Issuu

/ PLUS: Our Annual Summer Vacation Guide /

0 5 . 20 2 6 INSIDE

Secrets of the Narnia Trail

Health & Wellness

MAY 2O26

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THE HIDDEN PATH TO A SPECTACULAR STRETCH OF U.P. SHORELINE

SPRING FORAGING WITH PUNK-ROCK INSPO LAKE LEELANAU’S COOLEST CAFÉ

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LE GA CY You’ve always been there for them, we help ensure you always will be.

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GRAND RAPIDS

B I R M I N G H A M | T R AV E R S E C I T Y | B AY H A R B O R

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Building legacies from Frankfort to Harbor Springs cottage-company.com 231.526.2537

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We found each other... and we found the perfect ring!

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YOUR SUMMER STARTS HERE. If your idea of the perfect vacation is sugarsand beaches, clear blue waters along 28 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, outdoor adventures, climbing to the top of historic lighthouses, or exploring a charming downtown, Ludington is your destination for Pure Michigan fun. Ludington's unspoiled natural resources offer a quintessential “Up North” experience all within easy reach located at the intersection of U.S. 31 and U.S. 10. No matter what you're seeking - a beach or outdoor adventure, a peaceful getaway, or just a community of friendly faces - you can find it in Pure Ludington.

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Building and Renovating Northern Michigan’s Finest Residences

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features 05.26

DISCOVER MORE ABOUT UP NORTH PEOPLE, PLACES, FOOD AND EVENTS.

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Roots Radical

He left the punk scene for the backwoods of Northern Michigan— where wild foraging became his survival, his calling and a way to guide others back to the land. BY M AT T H E W D U R S U M

P H O T O S BY C O U R T N E Y K E N T

Finding Narnia

Dark forests, nodding wildflowers, a boulder-studded beach— enchantment is everywhere on this fairytale trail. S T O RY A N D P H O T O S BY K I M M E T T L E R

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Blue Mind

After winter’s tumultuous waves, the Lake Michigan shore in May is full of unexpected treasures— including one with a message meant for a mother’s aching heart. BY N A N C Y B A K E R

photo by Kim Mettler

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SPECIAL SECTION:

HEALTH & WELLNESS INSIDE!

2026

SUMMER VACATION GUIDE M AY 2 0 2 6

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Three decades and three generations making one-of-a-kind creations

Serving Northern

Michigan for over 30 years.

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WHEN OUR CLIENTS SPEAK, WE LISTEN. It’s a simple but effective way of helping people reach their financial goals - and it’s a way of doing business that Raymond James has pioneered for more than 50 years. Make your voice count. Partner with one of our financial advisors and get guidance that’s in tune with your life. LIFE WELL PLANNED.

From high above the orchards, these small raptors are helping farmers with food safety.

23 | Travel

A guide to dining and exploring along the Au Sable River.

63 | Culinary North

Cole T. Blades, MBA, CFP®, AIF®, ABFP® Financial Advisor

Jim Stoops, AWMA®, CRPC® First Vice President, Investments

Courtney C. Jackson Complex Business Coordinator

H. Todd Jandreski, CFP® Vice President, Investments

Susan Stepka Registered Client Service Associate

Youker, CFP®, CRPC® Jeff Jennifer K. Pasche, CFA Financial Advisor Senior Vice President, Investments Traverse City Complex Manager Dennis J. Brodeur Vice President, Investments Wealth Management Specialist Trevis E. Gillow Vice President, Investments Wealth Management Specialist Susan Carlyon First Vice President, Investments Wealth Management Specialist Keith Carlyon Senior Vice President, Investments

departments 11 | Editor’s Note 15 | Up North

Jeff K. Pasche, CFA® Senior Vice President, Investments Traverse City Branch Manager

M. Bonaccini JenniferPaul S. Bunker ClientVice Service AssociateInvestments President,

Accredited Asset Management Specialist Tyne Hyslop Financial Advisor Jennifer Youker, CFP®, CRPC® Financial Advisor Eric H. Palo Financial Advisor James Spencer, ChFC, AAMS Associate Vice President, Investments Robert Fenton Financial Advisor

How a tiny Lake Leelanau café has created the perfect hangout, plus a cinnamon roll that steals the show and the perfect recipe to kick off grilling season.

photo by Tim Hussey

72 | Love of the Land

Honoring a beloved educator’s legacy through conservation.

13818 S West Bay Shore Dr • Traverse City, MI 49684 • (231) 946-3650

13818 S West Bay Shore Dr. • Traverse City, MI 49684 (231) 946-3650 • www.raymondjames.com/Traverse-City

Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC. Raymond James® is a registered trademark of Raymond James Financial, Inc.

ON THE COVER

Ancient Silurian limestone on the Narnia Trail Photo by Kim Mettler

Chartered Retirement Plan SpecialistSM, AWMA®, Accredited Wealth Management AdvisorSM; CRPC®, Accredited Asset Management SpecialistSM and AAMS® are trademarks or registered service marks of the College for Financial Planning in the United States and/or other countries. CFP Board owns the marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® (with plaque design) in the U.S.

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Begin here. Go anywhere.

Plan Your Visit

StIgnace.com | 1.800.338.6660

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Traverse

NORTHERN

MICHIGAN A MyNorth Media Publication

Vol. 45 | No. 12

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Cara McDonald S. Nicole Lane Matthew Dursum

PROOFREADER

Caroline Dahlquist

EXECUTIVE EDITOR SENIOR EDITOR

REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS

Allison Jarrell Acosta Lissa Martin Meagan Francis Carly Simpson

ART DIRECTOR

Tim Hussey Theresa Burau-Baehr

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR, SPECIAL SECTIONS

Rachel Watson Lisa Froning

DIRECTOR OF SALES LOCAL SALES DIRECTOR

Michael Assink

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Karley Curtis Sabrina Haskell Stuart Hickman Heather Houdek Carrie Iverson Paul Marek Steve Moss Kathy Netzley Todd Norris

DIRECTOR OF AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT/SUBSCRIPTIONS

Asher Considine

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT EDITOR

Ashlyn Korienek

EDITORIAL & ADVERTISING OFFICES

415 Cass St., Traverse City, MI 49684 Phone: 231-775-3478 | Email: info@mynorth.com

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Visit MyNorth.com/Account to renew your subscription, change your address or review your account. Subscribe to Traverse Northern Michigan at MyNorth.com/Subscribe. Please email other subscription inquiries to info@mynorth.com or call 231-775-3478 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. EST.

Traverse Northern Michigan, (ISSN10713719) is published monthly by Heritage Broadcasting Company of Michigan, 415 Cass St., Traverse City, MI 49684. Periodicals class postage paid at Traverse City, MI 49684 and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Traverse Northern Michigan, 415 Cass St., Traverse City, MI 49684. Advertising rates available upon request. Subscription rate: $39.95 for 12 issues. Single issue price: $6.50. All rights reserved. Copyright 2026, Heritage Broadcasting Company of Michigan. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

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Daily Stories from life up north, delivered straight to your inbox 9 on weekday mornings! M AY 2 0 2 6

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Editor’s Note

THE INTIMACY OF DISTANCE

ately, i’ve been reading the book possession, by A.S. Byatt. At the center is a forgotten correspondence between two Victorian poets that started with a single conversation over gently clinking cups of tea, and sparked a fascination that would upend their lives. This is how it happens: Curiosity. Cautious pen on paper. The surge of relief when a letter arrives in return. A spark without tinder just fizzles out, but the correspondence builds the fire between them. The poets’ letters don’t lean into our culture of “what’s up?” or passing along content—“here’s this baby-goats-in-pajamas video that made me think of you.” Instead, their letters take on a sort of spiraling freefall into each writer’s innermost thoughts. Page by page, they build an interior world of their own. I feel self-conscious even writing about this: Possession is at least 30 years old, so I’m way behind on the pop-culture matrix. And the notion of championing breathless Victorian connection that turns on a glance or a shared bit of poetry seems pretty hopeless in the age of the swipe and click. There’s a collection of letters I have in a hatbox in my guest room closet: stacks of ruled notebook paper, summer letters from my best friends in college bundled in with crackly pages of onion skin and folded blue aerogrammes from the years when I lived in Japan. Back then, the daily sense of missing someone was a sort of tolerable baseline; the antidote became a goal of writing and receiving a letter a day. It not only killed time, but those letters helped me remember that even across the distance, I was known. That’s the analog version. And then came the digital. In folders marked “archive” I have hundreds, maybe thousands of emails chronicling work woes, fussy babies, spring storms and easy roasted-cauliflower recipes. They’re less beautiful than the hatbox, but once in a while, I’ll stumble on one that contains a forgotten dialogue, and in it, a forgotten version

of my life. Thank you notes for visits; marriage advice; photos of toddlers in bathtubs, deer in the yard, turning aspens, the new house “before” photos. Emails yielded to texting, and now we pretty much live in a shorthand world of IDK and BRB and IYKYK—preferably without punctuation, which kills me. I hate texting (TBH). But recently, it yielded an exchange that led from a shy “thank you,” to a “I just watched this movie and it made me think,” to a nightly sharing of thoughts on raising sons, making art, the expansion of life in the face of tragedy. A tunnel forms with one person at either end, and the dark, narrow path echoes with confidences and truth-telling, trust and eventually love. Last summer at a Hear:Say Storytelling event, I heard Nancy Baker’s tale of finding a mysterious glass orb while she was walking the beach and missing her daughter, who’s made a new life far away from Northern Michigan. Nancy’s reflection and remembrance make me think about the space between us. Her story this month is a tiny miracle of symbols and coincidence that make you so glad, so grateful, to hold the hand of someone you love. It takes attentiveness to build connection at a distance, like a searchlight endlessly reaching through the fog. Somehow, we find each other and feel the wonder of being searched for in return. Maybe we really are like Victorian poets—in the distance we fill in the gaps, imagine touch and voice and daily adventures, hold silent conversations with the loved one we miss. We take the quiet moments of the day to spend time together only in our imagination, and that is how we build a place where we can be together. Cara McDonald, Executive Editor cara@mynorth.com

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Up North

local buzz · nostalgic finds · travel inspo

“

Floral aromas, vivid colors and striking shapes take over my senses. — MATTHEW DURSUM, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

EDITORS’ PICKS: OUR BEST DISCOVERIES P. 17

PROTECTORS OF THE CROP P. 19

THE RIVER IS THE REASON P. 23

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Your U.P. Basecamp Wake up by the water, just steps from downtown. Trails, events, and island ferries are all close– St. Ignace makes every moment count.

Start Planning

clockwise: photos courtesy of Peninsula Petals,

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Up North Curiosities

Pick-me Energy

I’ve been Team Sauteed-in-Butter, Team Battered-and-Fried and Team Douse-Them-in-Cream, but lately all about a generous scatter of morels on pizza. The magic is the pairing of earthy, nutty ’shrooms with salty, creamy cheeses, like mozzarella or fontina. Bonus points if seasonal leeks or asparagus share the real estate on top. Where to try? Barrel Back Restaurant in the Village of Walloon Lake, Nittolo’s Little Italy and Seafood in Traverse City, Café Sante in Boyne City and Traverse City Pizza Company food truck all have loyal fanbases for their spring morel pies. Call me Team Load-Up-My-Pizza now. - Cara McDonald, Executive Editor

Beach Ready

EDITORS’ PICKS

The secret discoveries we tell our friends about. clockwise: photos courtesy of Peninsula Petals, Barrel Back Restaurant, Lookabout Swimwear

Flower Power

With late spring and early summer comes one of my favorite guilty pleasures: a trip to Peninsula Petals Roadside Stand, just ten minutes north on Center Road on the Old Mission Peninsula. As soon as I step inside the rustic, farmhouseshaped shed, they hit me—tulips, peonies and colorful summer annuals arranged in beautiful bouquets. Floral aromas, vivid colors and striking shapes take over my senses. My concentration fades, and I’m rendered helpless, drifting through a lucid, pastoral dream. When I finally come to, I snag the best arrangement I can find and drive home to present it to my wife—husband-of-the-year status unlocked. – Matthew Dursum, Associate Editor

Traverse City local Tarra Warnes founded Lookabout Swimwear after drawing inspiration from Northern Michigan’s rivers, lakes and hidden swimming holes. Wade into a river or dip your toes into Lake Michigan— Lookabout keeps you covered in string bikinis, swim shorties, ruched high-waisted bottoms and one-pieces in a range of styles. Warnes crafts each piece sustainably in Brazil using Soul Eco® biodegradable, PETA-certified vegan materials and prints designs that nod to Great Lakes plants and fearless swimmers alike. Slip into your cheeky suit, grab your frisbee and your sunscreen—swimsuit season is right around the corner. - Nicole Lane, Senior Editor M AY 2 0 2 6

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