As you drive into Bay Harbor from U.S. 31, you’ll quickly notice the beautiful view of Lake Michigan and the hotels that crease the skyline, but now there’s an added vision: The Great Lakes Center for the Arts. The shell is fast becoming a building with a future as bright and audacious as the performers it will attract. 

During the construction, have some fun with the view. Remember the days in the sandbox? Remember the cranes, the front loaders, dump trucks, and bulldozers? That’s the romance of watching the scene. 

“It’s exciting to watch the progress out the window,” notes Beth Anne Eckerle, Marketing Director for the Center. 

It’s also fun. Crews are rigging and welding while others move mountains of earth and still more folks study…

1354 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Sitting on a Village bench by the shore of Walloon Lake, one looks over the soft ripples of the teal waters. Robins prance and grackles squawk among the rocks and rooftops rimming the Village Green.

Overhead, a silken white moon appears as a distant cloud fading into the southern sky, while the sun rises behind, foreshadowing a glorious day of warmth and sunshine for those currently enjoying their morning coffee on a distant shore on their waterfront home.

 A true harbinger of spring rests along the banks of adjacent properties. Docks are at the ready. Some in the water await bows and sterns with their cleats and ropes, and others sit at the shore, longing. The Melrose Township boat launch is bedecked with its dock and looks encouraging as it…

1399 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

“Spring Art”

While the ice meanders around Little Traverse Bay and settles in the boat harbor, finches return to feeders, and outdoor furniture reappears in some yards, spring doesn’t officially begin in the area until the Crooked Tree Youth Arts Festival kicks off. Such was the case this past weekend. 

Each spring every school in our Char-Em District sends student art work and literary ventures to the Crooked Tree Arts Center for a juried disposition with accompanying awards. The culinary art departments at the various high schools also provide their wares for hungry participants and guests as the April entourage grows culminating in an awards ceremony on May 6th where students proudly read their winning literary entries. There is also a musical…

1263 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post