The business dynamic in Glen Arbor is in flux. A recent walk from one end of town to the other to ask “What’s the buzz?” took four hours because so much is happening. Both facts and rumors abound. And it’s the youthful energy of several newer business owners that is leading the transition.
Good Harbor Grill co-owner Cady Hall announced that the restaurant on M-109 in the heart of Glen Arbor will reopen for curbside takeout service on Saturday, May 16. Hall and Cos Burrows took over the reigns from Cos’s parents, Ann and Brendan, two years ago.
Amanda Popa walked 2,652 miles last summer, the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail. “It took me 5 months and 5 days,” she remembers, “from April 21 to September 26, 2018.” Starting in Campo, a small town on the United States-Mexico border, the trail goes through California, Oregon, and Washington before reaching its northern terminus at the United States-Canada border in Manning Park, British Columbia.
You can pretty much read the story of Josh Miller’s life on the back of his Subaru. It is plastered with decals for ski gear companies, and that has been his passion and then winter occupation for 44 of his 47 years. But then your eyes track downward to the license plate: PORKRST, and you recognize the meat master, grill-meister, and talented chef that is Josh Miller for the rest of the year. The way he manages to balance two jobs is typical of so many workers who are the year-round residents in this seasonal feast or famine land of Leelanau.
Click the photo for a tasty list of area restaurants, grouped by town, including descriptions, photos, locations and contact information, and reviews.
Cady Hall scooped ice cream at the Pine Cone at age 14 and started waiting tables at the Good Harbor Grill a couple years later. A Glen Lake graduate now living with her family in Suttons Bay, Cady has joined forces with Cos Burroughs to manage the midtown mainstay eateries. The son of owners Ann and Brendan Burroughs, Cos has worked there all of his life.
A wander through the doors of Ann Derrick’s Glen Arbor Botanicals gallery can produce exquisite results, but not many suspect that a purchase within those doors can change a life. Derrick, who together with husband Brendan Burrows, owns the Good Harbor Grill and the Pine Cone ice cream shop west of Glen Arbor’s main intersection, spend their winters sailing the Caribbean. It is there that they discovered an island and its people, along with a story and a mission that struck their core.
Ever since Wednesday, August 17, Northern Michiganders have both embraced and grappled with the news that the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and surrounding region are considered the “most beautiful place in America” — at least according to 22 percent of 100,000 voters who participated in the ABC show Good Morning America’s online competition the second week of August.
“M-22 is all about the northern Michigan lifestyle,” an excited Matt Wiesen says while standing behind the wine counter at his and wife Katy’s new apparel store and tasting room in Glen Arbor. “It’s about a glass of wine on the boat, beaches, bonfires and a laid-back attitude.”