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.
On Friday, June 22, approximately 80 vintage automobiles will take part in “The Trophy Run” portion of the 2012 Great Race. These autos, the oldest being a 1907 Renault and the youngest a 1967 jaguar E Type will stop for a lunch break on Front Street in downtown Empire.
Phase One of the Heritage Trail, a paved, 10-foot-wide multi-use trail, which runs from the Dune Climb to Glen Arbor, is the first leg of what supporters envision will one day be a 27-mile trail from the Leelanau-Benzie County Line running north to Good Harbor Bay. Though it has been operational for over a month, the Heritage Trail’s official grand opening is scheduled for June 20 at 1:30 p.m. at the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb.
Here are the 2012 Empire Asparagus Festival poetry contest winners: First place, “Will the real asparagus please stand up” by Marcy Branski; Second place, “Asparagusto!” by Jennifer Weil; Third place, “A spare god” by Mary O’Neill
Sleeping Bear Gallery owner Heather Caverly hopes to bring an art revolution to Empire. Caverly purchased the Empire Clipper Building across Front Street from the Village Office in January and, together with curator Becky Willis, she aims to turn it into a haven that features artists in residence, demonstrations and lectures and, of course, displays of unique art including metals, wood, glass, fibers, paintings, sculptures, ceramics and photography. Caverly and her husband Mark live in the apartment upstairs.
Don’t miss this weekend’s ninth annual Empire Asparagus Festival, which celebrates the arrival of spring and precedes the official opening of Northern Michigan’s tourism season a week later.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will be hosting a kickoff meeting for Adopt-A-Beach volunteers on Thursday, May 24 from 1-3 p.m. at the Philip A. Hart Visitor Center on M-72 in Empire. If you are looking for a way to help keep Lake Michigan beaches beautiful while enjoying a relaxing walk on the beach once a month, you’ll want to learn more about the Adopt-A-Beach Patrol. Many of the volunteers are families or groups of friends who enjoy hiking beaches together.
And the next ‘Best Of’ honor bestowed upon our neck of the woods is … drumroll please … “Best Landlocked Beach”. Our proverbial hat is sinking under weight of feathers!
