Several Glen Arbor residents who frequently run or paint in the Port Oneida Rural Historic District expressed chagrin at the National Park’s decision in late July to mow down wildflower fields at the Olsen and Dechow farmsteads. The concerned locals claimed the fields were mowed at the height of pollinator season, with monarch butterfly migration—and the Port Oneida Fair—just weeks away. Read here for the Park’s response.
Lace up your running shoes for one of Michigan’s most scenic race courses. The 16th Annual Port Oneida Run will take place on Saturday, August 1, a fundraising event hosted by the nonprofit park partner Sleeping Bear Forever (formerly Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear). Click here to register.
A weathered red barn leans gently into the wind at Port Oneida. Rows of apple trees still mark orchards planted generations ago. White farmhouses sit beneath towering maples, their porches looking out across fields first cultivated more than a century ago. In Glen Haven, restored maritime buildings recall an era when steamships connected isolated shoreline communities and commerce shaped life along the lakeshore. These places don’t command the same attention as the dunes. Yet, together they reveal the history, culture and character that give Sleeping Bear its soul. Helping people discover that story has become the defining mission of the nonprofit formerly known as Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear. Now approaching its 30th year, it is entering a new chapter with a new name: Sleeping Bear Forever.
The annual Port Oneida Fair will be held for the last time on August 7-8 in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore’s Port Oneida Rural Historic District. For more than two decades, the Fair has been celebrating the rich cultural heritage and traditions of the late 1800s and early 1900s of the area. This summer, as the nation commemorates its 250th anniversary, the fair will be “Celebrating the Threads of a Nation” in a theme that will give visitors the opportunity to reflect on the places and people of our shared history.
Chicago musician Michael Hudson-Casanova is the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s first artist-resident of 2026. During his two-week stay, beginning May 3, Hudson-Casanova will compose music for an ensemble consisting of four saxophones, four brass players, and a four-piece rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass, drums). His instrumentation for this composition is inspired by the American big band tradition. Hudson-Casanova will talk about his residency during a public presentation May 14, at 10 am at the GAAC.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore hosts its popular pruning workshop in the Port Oneida Rural Historic District on Friday, May 1, starting at 10 am. The event will take place at the William and Charlotte Kelderhouse and Peter and Jennie Burfiend farms, which are located five miles north of Glen Arbor along M-22. Signage along the M-22 route to the sites.
March is maple sugaring time in northern Michigan. An annual Maple Sugaring Days event presented by Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in partnership with Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear will be held over two days–March 7-8 at the Olsen and Dechow Farms. Saturday hours are 10 am-3 pm and Sunday hours are 11 am-3 pm. Maple Sugaring Days offers a variety of demonstrations and hands-on activities to get outdoors and learn about the history of maple sugaring.
Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear is offering the return of the program, “Port Oneida Path to Page” on Friday, Oct. 17, from 12-4 pm, for writers at any level, but especially for those interested in creating history-inspired pieces. Participants will explore their creative muse hiking this fall through select farms, woods and fields of the lovely Port Oneida historic region with local poet and playwright Anne-Marie Oomen.
The 13th annual Port Oneida Run—an event of the National Park’s nonprofit partner Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear—will take place on Saturday, August 2. The run starts and ends at the big red barn and lawn area at the Olsen Farm/Port Oneida Farms Heritage Center, 3164 W. Harbor Hwy, (M-22) Maple City, MI, just four miles north of Glen Arbor.
Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear invites artists to the Thoreson Farm in Port Oneida, for a Plein Air Event on Saturday, May 24, from 9 am to 4 pm. The event is to encourage artists to paint and submit artwork of the farm to be considered for the 2025 Port Oneida Fair poster.