The Exposures Open House will be held Friday (Apr 25) at the Old Art Building. The event features an exhibition of work from this year's Exposures magazine along with refreshments and music. The opening reception is on Friday, April 25 from 5 to 8 pm featuring original artwork, essay and poetry readings, hors d'oeuvres and live music by the "I Am Art" student band. The exhibit continues on Saturday, April 26 from 10 am to 4 pm and this is a great chance to support some wonderful student artists and writers from all of Leelanau County's schools.
Check out a few items from past editions of Exposures from Leelanau.com and the Northern Michigan Journal!
All 4-H members, parents, families and the general public are invited to the annual 4-H Expo. It takes place at Suttons Bay School this Saturday (Apr 12). From 11 AM - 12:45 PM, there will be demonstrations by 4-H club members and each club is bringing a hands-on activity for visitors. The day includes lunch (affordably priced) and a recognition ceremony.
They are also asking attendees to bring garden tools/supplies (not seeds) to support a new initiative to get Leelanau County students gardening at their school!
Check the Leelanau 4-H page for more about this great program.
Paraglider by nasunto
News from the Week
Articles this week included features on the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association's annual Spring Sip & Savor event and the Leelanau Players upcoming presentation of Perfect Timing, news that the Leelanau Conservancy has added to its Cedar River parcel and a cool photo of the Manitou boats. We also have added a ton of towns, trails, lakes and attractions to our Leelanau County Map - check it out!
The Week's Weather
We had a gorgeous weekend and early week, then things got a little less gorgeous.
April 3, 2008: Mostly sunny & 50 (52/36)
April 4, 2008: Partly sunny, breezy & upper 40s (51/33)
April 5, 2008: Sunny & low 60s (63/37)
April 6, 2008: Sunny, breezy & 60s (64/39)
April 7, 2008: Mostly sunny & 60s (64/42)
April 8, 2008: Cloudy, 40s & evening rain (46/37)
April 9, 2008: Light rain & low 40s (46/35)
Check out nasunto's other photos from the Sleeping Bear Dunes (slideshow).
Click for the Leelanau news archive from April 2007 and the April 2008 page!
The Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association's annual Spring Sip & Savor trail event takes place May 3 & 4, 2008 and offers you an opportunity to taste a wine and food pairing selected especially by the each of the LPVA winemakers. The winemakers will be present in the tasting rooms all weekend to talk with you about their wines and to sign the 2008 Leelanau Winemaker poster, featuring a photograph of all 15 winemakers of the Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail by noted area photographer and TC Film Festival co-founder John Robert Williams. These posters will be available the Sip & Savor weekend and provided free to everyone who attends!
Attendees will also have a chance to enter to win a dinner for 2 with the winemaker of their choice at Samuel's Restaurant in Suttons Bay. Check the link above for tickets and more information about this event.
Photo: Willow Vineyard by Andy McFarlane
This photo is part of Joe Burda's Fishtown set (slideshow) and also a part of the Manitou Islands group on Flickr.
And yes, it's wallpaper-sized!
The Leelanau Enterprise reports that the Leelanau Players will present Perfect Timing by Kristi Kane at the Old Art Building in Leland.
Perfect Timing follows the trials and tribulations of an art critic, her frightening German maid and her refreshingly sane secretary. The comedy bubbles over with an assortment of intruders, passersby and drop-ins accompanied by long- and short-term lovers who invariably end up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The play is directed by Stephanie Young, and performances are scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday (April 11, 12 and 13), and Thursday, Friday and Saturday (April 17, 18 and 19). Curtain time is 8 p.m. for all shows except for the Sunday, April 13 performance, which will begin at 3 p.m.
Ticket Locations are Horizon Book Store in Traverse City, The Painted Bird and Brilliant Books in Suttons Bay, The Cottage Book Store in Glen Arbor, Leelanau Books in Leland, and Dog Ears Bookstore in Northport.
For more information call (231) 633-4155, email leelanauplayers@leelanau.com or visit their web site at leelanau.com/leelanauplayers.
Every month we add a page where you can make your observations about what's happening in Leelanau & Traverse City, comment on news we might not cover, talk about what's growing and whatever else you're thinking about.
April began with Mother Nature's own April Fools captured by Keith Burnham and some startling news about Sugar Loaf. I hope that before the month ends, there's some better (and more real) news about the Loaf!
Photo: Stormclouds by Andy McFarlane (from a wild storm of April, 2002)
Go to the page for March 2008.
Sugar Loaf area resident Bryan Poirier - who was up late practicing for the upcoming New Third Coast tour opening for Neil Young - was startled Sunday night to see "a bunch of lights zooming up and down the face of the mountain, but I just figured it was Jim Rennie 'sleep-grooming' again."
Rennie, another area resident, admitted that he had sought treatment for the rare sleep disorder. He said that he had been headed over to the Loaf to set a few gates "just for practice" when he too saw the strange lights. Upon arrival, he realized that the lights were a remarkable array of unidentified flying objects. By morning, county law enforcement officials and a growing crowd of curious onlookers were on the scene.
Calls to Sugar Loaf's owner, attorney and realtor went unanswered, setting people's minds somewhat at ease that it was still business as usual at the long-shuttered resort. Shortly after noon excitement was rekindled when, at a hastily called press conference, it was announced that Sugar Loaf Mountain had been sold ... to aliens!
The purchasing party is a consortium of several alien species who are calling themselves INVADER (Intergalactic Negotiators for Very Amicable Development of Extra-species Relationships). INVADER spokesman Klaatu announced the sale of Sugar Loaf for an undisclosed sum and pledged a massive investment in anti-gravity chair lifts and advanced alien snowmaking technology that would render the hills skiable 10 months out of the year.
When pressed about the selling price, Klaatu said "Long ago, we abandoned the concept of money ... along with war, starvation and reality television but I can tell you that all parties are happy with the outcome."
Alien attorney Zoth the Destroyer dismissed as "outrageous" speculation that the resort would be used as the beachhead for an alien invasion and regrettably ate our photographer, cutting the interview short. We did receive a lovely fruit basket by way of apology, however.
We have started on a new map of Leelanau County and the nearby area. After looking at the available options, we decided to build it using Google Maps. We're adding short entries on the map that link to longer entries in our Leelanau Blog that will be posted under the map category and feature photos from our Leelanau.com photo group. If you have comments or questions or tips for people exploring that area, you can leave a comment!
There are just a couple of things on the map right now, but we're going to be focusing on the map for the next few months to try and build a whole new way to explore Leelanau County on the internet.
Check out the Leelanau County, Michigan Map!
The Leelanau MSU Extension will host an organic vegetable farming and gardening event on Friday, April 18 at the NW Michigan Horticultural Research Station.
This session will be of use to organic producers, backyard vegetable growers, those considering organic certification, and anyone else interested in growing vegetables. The program will cover soil management, how organic soils work, cover crops for vegetable production, composting, organic pest management, emerging crops for organic production, the pros and cons of organic certification, the use of hoophouses for season extension. There will also be an experienced farmer panel representing four farms across Michigan to explain their operations and answer first-hand any questions participants may have. A catered lunch will be provided. The cost to attend is $25 per person.
If you're interested, you meed to RSVP to the Leelanau MSU Extension office by Monday, April 10th! Call 231-256-9888.
Photo: Eggplant by Andy McFarlane
