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Pat Stinson has a nice feature in the Glen Arbor Sun on how Sugarfoot Saloon has formed a beer-making partnership with homebrewer Brian Bartos and is serving microbrewed beer:

“I thought it would be really nice to have crafted beer for our customers,” said Sugarfoot owner Pete Bardenhagen, who persevered through paperwork required for brewpub licensing, (which took seven months), while Bartos selected equipment and fine-tuned his brew recipes.

When he isn’t controlling sea lamprey populations in Michigan streams as a US Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, Bartos brews up trial batches of beer for the ’Foots. Currently on tap are “Liquid Sunshine” (4.5 percent ABV), described as a citrusy, Belgian wit (wheat) style ale with clementine zest and summery spices, “a taste of sunshine for those cloudy days;” “Bavarian Hefeweizen” (4.5 percent ABV), a light-bodied wheat beer brewed in the German tradition with a smooth, banana flavor and a hint of clove; and a higher octane porter (5.2 percent ABV) that’s “filled with flavor yet deceptively smooth.”

“It’s a good, rich, dark beer,” said porter drinker John Rabideau, a Sugarfoot neighbor and patron and the owner of Grand Traverse Timberpeg, a builder of timber homes.

Next up on the brew menu is a chocolate ale, soon to replace the vanishing “Hefi,” and too new to appear on the bar’s whiteboard descriptions. The saloon’s brew menu currently changes about every three weeks, which is a point of pride for the “pub” and a note of caution for those who fall in love with a particular style. Enjoy it while you can, because it may be gone all too soon.

Read more at the Sun and I have to say that Right Brain in Traverse City has done very well indeed with a similar format - good thinking Pete!

Looking to spruce up your garden or your yard? Two area communities have plant sales this weekend!

Cedar's Perennial Plant Sale is Saturday, May 28 from 9 AM - 4 PM. Over 500 perennial and wildflower plants, inspected by Michigan Dept. of Agriculture are ready for planting in your garden. Beautify your home with plants that attract butterflies and birds. Prices start at $2.00 with over 500 plants and 50 varieties. This is their major fundraiser of the year to support 265 days per year of free, educational, healthy and intergenerational fun.

The Annual Plant Sale on the Village Green in Leland is on tap for Memorial Day Weekend! Now is your chance to purchase native ferns, blood root, and trillium and more along with a huge selection of other nursery perennials, trees and shrubs provided by locally owned Four Season Nursery, who will be on hand to answer questions about going native. When: Memorial Day weekend. Sale begins Friday, May 27th and runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday; Sunday noon to 4 p.m.

All proceeds help maintain the Village Green and assist with other Conservancy projects. The Wildflower Rescue Committee continually seeks new sites on which to dig. If you are building a home, driveway, addition, or know of someone who is, please contact the WRC so they may have a chance to remove these precious wildflowers before the excavators arrive! Contact Patty Shea: 256-9249 or Joanie Woods: 256-7154.

Photo credit: 20090429_0107_copy(Blood Root) by jsorbieus

From the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association...

Celebrate wine, chocolate and love at the upcoming Valentine's Day at the Taste the Passion weekend February 5 & 6, 2011. The combination of winter's beauty in Leelanau with the special pleasures of life always makes for wonderful weekend. You can enjoy special pours and tasty chocolate treats or savory pairings at Leelanau wine trail wineries between the hours of 11am and 5pm on Saturday, and Noon and 5pm on Sunday.

Tickets for "Taste the Passion" are just $30 each and available online. As with all LPVA events, attendance is limited to give participants an opportunity to become better acquainted with our wine and wineries. In addition to regular ticket sales, participating lodging partners offered a limited number of special accommodation packages that included a ticket to the trail event.

To add to the weekend's festivities, several of the wineries will hold special events and activities exclusively for "Taste the Passion" ticket holders to celebrate the beauty and fun to be had in this winter wonderland.

There is also a special Glen Arbor Art Association "Art from Wine Country" event at the Homestead Resort on Friday night (February 4th). This event is open to anyone! For a third year, this event features wine from Leelanau wineries, coffee from Leelanau Coffee Roasing, original art by local artists and a fabulous small plates menu designed by The Homestead’s Chef Piombo. Tickets are $20 and we'll have more details soon!

Jeff Smith of Traverse Magazine asks Can Sugar Loaf Mountain Come Back? After presenting a really excellent history of the resort from its founding in 1964 and through its sad demise (we're almost at the 10 year anniversary of its closing), Smith takes a look at what's going on right now. Some highlights:

Rumors are circulating that some kind of Sugar Loaf deal is in the wind involving an investment group headed by David Skjaerlund, from Owosso. Skjaerlund spent the past several months getting options on several Sugar Loaf town houses and nearby properties, according to Tony Mattar, who co-manages the town house association.

(County Commissioner Dave "Chauncey" Shifflet) has worked with county planner Trudy Galla to establish a brownfield development authority in large part to address any contamination issues at Sugar Loaf—subsequent studies of the buildings and underground storage tanks have found very little contamination. He and Galla have also laid the groundwork for a tax increment finance zone that could help the developer pay for demolition and cleanup costs.

...Shifflet has been beating the drum for a business center there for years now—high tech info-based businesses that just need a fat data pipeline to do their work. “We have an aging population. We have to figure how to attract young working families that doesn’t revolve around recreation. We need employment opportunities, like intellectual arts, multimedia content creation, maybe a film production studio. People working day in and day out, not just on the weekends,” he says.

Click to read much more at MyNorth.com, and if you have comments, please post them to our Sugar Loaf blog!

Photo credit:Sugar Loaf Mountain from Ski Michigan (see a couple more photos right here and get more Michigan skiing info at skimichigan.com!)

Comments are now closed on this post - head over to A New Leaf at Sugar Loaf to follow the ongoing cavalcade of folly that Leelanau's signature ski hill has become.

Over at the redoubtable Glen Arbor Sun, Jacob Wheeler asks if Sugar Loaf has a new suitor. Can Sugar Loaf Mountain Come Back? by Jeff Smith of Traverse Magazine offers a great timeline showing some highlights in the history of Sugar Loaf and some info about the present day.

Please post your information, memories and thoughts about Sugar Loaf Mountain below. I'd like to have us try and take the discussion to a level that moves Sugar Loaf past the sordid mess it has become over the last decade and a half and towards becoming a productive driver of Leelanau's economy once again. Click for the Sugar Loaf Poll!

I'd also ask you to start asking your elected officials at every level you can why an entity that directly employed hundreds of people and indirectly hundreds more has been allowed to fester for so long and what they are going to do to change this.

Here's the previous thread on Sugar Loaf from August - December 2010, the Glen Arbor Sun's Sugar Loaf Resort features and the Friends of Sugar Loaf group on Facebook. More links? Add them below...

Photo credit: Christie Petersen via "Friends of Sugar Loaf"

Up North Live has a feature on the Valentine Tree Farm near Cedar. They write:

The downturn in the economy is not stopping people from one of the most sentimental holiday traditions which is cutting down the family Christmas tree.

This year many folks head out to Valentine Tree Farm in Cedar to pick the perfect one. For the past two weeks the parking lot has been packed at Valentine Tree Farm.

Business is off to a great start not only because of the unique experience Valentine's offers but because a lot of their competitors have gone out of business.

Owner of Valentine Tree Farm Nello Valentine, "For Christmas trees it looks like it's staying a the same pace as last year which was very good the last couple three years have been real good."

Click through for video and visit the Valentine Tree Farm on Facebook!

Photo credit: Valentine U-Cut Tree Farm by Ken Scott

Pathfinder Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair on Saturday December 11 ~ Join the students and staff of Pathfinder school Saturday from 9-4 at the Pathfinder School Gymnasium for a day of fun! Refreshments provided at this Arts and Crafts Fair. The students have created a wonderful array of holiday items!

Holiday Hootenanny at Higher Grounds on Saturday, December 11 ~ The day runs from 10 AM - 11 PM. It is a benefit for the Run Across Ethiopia and features a Trunk Show, Silent Auction capped by a concert by Seth Bernard and May Erlewine. Get the details on Facebook.

Merry Marketplace on Saturday December 4 ~ The annual Christmas arts & crafts show will be held at the Old Art Building in Leland from 10 AM - 4 PM. This year's Merry Marketplace features 20 local artisans with fresh and dried holiday wreaths, herbal soaps and lotions, jewelry, specialty foods, pottery, woven wheat, cards, pillows, kids' and American girl doll clothes, and many hand knit items. There's also complimentary cookies and coffee!

Holidays in the Village on Saturday December 4 ~ Downtown shopping with special sales and giveaway of a $150 shopping spree in Suttons Bay - all day! Highlights are the live Antlers & Elves at Enerdyne and the lighting of the Christmas Tree by Santa & carols around the tree accompanied by the Suttons Bay School choir. Follow Santa to Silvertree to share your wish list and enjoy hot cocoa and refreshments.

Holiday Bake Sale & Bazaar on Saturday December 4 ~ Join the Northport Chamber of Commerce for an event that is sure to please children of all ages!

Cedar's Make and Take Christmas Party on Sunday December 5 ~ All the free supplies to make your own wreaths and decorations, jewelry and crafts. Join your neighbors at the Solon Twp Hall in Cedar from 1-4 pm for crafts, cookies, and holiday fun.

Right Brain Holiday Art Sale on Sunday December 5 ~ Show your love for the holidays by coming on down and getting some of your holiday shopping done at Right Brain Brewery. They are featuring original artwork that is under $200 from several local artists on Sunday, Dec. 5th from 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. in the pub. Think about supporting our local artists and getting some of your holiday shopping done with a RBB brew in hand!

Also check out Leelanau Holiday Concerts!

Photo Credit: Laden by Trish P. - K1000 Gal

Please extinguish all cigarettes and fasten your seat belts!

Discussion closed here and continues at Turning the page on Sugar Loaf.

The headline reads Smith pulls Sugar Loaf bid: Sugar Loaf owner calls would-be developer 'a joke', and in it, Bill O'Brien of the Traverse City Record-Eagle reports that Liko Smith has withdrawn his bid for the long-shuttered Leelanau ski resort.

"I wanted to believe this was going to happen," Wickstrom said. "But he's obviously without the means to do anything."

Smith's website stated, "Unfortunately, at some point it is not healthy to (pursue) a deal," and he was pulling out of the project.

"I'm like the sixth buyer here, and I've got the farthest," he said.

Really? I wasn't aware that there were varying degrees of "nowhere" you could get to. Now we're left at the point where we were when Liko crashed into the scene this spring with one very important difference: a bunch of people are paying attention to Sugar Loaf.

We've decided to close our massive Sugar Loaf thread to new posts, add a link to the hibernating Friends of Sugar Loaf group on Facebook and start anew here with the simple question, What now for Sugar Loaf?

Tom took this shot of Victoria Creek Park in Cedar last month.  See it bigger and see more in his Up North Michigan slideshow.

I have to say that if you're looking for a nice canoe or kayak trip, Victoria Creek is an excellent choice! Read about the Cedar River Preserve from the Leelanau Conservancy!

Post your comments about the weather, the week's news or events you're looking forward to below!