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With 2024 in the rearview mirror and 2025 upon us, we’re recognizing 25 “influencers” we covered in the Glen Arbor Sun this past year who are making a meaningful impact on Leelanau County communities, commerce, and culture. Read below about those 25 local influencers, who include everyone from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, to Leelanau Investing for Teens, to Empire’s polar dippers, to popular new destinations River Club Glen Arbor, the Sleeping Bear Inn, and the Lively’s NeighborFood Market.

Artists in northern Michigan are known for landscape paintings: Green hills plunging into blue water, sunsets over Lake Michigan. But Nik Burkhart’s landscapes are a little different than most. His black and white paintings depict ripped out, cut down cherry orchards and ask questions about the region’s changing landscape. This story was adapted from a radio piece last month by Interlochen Public Radio.

Hillary and Matt Voight are proprietors of a new Omena art gallery called V Gallery, which is located in the former Tamarack space and is set to open this May. In 2023, the Leelanau art community entered a void in representation as three prominent art galleries closed their doors. One was Tamarack Gallery, founded by David and Sally Viskochil more than 45 years ago and beloved by art lovers from around the world. “As I walked through the door to meet Matt and Hillary, I knew I was experiencing a unique moment in time, a mere blip between the old guard and the new generation representing art here in Northern Michigan,” writes Abby Chatfield in this story the Sun published in our April 11 print edition.