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The 2013 Cedar Polka Fest will be held July 4-7, 2013. Highlights include a parade on Saturday at noon, softball tournament, a polka mass and (of course) polka under the big, big tent with the big names of polka including the Cynor Classic Polka Band, Craig Ebel & Dy Versa, Jimmy J's Polka Band, the Frank Moravcik Band, Ray Watkowski Family Band and Pan Franek & Zosia.

Thursday, July 4, 2013
The annual Cedar Polka Festival begins with the flag raising ceremony at 5:00 p.m. Music and dancing begins immediately after the ceremony. Music TBA.

Friday, July 5, 2013
Sidewalk Chalk Art at 10 am, meet at the Town Hall. Music and dancing beings at 2 pm.

Saturday, July 6, 2013
Polka Fest Parade begins at noon at the Solon Twp. Hall. All participants should be at the Solon Twp. Hall by 11:30 am sharp.

Music and dancing begins at 2 pm and runs until 1 am.

Sunday, July 7, 2013
Polka Mass celebrated with Father Ken Stachnik at 11 am under the tent followed by the traditional Polish Procession of Our Lady of Czestochwa immediately after the mass. Music and dancing resumes at 1 pm.

For Info Phone: (231) 228-3378 or email cedarchamber@gmail.com.

The photo is Polka Dancing in Krakow by beastiekeith. Check out the Library of Congress Local Legacies and the Leelanau.com/map Cedar Polka Fest location

Mark your calendar for the annual Leland Wine & Food Festival. The festival is a northern Michigan tradition held on the second Saturday in June (June 9, 2012) from noon til 6pm.

Come enjoy a day near the Leland Harbor and Leland's historic Fishtown tasting wines from local wineries and tasting the specialties from local restaurants and vendors. There's also live music in the park all day and of course plenty of beautiful views of Lake Michigan and the Manitou Islands.

Admission is $12 and includes an etched wine glass and two tickets for wine tasting. Additional wine tasting tickets are available. Food vendors accept cash only and here's a list of this year's participating wineries and food vendors!

Wineries
Acoustic Draft Mead
Bel Lago
Black Star Farms
Bower's Harbor
Chateau Chantal
Chateau Fontaine
Ciccone
Circa Estate
Good Harbor
Good Neighbor Organic Vineyard
Peninsula Cellars
Raftshol Vineyards
Brengman Brothers
Silver Leaf
Verterra
Willow

Local Beer: Shorts Brewing

Food Vendors
The Bluebird
Corky's (the Vineyard Inn)
The Cove
Grocer's Daughter Chocolates
Leelanau Cheese
Martha's Leelanau Table
Pleva's
The Red Heads
Stone House Bread
Village Cheese Shop
Village Inn

View Photos from the Leland Wine & Food Festival

The 2012 Poster is titled "Remembering the Cottonwood" and was painted by Greg Sobran. Click for details and to purchase.  For more information on Leelanau County's wineries, visit the Leelanau Peninsula Vintner's Association site at LPWines.com.

Jackson Atwater Thomson posted this great shot to the Leelanau (dot com) pool on Flickr and we'd like to wish everyone a very happy & safe Halloween.

Today on Absolute Michigan we featured the spooky tale of the Michigan Dogman which area filmmaker Rich Brauer is turning into a feature film! Be sure to check out our Leelanau Halloween events and also see a lot of fun stuff at absolutemichigan.com/ghost and Halloween on Michigan in Pictures.

The Leelanau Historical Museum, Leland Chamber of Commerce, and Old Art Building hold their annual celebration of Leland's history next Saturday (Sep 17). Via the Leland Michigan website:

The annual Leland Heritage Celebration takes place September 17. This annual event is free and open to the public. Highlights include the Leelanau Historical Museum's "Wooden Boats on the Wall", Van's Garage antique car show, and the Fishtown Preservation Society offering music and festivities in Fishtown.

There will also be an exhibit titled "Windows on Leelanau; Past, Present, and Future" will be the featured for the Leelanau Community Cultural Center at the Old Art Building. Exhibit hours are 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday and 12 to 4 pm on Sunday. The exhibit will feature original works of art using the window as a view on Leelanau. Artists will use the window as a metaphor beyond its mere architectural aspect. This will be a fun and creative exhibit by Leelanau artists.

The Leland Township Library gets into the act as well with their annual Fall Used Book Sale on the lawn at the Library. They will be featuring a display of the books of Leelanau County authors and books about Leelanau County. Library Director Sylvia Merz says, "We are always amazed at the number of authors who either currently or once upon a time called Leelanau County home. We’ve pulled as many volumes as we have and they will be featured on Saturday for visitors to browse and check out as they enjoy the events!"

Also check out the Leland Heritage Celebration photo gallery for photos from past celebrations.

Through a variety of sources including the Leelanau Chamber, Glen Arbor Sun and MichiganFireworks.com, we've come up with our Leelanau Fourth of July event listings. Did we miss something? Post a comment letting us know below and definitely scroll down for  a sweet timelapse of the Northport Fireworks by Ken Scott!

• July 2, 4 PM, performance of patriotic music by the Northport Community Band at the Glen Arbor Athletic Club.
• July 3, 10 AM: Flag Raising Ceremony at Old Settler’s Park in Burdickville.
• Jul3 3, Dusk: Leland Fireworks, at Hancock Field
• July 4, 7-11 AM: Glen Arbor Fire & Rescue Association Pancake Breakfast at Glen Arbor Town Hall
• July 4, 10:30 AM: Glen Arbor Art Association for patriotic bike decorating
• July 4: Glen Arbor parade, line up at noon at Glen Haven, Glen Arbor at about 1 PM
• Leland parade at 3 PM on July 4th
• Glen Lake Boat Parade, 4 PM at the Glen Lake Yacht Club, Big Glen Lake on July 4th
• Fireworks at Northport on July 4th (dusk)

PS: If you like fireworks, check out Michigan Loves Fireworks and these pictures from the Detroit Freedom Festival show on Michigan in Pictures - amazing!!

The Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association presents their second annual LPVA Small Plates event on Saturday, June 18 2011 from 6-9 PM.

Participating wineries will be offering a full glass of wine with a well-presented and substantial tapas dish in their tasting room. You can purchase tickets online for $11 for any or all of the three seatings (roughly 6-7, 7-8 and 8-9). Many of our wineries are working with chefs to prepare and serve the pairing, and the event is designed to be a high-class food offering, catering to culinary aficionados.

2011 Small Plates Pairings

Black Star Farms
Wild mushroom dusted sea scallop with a bundle of truffle oil infused fries wrapped in prosciutto, asparagus tips and smoked yellow tomato coulis paired with 2010 Sur Lie Chardonnay.

Chateau Fontaine
Assorted Pates, Proscuitto, Sausage, Rillette, accompanied by a selection of Cheeses,Veggies,Bread, Crackers, and Mustards. Rillette is a shredded duck/pork mixture served warm and it is paired with 2010 Woodland White.

Ciccone Winery
Tony Ciccone (Owner/Vintner) will be attending the event featuring a Roasted pork loin with a sausage torteloni with black truffle cream from Tuscan Bistro paired with 2009 Tre Rossi.

Forty-Five North
Parmesan encrusted walleye over a bed of white wine risotto and an in season greenery prepared by Shawn Bottruff from the Bluebird. Perfectly pairing with the 2009 Pacific Rim Internationa Best of Class award winning Pinot Gris!

Gills Pier
Featuring a Costa Rican Chalupa & Beef Fajita Wraps paired with 2008 Leelanau Peninsula Merlot.

L. Mawby
Chicken Pad Thai with spicy green curry sauce (pick your “heat” level) prepared by 22 Vines Restaurant. This will be paired with 2 different ‘sec’ sparkling wines – Wet and Consort.

Silver Leaf
Petite crab cakes with a red pepper coulis paired with Silver Leaf Chardonnay 2009.

The annual Spring Sip & Savor wine tour happens this weekend (April 30 & May 1) at the wineries of the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association. It's a chance to enjoy special wine and food pairings at each of the wineries on the wine trail, and to help you take home some of the flavor, your ticket includes a $10 gift certificate that you can redeem at any LPVA winery.

For added fun, event participants are encouraged to keep their pajamas on when they set out in the morning and try to win one of the prizes that many of the wineries will be offering. In addition to the pajama contest, 'fancy hats' are part of the judging as well!

The Grand Prize package features 2 nights lodging at The Homestead in Glen Arbor during any season of the year, dinner for two at La Becasse in Maple City, Sunday brunch for two at the Bluebird in Leland, a wood fired pizza from Hearth & Vine Cafe and a pair of tickets to any LPVA Weekend tour or the Traverse City Wine & Art Festival. LPVA wineries are each offering prizes and there's also a chance to win 2 tix to S&S 2012 with 2 nights at Cambria Suites with the new Founder's Choice award!

Click here for pairings & all the prizes!

Photo credit: Chateau de Leelanau by zakzorah and May, 2010 Sip & Savor- Leelanau Peninsula by catrina90

April 1, 2011, Maple City, MI - Today financial magnate, reality TV star and Presidential aspirant Donald Trump unveiled "Trump Leelanau", a combined hotel, office park and high-end pet spa in Maple City. At 1723 feet, the soaring structure easily surpasses the Willis Tower in Chicago as the tallest building in the United States.

"Those who know me know that I like to dream big, and go big," The Donald explained. "Michigan has really been hurting and I wanted to make a statement that it's time for Michigan to go big or go home. I chose Maple City because everyone knows that you can't beat the jerky at Gabe's and also because I found out that Maple City residents spend an average of $67 per year more on pet recreation than the national average."

Long-time Maple City resident Lois Flaska expressed a common sentiment, telling us "Well like everyone else, it's taking some getting used to for me when I take Mr. Fluffles for a walk and all of the sudden bam! there's this giant building up there and I think I'm in New York or something.

It's really nice that Mr. Trump is offering a 50% discount to all Maple City residents on pet grooming - Mr. Fluffles really loves his new 'do!"

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Leelanau County isn't the only part of Michigan to experience odd events. Click for Jeff Daniels to star in Chrysler Emigrated from Escanaba commercials, Bank bailout "tweak" to spur auto industry and Canadian Freeze Ray Wreaks Havok on Michigan!

Support the work of the Father Fred Foundation and enjoy great entertainment at the annual Lucky Leprechaun Ball on Sunday, March 13, 2011 beginning at 5 PM at Kilkenny's Irish Public House in Traverse City. Click the poster for a larger view!

Performers for this family friendly event will be Song of the Lakes and a new act, the Young Sullys, an Irish family band with 6 kids ages 6 to 14 years old who have been thrilling audiences across the state of Michigan with their Irish songs and performance. The evening will also feature the top 5 Junior & Adult Finalists who are seeking "The Best Singer In Traverse City Award" in the 31st annual Danny Boy Singing Contest.

The first round of the Danny Boy contest will be held on March 10, 5 p.m. at Lars Hockstad Auditorium at Central Grade School. Slots are limited to 25 for each division, so sign up now!

Proceeds support the Father Fred Foundation. Admission is $10 in advance or $15 at the door with youths 14 and under free! Get your tickets at the Father Fred Foundation, North Peak or Kilkenny's!

For more check out the Danny Boy Contest and Lucky Leprechaun Event on Facebook!

To get you in the mood, here's Andy Williams singing Danny Boy via YouTube!

The annual Leelanau Children's Center Carnival kicks off at NOON this Saturday (Feb 12) with a concert by Twang, Bang, Fiddle in the Leland Performing Arts Center. The Carnival begins at 12:30 in the gymnasium at Leland Public School and lunch will be served in the cafeteria. It features great family fun for all ages with games, raffle (including an iPad!), prizes, music, cake walk, fun and food!

This event benefits programs at the Leelanau Children's Center and is always a great time!

Click the flyer to the right for all the details!