Our story series celebrating songs inspired by Leelanau County and the Sleeping Bear Dunes continues with “The Leelanau Theme Song,” which Leland resorter Hazel Oberhelman wrote during the 1940s. The Leelanau Enterprise first printed the song on September 21,1950. The lyrics, which capture the beauty and natural wonders of the peninsula, have been sung at weekly community sing-alongs at the Leland Country Club and the Leland Yacht Club for decades. The theme has also been sung by marchers in Traverse City’s National Cherry Festival. In 2017, the Oberhelman/Hickenlooper families donated the printing blocks and a copy of the sheet music bearing Hazel’s signature to the Leelanau Historical Society.