Empire holds its fifth annual Artisan Marketplace on Saturday, Nov. 24 from noon-5 p.m. at the Township Hall. This is an excellent opportunity to shop local for your Christmas gifts.
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Don’t miss this special evening, as the Beach Bards welcome longtime Michigan musician Claudia Schmidt and her Minneapolis friend Dean Magraw for a house concert at “The Happy Place Lodge” — aka. Gerry Shiffman’s house in Empire (10120 W. Phillips St.) — at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 7.
The Empire Area Heritage Group, steered by local history guru Dave Taghon, won a State History Award late last month from the Historical Society of Michigan at the 138th Annual Meeting and State History Conference in Monroe, Michigan. The State History Awards are the highest recognition presented by the state’s official historical society.
The Empire Area Museum complex will open its doors to the community and area visitors for the annual Heritage Day event, 1-4 p.m., on Saturday, Oct. 13. This year’s gathering takes place during the organization’s 40th anniversary celebration.
With a face as weathered as one of the boulders from his fields, and a blunt demeanor to match, Glen Noonan presents a formidable figure in the complex social and geographical landscapes of Leelanau County. This farmer, businessman, political fixture and quiet benefactor to many has plowed his fields, herded cattle, shaken cherries and picked apples, mined gravel, raised seven children with his late wife Ella, been the backbone of some key local government boards, and helped shape virtually every realm of life for the region’s residents for over six decades.
In addition to the tremendous support provided by donors, the Friends of the Glen Lake Community Library have a more than 30-year tradition of supporting Library programs and collections through their annual fundraiser, the Annual Vintage Book Sale. This three-day event is held in mid-August at the Glen Arbor Township Hall. This year the event, which includes gently used and some new items, will run Aug. 8-10:
Empire attorney Lea Ann Sterling grew tired of driving her children, Amelie and Daniel, back and forth to basketball practice at Glen Lake Schools when a perfectly good gymnasium in the Empire Schoolhouse sat vacant at the corner of M-22 and M-72, in the heart of Empire. So she began to dream.
Enjoy a unique art experience this weekend at Sleeping Bear Gallery: glass blowing. Michigan Hot Glass, featuring artist Albert Young, will offer free glass blowing demonstrations all day Saturday and Sunday, July 21 and 22. Bring a chair, sit and relax on the back lawn, and witness how glass is blown at the Sleeping Bear Gallery in downtown Empire.
What do a horsehide sleigh blanket, Liz Shimek’s basketball jersey, a Civil War sword and scabbard, and an entire one-room schoolhouse all have in common? All have a story to tell of their time and place in southern Leelanau’s collective past, and all form just a fraction of the collection of the Empire Area Heritage Group, now celebrating its 40th year.
Glen Arbor and Empire farmers’ markets offer much more than you might imagine. For starters, each sells the best berry ever to top a shortcake. And that’s just on opening day. Glowing beneath market canopies during my visit in mid-June are plump, sweet strawberries. Quarts and quarts of them in their cute, cardboard suits.