At 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 11, 548 athletes took off from the start line on M-109 in Glen Arbor and prepared to race up the Sleeping Bear Dunes “Dune Climb.” It would only be the start of a challenging event which also includes a 17.5-mile bike race around Big and Little Glen Lake and a 2.5-mile paddle in Little Glen Lake.
Don’t miss the third annual M22-Challenge Saturday morning. This year’s competitors will run 2.5 miles up the Dune Climb, bike 17 miles around the Glen Lakes, and paddle 2.5 miles in Little Glen Lake. Due to rising demand, founders Matt and Keegan Myers opened up this M-22 Challenge to 550 athletes. Watch videos of last year’s race below.
THREE MEN & a TENOR are coming back. For the second year in a row this internationally renowned sensation will bring a high-energy, hilarious, vocal music show to Thoreson Farm near Glen Arbor, Saturday, June 25. This concert is the main ingredient of the Glen Arbor Art Association’s Here Comes Summer event. Come celebrate the arrival of summer with a special evening of music, children’s art activities, a gift basket silent auction, instant family photography, and free Cherry Republic ice cream.
Northern Michigan is “bear country” and seeing one of these magnificent creatures may be a highlight of your visit to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (National Lakeshore) this summer as bear sightings have increased, particularly near the Platte River Campground. In 2010, Park Rangers received over two dozen reports of bears and bear “signs” in and adjacent to the park.
Volunteers are being sought to assist with the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore’s avian botulism beach monitoring program. An informational training program for prospective volunteers will be held from 1-4 p.m. on Thursday, June 2 at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (National Lakeshore) Visitor Center, 9922 Front Street, in Empire.
The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (the local branch of the National Park Service) is announcing a new firewood program established to protect park forests from invasive insect and diseases commonly spread through the transport of firewood.
The popular annual Manitou Music Festival — bringing great and eclectic music to Glen Arbor and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore — has unveiled its lineup for the coming summer. The festival will kick off with a July 2 Patriotic Music performance by the Northport Community Band at the Glen Arbor Athletic Club, and hold its popular Dune Climb Concert on July 10.
Pathways to Sleeping Bear and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has released a dazzling new video that extolls the virtues of the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail, the 27-mile multi-use trail that will parallel M-22 and M-109 in and near the National Park. Construction will begin on the Heritage Trail late this summer.
Every Saturday afternoon for the “Saturdays at the Lakeshore” programs at 1 p.m., a Park Ranger awaits you at the Visitor Center in Empire to introduce a topic and then lead a car caravan a short distance to where the walk will begin. Each week features a different topic and location. The programs last 1 to 1½ hours and are no longer than 1½ miles.
Join in the celebration of our country’s 394 national park sites right in your own backyard at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The theme for National Park Week 2011 is “Healthy Parks, Healthy People.” Get moving and attend a FREE Park Ranger-led program or just get to the park and enjoy some of the healthy activities the National Lakeshore has to offer during National Park Week, April 16-24.