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

Cedar Valley Productions Presents W N M C’ s Roundup Radio Show On the Road! To be recorded Saturday February 20, 2010 at the Historical Solon Township Hall in Cedar, Michigan Doors open at 7:00 pm.

The Roundup Radio Show, a local variety radio program, will be recorded before a live audience and broadcast on WNMC 90.7FM. Tickets are available for this live performance experience FEATURING bluegrass and hi-jinks with Sour Mash and their special guests, delightful Elk Rapids songwriter Louan Lechler and Norm Wheeler, latterday Beach Bard and wicked good cornet player.

A Cash Bar will be available in support of BAY AREA RECYCLING FOR CHARITIES (a 501(c)3 non-profit organization) featuring LOCAL PRODUCTS from Leelanau Cellars

Tickets: $12.00 each Available at www.treattickets.com {$14.00 at the door} or call for more info www.roundupontheradio.com or call 231-342-1062

Photo:  Radio Round Up

Recently Senator Carl Levin and Representative Pete Hoekstra simultaneously introduced bills to preserve 32,557 acres within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore as wilderness. This is almost half of the 72,000 acres of sand dunes, shoreline, and forests.

Up North Live reports that Deputy Superintendent Tom Ulrich says,

"This bill will continue the management we're doing now preserving the hunting and fishing opportunities the boating and hiking all of the things people come here for that will go on into the future indefinitely and a future manager can't change it and say "oh I'm going to build a new visitor center in someone's favorite mushroom spot."

Read the rest of the article or watch Diana Fairbank's Fact Finder Report.

Photo: Sleeping Bear Bay by .jowo.

This weekend is a busy one in northern Michigan, we featured many of the events happening. First of all, there are still tickets available for the Winter Wine Wonderland. For more family friendly fun, check out the Glen Arbor Winterfest or the 2nd Annual Great Indoor Folk Festival. We also featured an article from the Leelanau Enterprise, showing that Polsellis is still in control of Sugar Loaf. And our Photo Friday feature was a very peaceful Sundown on Lake Michigan by crlitberg.

Week's Weather

Feb 10: Snow & 25 (25/20)
Feb 9: Snow & 18 (25/10)
Feb 8: Partly sunny & 17 (27/7)
Feb 7: Partly sunny & 14 (26/2)
Feb 6: Partly sunny & 17 (27/11)
Feb 5: Cloudy & 27 (33/21)
Feb 4: Cloudy & 24 (32/15)

Post your comments about the week's news, observations of the weather or the natural world or events below! You'll also want to check out the Leelanau Calendar and the latest news and features from Leelanau, Traverse City and the surrounding area in our blog! Here's the February 2009 archive, and Leelanau Almanac Week of January 28 - February 3.

The 2nd Annual Great Indoor Folk Festival will take place on Saturday, February 13 in Building 50 at the Grand Traverse Commons.  The festival, which is family friendly and free,  will run from noon to 5:30.  There will be  6 different stages with over 60 musicians, including an open mic stage at Another Cuppa Joe and a stage at left Foot Charley winery.

The Northern Express reports that the festival started as an experiment last year.

Correll and fellow songwriter Bob Downes of the Acoustic Dynamite band organized the festival last year to boost the profile of folk music in the region. As crowds packed the halls of Building 50 throughout the day, the organizers knew their iffy experiment was a ‘hit.’

Merchants at Building 50 also vow to be better prepared for the eventhis year, offering suggestions for Valentine’s Day shoppers as well as a range of food and beverage options. The “stages” at Building 50 are actually just nooks and crannies of the Mercato shopping corridor, with performers located just a few feet away from the audience. The cozy venue offers a sense of intimacy that’s well-suited for acoustic music.

Read more about the festival and see a line of up musicians in this week's article in the Northern Express. Or read it online!

Photo credit: Musicians. by John Levanen

The Annual Glen Arbor Winterfest takes place this Saturday, February 13. It features a Chili Cookoff at Boone Docks Deck in Glen Arbor (from 12 Noon until the chili is gone) and a perch fishing contest on Glen Lake sponsored by The Sportsman Shop (starting at 7 AM).

The event is sponsored by the Glen Lake Chamber of Commerce and all net proceeds benefited the scholarship fund at the Glen Lake School. Here's some photos from last year.

Photo: Chili cook off Glen Arbor Days by 1Cher

The Leelanau Enterprise reports that convicted felon Remo Polselii and his wife Hanna are still in control of Sugar Loaf Resort:

Shortly after she purchased Sugar Loaf resort in March 2005, Wickstrom declared publicly that Polselli was “definitely out of the picture” – an assertion she has repeated several times since then.

But facts to the contrary emerged during a hearing Monday in a suit filed by waste treatment plant operator Sugar Loaf Service Company over an unpaid $500,000-plus sewer bill the company claimed Wickstrom owed. Named as co-defendant in the case was the holder of Wickstrom’s mortgage on the resort, Transcapital Bank of Florida, represented locally by Traverse City attorney Roy Jay Montney Jr.

Montney informed Judge Thomas G. Power during this week’s hearing that Transcapital no longer holds the mortgage on Sugar Loaf Resort – a fact that Sugar Loaf Service Company attorney Tom Pezetti, on the other side of the aisle, said he’d learned only Friday. Montney said that a corporation apparently controlled by Hanna Karcho Polselli had acquired the mortgage from Transcapital, and had subsequently assigned the mortgage to yet another bank.

To read more check out the the article at the Leelanau Enterprise.
Check out more Sugar Loaf news at Leelanau.com.

Photo credit:  Leelanau Enterprise

I know that we are using one of crlitberg's photos on the almanac this week. When I saw this one, an immediate feeling of peace came over me. I knew that I had to use it for our Friday Photo. Be sure to view Sundown on Lake Michigan in the larger size, and check out crlitberg's photostream.

The Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association's Taste this Passion is this weekend, Feb 5 & 6. The LPVA reports that ticket sales have been great, but there are still tickets available for this fun event that combines Wine, Chocolate, and Fun! The weatherman is calling for partly cloudy skies and warmer temps, so get out of the house this weekend and support our local Vintners. Tickets are available online at lpwines.com/taste.

For those of us that can't get enough of Leelanau Peninsula wine, be sure to attend the Winter Wine and Art Fest, which will be featuring not only Leelanau wine, but Old mission wineries, as well. Again, tickets are still available for this event and are available online.

Photo: 1.22.10 extra ~ Empire Bluff by *ojoyous1*

We had some excitng news from Leelanau Wineries this week the Hearth and Vine café at Black Star Farms opened and Chateau de Leelanau has new owners. Don't just learn yoga, but learn to teach it from Union/Yoga and the Homestead. Looking for a little fun, go to the Northport Promise Follies & Silent Auction. Our photo Friday feature was KAScott_20100121_9842b by Ken Scott.

Week's Weather

Feb 2: Snow & 18 (26/13)
Feb 1: Snow & 20 (22/16)
Jan 31: Snow & 22 (22/16)
Jan 30: Snow & 19 (19/10)
Jan 29: Snow & 10 (13/10)
Jan 28:Snow & 11 (13/8)

Post your comments about the week's news, observations of the weather or the natural world or events below!

You'll also want to check out the Leelanau Calendar and the latest news and features from Leelanau, Traverse City and the surrounding area in our blog! Here's the January 2009 and February 2009 archive, and Leelanau Almanac Week of Leelanau Almanac Week of January 21 – 27

Black Star Farms announces the opening of Hearth & Vine serving dinner to the public Wednesday through Sunday evenings.

Suttons Bay, MI February 1, 2010 - - A new star is born. Black Star Farms, already well known for its award-winning wines and cheeses, is now serving dinner in Hearth & Vine, a vineyard café, at the Suttons Bay farm featuring wood-fired fare in a rustic yet elegant atmosphere, The weekly menu draws on ingredients produced on the farm, including pork and lamb, fresh eggs, 9 Bean Rows hoop house vegetables and hearth baked breads, and of course, Leelanau Cheese Co. cheeses and Black Star Farms wines. It’s truly a celebration of agriculture.

Hearth and Vine is now open for dinner Wednesday-Sunday from 5pm to 9pm. Seating is limited and reservations are appreciated. For reservations, please call 231.944.1297

From late spring through fall, Hearth & Vine is open daily serving delicious wood-fired pizzas and sandwiches as well as soups and salads. Black Star Farms wine is available by the glass or bottle along with soft drinks, coffee and tea. Lunch and snacks can be enjoyed out on the terrace or indoors in the cozy cafe.

On the market side we’re all about local. Black Star Farms farm-fresh eggs and fruits and vegetables from our and neighboring farms are offered seasonally. Pastries, cookies and 9 Bean Rows hearth-baked breads, Black Star Farms maple syrup, verjus and kettle cooked jams and preserves, and the best of other locally produced items are also available.

Black Star Farms is a unique agricultural entity that features two winery production facilities, their adjacent tasting rooms, a distillery, Inn, café, and equestrian facility. We just celebrated our 10th anniversary and are proud to represent the viticultural diversity of Northwest Michigan and its proximity to the 45th parallel that runs through so many of the great wine regions of the world.

Photo: KAScott_20090627_6186 by Ken Scott