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A place called home: Paths to affordable ownership in Leelanau

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Leelanau County has long been known as “the land of delight,” but for many of its people, the terrain leading to a place called home appears more difficult. For at least the past 25 years, homes and land have been bought and sold dearly, but a confluence of circumstances has brought the issue of affordable housing to a crisis state today. These include the start of the Great Recession in 2008, a severe tightening of lending practices, a lack of permanent, full-time jobs in a growing tourism and service region, and the refusal of government and some community leaders to recognize and act on long-term solutions to the county’s housing challenges.

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Pegtown Station, a community gathering spot

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By Linda Beaty Sun contributor At least 15 minutes before Pegtown Station restaurant in Maple City opens for breakfast, cars are already pulling into the small parking lot in front. In large part, that’s because Pegtown, owned by Maple City residents Dave and Mary MacDonald for almost 10 years now, serves up some of the […]

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A place called home: Leelanau’s need for affordable housing

Affordable housing in Leelanau County is in short supply. That isn’t actually burning news. It wasn’t even news in 1995, when I became an Americorps worker whose mission was to help start a five-county housing nonprofit organization called HomeStretch. What makes it relevant, even urgent, today is that housing in the county—for workers with college degrees, skills and good jobs, families, people with low incomes, seniors, young adults—is evaporating more quickly than the water levels on Lake Michigan. When the basic needs of a community aren’t met—whether through a confluence of circumstances, lack of initiative, an adverse business climate, or refusal by its members to take action—then the whole community suffers.

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Maple City holds fundraiser for Kayla Tondreau

From staff reports There will be a Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser on Saturday, Dec. 14, for Kayla Tondreau. The event will run from 3-8 p.m. at St. Rita/St. Joseph Hall in Maple City. The event will feature an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner complete with salad and dessert, a silent auction (a great way to finish your Christmas […]

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Center Gallery hosts Joe Stewart, Carol Spaulding

Ohio artist Joe Stewart’s love of Leelanau goes public in an exhibition of new work, “Painting the Leelanau Peninsula.” This show opens with a reception on July 26 at 6 p.m. at Center Gallery, 6023 S. Lake St. in Glen Arbor. Maple City artist Carol Spaulding’s “Garden Palette” will color Center Gallery at Lake Street Studios next. The exhibition of floral still lifes opens Aug. 2 with a 6 p.m. reception.

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Maple City artist wins Cherry Festival poster honor

Naturally shy about promoting her own work, acrylic artist Michelle Hart Jahraus eventually came to the realization that if you want to make waves other than in a painting, you must put your art “out there.” The Maple City resident, and owner of Duck to Swan Gallery in Cedar, entered her 22” x 22” original canvas, “Cherry Orchard Reflections,” in the Adult Fine Art division of the 2013 National Cherry Festival poster competition and won, from a field of more than 100 entries.

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Equine-imity reigns at Blue Oxer Farm and Riding Academy

In its bucolic setting about two miles west of Maple City, the Blue Oxer Farm and Riding Academy offers a variety of horse training, rider instruction for both children and adults, boarding and sales. Set on the 120-acre Cold Spring Farm, owned by Alton and Kathy Smith of Raleigh, NC, Blue Oxer was established in 2008 — the dream come true for horse lover, competitor, trainer, instructor and owner Emily King Brinkman.

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In praise of being snowed in

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During the night trees snapped and limbs crashed around my house, but Saturday was characterized by an uncommon quiet. Even the snowmobilers that regularly race the nearby road were nowhere to be heard. I suppose they too were home digging out from the overnight snowfall — 29 inches in some places, I’m told — and attending to basic survival.

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Joe Spaulding: Building Homes that Sustain Body and Soul

At the top of a green and wooded hill near the Bow Lakes area of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore lies the meticulously handcrafted homestead of builder, philosopher, musician and community activist Joe Spaulding and his equally dynamic wife, painter and classical musician Carol Spaulding. The approach to their home winds along a bridge-like boardwalk that takes a visitor past a thriving vegetable garden, outbuildings fancifully clad in shingles as playful as a flapper’s dress, and stained-glass lanterns that herald the festive atmosphere and occupants within.

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Glen Lake senior awarded NCAA equestrian scholarship

Rachel Reid, 18, of Rochester and Maple City, Michigan, has been awarded an NCAA Division I equestrian scholarship to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas where she will attend as a freshman this fall. An honor student and student council member at Glen Lake High School, Reid graduated in June.

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