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Leelanau baking star Sorge debuts cookbook

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Martin Sorge didn’t used to like cherry pie. Then the northern Indiana native spent a summer during college building sets at Interlochen Arts Academy’s theater department. He tasted the Grand Traverse region’s culinary pride and has been hooked ever since. “I get it now,” Sorge said. Sorge, who won the Great American Baking Show in 2023 and splits his time between Chicago and Leelanau County, debuts his first cookbook, “Great Bakes: Modern Classic Recipes from the Midwest,” at a National Writers Series event on Friday, Aug. 21, at 4 pm at Artemis Books & Goods in Traverse City’s warehouse district. The event is part of the Traverse City Food and Wine Festival, which runs Aug. 19-23.

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Moroccan cycles solo through Northern Michigan, finds kindness along the way

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At the end of July, a 24-year-old woman solo bike packed from Mackinaw City to Grand Rapids, tracing the Lake Michigan shoreline in what she remembers as “an amazing 11 days.” Not only was it Yasmina Ahlmaris’s first time outside her home country of Morocco, it was also her first time camping. “My last name means people from Mars,” she laughed. “That’s probably why I’m so crazy.” On her journey, Ahlmaris pedaled through Petoskey, Traverse City, the Sleeping Bear Dunes, Manistee and other towns, developing the itinerary with a little help from her friends.

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Community unites to create NoMi‘s first annual yoga festival

Leelanau-based yoga teacher and holistic wellness coach Shelley Smith has organized the community’s first annual yoga festival, Aug. 15 at Twin Lakes Park outside of Traverse City. It’s a one-day, all-day, collaborative event called Northern Resonance Yoga Festival, featuring over 30 of Leelanau and Grand Traverse County’s leading yoga teachers and holistic wellness facilitators.

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New Farm (Club) market eases operations

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Loma Farm and Farm Club now have a third farm operation in the family: the on site farm market and processing facility opened earlier this year. For owners Gary and Allison Jonas, and Sara and Nic Theisen, it’s been a long time coming. “When we did the first drawings, we had the market on it,” says Nic Theisen. Until it opened, they compressed the bakery, brewing operation and market into the existing Farm Club restaurant. Which worked, sort of — space was at a premium, especially in the kitchen. That was then, and this, finally, is now. The nearly 2,000-square-foot market boasts two levels. The upstairs is home to the market and bakery; the lower level is mostly for storage. “We use the new building for canned and bottled beer and cider conditioning and cold storage,” says Theisen.

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Traverse City immigrant joins hunger strike inside Baldwin ICE facility; local faith leaders pray, fast in solidarity

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Soon after Lynn’s husband arrived on March 5 at the North Lake Processing Center — the mammoth ICE detention center in Baldwin, Michigan — the food began to make him sick. “I haven’t seen an orange the whole time I’ve been here,” the husband told Lynn, a U.S. citizen and Traverse City resident who shared their family’s story with the Glen Arbor Sun this week. The couple, who have a 2.5-year-old son, worship at Guadalupe Chapel in southeastern Leelanau County, where local clergy held a prayer service and press conference on Monday to illuminate the plight of detainees in federal custody. Lynn’s husband is one of several immigrants detained, as ICE detentions mount in Northern Michigan.

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Fresh Coast Film Festival Traverse City features Leelanau faces

The inaugural Fresh Coast Film Festival: Traverse City, which runs April 30–May 3 at seven venues throughout Traverse City, prominently features Leelanau faces and places. Opening night festivities will play for free at the Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay, as well as other regional venues, at 7 pm on Thursday night.

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Sauna Fest returns to heat cool Northern Michigan

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Long relegated to back yards and backwoods cabins, saunas are enjoying a heyday in northern Michigan. Popup saunas appear at community events, portable saunas are available to rent, and private sauna gatherings transition effortlessly into pot-luck dinners with friends. The Sun interviewed Vlad Borza—co-organizer of the second annual Michigan Sauna Fest this weekend—to get his read on sauna popularity, what’s new at Sauna Fest, spring saunas vs winter saunas, what he does when he’s not sweating in a tiny house, and his vision for a floating sauna on a barge. Borza of Sleeping Bear Saunas and Nick Olson of Hearth Sauna—proselytizers of the local sauna movement—co-organized the Michigan Sauna Fest, which takes place in Traverse City’s Clinch Park from Friday, April 10, until Sunday April 12.

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The Folded Leaf finds new home at Commongrounds Cooperative in Traverse City

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The Folded Leaf, an independent new & used bookstore and community gathering space rooted in Cedar, has announced a new home within Commongrounds Cooperative at 414 E. Eighth Street in Traverse City, marking a transition shaped by reflection, care, and a continued commitment to community. The announcement comes with mixed emotions for many who have found connection and comfort within The Folded Leaf’s Cedar location. Since opening in April 2025, the space has served as more than a bookstore—it has been a place to gather, rest, and feel less alone. That history remains central to the organization’s identity.

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Chasing Snow: Northern Michigan ski resorts adapt to a warmer world

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It’s been a soggy couple of years for skiers and snowboarders. So, what keeps us coming back? From crockpot warming stations to cutting-edge snow-making technology, Northern Michigan ski resorts pull out all the stops to keep winter lovers happy—and stay one step ahead of Mother Nature. Resorts need about 72 hours of temperatures that stay below 28 degrees to lay a base and open terrain for skiing. “The ski industry in Michigan happens because of snowmaking. There’s no other way to say it,” said Ben Doornbos, general manager at Nub’s Nob near Harbor Springs. “Our product is the snow.”

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Afghans assimilate and contribute in Leelanau County

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One man returns home in his pickup truck from his job managing a fruit processing plant near Empire to greet his children as they step off the yellow school bus. Another shares a homemade dinner with his wife and kids, then naps before working the nightshift in the radiology unit at Munson Medical Center. A third man retreats upstairs and uses a hand-me-down sewing machine to mend a customer’s torn Christmas stocking—his side gig to make extra money for his family after he works daytime hours at Spectrum. These could be the stories of any hard-working men in Leelanau County. In fact, they represent the everyday rituals of three Afghan refugees who worked with the U.S. military and then fled for their safety after the Taliban took Kabul and seized power four years ago.

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