverse Engineering & Construction will remove the three culverts and replace the road above them with an 80-foot timber bridge. The work should be complete by the end of November, according to GTEC construction manager Ken Ockert. S. Dunns Farm Road will be closed to thru traffic and rerouted around Big Glen Lake for the duration of the project. Labor Day Monday, Sept. 2, was the last day for kayakers, canoers and paddleboarders to float through the culverts. Their removal is bittersweet for the staff at Crystal River Outfitters, which has sent thousands of people down the river in the past three decades. “It’s fun to look back at the last 30 years and think that the term ‘shoot the tube’ has become synonymous with Crystal River Outfitters kayak trips down the Crystal River,” said Katy Wiesen, who co-owns the business together with her husband Matt. “Shooting the tube became not only an annual family tradition but also led to many variations on stickers, hats, t-shirts and more that are soon to be a piece of history.”

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