At about 5 p.m. on Friday, July 8, the Newell and Pierce families were enjoying a pontoon boat ride on Big Glen Lake when they saw a tiny fawn floating in the deep water. Only, the baby deer’s head cleared the waterline, and it was struggling to stay afloat. The Newells called On the Narrows Marina, from whom they had rented the pontoon, and encountered what they perceived to be disbelief on the other end of the line. The phone call ended abruptly.
The McCahills of Littleton, Colorado —Tom, Carol, Conor, Megan and Neil — first came to Glen Lake in August of 1986 for a family reunion. They boated the entire week and stayed at the Glen Eden Resort on the north shore. The McCahills returned the next summer to Glen Arbor and have been enjoying water skiing, fishing and boating on beautiful Glen Lake every summer for over 20 years. You might say they “fell in love” with the Leelanau Peninsula. So when they heard the marina that Jack and Marcie Ferris owned and operated for 18 years was for sale, they took it on.