Brooklyn, New York artist Angelique De Castro’s Glen Arbor Arts Center residency combines ceramics and textiles/needlework into one sculptural form that builds on the world of Philippine mythology. De Castro will show examples of her work and talk about her residency on Thursday, May 28, at 10 am at the GAAC. The presentation is open to the public.
The Glen Arbor Players open their 2026 season on Friday, May 22, at 7 pm at The Leelanau School auditorium with the play “Love Letters” by A.R. Gurney. This Pulitzer Prize-nominated play tracks, through letters, the lifelong friendship between characters Andy Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner. The play, directed by GAP veteran Teddy House, celebrates the joys, trials, triumphs and heartbreaks of their lives.
For centuries, the arts have recognized and illuminated the profundity of everyday life. The practice of depicting ordinary, shared social spaces as enduring images is what art historians refer to as genre painting: works that transform the familiar into the extraordinary, revealing the poetry, light, and rhythm embedded in lived experience. It is within this tradition that Stephanie Schlatter’s painting, “Gathered Together,” finds its place. Renowned for her luminous landscapes—renderings of water, sky, and the shifting light of northern Michigan—Schlatter departs from that familiar creative practice in “Gathered Together.” She instead turns to a more intimate, human-centered scene: the vibrant summer atmosphere at Art’s Tavern in Glen Arbor. This emphasis on a buoyant, communal vision led to Gathered Together’s selection for the 2026 Manitou Music Poster.
The good news is that the Crystal River is healthy. She winds like a lazy snake through wetlands protected by the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, so when excessive rain or snowmelt inundate her environment—as happened during record flooding in early April—the extra water has a place to go. The other good news is that the removal of culverts in three locations under County Road 675 during the past five years has helped the river flow more freely and relieves pressure during high water events. The bad news is that two more culverts remain downstream of The Mill. Those culverts restrict water flow beneath Overbrook Drive. The other bad news is that scientists who study climate change in the Great Lakes region predict more frequent and more intense extreme weather events, including rainstorms.
It’s practically in the town’s name. So celebrating trees seemed like a no-brainer to Chris Sack of Glen Arbor. Sack, the co-owner of Great Lakes Tea and Spice with his wife Heather, will be on hand at the the town’s May 9 Arbor Day Celebration, the inaugural celebration of Glen Arbor being named a Tree City USA. “We want to get this off the ground on the right foot,” says Sack. The day will start at 10 a.m. with a tree planting ceremony at the corner of Lake Street and State Street, marking Glen Arbor’s first Arbor Day as a recognized Tree City USA community. It will be followed at 10:30 with a community “tree talk” at the Cherry Public House.
What does a summit look like? Well, two things: One, a gathering of like-minded individuals to learn about and discuss a topic. The other is the top of a mountain. The two come together May 3 in Glen Arbor. The Leelanau Well-Being Summit will take place at and around The Homestead. Organizer Kat Palms says the event will include a vendor marketplace featuring local wellness brands, creatives, and makers, optional ticketed wellness classes led by regional practitioners, and a guided Bayview Trail Ruck with the Leelanau Ruck Club. Oh, and that second definition of summit? That works too, as the event will include a champagne toast at the top of Bay Mountain, the resort’s ski hill, followed by an optional dinner at Nonna’s.
Soon after Lynn’s husband arrived on March 5 at the North Lake Processing Center — the mammoth ICE detention center in Baldwin, Michigan — the food began to make him sick. “I haven’t seen an orange the whole time I’ve been here,” the husband told Lynn, a U.S. citizen and Traverse City resident who shared their family’s story with the Glen Arbor Sun this week. The couple, who have a 2.5-year-old son, worship at Guadalupe Chapel in southeastern Leelanau County, where local clergy held a prayer service and press conference on Monday to illuminate the plight of detainees in federal custody. Lynn’s husband is one of several immigrants detained, as ICE detentions mount in Northern Michigan.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore hosts its popular pruning workshop in the Port Oneida Rural Historic District on Friday, May 1, starting at 10 am. The event will take place at the William and Charlotte Kelderhouse and Peter and Jennie Burfiend farms, which are located five miles north of Glen Arbor along M-22. Signage along the M-22 route to the sites.
The Glen Arbor Sun was named local news media publication of the year and won 18 awards in 11 different categories from the Michigan Press Association’s 2025 Better Newspaper Contest for stories published between August 1, 2024, and July 31, 2025. The awards were unveiled on Thursday, April 23, at MPA conference at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing.
Get ready to indulge during the 12th annual Glen Lake Restaurant Week, April 24-May 2. From casual bites to gourmet dining, participating locations will feature specials or a prix-fixe menu that highlight the best of the local culinary scene. Whether you’re craving comfort food, fresh ingredients, exquisite drinks, or an elevated dining experience, there’s something for every palate. Some may also offer breakfast, lunch and dinner specials in accordance with their own hours and offerings. For special menus and the full lineup of participating businesses, check out VisitGlenArbor.com.