This reflection on a nocturnal Alligator Hill ski was first published in our Winter 2000 edition. The alligator’s new look, following the Aug. 2, 2015, storm, prompted us to revisit these words.
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Our story series celebrating songs inspired by Leelanau County and the Sleeping Bear Dunes continues with Seth Bernard’s “Manitou,” an instrumental that he wrote in June 2019 during a residency sponsored by the Old Art Building in Leland. “I wrote this simple piece on acoustic guitar looking out over the islands near Van’s Beach around sundown,” said Bernard. “It’s a little magic carpet ride to that peaceful, serene, early summer Leelanau sunset vibe. Bernard returns to the Old Art Building on April 24 at 7 pm for an Earth Week-themed concert.
Sleeping Bear. It’s our home, the namesake of our national park. We delight in living here, on the edge of the wild. But when a black bear emerges from hibernation and crosses our privacy thresholds, breaks into our shops, drags our dumpster trash through the village, eats our chickens, and leaves paw prints on our windows, do we suddenly fear it? Do we condemn its right to live amongst us? Do we breathe a collective sigh of relief when the authorities set traps and take the bear away? This may be the land of the sleeping bear, but only so long as it sleeps, we tell ourselves. When it wakes, we must remind the bear that this is our land now. Sun editor Jacob Wheeler asks whether we can coexist with bears in the cover story for our May 16 edition—several weeks after a 450-500-pound bear broke into the local chocolate shop, devoured a 50-pound bag of sugar and was later trapped and relocated by the DNR.
Bob Hawley (Republican) and Peter Van Nort (Independent) are running for Glen Arbor Township Supervisor. We conducted the following Q&A with the candidates.
By Sarah Bearup-Neal Sun contributor In the year leading up to the centennial celebration of the National Park Service’s (NPS) creation, the Glen Arbor Sun has offered stories about the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (SBDNL) and some of the people in the community who have developed a relationship with it. As the NPS’s 100th […]
“Find Your Park” is the message being sent to the world by the National Park Service in anticipation of its 100th Anniversary in 2016. In 2015, a record 1,535,633 people “found their park” at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. This just exceeded the 1,531,560 park visitors received in 2012 following ABC’s Good Morning America declaring the park the “Most Beautiful Place in America.”
Deputy Superintendent Tom Ulrich reports that Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is pursuing funds from its regional office of the National Park Service to re-hire seasonal workers and clear the Alligator Hill trail by cross-country ski season.
Many Leelanau homeowners are hoping the governor’s state of disaster proclamation following the Aug. 2 megastorm will help fund their debris cleanup. Unfortunately, they may find those hopes dashed, especially if they expect financial help any time soon.
With Lake Michigan as high as it is right now, 579.6 feet, that means less than one foot of elevation from the water’s edge would require a DEQ permit if a beach owner wanted to “move around” the sand or remove vegetation.
From staff reports The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will again host a barn restoration workshop June 18-20 at the John Burfiend Barn located on Port Oneida Road, four miles north of Glen Arbor. This year marks the 19th anniversary of the partnership between the Michigan Barn Preservation Network and the National Lakeshore in developing […]