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May 25, 2006
Empire celebrates the harvest, and a youth movement
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
Under-30 local leader Ashlea Walter is the key organizer behind the Empire Asparagus Festival, which drew a large and enthusiastic crowd to Empire the weekend before Memorial Day for the town’s third annual asparagus bash. But you might not have realized that had you seen her donning a giant asparagus stalk for a hat as she nonchalantly served up asparagus ice cream during the parade on Saturday afternoon in front of her Pinkie Finger Press shop across the street from the Town Hall.
Ashlea wasn’t directing traffic or coordinating the festival with a clipboard in hand. That’s not her style, and certainly not the Empire style. “We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” she told me last fall. “And yet there’s a spirit of adventure here in Empire that allows things like this to happen.”
The general consensus around town is that the Empire Asparagus Festival shouldn’t grow too big. Holding it on a quiet, and still somewhat chilly, weekend in mid-May before the onslaught of tourists on Memorial Day weekend is just fine — and it makes the Asparagus Festival remain a community event. “If it grows too big, the festival will have nothing to do with asparagus,” Ashlea pointed out. “For instance, the Cherry Festival is too big. We don’t want hotdog vendors coming from outside the community. And we want to keep the asparagus festival quirky.
“We need this after being cooped up all winter long.”
Despite its small-town charm, the 2006 Asparagus Festival played host to one of the hottest musical acts in northern Michigan at the Town Hall on Saturday night, when the sweet bluegrass couple Daisy May and Seth Bernard gave a free concert and brought the crowd into it with a rendition of Johnny Cash and June Carter’s “Burning Ring of Fire.” Local guitarist and singer Chris Skellenger kept the crowd roaring the next day when his new band Three Hour Tour jammed at the Empire Village Inn.
If the music was any indication, the spirit of the Asparagus Festival could grow younger while also maintaining respect for Empire’s elderly population. “I hope a network of young people can make Empire the place where they want to live,” Ashlea said. “This place doesn’t have everything we want, but we can create things here that compliment the area. I love the people and the environment that’s created by living near the water and having access to the land. In this village we are able to walk everywhere. We have a bank, a grocery store, a library and a wonderful public beach. And we have good characters, young and old, kids, retirees and everything in between.”
These are all ingredients that allowed Ashlea to propose and start Empire’s own crop harvest festival two years ago, even though she’s only lived here for three years after teaching at The Leelanau School in Glen Arbor. “I talked to friends in the village (who initially laughed at the idea) and suggested bringing people here in the spring to celebrate the town and the local produce.” Her inspiration came from living in Germany after graduating from Kalamazoo College and learning about the celebrations the Germans throw for every local crop. Spargelzeit is the word auf Deutsch for the asparagus harvest, and Ashlea brought the idea back across the Atlantic Ocean and planted it here in Empire.
A wine tasting and a dinner were proposed, and soon a full-blown local festival sprouted out of the ground. Paul Skinner, who runs the Miser’s Hoard in Empire, approached local businesses for money, and once the word got out people stepped forward to volunteer, distribute posters and help in any way they could. The Empire Asparagus Festival is now three years old and boasts a parade, a poetry competition and reading, a recipe contest, live music, art openings, a “Kick Ass-paragus five-kilometer fun run, a nature walk, a garden tour, a Lion’s Club dinner, wine tasting, and don’t forget those incredible asparagus bratwursts and asparagus soup made by Deering’s Market.
The harvest tastes great!
Posted by editor at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)
Spring in Bloom!
photo by Ryan Romeike
Notable Quotable:
"I often wonder if our forefathers who worked in the Empire Lumber Company mill along Lake Michigan ever took the time to pause, look about, and realize what a beautiful spot it was here in Empire."
— Dave Taghon, Empire wiseman
Posted by editor at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)
Petoskey Pete’s skips into Arbor Light building
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
Bubba and Roger Popa are learning all the knickknacks and intricacies of the old Arbor Light building. They own the clothing outfit called Petoskey Pete’s, which moved out of the Mercantile Building on M-22 over the winter and into Glen Arbor’s grand dame on Lake Street.
A fixture in town located across the street from Art’s Tavern and the Cottage Book Shop, the Arbor Light building is now 114 years old, and despite the holes under her stairs out back, her dead-end crawlspaces, and the creaking of floors on the second story as last century’s ghosts rummage about, this charming building is still open for business.
“People have been coming in and telling us stories about the building,” Bubba mused at the Chamber of Commerce meeting in early May. “Everyone else in town knows more about the building than we do.”
Gone is Karen Watson, caretaker of the building and proprietor of the popular Arbor Light destination for 20 years, and even longer gone are the huge ice blocks that locals used to purchase at the General Store back in the days before refrigerators. But Bubba and Roger have left some of the traditions in place. The Popas followed Karen’s advice and will continue to sell some of the Arbor Light store’s signature gift cards, but most importantly, the garden center on the building’s south side is still in bloom this spring. “We’ll keep the ‘Welcome to the Cottage’ signs as well,” Roger added. “Those are a mainstay.”
“I have mixed feelings about saying goodbye,” Karen admitted. “I’ll have summer holidays off for first time in 20 years, but I’ll miss the people and the traditions. I’ll especially miss the summer folks who always stopped into my store, but then again, now I can pretend to be a summer person, myself!
The Arbor Light had been on the market for over a year, and just when it looked like no suitors would come calling, the Popas approached Karen in November, and by December 16 the deal was closed. “The first of May rolled around and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t have to be here,’ Karen remembered. “Instead I can garden, go to the beach, plant my vegetables and play with my dog.”
She’s confident the new owners will do a good job, even though the building sports a new color and its sign no longer reads the Arbor Light. Karen pointed out that she was about the same age as Bubba and Roger when she inherited the reigns. How fast 20 years have gone by.
The Popas have owned Petoskey Pete’s for eight years, ever since the Sutherland boys built it. As they did in the Mercantile Building they will continue to carry shoes, Tevas, sunglasses, beach towels and any clothing you might need for your day on the water. They also offer screen-printing for a business and custom screen-printing. But the coolest things on display at Petoskey Pete’s are the piece of marble likely dating back to the old ice cream parlor in the Arbor Light building and a gigantic Petoskey stone that weighs 12 pounds and contains three different kinds of coral. They’ll even let you pet it if you ask nicely.
Bubba and Roger’s mother Ruthie, “the Ruthinator,” will run Petoskey Pete’s on a daily basis since Roger usually works in Traverse City. The back of the shop will house Pete’s Fleece, and the Glen Lake Artists gallery will continue to occupy the room next door, closer to M-22.
“We’re just happy to be on Lake Street,” summarized Bubba. “Everyone here has been so supportive and complementary, lending us everything we need, from buckets to hot water.”
Bonsai trees sold in the garden
After Glen Arborite Josh Humphrey Sr. returned from his Marine Corps tour in Okinawa in the late-90s, he saw a Japanese man selling the miniature bonsai trees he had come to love at the national arboretum in Washington D.C. These particular bonsais were grown by the man’s grandfather only a mile and a half from ground zero in Hiroshima and miraculously survived the atomic bomb blast at the end of the Second World War.
Josh is now an expert on bonsai trees and sells them from his home across M-22 from the tennis courts in Glen Arbor as well as in the garden next to Petoskey Pete’s. He’ll perform demonstrations and house calls (give him a ring at 231-642-6333), and hopes to become a nationwide bonsai expert with a large-scale hydroponic nursery where he can grow them. Humphrey, 31 years old, is a member of the Sakura Bonsai Club in Traverse City, and one of the few who isn’t retired. Fittingly, sakura is the Japanese word for “cherry tree.”
Bonsai trees are tough and hearty plants that, like lawn furniture, can survive a tough northern Michigan winter. They don’t need a lot of light and as long as they are kept in a setting above 25 degrees Fahrenheit they could live up to 300 years … not to mention survive a nuclear war.
The word bonsai means “shallow pot” in Japanese and it describes the tiny tree sometimes as short as the length of your arm, yet looks like a large, 80-foot tree seen at a great distance or off on a hill. Bonsais are actually native to China, where people often placed shrines or figurines in or around them.
Posted by editor at 09:24 PM | Comments (0)
What makes Empire unique?
By Helen Westie
Sun contributor
What makes Empire a unique and interesting community? When confronted with this question, the town’s residents have always been vociferous in expressing their ideas. The two unique summer celebrations come to mind immediately: the Asparagus Festival the weekend before Memorial Day in May and the Anchor Day the third weekend in July.
Earlier this spring the townspeople also joined hands in a unanimous display of civic activism when they overwhelmingly shot down a push by a developer from Grand Rapids to rezone a cherished agricultural/residential area of land accessible from both M-72 and M-22 known as Leelanau Orchards. Rezoning the 338 acres would have allowed up to 980 homes to be built on land where current zoning allows for only 170 and all but double the village itself.
The move requested by developer Joseph Moch would have radically altered Empire’s zoning standards, and more importantly, changed the town’s character forever — before the ink even dried on Empire’s new Master Plan, one local farmer pointed out. According to Julie Hay of the Michigan Land Use Institute, which sponsored one of two public meetings earlier this spring for locals to voice their concerns, Moch’s development would have included a private equestrian farm, which would have been inaccessible to the local public.
“People spoke so passionately,” Hay recalls. “Empire residents want to keep their town open and promote agriculture and smart growth within the village.” Those who commented at the public meetings were united in their opposition to the plan. One woman asked why she had to drive all the way to Cedar for her CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farm when there is fertile agricultural land right here, and potentially on the land in question. Ashlea Walter, who runs the Pinkie Finger Press and is the heart and soul behind the Empire Asparagus Festival spoke of the need for inclusionary zoning so that people can afford to live here. And others asked if the village and its infrastructure could even support development of this scale.
The residents of Empire love and protect their town with a passion. They fairly rhapsodize about the beauties of it. Epithets often used are: “In God’s pocket” or “Our jewel of the North.”
Dave Taghon summed it up when he said, “I often wonder if our forefathers who worked in the Empire Lumber Company mill along Lake Michigan ever took the time to pause, look about, and realize what a beautiful spot it was here in Empire.”
Ditto S. Kay Rose. “Living in Empire is almost like living in a time-warp from a generation past. It’s a place where neighbors still know each other. It is also one of the most beautiful spots on earth. My husband Tom and I like to travel in the United States and we’ve seen the Northwest, the Northeast, the Southwest and the Southeast but the first thing we do when we get home is drive to Empire Beach to gaze at Lake Michigan. There is nothing better than an Empire sunset. Next, I take a trip up the Empire Bluffs for the view. As I look out and see South Manitou Island, South Bar Lake, the Sleeping Bear Dunes, I always have the same thoughts. This peaceful, serene beauty is as good as anything I have ever seen, and I realize how lucky we are to live here.”
Jeanette Lackey: “Empire is a welcoming, quaint little village nestled in the hills. The beach is a real treasure with its awesome, sandy shores and gorgeous sunsets. We are thankful that Lake Michigan Beach and South Bar Beach are for public use. We enjoy the closeness to nature. One spring a fox tiptoed through our snowy backyard sporting a big, white snowflake on his black nose. What a memorable moment.”
“We always take care of our own,” was a common opinion. There are fundraisers and collections when people are down on their luck or if they are confronted with unexpected medical bills. When a problem arises someone jumps in to solve it. One such problem was the preponderance of cats last winter because so many unwanted cats were dumped at Steve Miller’s house knowing he was an ailurophile (one devoted to cats). And then, because they were not sprayed or neutered Empire was in danger of being over-run with a cat population. But through the efforts of Jo Lynn Davis and Steve, collections were taken to have the cats neutered and sprayed and the babies put up for adoption. The businesses of Empire made generous contributions so that all cats could be sprayed or neutered.
People remember a man some years ago who was 98 years old but could still live in his house because friends and the Commission on Aging cleaned his house and brought food for him. In his senility, however, he became light-fingered and would take items from store shelves. He used store aisles for a bathroom need. This kind of behavior would prompt some communities to have him “put away.” But not in Empire. Clerks were told to “follow him” and he was reminded that he must pay for the items and was directed to a bathroom. On his death many pilfered items were returned. For example, a metal outdoor chandelier was returned to the town hall.
Empire has had its share of eccentric characters. People fondly remember “The Professor” who knew everyone in town and many are the stories about him. In a deep, thunderous voice he would yell down from his balcony to children playing below. “This God is talking! Pick up those toys” or there would be other directions from God. Children would go home and tell their parents that God talked to them. The professor taught at Central Michigan University and spent his summers in Empire. He really loved Empire and after his retirement he spent more time here. One summer because of a hospital stay he arrived later and said, “I do not ever in my lifetime want to be away from Empire in May again.” He missed the trilliums and the “Cherry white with snow.”
Will the professor’s moth-eaten, infamous pelican make it to one more Anchor Day parade? Stay tuned for July …
His vocabulary could be poetic but sometimes it could be quite raucous. When his garage was being built some man (it could have been a zoning officer) came by and told him that the garage had to be aligned with the house and not on a diagonal as he was doing it. The professor told him, emphatically using the vernacular of his college students, where he could go. Well, the garage is on a diagonal as planned to this day.
In 1994 when he was interred in Maple Grove Cemetery most of the Empire population attended. There were tears and laughter as Professor stories were told.
To this day Empire remains a community in the truest sense. This kind of town holds a unique annual party to celebrate its proudest spring crop; these kinds of citizens rally to stop development that would be bad for the community; and most important of all, these kind of people care for their own.
Sun editor Jacob Wheeler contributed to this article.
Posted by editor at 08:32 PM | Comments (0)
Restaurant mogul Frank embraces Friendly Empire
By Pat Stinson
Sun contributor
New restaurant mogul, Frank Lerchen, couldn’t be more modest about his transition from general manager of two restaurant-taverns to owner of three local food service establishments in less than six months, here in the seasonally somnolent village of Empire.
As Frank tells it, he was being groomed for ownership for the past five years by his boss, Mike Wiesen. However, it wasn’t until someone approached Wiesen about purchasing the Empire Village Inn that he began to seriously consider selling the taverns to Frank.
“Mike had someone interested in buying the V.I. but really wanted Mary and I to buy them, (the Village Inn and The Friendly Tavern), as we knew how to run them and knew the business,” Frank explained. “He wanted the businesses to grow and thrive.”
“It just kind of happened, and I really am thankful to him. He gave me a huge opportunity. Huge,” says Frank, shaking his head, still not quite believing his good fortune.
Sitting in his most recent acquisition, the former Moon Dog espresso bar and art gallery, now known as Gemma’s, (named after his daughter Gemma, who turned one year old on May 17), Frank is smiling. It’s after 8 p.m. on opening day, and the man shows no signs of fatigue. At the coffee bar, Gemma’s manager Ryan Romeike says between 80 and 90 people have passed through the doors since 7:15 a.m. today to offer their congratulations and to buy coffee and baked goodies, sandwiches and salads. As if on cue, Frank jumps up from his chair and asks if he can get (his fading interviewer) a cup of coffee. “Decaf? Half and half?” In a flash, he’s got a steaming cup of complimentary joe ready for his “customer.” Taking his seat once more near the café’s picture window, Frank gazes across M-22 to his other business, the Village Inn, while greeting people as they walk through Gemma’s door, and telling his story of working his way through the restaurant business.
“I really don’t know any different. It’s what I’ve always done. I was 12 years old when I started making pizzas. That was 28 years ago. I worked at the Bay View Inn in Acme and Pizza Plus, which used to be across Front Street from the fire station — where Burritt’s and Chef’s Inn and that whole building is today.”
Frank graduated from making pizzas to working weekends at the Flap Jack Shack while still in high school. Then, in 1985, Phil Murray of Windows hired him, and he worked on the line at one of the area’s finest restaurants for three years.
“Phil kind of took me under his wing and showed me the ropes and taught me how to cook.”
In 1988, Frank and a good friend headed for Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where he cooked for two ski seasons, coming home each summer to work at Art’s Tavern in Glen Arbor. At Art’s, he met owner Mike Wiesen, who also owned The Friendly and the V.I. After his Steamboat stint, Frank began working full-time for Mike at Art’s, at Windows, and “a little” at The Friendly, where he cooked and waited tables.
“In this business, it’s kinda what you have to do.” While working at Art’s, he also met another important person in his life, Mary Kearns, who later became Mary Lerchen.
Frank joined The Friendly Tavern as manager, eventually becoming general manager of both The Friendly and the Village Inn. “I had no idea I’d end up owning places. I was just trying to make a living … and here I am now.”
In January of this year, before the sale of both taverns was consummated, Frank pulled in to the Village Inn’s parking lot on an errand … and spied something on the opposite side of the highway that intrigued him.
“Dayton, (one of the owners of Moon Dog), had a sign in the window, and I walked across the street and that’s what started it,” says Frank of his coffee house venture. “I love the concept they, (Dayton and wife, Carmen), had going here. If I weren’t doing the taverns, I’d be doing this, anyway,” he says. Waving his hand, as if to stop traffic, he quickly adds, “Not that I don’t love the bars!”
Who can blame him for appreciating the open and airy feel of the new coffee house? Its funky purple trim, yellow couches, white ceiling fans and full-service coffee bar are a definite departure from the taverns’ pine paneling, bronzed by age and nicotine, and the bars’ mirrored back-drops.
Not to mention that a multiple-tavern owner’s day in a tourist town like Empire can begin anywhere from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. in the summertime. “I’m all over the place all day long. I might start with a walk around the Village Inn then head over to the office at The Friendly.” He smiles as he speaks of passing his general manager, Brian Reid, on the road, (“he works crazy, weird hours, too”), of laughing and waving to each other as they drive to their respective posts, during a day that can last until the Village Inn’s closing time of 2 a.m.
“I fought Mary about getting a cell phone, but she finally told me she has to be able to track me down.”
She’s not the only one. With 25 year-round employees and approximately 100 employees during the summer months, there’s bound to be a question or crisis to address.
It’s not all hard work, though. During the off-season, (late October through April), he takes his eldest son Maxwell, 6, to school and spends a couple of hours with son Henry Aaron, 3, and baby Gemma. He’s home every night for dinner and insists on having one day off per week — and makes certain that his general manager does, too.
He gives credit to Mike Wiesen for establishing good management and emphatic credit to Reid for helping him enhance his management, (including his team of managers: Shannon Sheridan of the Village Inn, Matt Christensen — a veteran employee of 16 years — of The Friendly Tavern and Ryan Romeike of Gemma’s).
Frank’s management style must surely benefit from a trait many managers and business owners either never had or sometimes lose along the way: a sense of humor.
“We played a joke on Mike one day,” Frank says remembering, with obvious glee, a prank pulled on his former boss. “We moved a table out into the middle of the road, and we were playing cards when he pulled up. He laughed and told us to get back to work. ‘Don’t you guys have something to do,’ I think is what he said.” (Frank still keeps in close contact with Wiesen, “once or twice a week,” and obviously appreciates the business acumen of his predecessor.)
Teddy Mead, who has worked at both The Friendly Tavern, (which his parents owned from 1968 to 1974), and the Empire Village Inn, a total of 37 years, describes other Frank attributes: “He’s always up, at least from what I know, and always tells you what a good job you’re doing…like when I got back from vacation and someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was Frank, and he told me how much I was missed. That really means a lot.”
“He’s full of enthusiasm and lots of good ideas — not just talking about them, but doing them.”
When asked about those ideas, Frank mentions that there are two new flat-screen televisions at The Friendly, and that he now accepts Visa and MasterCard at all three business locations. He talks about the Village Inn formerly looking, “a little hard from the road,” and of cleaning the grounds and putting a fresh coat of paint on the exterior to soften the look for families. (He wants them to know they can bring their kids in for pizza.) Little has changed on the menu, and he’s quick to add that The Friendly burger is the same one Mike taught him how to make, using the same brand of beef that’s been served for years. According to Frank, The Friendly Tavern, which he says has been in business for 65 years, “…is an institution...and if I did too much, they’d crate me out on their shoulders.”
“They” refers to loyal customers and locals. “The Friendly is the flagship of the three, the anchor that lets us do the other two places. It’s the institution. I’ve seen people come in and watched them bring their kids in and their grandkids. The Village Inn is probably the more local place of the two, though we get a lot of nice tourists. What I don’t cover with The Friendly, I do with the Village Inn, and vice versa.”
One change that’s occurred without much planning has been the addition of music this year at the Village Inn. First, there was the winter benefit concert Chris Skellenger put together with New 3rd Coast and other area bands. Next, Frank had New 3rd Coast in for its own concert. Finally, he hired Chris’s band, 3-Hour Tour, to play during an Asparagus Festival barbeque held on the afternoon of May 21. Though it won’t be a regular offering, he says he’s open to hosting occasional future music events.
As for Gemma’s, Frank says he’d love to see the place “…be embraced by the locals and to be open year-round.” He points to a corner near the front door that will include a future corkboard for posting business cards and notices of local events. He points behind him to the sofas, (“a hang-out area”), and to tables and chairs toward the front of he café for “grabbing a bite to eat.” Along the back wall are coolers with gourmet sandwiches and specialty salads made fresh daily, Faygo original flavors, (including Red Pop, Rock & Rye and Root Beer), orange and grape Crush, Stewart’s sodas, Nantucket juices and bottled water. Beyond the coolers are local products like SoGood Coffee, roasted by Derek Prechtl, jams and other preserves by Food For Thought, Cherry Republic cherry products, art cards by Mary Sharry, photographs and postcards by Grace Dickinson and postcard packets by Kathleen Buhler. Frank is actively soliciting more local products, though manager Ryan jokes that Frank only let him “…get three-quarters done (stocking) before you made me open.“ Inside the door to the right, a large counter invites readers to browse through magazines from Time and Better Homes & Gardens to PC Photo and Vogue. Rounding the counter’s corner, the main attraction, Gemma’s coffee bar, serves regular and decaf coffee, (single, double or triple), espresso, mochas, cappuccinos, lattes, chai, hot chocolate, tea and homemade soup. A bakery counter tempts with fresh daily treats while an ice cream counter boasts gallons of gelato. Soon to follow are Italian sodas, iced coffees, fruit smoothies, frozen coffee drinks and… wireless Internet service, “Wi-Fi.”
It’s 9:15 p.m. now and downright exhausting listening to Frank describe his typical work day and plans for Gemma’s.
“I couldn’t do any of this without Mary and my kids and Brian and the people around me,” he says earnestly. “I know Gemma’s wouldn’t have happened without them and the customers. It’s like getting an Oscar. That is truly how I feel about this.”
Jumping up to help Ryan and Jessica with closing duties, he adds, “Three kids and three businesses. It’s crazy stuff!”
“Want the last oatmeal cookie?”
Gemma’s, 11590 LaCore, is open daily 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Friendly Tavern, 11015 W. Front St., hold daily summer hours 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., 326-5506. The Empire Village Inn, 11601 S. LaCore, is open summers from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. 326-5101.
Posted by editor at 07:36 PM | Comments (0)
Taghon’s New Garage is ripe in the Land of the Sleeping Bear
By Norm Wheeler
Sun editor
One of Empire’s longest running businesses just packed up and left its historic digs on the corner of M-22 and M-72. Taghon’s Auto Service Garage has been a fixture in the village of Empire since 1924 when Charles and Louise Taghon established a car repair shop on the current site of the Lakeshore Motel. Across the street and kitty-corner from Taghon’s was Verno & Middaugh’s repair shop, later a Sinclair gas station. Charles and Louise’s son Fred took over that location in 1945.
The building itself has an interesting history. It was made of hand-made cement blocks manufactured right in Empire for a building that used to stand downtown between what is now Deering’s Market and Tiffany’s Norwegian Jokes and Ice Cream Shop. Dave Taghon reports that the building was moved block by block to the corner and reassembled where it now stands. “It’s easy to spot some of those old hand-made blocks on the back of the building,”
Mike Taghon took over the garage in 1958 and handed it off to his sons Dennis and Wayne when he entered semi-retirement a few years ago. (Fred had taken over the gas station across M-72 on the other corner and operated it until he retired in 1980. Dave continued to run the Amoco Food Shop until his retirement in 2002.) So four generations of Taghon’s fixing cars on the corner has come to an end.
It wasn’t easy for this fourth generation of Taghon auto mechanics to leave the village.
Dennis Taghon explains: “About a year ago the old Empire School was purchased, and the owner (Joe Van Esley, a realtor from Plymouth) wanted the parking lot where we kept the cars we worked on. That got us to dreaming about having a newer, bigger, more modern facility. We were tired of pushing disabled vehicles across a busy state highway.” (Mike Taghon tells the story of a trucker who used to barrel through Empire from the south like no village was there. One day Mike heard him coming and rolled an air filter out of the garage across M-22. The trucker locked up his breaks and slid through the blinker hissing like a punctured blimp. “He drove slow after that,” Mike laughs.)
“At first the idea of moving was enticing,” Dennis remembers, “and finally we said ‘Let’s do it!’” All last summer Taghon researched whether they could move within the village. “Perk tests showed the high water mark was only three feet down here in Empire,” Dennis continues. “We would need a septic system, plus a backup septic system, plus a water retention pond – there would be nowhere to park cars after we satisfied the county regulations. We would have needed to purchase way more property than we could afford.”
Then Dennis got a call from Ron Bishop, owner of the subdivision with storage buildings on Benzonia Trail. At 300 feet above the water table there were no septic issues out there by the Empire Airport. So the new garage was built just behind the Old Iron Custom Auto body shop. Taghon’s new address is 12777 Benzonia Trail and it keeps the same phone number: (231) 326-5138. “The dream of a bigger, more efficient place coupled with economics and county regulations basically drove us out of town,” Dennis declares.
The new garage is a big improvement. It features six hoists and a capacity of up to 10 cars. The layout is more efficient as no cars will be blocked in. There is room for customer parking in front and disabled car parking in the back. “There will be a better flow,” Dennis says. There are three full-time mechanics including Wayne Taghon, along with a service advisor, and Dennis as manager (and Mike still around as gofer). They expect to add another employee as business dictates. “We have room to grow – that’s why we built it as big as we did!”
Dennis Taghon concludes that moving their business out of town should help with the traffic flow at the busiest corner in Empire. “It should be an improvement for everyone involved. Of course we’re apprehensive about not being right in the village. But we’re hoping our customers will follow.” The fate of the historic garage at “Taghon’s Corner” made of local hand-made cement blocks remains to be seen.
Posted by editor at 06:41 PM | Comments (0)
National Park to spruce up Port Oneida
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
At long last, the check is on its way. After waiting for over a decade the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (our local branch of the National Park Service) will finally get funds of $1.1 million from Washington to restore, rehabilitate and promote the Port Oneida rural historic district, located four miles north of Glen Arbor off M-22.
Sometime after the construction actually begins in 2011 the Lakeshore will erect, or convert one of Port Oneida’s existing barns into, a visitor contact station kiosk that welcomes folks, either as they approach the historic district from M-22 or after they turn west onto Port Oneida Road. Several smaller parking lots may be built, or the Lakeshore may confine all cars to one larger lot, to accommodate the flow of visitors, which will inevitably increase as more money is pumped into Port Oneida. In addition, the Lakeshore will restore 12 of the 22 structures in the district (the Park owns 20 of them) and utilize one of the old farms for staff housing while attempting to also preserve their historical legacy.
Local concern at two public meetings at the old Port Oneida schoolhouse in early May focused on whether opening up Port Oneida to more tourism might overwhelm the cherished district, or at least the unique experience of a day walking in its pastoral beauty, largely untouched by the traffic and development we’ve seen elsewhere in Leelanau County in the past couple decades.
One local resident likened the dilemma to a Catch-22, in that the Park needs to give people access to the Lakeshore to assure them that their public funds are well spent, but more visitors to a place like Port Oneida could well damage the experience, not to mention the nature and the historic farmsteads. “Do we really have to invite it?” she asked.
Another commenter worried that increasing the flow of people to Port Oneida might overcrowd its pristine Lake Michigan beaches, turning them into another North Bar Lake — once a favorite and well-hidden beach north of Empire where the Lakeshore has since built a giant parking lot that welcomes tourists by the busload and makes North Bar seem, at least by northern Michigan standards, as crowded as Miami Beach.
But the Lakeshore’s Assistant Superintendent Tom Ulrich sought to assure concerned locals on May 3 that nothing in the revitalized Port Oneida district will be paved over, and other park interpreters told me that the parking lots will be small and unthreatening to the visitor’s overall experience — built for no more than 4-6 vehicles, or 10-16 cars in the case of a larger lot — similar to the gravel parking lot at the trailhead for Pyramid Point, which is further down Port Oneida Road.
“Those who remember long, solitary hikes through Port Oneida without seeing another soul will notice the difference, but most will not,” I was told.
Much of the discussion at the public meetings focused on where to put the parking, the staff housing and the visitor contact station kiosk, and that will inevitably carry over into a public comment period, still months away, following the Lakeshore’s development of alternatives and an environmental assessment.
Look for more coverage of Port Oneida in future issues of the Glen Arbor Sun. Reach the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore at (231) 326-5314.
Posted by editor at 05:46 PM | Comments (0)
Chamber takes show on road
By Jane Greiner
Sun contributor
The Glen Lake Chamber of Commerce has been stepping out in new directions. This year’s participation in the Leelanau Business Expo is just one example of how the chamber is looking for new ways to make itself useful and fun.
At the Expo kickoff breakfast the chamber gave a lively, three-punch presentation, MC’d by Donna Burgan (Wildflowers). Members went on stage and Do-Wopped a chorus line behind local musician Ron Hernandez (Stand Up Productions). The Do-Wop line included Burgan, Joanne Rettke (Webs And More), Sue Woodward (The Solution Place), Bonnie Nescot (Chamber President), Kit Knowles (Wildflowers) and Bryan Borchardt (Chase). With enthusiastic audience participation they danced and sang:
“Yeah, we’re the type of town
Visitors love to hang around,
Glen Lake is so well known,
They come from all around.”
As all that was going on there was a slide show on a huge screen behind the dancers showing the many Glen Lake businesses.
Also at the Expo were Ashley Walter (Empire Business Association), Dusty Shultz (Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore), Mimi Wheeler (Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate) with her luscious chocolate samples, SoGood Coffee which served free coffee, Huntington Bank, and Art’s Tavern (whose chicken-jalapeno soup was to die for).
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians sponsored the event by donating the use of the hall and helping behind the scenes. Tribe drummers performed a moving drum song outside to open the event at the Strongheart Center in Peshawbestown.
The presentation at the business Expo was just one example of changes in our local Chamber. Under the leadership of President Bonnie Nescot, the Chamber has taken its show on the road in other ways as well.
Changes began when ideas were sought to lure more people to chamber meetings. Nescot said the suggestion was made to “take it out of the basement…offer them a drink.” Bonnie’s husband Tim Barr (Art’s Tavern) offered to host a meeting at Art’s. That was a big success, perhaps helped by free drinks that Tim supplied. The Western Avenue Grill then stepped up and offered to host a meeting. Cherry Republic later hosted an event and the June meeting will be held at The Foothills café.
This approach of “getting down to business” while also keeping it light fits Bonnie’s way of working. “We try to make it fun,” Bonnie says, “Fun and open.”
Tourist Information Center at Dune Wear
The Glen Lake Chamber of Commerce has enacted several other important changes. This year the Chamber updated its visitor guide that includes a new map by Joy Blair (Bright Idea Girls). The quality of the beautiful new four-color brochure represents the area well to the visiting public.
The free visitor guide is available during business hours at the relocated chamber office in David Marshall’s Dune Wear store in the Village Sampler Plaza. A large window banner and rolled-out street sign attract visitors near the intersection of M-22 and M-109 in Glen Arbor. A telephone and listings of area accommodations are available, along with brochures from area attractions. “When I went in there I was just awestruck,” Nescot said. “It was beautiful.” Visitors have already used the new office, Marshall reports.
www.VisitGlenArbor.com
Even the Chamber website has been updated. VisitGlenArbor.com has been re-designed and nurtured by Joanne Rettke (Webs and More). She has created a website with lots of local information including an interactive listing of currently available accommodations. Visitors planning to come to Glen Arbor or Empire can check the current status of openings in the vacancies calendar and can peruse the webpage for each individual business. The website also has a fishing report provided by local charter fishermen.
Marge Ives has done basic grass roots work organizing the Chamber membership list. She has gone out and talked to area business owners on a one-on-one basis and recruited new members. Her efforts have contributed to the significant rise in membership this year. “Almost all the businesses in the area now belong to the Chamber,” she said.
Yet another departure has been the addition of a new kind of Chamber membership for non-business owners. This was created to accommodate anyone who wants to join the chamber to serve the community or simply to make new friends and enjoy socializing with the group. “We want everyone involved,” Nescot said. “It’s much better with all the people working together. The work is burdensome; we’re just trying to make it fun.”
With an openness to new ideas, a belief that you can have fun and make things happen, and a genuine desire to serve the residents, businesses, and visitors to our area, the Glen Lake Chamber of Commerce is on the move and making a difference in our community.
Glen Lake Chamber of Commerce
At Dune Wear in the Village Sampler Plaza, M-22
Summer hours (Father’s Day to mid-August)
9-9 Monday – Saturday, Sunday 10-7.
(231) 334-3238
Website: www.visitglenarbor.com
Posted by editor at 04:48 PM | Comments (0)
Shipwrecks are moving in our midst
By Jane Greiner
Sun contributor
Who can resist the romance and mystery of a shipwreck? All you have to do is go to Empire beach and you can see one for yourself.
This wreck lies half uncovered at the north end of Empire beach. It appears to be a section from the bottom of a wooden ship, which means it likely sailed in the 1800s.
There is one long heavy beam (perhaps the keelson), a number of curved ribs at right angles to it, and underneath but partly visible some long flat slabs which were probably the outer hull. The blunt, iron spike-like things sticking out of the wrecks are called connectors. In building these boats the connectors were driven into drilled holes with sledge hammers, according to Steve Harold, Director of the Manistee County Historical Museum.
Harold is the author of “Shipwrecks of the Sleeping Bear,” a book unfortunately now out of print. Once those connectors are driven in, Harold said, they are impossible to remove without totally tearing out the wood around them. You can see them clearly protruding out of the wreck in Empire.
Harold recently examined this wreck in Empire to see what he could learn about it. But it is impossible to positively identify any of these wrecks in the condition they are in, he says. You have to go somewhat on location, but he pointed out that this wreck “has moved a mile” since he first studied it 25 years ago.
Other shipwrecks have been known to move a lot faster. A wreck up in Leland moved a mile in only two years. “So how far could it have moved in 50 or 100 years?” he wondered, by way of illustrating that location alone is not enough for identification.
Harold listed six boats lost close to Sleeping Bear Point, The General Taylor, the Badger State, the St. Nicholas, the Kate Bully, the James McBride and the Gold Hunter.
He believes the ship on Empire beach was a “centerboard vessel of canal schooner dimensions.” Although that describes about half the ships lost on the Great Lakes, Harold said, it at least cuts in half the number of possible ships this could be.
Canal schooners were an innovation in which boats were designed to be pulled down a canal like Welland Canal (between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario) and then once into the Great Lakes could raise a mast, lower a centerboard and sail.
Harold cannot say for certain that the Empire wreck had a mast. But he thinks “it is possible” that it is either the James McBride or the Jennie and Annie, which match its dimensions, or the Gold Hunter, a ship which was lost only four months after she was launched and about which few details are known.
The James McBride sank near Sleeping Bear Point in 1857. Her story is interesting. She was a wood two-masted Brig (a ship with square rigged sails) 125 feet x 25 feet x 10 feet and weighing 272 tons. She was bound from the Manitou Islands to Chicago with a cargo of wood when she was forced ashore and wrecked. Fortunately, no lives were lost. She had been the first vessel to carry cargo directly from the West Indies to Chicago in 1848.
The Jennie and Annie was a wooden schooner (a ship with at least two masts and the taller main mast to the rear) built in 1863 in Buffalo. According to Harold’s book, “Her deep hold of 12 feet allowed her to carry large cargos of grain from Chicago to Buffalo.” She was lost in 1872 just north of Empire after being driven aground in a gale. Six or seven people were believed lost out of 10 on board.
A Second Shipwreck
For those willing to hike a bit, a piece of an old ship is visible on the sands around Sleeping Bear Point. It is approximately two miles south of the Life Saving Station and can be reached in an hour’s walk along the shore. A piece of the ship about 60 feet long lies at the water’s edge.
Although this shipwreck could be any of the six ships Harold mentioed, it is identified (perhaps optimistically) in some websites as the General Taylor. She was a wooden ship, propeller driven (steam power, not sail power), built in 1848 in Buffalo, and was 173 feet long. The General Taylor was lost in 1862, “driven aground by storm on Sleeping Bear Point with no lives lost.”
Another piece of the same ship (or of another one) is reported to lie just offshore in about 10 feet of water, according to an Internet posting by a kayaker.
Of course the wrecks in Empire and on Sleeping Bear Point could be two pieces of the same ship, Steve Harold points out.
Bill Herd, a National Park interpreter at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, says that both shipwrecks are located in the Manitou Passage State Underwater Preserve, which encompasses the Manitou Islands and stretches along the Lake Michigan shore from near Leland to Point Betsie. The Preserve safeguards the ships and other antiquities from salvage and souvenir hunters.
You can go see the wrecks, even touch them and take pictures, as long as you do not disturb them. That way the wrecks will be there (unless the Lake takes them away) so that people for years to come can marvel at their endurance and think about the days when these wooden ships were imperative to everyday life in this area.
Posted by editor at 03:52 PM | Comments (0)
Of Mulching and Turnip Blessings
By Holly Wren Spaulding
Sun contributor
We move back and forth between stone walls under a low ceiling and even lower light. The root cellar is musty, dark with odors of long-stored root crops, new onion starts and leeks, seeds ready for planting. Field maps, shears and clipboards clutter the spare nooks and crannies.
Robert and Nick load in the fresh cut mustards, bok choy, senposai and other cooking greens. Jennifer brings down the asparagus (the weeds are digging in their heels and the early drought was hard on this crop). We shift the baby beets to make way, and stow the harvest knives. Beside the red door, white turnips like fist-sized pearls. We compare recipes and agree that they are good, especially the little ones; better than any turnip I’ve ever eaten.
We divvy the vegetables into boxes for the 40 families who have subscribed to the “early-spring share” at this CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). This means that members pay a fee in deep winter with which seeds are purchased, and the hoop house and greenhouse are planted. By March, Jenny sees to it that all are happy and well fed for the duration of the season. As the soil warms and the frost leaves the air, workers begin returning for the big plantings which amount to dozens and dozens of crops, many of them heirloom varieties. By June we’ll be filling 125 boxes with whatever is coming on in the fields, and the summer members will receive bountiful vegetables, flowers, fruit and eggs up into late October. This system has been working well for us; the farm gets the support it needs to keep working, we workers are grateful for a means of “right livelihood” — work that reflects our values — and more and more people have access to affordable, delicious produce grown near to their home.
Outside, the sun is giving us a little break in the rain, and gratitude prevails; our soggy skin craves this time of year when the whole of life can happen outside, under the sky, among the elements. In truth, we’ll work in a downpour as equally as on a perfect 75 degree day.
There’s time yet to do more mulching in the front gardens. Eight of us set to tearing apart the big round bales of hay that we use to suppress the weeds, promote biological activity, and maintain moisture in the soil. It sticks to every part of us and soon we abandon the facemasks and just let the dust and mold swirl as it will. If we do this now we won’t have to come back to these beds for a few months while the spuds do their thing underground, and we keep track of the early crops. By late July and well into September, we’ll be pulling back the mulch like a big blanket, and Kueka Golds, Russets, Cranberries, Purple Vikings and Russian Blues will emerge with the digging fork.
At lunch we are 10, gathered around three tables with whatever we can find to sit on. Ben has made us brown rice and two big pots of turnip and mustard greens with Indian spices, last year’s tomatoes, asparagus. Having worked his usual magic on the portable camp stove, our bellies are eager after a full morning of work. One pot has local pork mixed in and even the non-meat eaters are intrigued. We fill our bowls, and then we fill them again, eating until we can’t eat any more. The teapot goes around with Jon’s black brew; we’ve been hinting that siestas under the walnut trees would be a desirable farm policy, but for now there is plentiful caffeine.
In the afternoon we settle into hand weeding in the garlic patch. Last year we pulled around 16,000 head and this year’s crop may be larger yet. The plants are shaping up nicely, having enjoyed their long winters rest under the earth. We extract quack grass, and smother the lambs quarters before they can root too aggressively. We work across from, and beside one another, moving on hands and knees along the 300-foot rows. These are the jobs — predictably repetitive — that give way to our more philosophical conversations. I tend to think that the mental health of farm workers, at least on this piece of land, is exceptionally good, what with all of the time we have to discuss the small and large matters of life. No topic is off limits. Relationship crises are resolved, business plans are hashed out, politics is debated and a good deal of time is spent rapping about this work that we do: this caring for the land and fostering of clean, healthy food. A lot of us are interested in the long term: how this project and others like it, will unfold in the years to come as land in this county gets more expensive, or is replaced with second homes.
We all have in common that we want to grow safe food with a minimum of dependence on machines. Many of us who work on this farm are artists and cultural creatives. There are several activists, moms, a couple teenagers, a few elders. We could be somewhere else. We could maybe even be making a living wage if we changed fields. But we’d rather be here. We are clear about this. Even with the hardships that this kind of work entails — the early mornings and long days; the unaccommodating weather; the cut worms and squash bugs and corn seed maggots and other critters who come and undermine our work if we are anything but totally vigilant.
When people ask me “what I do” and I tell them I work on an organic farm, it is the rare person who does not make at least a passing comment about “how hard that work must be.” I’m not sure what they mean. Perhaps that it is hard on the body, after all, this work involves using muscles many of us wouldn’t otherwise know we have. Or hard on the psyche, as stress can be high when there is risk of failure: there are so many uncertainties when working with nature. Or hard on the bank account: farming in this century, in this place, means an economic reality that for most farmers is consistently discouraging.
Yes, often what we do can seem really hard. But it is so satisfying too. The light coming up over the east ridge as the dew rises off the perennial beds. Or the way your ear tunes to other living things which have settled this place: song birds mostly, and chickens and barn cats and the occasional snake. The wind. Or the smell of lemon balm or rosemary as we pass along a row of thriving herbs, bushy and adamant.
We eat well and we know others do too because we showed up to take care of those plants, the soil, the water in the well and the bugs who are sometimes a help and sometimes a hindrance. The little community that has formed around this common project does regard the growing of food as an effort of prime importance as we create the world we wish to live in. We like being where we are, surrounded by green living things, and we like with whom we share this occupation: the people who make a stand for open space and for productive land that is not tied to subsidies or industrial agriculture; people who make a stand for a relationship to the earth and food that acknowledges we need to take care of what we do to it, and to ourselves.
Posted by editor at 02:57 PM | Comments (0)
Winners, 2006 Empire Asparagus Festival Poetry Contest
Roadside Stand
By Nora Stone
First prize, Youth Poetry
Driving home after school
we’re tired with end-of-the-week relief
and our stepfather pulls over on Herkner Road
where there is a little table
with a coffee can marked “honor system,”
and he buys two bundles of asparagus,
pert and dripping from a dented pie tin,
and he putts four dollars into the can
and it’s just so nice to be driving home then,
with the windows down and May exploding
into green and white trilliums in the woods,
the asparagus in the back next to my sister
and Hollandaise sauce on our minds,
the radio on,
somehow not quite so tired anymore.
Waiting for Asparagus
By Tom Ulrich
First prize, Adult Poetry
I stand over the bed and imagine you arising
Green and slender, uncurling towards me,
Stretching with the pleasant ache of carbon, newly fixed.
It’s been nearly a year since I’ve seen your face
And a long winter since I’ve tasted anything that astonished me,
The way you always seem to, no matter how you’re dressed.
The iron clouds skid by, hiding the sun in their pockets.
In this cold, flat light my fingers are pallid and numb,
Trembling until your emergence proves everything anew.
I blow into my cupped hands,
And wait for you.
Fashion Jingle
By Mary Ann Chapman
First prize, Light Verse
Introduction
Millie Handysnap’s late-breaking sound bite from the Empire, Michigan fashion scene:
“Two words, my dears. ACCESSORIZE ASPARAGUSWISE!
TRES CHIC. SOOOOO NEW!
Purple, green and elegant too.
Wear asparagus every day.
Wear asparagus every way.
Make a hat
And tasteful cravat,
An asparagus bag;
Start now. Don’t lag.
Circle a wrist.
You can’t resist!
And round your neck,
What the heck!
Fringe your shoes
And pockets, too,
Or favorite jeans
By asparagus means.
Ruffle a gown
And dance through town.
Design yourself a tiny teeny
Asparagus bikini.
Asparagus accessorize every day.
Asparagus accessorize every way.
THEN YOU MAY …
Wear your lunch,
Eat your hat,
Nibble your shoes,
Chew your cravat,
Sample your jeans
And munch, munch, munch!
TRES CHIC. SOOOOO NEW!
Purple, green, deeeeelicious too!”
(To be read to the rhythm of Dr. Seuss’s Fox in Sox!)
Posted by editor at 01:01 PM | Comments (0)
Glen Arbor serves up Ping Pong
By Jane Greiner
Sun contributor
Every Wednesday is Ping Pong Night at the Glen Arbor Town Hall. As soon as Gene Thompson arrives to open the doors, the tables are rolled out and the fun begins. Ping pong lovers of all ages gather for an hour or two of fast and friendly sport.
It’s a casual atmosphere in which everyone gets to play. We play friendly but competitive singles or doubles according to the number of players available. We have all ages — teenagers up through seniors, and both men and women. Everyone gets to play and has a great time.
The program, which started last winter, has gradually attracted players as people learned about it. The Township Board had talked about getting a ping-pong table for the Town Hall and, according to Township Clerk Bonnie Quick, who has served the county for over 20 years, the board decided to go ahead and buy one. As they were making the decision, Fire Chief John DePuy and his wife pledged to buy a second one. Thanks to the Township Board and the DePuys, we now have two sturdy, high-quality ping-pong tables, which are getting a good workout.
Wednesday night ping pong is free and open to all. Anyone who wishes to play can just show up at 7 p.m. There are paddles and balls available so you do not have to bring any equipment. Come on in, pick up the paddle, and see if you can slam and spin like you used to.
Posted by editor at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)
Reprinted: History of the ancient Arbor Light building
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun Editor
This story originally ran in the Glen Arbor Sun on June 28, 2001
Years ago, the booming music and jovial laughter wafting through Glen Arbor on warm Saturday nights didn’t necessarily lead you to Art’s Bar for a cold beer, but rather, across Lake Street to what is now the Arbor Light building, where the Warnes family held weekly town dances above a general store and ice cream parlor.
As Gil Warnes Jr. remembers, the business run by his father Gilbert, Sr. through the 1920s and ‘30s was a virtual community center, visited by not only the Glen Arbor town folk but also folks from surrounding villages and even the Manitou Islands. With horse and buggies, on wooden bicycles, or in the new fad of the time — the automobile — they would frequent the general store to satisfy practical needs: filling up on gasoline or purchasing 16x16-foot ice blocks which were dragged off Lake Michigan in the winter and stored in salt to maintain a low temperature, all before the revolutionizing refrigerator came to Glen Arbor.
Or patrons would satisfy their vices near the (114)-year-old building, and that didn’t always mean stopping for ice cream. During Prohibition, according to Gil, Jr., thirsty men would hide their potent home brew or moonshine inside a hollow oak tree across the street where the Glen Arbor fire hall now sits, while they attended dances. Periodically, the daring men would descend back onto the street and swill to their hearts’ content … if local kids hadn’t already stolen the bottles from a different hole in the tree!
Accessible through a ticket counter on the fourth step of the stairway that still exists on the north side of the Arbor Light building, the dances themselves provided some of the fondest memories for Gil, Jr. and his wife, Elsie, also a local girl, whom he met and kissed for the first time when they starred opposite each other in a play at Maple City-Glen Arbor School. In the play “was the first time we were married,” said Gil, Jr.
Elsie remembers her parents rocking her to sleep and laying her behind the piano as they took part in lively square dances during the happy-go-lucky “roaring twenties” for Glen Arbor.
Even during the week times were jovial. An avid baseball fan, Gilbert, Sr. sat in his store every day smoking cigarettes and listening to the Tigers game on the radio, and relayed the news all over town whenever Hall of Famer Charlie Gehringer cleared the bases with another double up the gap. Where the Cottage Book Shop sits now was a miniature baseball field, and there Gilbert showed many a child how to catch a baseball the correct way, holding one’s mitt up to avoid being hurt.
But fortunes changed for the Arbor Light building in the late ‘30s, strangely mirroring the storm clouds building around the world. Gilbert died in 1939, leaving his 17-year-old son Gil, Jr. and his wife Pearl to fend for the store. The younger Gil attests that he weighed only 109 pounds at the time, yet inherited the responsibility of lifting the huge ice blocks, which were imperative products for the town’s well being in the summer.
The two men did not bear the brunt of the work for long, however, as Gil joined the Air Force in 1941 and served in Europe until the war’s conclusion. He would build and operate what is now (Bear Essentials) on M-22 after returning in 1945. Pearl gave up the business and moved to Detroit around 1942, and what once was the town’s unofficial community center remained closed to the public until Bob and Elna Garthe, teachers at Glen Lake Schools, leased it from John Eichstadt and opened an arts-and-crafts shop. To bring back locals in droves, the Garthes showcased hand-dipping candle exhibitions every Wednesday in the former ice cream parlor until, said Bob, candle dipping just became too labor-intensive.
Woody Stebbens purchased the building in 1985 and sold it a year later to Pat and Karen Watson, who, ever since, have run the gift shop and flower outlet, which the younger generation of locals identifies with the Arbor Light.
Other faces have come and gone: Barb Siepker and her Cottage Book Shop took the place of ice cream and candle shows from 1995-99 before giving way to Ed Bosse and his fine wines. The Glen Lake Artists now operate out of the back wing and co-exist nicely with the Watsons’ gift shop.
Despite all the traffic over the years, the hardwood maple floors built by a Swedish immigrant named Ehle in 1892 are as strong as their creator’s Viking legacy, and though wine tasters and gift samplers occasionally hear mysterious creaks coming from the floorboards above, no one has danced in this building in a long, long time.
Posted by editor at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)