Mike Sheldon

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World Cup fever grips Leelanau; global soccer offers antidote to imperialism

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Mike Sheldon, owner of River Club Glen Arbor, flew to Los Angeles to watch the U.S. national team play Turkey on June 25. Gary Jonas, co-owner of Farm Club and The Little Fleet in Traverse City, hit Dallas together with his father and his son on June 27 to witness Argentina’s date with Jordan. Greg Graetz and his son scored tickets to a friendly match between the United States and Germany at Chicago’s Soldier Field, just prior to this summer’s World Cup. Venues including The Little Fleet and River Club are packed with enthusiastic crowds gathered to watch the world’s greatest sporting event, co-hosted this summer by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Crowds hush and gaze at the television as footballers send creative passes and move in unison up the field. Hundreds of voices crescendo into a roar as the ball cannons toward the goal.

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River Club Glen Arbor holds Drinks, Putts & Fire Trucks to benefit Glen Lake Fire Department

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The Glen Lake Fire Department and River Club Glen Arbor plan to hold their first annual community building and fund-raising event, “Drinks, Putts & Fire Trucks,” on Wednesday, June 17, from 4-8 pm at the River Club. The event will celebrate the massive contribution the Glen Lake Fire Department makes to the greater Leelanau County region. The two primary goals are to create closer ties to community members with individual fire department personnel and to raise funds that help the department flourish and stay modern given the vast needs of the community. River Club will donate a portion of their profits for the day to the Glen Lake Fire Department’s general fund along with providing community members a free round of golf on their next visit.

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River Club celebrates one year in Glen Arbor

Since opening a year ago on June 24, and pumping even more excitement into an already thriving downtown, the River Club Glen Arbor minigolf course and outdoor lounge has hosted wedding receptions, corporate events, family reunions, many kid playdates, a Cinco de Mayo Fiesta, the M22 Challenge afterparty, and at least one marriage proposal on the venue’s sky deck. Sheldon and his team built the venue on the banks of the Crystal River large enough to be able to accommodate both special events and everyday customers. “What’s unique about this place relative to the alternatives is that we can handle a massive amount of people and not have it overwhelm the system,” said Sheldon. “You couldn’t go to average bar or small winery [elsewhere in Leelanau County] and do that. Plus, we have live music, and the river, and food. People are discovering that it’s an ideal location if you have a group.”

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High Five, River Club

The River Club in Glen Arbor received two prestigious awards last month from the Traverse City Tourism High Five Awards, which honor top professionals in the region’s hospitality industry. Award recipients (l-r) include River Club general manager Stephen Brotschul (Front of the House Award) and owners Gina and Mike Sheldon (Cheer & Leadership Award).

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Sleeping Bear manhunt, Empire sugar bear, Pop-tart man Bill Post, Twin Flames wedding: Glen Arbor Sun’s top-viewed stories of 2024

Our coverage in 2024 featured crimes, celebrities, cool new businesses, and an homage to the now removed Crystal River culverts. Our top 10 most-read stories included: a manhunt in the National Lakeshore; the search for a black bear that broke into Grocers Daughter Chocolate and devoured a 50-pound bag of sugar; Jerry Seinfeld’s movie “Unfrosted” about Pop-Tart man Bill Post, and the Twin Flames Universe cult’s secretive wedding in Traverse City. Thanks for your readership. We look forward to sharing more stories of Leelanau County events, characters, businesses, and the arts in 2025. Here’s the list of our Top 10 stories by online views in 2024.

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Five out of five kids recommend golf at Glen Arbor’s new River Club

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Glen Arbor’s newest attraction is not your average putting course experience. Many of you have been to the River Club already, but for those of you who haven’t, here is a review, courtesy of 11-year-old Martin Ludden and four other kids between ages 8 and 11. During our two visits to River Club so far, there have been families on most of the course’s 18 holes, but they move quick. It’s a fun vibe, and with people talking and laughing it feels almost like a community treasure hunt. Plus, you can finish and start a new game. With your day-pass wrist band the place offers unlimited minigolf while your parents eat and drink, relax by the river or listen to live music!

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River Club Glen Arbor targets June opening, seeks workers

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River Club Glen Arbor, located where the Crystal River turns and heads northeast toward The Homestead and Sleeping Bear Bay, has announced its grand opening in mid-June. The project of former advertising executive and current Lake Leelanau resident Mike Sheldon, the River Club will offer Mexican-inspired foods, signature drinks from the Caddy Shack bar, riverfront and sky deck seating, a concert stage, a landscaped 18-hole mini-golf course and a gift shop. The destination will bring even more action to the east side of Glen Arbor, where Crystal River Outfitters, the Cyclery, the M22 Store and Coastal already draw crowds. River Club will throw a Job Fair/Party in the Park on Saturday, May 18, from 11 am – 3 pm. The event will provide an opportunity to meet the team and get an exclusive firsthand tour of the park.

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Twin Flames, Boat Fire, The Mill opens: Glen Arbor Sun’s top viewed stories of 2023

This year was a banner year for news in Leelanau County. The Glen Arbor Sun’s top viewed stories on our website in 2023 included the strange—a relationship coaching cult in Suttons Bay (“Twin Flames, a Suttons Bay cult, an inferno of controversy” was our fourth most-viewed story of all time); the heroic—a neighborhood effort to rescue boaters from a burning craft; the celebratory—The Mill made its long awaited opening on the Crystal River, and collaboration between the National Lakeshore and Leelanau Conservancy to preserve Glen Lake ridge property; the breaking news—an 18-hole putting course and restaurant planned to open next year in Glen Arbor; the historical—our 12-part series covering Leelanau’s farming families; and the reflective—remembering Horndog Newt Cole. Thanks for your readership, and Happy New Year! Here’s the list of our top 10 stories by online views in 2023.

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Sheldon plans 18-hole putting course for Glen Arbor next spring

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Mike Sheldon, the longtime CEO of Deutsch advertising agency in Los Angeles and a Lake Leelanau resident since 2017, has broken ground on an 18-hole putting and dining destination at the former River at Crystal Bend in Glen Arbor—where the Crystal River turns and heads northeast toward The Homestead and Sleeping Bear Bay. He received a conditional Land Use Permit last night from the Glen Arbor Township Planning Commission and hopes to open the venue to the public next spring. The destination will bring even more action to the east side of town, where Crystal River Outfitters, the Cyclery, the M22 Store and Coastal already draw crowds. Less than a mile away, the renovated Mill has generated buzz since it opened this spring.

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