The aroma of apples and fresh-cut wood. The taste of homemade maple candy and ice cream. The sounds of old-time music and old-fashioned hard work. Free activities, demonstrations and exhibits celebrating the area’s lifestyle of 100 years ago will fill the senses when Leelanau County’s southernmost museum hosts its 39th annual Heritage Day on Oct. 8.
On the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Glen Arbor Sun writers Anne-Marie Oomen, Mike Buhler, Mary Sharry, Pat Stinson, Waleed Al-Shamma and Jacob Wheeler reflect on September 11, 2001.
Glen Arbor will hold its annual Labor Day Bridge Walk over the Glen Lake Narrows Bridge on Monday, Sept. 5. Participants will begin at noon on the north side of the bridge (in front of On The Narrows Marina) and proceed to the south side, where an inexpensive lunch and after-party will unfold at McCahills Crossing (formerly the Dairy Bar).
As a horticulturist, my attention instantly focuses on the land around Empire’s vacant buildings, particularly the spacious lot where the schoolhouse sits. My thought is, it needs plants! (Plants other than turf, that is.)
Back in Empire for a recap of another successful mission, Endeavour shuttle pilot Greg Johnson oooed and awed his audience at the township hall on Aug. 19 with new photos and a video from his STS-134 mission in May to the International Space Station (ISS).
On Friday, Aug. 19, friends and family of Phyllis Davis will celebrate her memory by playing her favorite sport … golf. All are welcome at the Dunes Golf Course on M-72 east of Empire for a check-in at noon and a shotgun start at 1 p.m.
The Empire Sleeping Bear Eagles #4404 has signed a contract with the Kelly Miller Circus for a brand new show this month. The circus will roll into town on Tuesday, Aug. 23. Everyone is invited to come out and watch the animals being unloaded and fed, and the elephants raising the big top. Activities will begin at 7:30 a.m., and the tent will be raised at 9 a.m. Guides will be furnished for school groups and anyone attending.
Fresh off NASA’s final shuttle mission in May, veteran astronaut Greg Johnson will return to the Empire Township Hall on Friday, July 19, at 3:30 p.m. to discuss his career and what’s next for NASA and space exploration. This free event is sponsored by the Glen Lake Community Library and open to all.
Sun seekers tanning their hides on Empire beach were suddenly transported back in history on the afternoon of Sunday, July 31, when the Saginaw Voyageurs arrived in a birch bark replica canoe. The Voyageurs wore costumes to resemble the pre-American Revolution French fur traders, who opened up trade routes between Great Lakes Native American communities and Montreal. They were concluding the first day of a weeklong journey that began in Frankfort and ended on Aug. 6 in Traverse City.
After half a decade of planning, some debate, and the solidification of enthusiastic support across a broad spectrum of the public, the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail will officially launch with a groundbreaking ceremony at the Dune Climb on Friday, August 12 at 11 a.m. When completed, the 27-mile trail will run from the southern edge of Leelanau County, through the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to Good Harbor Bay.