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Leelanau’s influencers of 2024

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With 2024 in the rearview mirror and 2025 upon us, we’re recognizing 25 “influencers” we covered in the Glen Arbor Sun this past year who are making a meaningful impact on Leelanau County communities, commerce, and culture. Read below about those 25 local influencers, who include everyone from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, to Leelanau Investing for Teens, to Empire’s polar dippers, to popular new destinations River Club Glen Arbor, the Sleeping Bear Inn, and the Lively’s NeighborFood Market.

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Northwoods Hardware hires Borodychuk as new GM

Northwoods Hardware, Home, Garden & Nursery has hired Chad Borodychuk as its new general manager. He will assume the leadership reins from current owner Jeff Gietzen. “He has a clear understanding of what it takes to run a successful retail business,” said Gietzen. “It’s all about the people, product, and community you are serving, and I could not be more pleased to hand the leadership mantle over to him and see where he takes Northwoods in the future.”

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Singer/Gardener Chris Skellenger helps Northwoods Hardware

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Local troubadour and gardener Chris Skellenger and former Buckets of Rain treasurer Mike Binsfeld have created a new nonprofit called Row by Row, which helps economically challenged Guatemala women establish community gardens on vacant public land. Buckets of Rain previously taught bucket drip irrigation to communities in Lesotho and Detroit. Skellenger also plays guitar and sings at Boonedocks, Little Traverse Inn, French Valley Vineyard, Cherry Republic, and Lake Ann Brewery with an assortment of his musical friends. And Skellenger is the new nursery manager at the expanded Northwood’s Hardware & Garden Center in Glen Arbor. “We are so happy to have Chris Skellenger to help us get this going,” said co-owner Jeff Gietzen. “He is a skilled, legitimate nursery person.”

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Northwoods Hardware, Home & Garden in Glen Arbor plans expansion

Northwoods Hardware owners Jeff and Georgia Gietzen have announced the purchase of property directly adjacent to their current business (where Wildflowers was located until last summer). The Gietzens anticipate the purchase of 50 percent of the remaining south lot by mid-July. The Wildflowers property had previously been purchased by a developer with plans to build condos, but is no longer moving forward with the development.

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Northwoods Hardware seeks community help to donate thousands of face shields to Munson Medical Center

Northwoods Hardware in Glen Arbor has a supplier who has modified their production line to produce face shields that meet Johns Hopkins Medical School and Munson specifications. Face shields are an essential part of the PPE required in hospitals, however there is a nation-wide shortage, and there is a critical need for them at Munson Healthcare.

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Christmas tree shortage, big box buyup cause scarcity in Leelanau

UPDATE (Nov. 18): Northwoods Hardware owners Jeff and Georgia Gietzen report that—thanks to front-page coverage in the Glen Arbor Sun about the lack of Fraser Fir trees for sale this year—three different tree suppliers contacted Northwoods Hardware, “and we’re now going to be in the tree business once again this holiday season!” wrote Georgia.

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Glen Lake Library plans fundraising and expansion

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The Glen Lake Community Library kicks off building expansion fundraising on Memorial Day weekend at Northwoods Hardware, according to capital campaign chairperson Linda Young. The construction project will transform the present library and will nearly double the space while accommodating the needs of both children and the elderly.

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New in town: Changed forest, Northwoods Home & Gift, realtors rotate

What’s new in town in 2016 — particularly if you haven’t visited Glen Arbor since last July — are the forests around the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. They are completely different. That’s because of the Aug. 2, 2015, megastorm, which packed “straight line” winds of 100 miles per hour, leveled thousands of hardwood trees across Alligator Hill, along the east side of Big Glen Lake, across Leelanau County and on Old Mission Peninsula north of Traverse City. The storm was the most dramatic thing to hit Glen Arbor in modern times, and it changed the experience of visiting our beloved National Lakeshore for generations to come.

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Community Resilience: How Glen Arbor picked itself up after the megastorm

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During one extraordinary week in August 2015, the sounds that dominated our town were the whirr of winds and the ugly crack of trees, followed by the buzz of chainsaws, the hum of generators, and the cheering and car honking as Consumers Power trucks and linemen rolled into town like a liberating army.

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Classic car Cruise Night in Glen Arbor

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By day, it’s Northwoods Hardware. By night—well, Thursday night—it’s Car Central. Every Thursday night from July 10 until the end of August, the parking lot at 6053 S. Glen Lake Road/M-22 becomes a convocation of motorheads. It’s Cruise Night in Glen Arbor.

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