Online registration for the fifth annual M-22 Challenge begins at 8 a.m. on Friday, March 1, and will likely sell out within hours. This year’s Challenge will be held on Saturday, June 8. This dynamic spring alternative triathlon has quickly become one of Leelanau County’s most popular annual events. Don’t miss your small window of opportunity to take part!
Glen Lake Community Schools has received a $5,000 community grant from Best Buy. Leaders of the corporate retailer’s Traverse City location selected Glen Lake from submitted proposal requests because of the school’s dedication to closing the digital divide for teens and providing them access to opportunities through technology to help them excel in school, and develop 21st century work force skills.
It wasn’t quite a “road to Damascus” epiphany, but Rob Serbin did find the road to Little Traverse Inn last year. The Glen Arbor realtor finally sold the restaurant on M-22 for the second time in seven years, this time to Scotsman Graeme Leask, after it sat idle on the market for 18 months. The sale was emblematic of Serbin’s monster year, which saw his company’s net sales surge by 250 percent. Numerous realtors in the Glen Arbor area shared that good fortune.
I work part-time at the Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor, located in a historic, 85-year-old log cabin that used to nestle over on Big Glen Lake. From its patinated floorboards, every nook and cranny is jammed to the bark-covered beams with books, posters, original art, books, maps, local authors, books, Native American traditional crafts, greeting cards … and books.
When the US Army Corps of Engineers measured Lake Michigan and Lake Huron water levels at the end of December, they discovered that the depth had receded to 576.15 feet above sea level — breaking the record for the previous all-time-low of 576.2 feet set in 1964. That’s not a record to celebrate. Numbers are complex and difficult to comprehend. But beaches along Sleeping Bear Bay offered more clarity, and sobering clarity at that. The shoreline has receded substantially from previous years, leaving behind a hard, rocky surface in places, and prompting widespread alarm.
Glen Arbor Township secretary Bonnie Quick has called a Board of Appeals hearing for Wednesday, Jan. 9, at 7 p.m. to discuss to reconvene a previous hearing two months ago related to marina expansion efforts on Big Glen Lake. As reported previously in the Glen Arbor Sun, On the Narrows Marina seeks to substantially expand its boat moorings and footprint on the lake’s western shore near M-22.
Local storyteller Tom Van Zoeren posted this video about the story, and the muse, behind the new stone bench at Inspiration Point, which overlooks the Glen Lakes. The first half of the 25-minute amateur video shows Empire stone mason Mark Finstad making the bench out of split stone. The second half shows people enjoying the bench in various ways.
The Empire Area Museum complex will open its doors to the community and area visitors for the annual Heritage Day event, 1-4 p.m., on Saturday, Oct. 13. This year’s gathering takes place during the organization’s 40th anniversary celebration.
“What’s the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen with this telescope?” asks a visitor to the Leelanau School’s Lanphier Observatory. My stock answer is another question: “You mean in the sky, or on the beach?”
The lunch counter/ice cream shop south of the Glen Lake Narrows has a new owner once again. But this summer her caretakers may have the mojo, and the business strategy, to make the business succeed.