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.
Leelanau Energy has announced a new partnership with the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities to extend and strengthen their Access MI Solar program in Leelanau County. Access MI Solar is a group-buy discount program that helps homeowners and small businesses afford solar panels, to save on energy costs, and reduce their carbon footprint. Leelanau Energy will offer two community engagement programs to discuss and take questions about Access MI Solar: Thursday, May 8, at the Suttons Bay District Library and Thursday, May 15, at Glen Lake Community Library.
One of three duplex units at Maple City Crossings—Habitat for Humanity’s affordable housing project in the middle of Leelanau County—is complete and will welcome homeowners within the next few months. All homes at Maple City Crossings boast energy efficient electric heating and cooling systems, thanks in part to a $5,000 Energize Challenge grant that Habitat for Humanity received in November 2022 from Leelanau Energy.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Cherry Republic’s 31 Days of Giving annual campaign, which runs through December. Throughout the past decade, the Glen Arbor-based company has provided grants to dozens of well-deserving organizations—“from loyal stewards of our climate to big-hearted groups that care for our neighbors who need a bit of a hand up during difficult times,” the company wrote in a news release. We caught up with Sara Harding, Cherry Republic’s vice president of climate and community impact, to learn more about the giving campaign.
The U.S. Senate has passed its historic climate change legislation, and the House of Representatives is expected to soon follow suit and send to President Biden to sign the bill. The political victory comes not a moment too soon, with a rapidly warming planet striking communities with one climate-related disaster after another. Leelanau County, too, is enjoying the momentum of the clean energy movement. Earlier this summer, Leelanau Energy launched its “Energize Leelanau Challenge” initiative to locate clean energy or energy efficiency projects in the county that are shovel-ready and that benefit communities, and help fund them with seed money totaling between $250 and $15,000 per project.
It has become a global problem—electrical light pollution is sending its ever-brightening rays, hiding the night sky in place after place and there is no end in sight. In today’s world, city and suburban residents have lost sight of much of earth’s spectacular nighttime universe. At night a peachy orange glow is casting an ever-widening ominous circumference in the Grand Traverse region.
Out in our meadow beyond the vintage apple trees planted by Irish immigrant potato farmers named Sullivan over a century ago, Don Lessard set up a tripod topped by a round sheet of curved graph paper under a plastic globe. We could see the nearby trees and hills reflected upside down in the globe, and Don traced the shadow lines on the graph paper as he said, “This is a great spot for a solar panel!” He then sent the graph and our energy use information to his son Ambrose down in Lansing, and from GPS data and records of sunshine in Leelanau County recorded over many years, they calculated the size of the solar panel needed to produce the kilowatts we require to cover our annual electric needs.