The 2011 Traverse City Wine & Art Festival takes place Saturday, August 20th from 3-10 PM on the beautiful front lawn at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, rain or shine. It's Michigan’s premier celebration of wine, art, food and music, offering an incredible opportunity to taste wines from 24 wineries as you dance, dine, and see extraordinary performers, art and artists.
The wines & wineries are the heart of the festival and the large wine tent is dedicated to featuring well over 100 wines from the Leelanau Peninsula, Old Mission Peninsula and - for the first time - Benzie County. Attendees can choose a tasting or full-glass pour and have a chance to talk with the winemakers and winery reps to learn more about the wines. The 2010 vintage is spectacular, and this is a fantastic opportunity to try the riesling, pinot gris, chardonnay, pinot blanc, cabernet franc and a host of other varieties that are making a lot of noise at wine competitions around the country!
The festival also features a great lineup with some of Michigan's finest musicians. Michigan jazz/folk great Claudia Schmidt kicks things off and then joins Rachel Davis and Shout Sister Shout. It will be the first time Claudia and Shout Sister Shout have taken the stage together, an event that promises to be one of those "better not miss it" nights. Steppin' In It goes electric and will keep you dancing into the evening. There's also a wide range of performances including dancers, performance artists and the Sweet Adelines.
In addition to a wide selection of art for show & sale and gourmet food from many of the region's finest restaurants for purchase, there's even a chance for YOU to get into the act with "Fashion Is Art". This new feature that invites you to don your most innovative attire for a chance to win the Grand Prize, a spa weekend for two at Crystal Mountain Resort & Spa. Get tickets & lodging package information at traversecitywinefestival.com and check their Facebook for a ticket deal that ends TODAY.
How Mario Batali Gets His Drink On In and Around Traverse City, Michigan from nation food magazine Bon Appetit features 5 of Mario's favorite Leelanau wines & ciders. There's Black Star Farms Arcturos Cabernet Franc which Batali names "the best Michigan wine ever", Gill's Pier Semi-Dry Riesling (recommended with pork with roast grapes), 45 North Winery Icebox Gewurztraminer (a succulent dessert wine with classic notes of apricot, honey, and ginger spice), Tandem Ciders Smackintosh "It's become my new drink, I drink cider as an aperitivo now. Even back in New York. Where they're all from France and they're not as awesome." and L. Mawby Cremant Classic NV, named "arguably the Leelanau Peninsula's signature wine".
The food scene has really exploded in the region. There are farmers' markets and hip-looking people farming and butchering. It's very cool. Even in Northport, our town of less than 1,000 people, there's a great weekly farmers' market in the summer. The chefs involved in the scene celebrate what's here; they're not trying to be anything they're not. Now people are coming for gastronomic tourism.
There's a whole lot more to read and he highlights Leelanau standards like Fishtown, the deck at the Cove, Boones in Suttons Bay and Pleva's Meats. These are really great features that tout what many folks have known for years - the wine and the food of the Leelanau Peninsula and the surrounding area have arrived.
The The 2012 Cedar Polka Fest will be held July 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th, 2012. 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. More details as we have them!
Thursday, July 5, 2012 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 6, 2012 Sidewalk Chalk Art at 10 am, meet at the Town Hall. Music and dancing beings at 2 pm.
Saturday, July 7, 2012 Polka Fest Parade beings 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 8, 2012 Polka Mass celebrated with Bishop Cooney begins at 11 am under the tent. Music and dancing resumes at 1 pm.
Admissions-per person
Thursday & Sunday $5.00
Fri & Sat $10.00
3 Day Pass $20.00
(Ages 13 thru 20) 1/2 price when accompanied by parent
Leelanau Farmer's Markets are underway in Glen Arbor, Lake Leelanau, Leland, Northport and Suttons Bay. They offer you a chance to get out and connect with farmers and other folks who produce food in Leelanau County. Tell us your favorite Leelanau farmers market in our poll!
Tuesdays in Glen Arbor
9 am—1 pm
June 21 - August 30
Location: Behind the Township Hall on Western Ave
Thursdays in Leland
9 am—Noon
June 23 - September 1
Location: Parking lot across from the Bluebird Restaurant
Fridays in Northport
9 am—1 pm
June 17 - September 16
Location: The Depot, next to the marina
Saturdays in Suttons Bay
9 am—1 pm
May 14 - October 22
NEW Location: North Park; intersection of M-204 & M-22, water side
Saturdays in Empire
9 am—1 pm
June 18 - September 10
Location: Downtown, next to the Post Office
Sundays in Lake Leelanau
9 am—1 pm
June 19 - September 4
Location: Parking lot across from NJ's Grocery downtown
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Radishes, eggs, salad greens and garlic from Abra at Bare Knuckle Farm
Taste the Local Difference is a comprehensive guide that includes farm, farm market, CSA, winery and other listings with addresses, phone numbers and an index to seasonal food availability. The guide includes farms and winery listings, CSA contacts, addresses, phone numbers and an index to seasonal food availability. A kind of phone book for food. No need to shuffle through the yellow pages--just pick up a guide and start eating!
Taste the Local Difference has released their 2011 Northwest Michigan Food Guide. The pocket-sized guide is packed with information about more than 300 businesses that feature local food: local farms, wineries, breweries, distilleries, farmers markets and retail businesses and food artisans in our 10-county region stretching from Manistee to the Mackinac Bridge.
Leelanau is well represented and you can download the guide as a PDF or pick it up at farms, markets and other places that feature local food across the region. A highlight is their Spend 10 Local Dollars Campaign, which encourages people to make a pledge to spend $10 weekly on local food products. Taste the Local Difference project director Janice Benson says:
"The guide helps people find local food, and combining that with a commitment by families to spend at least $10 each week on local food will significantly boost our local economy. We have a lot of great produce throughout the summertime, but we also have meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, beverages, and much more that is available to us all year long."
You can get all the details and make the pledge, search farm markets & businesses for all kinds of products, view tasty recipes and more at localdifference.org.
Try some of these ways to make a difference in your community with $10 or more a week!
Shop at one of the weekly Leelanau Farm Markets!
Buying local meat, fish, eggs, and produce from your local grocer, restaurant, or farmer.
Ordering a glass of local wine, cider, or other beverage that includes locally grown items at dinner.
Ordering a menu item that includes locally grown items at a restaurant.
Becoming a member of a CSA farm.
Ordering food for office lunches and parties that includes locally grown items.
Purchasing locally grown food products for holiday gifts and entertaining. (Jams, honeys, cheeses, dried cherry mix, salsas, etc.)
Buying local cream for your daily coffees and local teas that include locally grown herbs and fruit.
The Leelanau Farmers Markets Association will hold their Annual Kick-Off Meeting and Potluck next Wednesday, May 11 from 6-8 pm at the Leelanau County Government Center, 8527 E Government Center Drive, Suttons Bay. Join Board members, market vendors and community supporters for information, networking and camaraderie. Guests are asked to bring a dish to pass and their own table service; beverages are provided.
There will be a presentation by Local Orbit to learn about buying and selling local products for delivery at the new local “hub” - the Suttons Bay Market on Saturday mornings. Also on the agenda will be information on the acceptance of EBT Bridge Cards at the Suttons Bay Market, and a Q & A Session to answer any questions about any of the six Leelanau Farmers Markets.
The 2011 season begins at the Suttons Bay Market on May 14. Check out www.eatleelanau.org for dates and times of all the Leelanau Farmers Markets in Empire, Glen Arbor, Lake Leelanau, Leland, Northport and Suttons Bay. For more information contact Debby Disch, LFMA Board Chair, at 231-386-5686 or Leelanau MSU Extension at 231-256-9888.
Great stuff there including our own Morel Madness article and this great time lapse of a morel getting tasty from Ken Scott. Notice the growth spurts in the middle? Ken wondered what happens if you water a morel!
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!
The 8th Annual Empire Asparagus Festival will be held May 20-22, 2011 and features a slew of asparagus-themed events including a fun run (or walk), Asparagus Eats/Wine and Beer Tasting, Asparagus recipe contest, the Asparagus Parade, chalk art, music & dance and kids games. You can get all the details on the tasty eats and drinks below!
There's a reason Empire touts itself as the apex of asparagus-a vegetable whose short growing season begins in early May and flows into June. The area's sandy soil, plentitude of water and temperate microclimate-fostered by Lake Michigan, make this the perfect place to nurture wild and farmed asparagus. In fact, Michigan ranks third behind California and Washington as a producer of this commercial crop which garners the state a surprising $29 million annually.
Truth be told, only one local farmer, Harry Norconk, runs a 240-acre asparagus-growing business south of town. But what the heck, this slender green harbinger of spring grows wild all over the place. And while surrounding towns, for years, positioned themselves as prime purveyors of cherries, morel mushrooms and wines, Empire decided to become the Valhalla of that savory veggie-the asparagus.
The Leelanau Enterprise has a feature about a strain of lake herring that just came across my news feed about a Great Lakes fish long thought to be extinct that is making a comeback in Grand Traverse Bay:
A strain of lake herring more commonly seen in the last century in Lake Superior is now thriving in local waters, according to fisheries research biologist Randy Claramunt of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources research station in Charlevoix.
Fishermen who were targeting salmon in Grand Traverse Bay would occasionally find these fish that looked a lot like whitefish – but not quite,” according to Claramunt. “Then, these fish started showing up occasionally in commercial nets.”
It wasn’t until the early 2000’s, Claramunt said, that biologists confirmed the presence of the lost lake herring – and found a spawning population of them on the shoals of East Grand Traverse Bay.
“To the average person it might look identical to whitefish – so I’m sure people are eating them; and we’ve seen some for sale as whitefish through the commercial fishery,” Claramunt said.
Read on at the link above and sorry for missing this at first because Claramunt was doing a public talk that would have been interesting to attend!
The 2011 Traverse City Wine & Art Festival takes place Saturday, August 20th from 3-10 PM on the beautiful front lawn at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, rain or shine. It's Michigan’s premier celebration of wine, art, food and music, offering an incredible opportunity to taste wines from 24 wineries as you dance, dine, and see extraordinary performers, art and artists.
In addition to a wide selection of art for show & sale and gourmet food from many of the region's finest restaurants for purchase, there's even a chance for YOU to get into the act with "Fashion Is Art". This new feature that invites you to don your most innovative attire for a chance to win the Grand Prize, a spa weekend for two at Crystal Mountain Resort & Spa. Get tickets & lodging package information at traversecitywinefestival.com and check their Facebook for a ticket deal that ends TODAY.
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