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When I was a young girl, my father and I would get breakfast some mornings at The Foothills Cafe, writes Abigail Webster. It was a special thing we would do. My father and I have polar opposite interests so he made it important we find things to do just the two of us. I always remember those trips fondly. And that includes the good food. We hadn’t been in some years, so I wanted to go and see how the place was doing. I looked around the cafe. The place I knew when I was a child. It was mostly the same: the light green walls with white trim, and the red door frame. One new thing was some photos on the wall. There was one of a man sitting in a chair. And another looking the same. The two men used to be regulars at Foothills Cafe. They have now passed away. Shari, the owner who took over full control of the Foothills early this year, knew them. She even told me what their orders were.

Tucked away in the hilly heart of Leelanau County are two under-the-radar, off-the-beaten path towns that need to be moved up on your list of destinations. Maple City and Cedar are especially great Leelanau hubs if you’re a family with younger children looking for a more relaxed vibe, but still plenty to do.

“We at The Foothills take issues of dependency and overdose very seriously,” says co-owner Shari Bernstein. Now, out in front of the café, is a white metal box that looks comparable to a newspaper carrier, and in it is the naloxone nasal spray. It is there for anyone who may need it, no questions asked.

The Foothills Cafe & Motel, located at 7097 S. Dunn’s Farm Rd near Maple City, will host a free Overdose Prevention & Response clinic on Thursday, Oct. 19 from 7-8:30 p.m.

During one extraordinary week in August 2015, the sounds that dominated our town were the whirr of winds and the ugly crack of trees, followed by the buzz of chainsaws, the hum of generators, and the cheering and car honking as Consumers Power trucks and linemen rolled into town like a liberating army.

The Foothills Café in Burdickville began a “Pay It Forward” Initiative this past summer, collecting over $2,200 in donations. This money has been designated to help stock the shelves of a couple local food banks and to promote a Karma Kitchen. Come to the Foothills on Saturday, Feb. 21, between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. for breakfast, free of charge. Visitors will have the option to “Pay It Forward” for 2015.

The Foothills Café and Motel in Burdickville have been under “new” ownership for five years. Thus far, we’ve made only minimal changes to both the café and motel, in order to ease into the community and to honor 50 years of tradition. But this year, our team introduced some new twists on age-old ideas, and launched the Foothills “Pay It Forward” project.

Duane Campbell, a civil engineer turned brat entrepreneur, serves up these delicacies at the Foothills Café in Burdickville on Thursday through Saturday evenings. “I try to make inspired brats. Anyone can go to the store and buy a package of Johnsonville Brats,” he says. “Compare those to a handcrafted raspberry chipotle brat, or one with turkey, feta, tomato and fresh basil.” Duane often uses local ingredients, and always a better grade of meat than run-of-the-mill bratwursts.