Blue Boat Coffee in Leland features meticulously sourced coffee, brewed with a passionate attention to detail by homegrown Leelanau locals. They also represent a growing trend of young families moving back to the area because of their love for this unique peninsula, creating a life and work balance through entrepreneurship, and the invigorating satisfaction of being contented by their locale.
The 20th annual walk across the mighty Leland Bridge in honor of Labor Day will take place on Monday, Sept. 3, at noon. Leland residents, family and friends will begin gathering at 11:30 a.m. in the parking lot behind the Blue Bird in preparation for the historic walk.
In its fifth decade serving the community, Leelanau Books has reopened after new owners and management completed a major renovation including the addition of a “Back Porch” family activity center at its location on Main St in Leland.
Leland is a getaway in every sense of the word. It’s idyllic and old school, clean and comfortable, and there’s just enough to do without overwhelming you. On this shore, Lake Michigan can be calm and quiet, or raging and dark. The weather decides which experience you’ll have. Big lake storms can be the best excuse to huddle up and reset in a cozy spot, hypnotized by the rain and wind.
Here’s a little-known, fishy fact: back in the 1960s, some kids would throw fish chubs, not candy, in the Leland Fourth of July parade. John Watkins remembers sitting on Steffens & Stallman’s parade float and handing out smoked chub to people along the route. “One year we sat in the dump truck and just threw it out to people,” Watkins laughed.
As farmers, the Leelanau Conservancy is a pretty important organization in our lives. Our family raises alpaca and antique apples on the Leelanau Conservancy-owned DeYoung Farm at the base of the peninsula. It was during the the process of applying for land-use and working on this historic property, we discovered the many facets of an organization we’ve come to love and appreciate, not just for its land preservation efforts, but also for the resulting, positive influence the Conservancy’s efforts have on all aspects of life on the Leelanau.
Visit the Old Art Building in Leland on Tuesday, April 22, at 7 p.m. for the Leelanau Conservancy’s screening of Green Fire, the first full-length, high-definition documentary film ever made about legendary conservationist Aldo Leopold and his environmental legacy. Green Fire shares highlights from his extraordinary career, explaining how he shaped conservation and the modern environmental movement. It also illustrates how Leopold’s vision of community continues to inform and inspire people across the country and around the world, highlighting modern projects that put Leopold’s land ethic in action.
The Chiapas Water Project (CWP) Committee of On The Ground welcomes your presence at a reunion for supporters on Saturday, March 1 at the Old Art Building in Leland from 6-10 p.m. The evening will feature food and drink from local chefs along with a live and silent auction of treasures from regional artists and businesses, as well as artisan goods of Chiapas. Dancing and live music by Tim Sparling and friends will start at 8:30 p.m. There will also be a discussion of successes and challenges of water projects by current staff and board who returned from Chiapas in January.
Some people might say that artist Lynn Uhlmann can’t see the forest for the trees — and the painter, whose affiliation with Leelanau County’s beautiful wooded places spans nearly three decades, would happily agree with that notion. Each of her landscapes, inspired by a deep familiarity with places such as Good Harbor, Shalda Creek, the Crystal River, and Port Oneida, depicts “the trees, light, and colors of small, intimate settings,” within a forest wilderness now enveloping the former farm fields, coastline settlements, and lumber operations of an earlier era.