When Sleeping Bear Surf opened its doors in Empire in 2004, it was billed as the state’s first surf shop. Today it still stakes its claim as the state’s only full-service surf shop, serving as a hub for Great Lakes surfing and general water merriment, with sales, rentals and classes. And with a 20-plus year history, manager Ella Skrocki decided it was time for a reset. “As I choose the state of evolution, it felt like I needed some new energy,” she says.
For nearly two decades Beryl Skrocki gently worked her way into the hearts of Empire community members, summer visitors and tourists with a unique style of silliness, compassion and joy that magically drew people to her, and also her surf shop and the Empire beach. Beryl’s life was as large as Lake Michigan, and her too-soon departure leaves an equally massive hole in her family and the Empire, surf and Great Lakes advocacy community. She passed away on October 13 at age 61. A public celebration of Beryl’s life will be held on Saturday, November 5, at noon at Sleeping Bear Surf & Kayak in downtown Empire. Click here for more information and learn how to support the Skrocki family.
On a recent warm summer evening, I met Ella and Annabel Skrocki at the public beach in Empire—their natural habitat. They rolled up in their mom’s vintage mint-green Chevrolet, pulled a paddleboard from the bed of the truck, and together we set off for a sunset paddle on Lake Michigan. The sky was hazy as the sun dipped lower, the effect of wildfires out west on display here in northern Michigan. We made our way south across calm rolling waves to sit at the base of the Empire Bluff while the sun completed its descent. While we sat, we talked, and these two sisters gave me a glimpse into their friendship, water stewardship, and the mindset that fuels it all.
With growing scientific confirmation of accelerating global climate change, Earth Day 2021 is more than just another Earth Day. For the first time, an American president will host an international climate summit on Earth Day to “reset” domestic and international strategies to combat alarming climate trends. While global issues will headline Earth Day events, individuals can show their stewardship in a number of ways this spring. Click here to learn how the Leelanau Conservancy, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and Sleeping Bear Surf & Kayak are observing Earth Day 2021.
Sleeping Bear Surf & Kayak in Empire wants to thank dear friends and loyal customers for your support over this decade and a half. “It has been an honor, and an absolute hoot!” says the Skrocki family. To celebrate 15 years of business, community and pure fun, the business will kick off the summer with a proper party, June 28-30.
Sleeping Bear Surf & Kayak’s seventh annual SBX (Sleeping Bear X-treme) Junior Waterman Camp will take place July 24-28. Waterman camp is a unique freshwater surf camp designed and taught by water enthusiasts to create water enthusiasts.
Sleeping Bear Surf and Kayak’s fifth annual SBX Waterman camp is an over-the-top successful Surf and Waterman camp designed and taught by water enthusiasts to create water enthusiasts. You will not find a more fun-filled, unique camp in this area.
Fifteen-year-olds Annabel Skrocki and Annie Lively, both sophomores at Glen Lake School, stood in complete silence with more than 400,000 other climate activists at the People’s Climate march on Sept. 21—mourning, for the melting glaciers, the rising oceans, the dryer mid-continents, the stronger storms, the disappearing islands and the paralyzed politicians.
Glen Arbor and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore area enjoyed an economic and tourism boom in the mid-1990s, and now the businesses borne of that boom are coming of age. Brad Anderson was a youthful 27 years old when he bought Steffens IGA in 1994 from Bill and Jan Heston and renamed it Anderson’s Market. Bit by bit he updated the interior and modernized the inventory, but not until this year did the grocery store in the heart of Glen Arbor get a complete facelift.
Mark your calanders for some toe-tapping fun on Friday, June 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the green space between the Empire Post Office and Sleeping Bear Surf & Kayak. Beryl Skrocki reports that the Surf & Kayak shop will host the Texas musician duo of Kevin Higgins & Barbara Malteze.