Cedar's Perennial Plant Sale is Saturday, May 25 from 9 AM - 3 PM. Hundreds of perennial and wildflower plants 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 as well! Now is your chance to purchase native ferns, trillium, and more along with a selection of native trees and shrubs provided by locally owned Four Season Nursery, who will be on hand to answer questions about going native.

Sale runs Friday, May 24th and Saturday May 25th; hours 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. 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

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

“Now that the sun is finally shining,” says Chamber of Commerce Event Coordinator, Mason Query, “we are excited to set up the big tent right in the middle of town and have a great party!”

Participating restaurants include Art’s Tavern, Cherry Republic, Blu and Western Avenue Grill. You can wash all that great barbeque down with beer selections from Short’s, Bell’s, Schmohz, North Peak, Jolly Pumpkin, Founders, Cheboygan and Right Brain and more! There will also be non-alcoholic choices from Great Lakes Tea & Spice, Bay Lavender, Cherry Republic and Northwoods Soda.

Live music by Erratixz will get you moving on the dance floor with hits from the ‘70’s, 80’s, 90’s and today. Admission is $15 per person, which includes four tickets to use toward the purchase of any food or beverage.

Order in advance to be entered in a Glen Arbor weekend giveaway sponsored by Leelanau Vacation Rentals!

Head over to Kickstarter for all the details, and watch the video and read about the project below!

Skipper & Cora Beals and Major & Helen Huey in the Early Years of Camp Leelanau for Boys, the Leelanau Schools, and the Homestead in Glen Arbor. Volume One: 1921-1963

Beginning in the 1920s, two sisters from Madison and their adventure-minded husbands boldly create a utopian boys' camp on an idyllic site in the Michigan wilderness. Out of the camp grows an unorthodox boarding school, which, in turn, leads to the founding of a popular summer resort. The three ventures – originally conceived as the "legs of a three-legged stool" – still exist independently today. Organized along a year-by-year timeline, Straight as the Pine, Sturdy as the Oak follows the arc of change in the peaceful Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore region from its late 19th- and early 20th-century fishing/farming beginnings toward the development of the vacation industry that marks it today.

In the initial years, campers and students are taught self-reliance and encouraged to figure things out on their own: in between Latin and history lessons they build boats, study aeronautics, and help grow vegetables and raise animals to feed themselves. At the same time, they are led to see that "they can camp in the woods all summer and still be real gentlemen." The spirit of learning in and from nature is carried forward into the later years – when campers, students, and guests no longer arrive by steamer from Chicago. The book's 1920s boys' camp snapshots are reminiscent of the world of Thomas Eakins, while its later professional photographs prefigure the work of contemporary artists such as Bruce Weber. Caught in between is the family itself, appearing in staged "private" photos that define their exceptional role as a symbolic family to which campers, students, and sometimes even summer guests belong, but also as a constant thread – from the Twenties through the Sixties – in the history of the camp, the school, and the resort.

The costs of offset printing (not digital publishing!!) a stately book of this size with superb graphic design are high: for a print run of 1,000 books around $40,000. (The original Homestead Building itself – built for around $15,000 in 1929 – was a bargain by comparison!) The reality of publishing today is that the author bears these costs. If funded, this book will become available to a much wider audience; unfunded, it need remain restricted to a private limited edition for the family and a small circle. Thanks to all who care deeply enough about this important piece of local history to bring the project to fruition and the story of Leelanau into the spotlight.

9&10's Sara Simnitch and photojournalist Jeremy Erickson go from vine to wine, talking to Mark Carlson of Silver Leaf, Larry Mawby of L Mawby and Andrew McFarlane of Leelanau.com and the Leelanau Wine Trail in this special report:

Cherry Orchard ... spring snow, photo by Ken Scott

The National Weather Service noted that the high temperature yesterday at the Otsego County Airport in Gaylord only reached 35 degrees - a new record for the coldest high temperature for the date that crushed the previous record of 44 degrees from 2003. It was also the coldest high temperature ever recorded in the month of May for Gaylord. They notched a record snowfall of 2 inches as well.

At at balmy 42 degrees, we weren't quite as cold as the center of the state. We did record a low of 27 degrees overnight, just 4 degrees off the 1976 record so stay tuned for a report on the effects. Tart cherries were just getting ready to pop - here's hoping that still happens!

View Ken's photo on black and see more in his massive Leelanau slideshow.

A feature by Susan Bayer Ward titled The Empire Strikes Back... With Asparagus explains:

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.

Also see Stalking Local Asparagus in Empire from MyNorth.com.

Food & Drink!

• Scalawags Fish & Chips
• Stone House Bread
• Norconks Asparagus
• Empire Village Inn
• Gemmas Coffee Shop & Baked Goods
• Joes Friendly Tavern
• The Good Harbor Grill
• Phils On Front
• Arts Tavern
• Deerings Market and Bakery (w/ Asparagus Brats!)
• Blu
• Trattoria Stella
• Black Star Farms
• Right Brain Brewery (including Asparagus Beer!)
• Left Foot Charley

There have been a flurry of articles and even a new "Leelanau County Commissioners Tinfoil Hat Brigade" Facebook page on the heels of a decision by Leelanau County Commissioners to reject a partnership with Grand Traverse County to promote growth and shutter the county Economic Development Corporation (EDC). It's now reached the Detroit News who report that business leaders are criticizing a decision by the Leelanau County commission to abolish the Leelanau EDC.

Meeting in Suttons Bay on April 8, commissioners said the northwestern Lower Peninsula county is wealthy enough already and that they don't want growth. They said it's up to people to find their own jobs and businesses to make their own plans.

"We've been a county for over 150 years," Commissioner Karen Zemaitis said at the meeting. "The people in this county have always managed to make a living, whether it was fishing or ice-marketing. Times changed, that didn't work, they went to agriculture, cherries. Now they have the wineries.

"These independent, intelligent people in our county can make a living for themselves. They can develop their own economic community, they can figure out what it takes to have a business here. They can adapt."

...Business leaders disagreed, saying people who want jobs can't find them and leave the area.

"The message that it sends, or at least risks sending, is that the county is closed for business, 'We don't want growth,'" Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce President Doug Luciani told the Traverse City Record-Eagle. "It also puts the county at risk of really isolating itself in terms of all the things happening on a regional basis."

Read on at the Detroit News. It appears that one of the reasons for the decision is a fear of Agenda 21, a voluntary United Nations program that County Commissioner Deb Rushton cited as a reason for her vote to reject the partnership:

Rushton, after listening to presentations from economic development officials, said she heard "buzzwords" from Agenda 21, which warns against a one-world government controlled by the United Nations.

“Somebody mentioned the word Agenda 21, the so-called theory of Agenda 21,” Rushton said during the public meeting. “But when I listen to you people speak, some of (our) board members, some of the guests, some of the facilitators, I hear all the buzzwords. Words have meaning. Words have meaning.

“So, to say that that theory or that agenda is not present here today, I disagree,” Rushton said.

The recording of Rushton's comments was obtained by the Record-Eagle from Leelanau County through a Freedom of Information Act request. She did not respond to a phone message and email seeking comment for this story.

The recording shows Rushton made her comments about Agenda 21 buzzwords moments after listening to presentations from Doug Luciani, president of the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce, and John “Chip” Hoagland, managing partner of Cherry Capital Foods. They had asked the county to partner with the Traverse Bay EDC to develop the plan, which called for being a “national leader in smart, sustainable economic development” and to explore job growth in “clean applied technologies."

The plan required a $25,000 payment from the county over two years to craft a thorough economic development strategy.

The commission instead killed the idea, then disbanded the county’s long-running economic development corporation.

Agenda 21 is a conspiracy theory promulgated by radio talk show host Glenn Beck, which centers on the fear that the United Nations is seeking a one-world government to encourage biodiversity and sustainable development. Beck since wrote a book about the theory. His website that promotes the book states "a violent and tyrannical government rules what was once known as America. The old, the ill, and the defiant all quickly vanish. Babies belong to the state."

Rushton is the second county commissioner to cite Agenda 21 in their decision to vote against the economic development proposal. Commissioner Karen Zemaitis, in an interview with the Record-Eagle, also cited Agenda 21 as one of the reasons she voted no.

Read on at the Record-Eagle and definitely weigh in with a comment below or on the Leelanau.com Facebook!

EMPIRE, MI - The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (National Lakeshore) will be offering a series of monthly astronomy programs this year. Join Park Rangers and the  the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society (GTAS) for a guided exploration of our night sky and one daytime event. The next Star Party is May 11 with a viewing of the closest star - the sun. Each special event takes place at a different location throughout the National Lakeshore to take advantage of strategic viewing opportunities. Come for star gazing, meteor showers, sun viewing, and storytelling. Kids of all ages can participate in the Night Sky Junior Ranger program.

Visitors enjoying park skies at a Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Star Party. Photos courtesy of the National Park Service

Starry night skies and natural darkness are important components of the special places the National Park Service protects. National parks hold some of the last remaining harbors of darkness and provide an excellent opportunity to experience this endangered resource. So visit the National Lakeshore and enjoy park skies by attending the following Star Parties:

May 11 (12:00-2:00 p.m.), Visitor Center Parking Lot in Empire
This is a daytime Star Party to view our closest star - the sun. View the sun using a solar telescope and solar shades. See solar activity, including flares and prominences.

June 8 (9:00-11:00 p.m.), Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive #3 Overlook
View Saturn, the Milky Way, and various constellations. Meet at the Dune Overlook #3, Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. Please park at Picnic Mountain; the next right after the #2 stop.

July 13 (9:00-11:00 p.m.), Platte River Point
View the moon, Saturn, and various constellations.

August 10 (9:00-11:00 p.m.), Thoreson Farm in Port Oneida
The Port Oneida Fair celebration continues into the night. View Saturn and the Perseid meteors.

September 7 (9:00-11:00 p.m.), Dune Climb Parking Lot
View the summer Milky Way and many Deep Sky Objects.

October 21 (8:00-10:00 p.m.), Dune Climb Parking Lot
Celebrate the 43rd anniversary of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore with a starry event.

For all astronomy events, bring a flashlight for the walk back to your car and bug spray, if needed. Park Rangers and GTAS staff will be wearing red glow bracelets at the events.

The monthly Star Parties will be cancelled during inclement weather. The decision is usually made three hours in advance. Please call Park Rangers at 231-326-5135, ext. 331, for a voicemail message with the decision.

All programs are free. Participants need only purchase the Park Entrance Pass or have an Annual Pass displayed in their vehicle to join in the fun.

For more about the National Lakeshore, please go to www.nps.gov/slbe or their Facebook and Twitter.

Spring on Good Harbor Bay, photo by Eric Raymond

Good Harbor is located on the northern edge of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore at the Lake Michigan end of County Road 651. Today only evidence of the vanished village are the pilings of what was once a 500' dock that could load 4 schooners at a time. The Good Harbor page from the Lakeshore explains that logging in the area began in 1863 to supply cordwood fuel for  steamers, leading to the founding of a village in the 1870s.

Shortly after 1880 (Henry) Schomberg bought out Schwartz's interest and built a big sawmill which had a capacity of 30,000 feet in a 10-hour day.

...The Schomberg Lumber Company ran a hotel, two stores which became a shopping center for the local farmers, and a saloon. The township line between Centerville and Cleveland townships ran down the middle of Main Street in Good Harbor. Centerville did not allow saloons, so Good Harbor's saloon was built on the Cleveland township side of the street ... At the height of the lumber business, the mill worked day and night during the winter and during the day in the summer. As many as 75 teams of horses were used hauling logs to the mill, lumber to the dock, and supplies to the camps. The lumber company owned some of the teams and the rest were owned by local farmers and rented to the lumber company. At its peak, the mill cut 8,000,000 board feet of lumber per year.

The schooners were loaded by farmers who were called to work at the dock when the ships arrived. Good Harbor had no protection from storms with a northwest wind, so ships had to leave the dock and sail to the Manitou Islands for protection when a storm would come up. Sometimes storms would come up too fast and the ships were driven aground.

You can read on for more and also see some of the wrecks in the area in the Manitou Passage Underwater Preserve.

Check this out bigger and see more great photos from the Sleeping Bear and Leelanau Peninsula (including another shot of the pilings by Terry Clark) on Eric's Leelanau County Facebook page.