Visit the Empire Artisan Marketplace on Saturday, Nov. 26, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. where you’ll find truly unique, quality, handcrafted items—created and sold by local items. The marketplace will feature a great array of items to help kick-start your holiday shopping.
For nearly two decades Beryl Skrocki gently worked her way into the hearts of Empire community members, summer visitors and tourists with a unique style of silliness, compassion and joy that magically drew people to her, and also her surf shop and the Empire beach. Beryl’s life was as large as Lake Michigan, and her too-soon departure leaves an equally massive hole in her family and the Empire, surf and Great Lakes advocacy community. She passed away on October 13 at age 61. A public celebration of Beryl’s life will be held on Saturday, November 5, at noon at Sleeping Bear Surf & Kayak in downtown Empire. Click here for more information and learn how to support the Skrocki family.
In this essay published in our late August edition of the Sun, Empire native Jessica Sharry reflects on moving from Northern Michigan to Finland and back, on practicing yoga, on immigration, on food, and on nature.
How is Empire still Empire? It’s one of the main hubs for the Sleeping Bear Dunes, it has epic beaches, and it’s right along one of the most beautiful stretches of road in the entire region. Yet, the town of Empire remains solidly quaint, comfortable, and relaxed. Sure, the crowds come through, and the beaches get busy, but the town simply swells with the ebb and flow, and returns to its steadfast self. There have been small additions with big, positive impacts over the years, but it’s truly remarkable how Empire has stayed a classic northern Michigan beach town. And for families with kids, it’s a place where they can be active, get dirty, and start fostering those uniquely vibrant lakeside memories.
If Jody and DC Hayden, owners of Grocers Daughter Chocolate, didn’t already win you over with their high-quality dark chocolate truffles, sumptuous cookies, or perfect-on-a-summer-day fudgsicles, you’ll almost certainly submit to their smooth and creamy gelato. In fact, don’t even try to resist. The Haydens will officially open their long-awaited gelateria next to the chocolate shop on M-22 in downtown Empire on Saturday, July 23.
A first-time mother considers how COVID has affected parenting in northern Michigan.
Beach “hardening” has begun, and a ramp has been formed to build a beach wall and rock riprap along a private Lake Michigan property on Storm Hill, south of Empire public beach and north of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore’s Empire Bluff.
Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 10, and this year is going to look different from years past. Families won’t be visiting from downstate, favorite restaurants will be closed for Mother’s Day brunch. While it is easy to focus on the disappointments of the current situation, Mel & Fell catering and meal delivery service in Empire hopes to offer some joy in the midst of it, the new venture stated in a media release.
Empire resident Mae Stier has released a collection of writing and photography highlighting the region in her self-published book Lake Letters.
The first weekend of October marks the sixth annual Hops & Harvest Festival in Empire. Each fall the Empire Chamber of Commerce hosts the festival to celebrate the harvest season with local food, beer, and music on Front Street. Tickets to the event are $25 for adults, which includes a commemorative Hops & Harvest Festival glass and drink ticket. Children 16 and under are free.