Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate, renowned for its ethically sourced, craft chocolate confections and gelato, is thrilled to announce its 20th birthday party on Saturday, Nov. 2, from 11 am-5 pm at the chocolate shop in quaint Empire. All are welcome to join in this milestone event honoring two decades of Grocer’s Daughter’s favorite things; delicious, ethically sourced chocolate and a wonderful community of friends from around the globe.
Sleeping Bear. It’s our home, the namesake of our national park. We delight in living here, on the edge of the wild. But when a black bear emerges from hibernation and crosses our privacy thresholds, breaks into our shops, drags our dumpster trash through the village, eats our chickens, and leaves paw prints on our windows, do we suddenly fear it? Do we condemn its right to live amongst us? Do we breathe a collective sigh of relief when the authorities set traps and take the bear away? This may be the land of the sleeping bear, but only so long as it sleeps, we tell ourselves. When it wakes, we must remind the bear that this is our land now. Sun editor Jacob Wheeler asks whether we can coexist with bears in the cover story for our May 16 edition—several weeks after a 450-500-pound bear broke into the local chocolate shop, devoured a 50-pound bag of sugar and was later trapped and relocated by the DNR.
The black bear that gained national press last week after it briefly broke into Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate in Empire and made off with a 50-pound bag of sugar apparently has a taste for chickens, too. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) caught the bear in a live trap today on Joshua Evan Fast’s property on Stormer Road, about 2.5 miles southeast of downtown Empire. Fast told the Sun that the bear had eaten 16 of his chickens over the past two weeks after breaking the door to their chicken coop.
A black bear has visited Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate in Empire on five consecutive evenings this week, rummaged through a dumpster and spreading garbage around the village, and pulling open the back door and devouring a 50-pound bag of sugar. On Tuesday night, April 16, around 10:30 pm, the bear entered the beloved chocolate shop for no more than 20 seconds, stole the sugar and returned to the sidewalk to eat it. It touched nothing else in the shop, not even the small, chocolate bears on display by the checkout counter.
On Saturday, Dec. 9, from 2-5 pm, Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate in Empire will host a festive holiday gathering at the beloved village chocolate shop. A significant portion of proceeds from the event will support Vida, a school in Guatemala for children and youth, many with disabilities. Handmade ornament bird sales will also benefit the school. Appetizers will be served, as well as wine and sweets at the chocolate shop; next door at the gelateria, pop-up sales of beautiful handmade earrings from Kenya will support education there.
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.
From the outside, it may seem surprising that a recycling company would be interested in building homes. But for Andy Gale, President of Bay Area Recycling for Charities (BARC) in Traverse City, the move makes complete sense. Not only is it an opportunity for their organization to step up the “reuse” portion of the “3Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” but it also enables Gale to return to his roots in construction. And, perhaps most notably, it could offer access to more affordable housing that northern Michigan desperately needs.
From staff reports Tina (Taghon) Dunphey and husband Mark bought Tiffany’s Café in downtown Empire on Sept. 23. Mark teaches at Leelanau St. Mary in Lake Leelanau where their two sons attend school, so Tina will watch over the shop. They plan to be open through the winter on Fridays and Saturdays from 9-6 and […]
The new owners of Anchor Hardware in Empire—Jody and DC Hayden, who own Grocers Daughter Chocolate—will hold a fire sale on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, from 9 am to 5 pm. Everything in store will be discounted 50 to 70% off.
One day last year, before Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate owners Jody and DC Hayden purchased the retail space next to Margaret Hodge’s Anchor Hardware—across M-22 from the Empire Village Inn—DC counted the number of cars that drove by and determined that Empire gets twice as much traffic north of the M-22 and M-72 intersection than south, where M-22 heads toward Benzie County. That sealed the deal.