Leelanau.com Blog
leelanau county news • traverse city news • michigan news

The Traverse City Record-Eagle has a report touting the awesome start to the winter season that's got folks booking snowmobile and ski vacations all across the region. Absolute Michigan has a Ski Tour of Northwest Michigan (part of a week-long focus on skiing all across the state of Michigan) and the Northern Express also has a run through of area winter sports and ski resorts.

It's not all silvery lining, as the Express's Rick Coates explains that Travel Michigan seems to have forgotten about Michigan's vital snow sports industry:

For the second year in a row, they are not spending a dime to promote winter tourism," said Steve Kerschner, director of snow sports at Shanty Creek in Bellaire and president of the board of directors for the Michigan Snowsports Industry Association (the group that represents all of Michigan’s ski facilities). "They have invested millions using actor Tim Allen’s voice to create Pure Michigan commercials that promote summertime, but nothing to promote winter. They tell us that they get a better bang for their buck that way. But winter tourism is important to this state. Collectively, our resorts up north spend a ton of money promoting winter. The State could help some."

Photo credit: Ski Jumper from The Homestead. Thanks also to the Michigan Snowsports Industry Association.

I've had this Enterprise article kicking around for just about ever. Since I can find absolutely nothing of interest about Leelanau on the entire internet, it finally gets to see the light of day!

Manitou lakes share tranquility is a detailed feature that looks at Florence Lake on South Manitou, which is home to just 4 species of fish: northern pike, perch, smallmouth bass and the Iowa darter and Manitou Lake on North Manitou that is teeming with fish and bald eagles pursuing all those fish.

Both are longer than they are wide, with Manitou Lake decidedly the larger of the two. On a plat map Manitou Lake appears to occupy about one-half of Section 32, located halfway between east and west Lake Michigan shorelines on North Manitou closer to the north than the south shore.

Lakeshore biologist Ken Hyde puts the lake’s actual size at 256 acres. Florence Lake on South Manitou, found just one-half a mile from the southern edge of the island, is just 78 acres.

Check out the pages for Lake Manitou and Florence Lake from the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Photo credit: Lake Manitou by mollypitcher. Check out her cool set of photos from North Manitou Island.

We have re-launched our Ski Leelanau! page for the 2007-2008 ski season.

We'll be posting regular ski reports for the Homestead Resort's Bay Mountain ski area and nearby Crystal Mountain. We also have cross-country trail reports and a blizzard of skiing and winter fun links and photos for Leelanau County, Traverse City and the surrounding area.

Check it out at leelanau.com/ski.

The Leelanau Enterprise has a nice rundown of the holiday concerts at Leelanau County schools.

There will be a Holiday Bake Sale Saturday (Dec 15) to benefit the Leelanau Children's Center from 9-5 at the Nagonaba Crossing Building. Later on (6-9 PM) there will be a live Nativity at Northport's Bethany Lutheran Church.

Empire hosts a Winter Holiday Potluck Dinner w/Santa on Saturday (Dec 15) from 6 - 8 pm Empire Township Hall. Bring a dish to share and your place setting. Beverages provided.

On the 16th at 2 PM, InsideOut Gallery will feature An Irish Christmas: Legacy in Concert. Legacy has an extensive repertoire of traditional and original Celtic songs and are (by all accounts) really wonderful.

Leland's Main Street stores are open for holiday shopping THURSDAY evenings til 8pm. Enjoy a dinner and the charm of small town shopping!

Edited out Stuff from Last week that we left in...

The Enterprise also has a feature on the annual VFW Christmas Dance that will be held this Saturday from 8 AM - midnight at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 7731 Lake Leelanau. They have several more events featured on their What's Up in Leelanau page.

Don't miss these great performances we've featured: Little Shop of Horrors (Dec 6-9), Almanac of the North (Dec 7-9), Leelanau Children's Choir "Madrigal Christmas" (Dec 7-8).

The Pathfinder School Holiday Art and Craft Show is a juried show featuring almost 40 artisans that takes place this Saturday (Dec from 9-4 at Pathfinder School. It also features baked goods, snacks, and a kid's craft table and is sponsored by the Pathfinder Parents Association.

On Sunday Enerdyne & the village of Suttons Bay hosts Holiday in the Village and Antlers and Elves, offering a chance to get close to real live reindeer without Santa getting upset. There's also a Kids Movie at the Bay Theatre (all seats $2) with Show times: Sat 11:00 and 1:00, Sun 1:00.
Photo credit: Lights, Camera, Snow by Andy McFarlane

Photo credit: Breakwall Rocks II by Andy McFarlane

News from the Week

News from the week included a story about Leland grad Alisha Glass's success in college volleyball, including being names to first team all Big Ten and helping Penn State to a #1 ranking. Right now they are in the Sweet Sixteen, so look for her on TV! Other stories included a nice Enterprise piece remembering Leelanau historian Larry Wakefield and a photo of a storm building over the Manitou Passage.

The Week's Weather

We had some stormy, windy weather last weekend and though the winds have died down, we've been getting steady snow and cold temps. Great news for area ski resorts!

November 29, 2007: Breezy & low 30s (33°/19°)
November 30, 2007: Snow, wind & 20s (24°/16°)
December 1, 2007: Windy & low 20s w/ heavy overnight snow (24°/15°)
December 2, 2007: Wet snow & low 30s (34°/24°)
December 3, 2007: Light snow & low 30s (32°/24°)
December 4, 2007: Light snow & 20s (27°/19°)
December 5, 2007: Snow & teens (21°/17°)

Click for the Leelanau news archive from December 2006!

The Enterprise has a nice article on Leelanau historian Larry Wakefield, who died last month at age 93. Here's an excerpt:

Before the coming of the rails, ingress and egress from the county was generally undertaken only in the months Lake Michigan was free of ice. When leaving the region, area residents often talked of traveling "outside."

In Rail and Sail Wakefield wrote, "it is difficult for us now, in these days of instant communication and jet travel, to realize how isolated the Grand Traverse settlement was in its early years."

Read Wakefield left mark on history in the Leelanau Enterprise.

Photo credit: Lake Leelanau at Bingham from Up North Memories

Here's a photo from last week. Not many hours later, Leland Harbor was clocking sustained winds of 45 MPH and flying the flag with the black square on it.

Storm Warning
Formerly known as a "whole gale" warning, this signifies winds of 48 knots or more, or 48 to 63 knots (55 to 73 mph) in the case of a tropical cyclone.

The only bigger flag in their arsenal is the Hurricane Warning, and they don't fly that on the Great Lakes, at least as far as I can tell from this page on coastal warnings at NOAA.

The Leelanau Children's Choir and Leelanau Youth Ensemble will present their 15th annual "Madrigal Christmas" on December 7th and 8th at the Northport Community Arts Center. Under the direction of Margaret Bell, the LCC and LYE is comprised of singers in grades 3 thru 12 presenting seven schools throughout the Grand Traverse and Leelanau area. Each singer qualified for the group through an audition process.

The concerts, complete with renaissance costumes and the procession of the boar's head, will take place at 7:30 pm on Friday and Saturday. Tickets may be purchased at Dog Ears Books in Northport, Leelanau Books in Leland and the Painted Bird in Suttons Bay. For further information call 883-SING.