LITTLE TRAVERSE’S MUST-DO DOZEN By Lynda Wheatley Summer fades fast in northern Michigan, but there’s one way to make it last: Outrun it. With the 45th Parallel as your starting line, and the woods, waters, and iconic attractions to the north as your course, you can fill what remains of these long but fleeting summer days with the kind of true north fun that makes you feel you’ve seized every second. On your mark, get set, explore … Fancy a Chukka, ol’ Chap? Bliss Polo Club, Bliss For the second year in a row, the rolling hills of Bliss Township are sans the sound of music from one of the state’s most beloved summer music festivals, Blissfest. But those gorgeous hills are alive with yet another brilliant tradition: The Bliss Polo Club. Drawing significantly smaller but no less lively crowds, the lesser-known Bliss Polo Club ranks equally high in its ability to transform first-time viewers into passionate annual devotees. Credit the stunning landscape and the athletic symphony of man, beast, and sport that play upon it, then saddle up to see the show: A surprise July 4 announcement revealed the club’s summer season is on and open to the public. You can catch the next matches 11am Wednesday, July 14; 11am and 1pm Friday, July 16; and 1pm and 3pm Sunday, July 18. For more, search “Bliss Polo Club” on Facebook. Find the pitch at 9000 Pleasantview Rd., off Sturgeon Bay Trail. Dine Like Papa Horton Bay General Store The cottage on Walloon Lake where
writer Ernest Hemingway spent many a childhood summer is off limits to fans of the author (fun fact: it’s still owned by ancestors of the family), but those craving a glimpse of the old Up North that Hemingway chronicled in his “Nick Adams” stories can see and feel it inside The Horton Bay General Store. Listed as one of the top ten Hemingway haunts in the U.S., the iconic structure has housed a general store since it wasa built in 1876. Hemingway never referred to it by name but makes mention of a Horton Bay general store in two of his novels, and his connection to it isn’t slight; he and his first wife, Hadley Richardson, held their reception here after marrying in 1921 at the Methodist church (no longer standing) across the road. Improvements have been made in the last 145 years — steel replaced the old rotten wood supports, the upstairs living quarters are now a B&B, a small deli replaced the grocery items — but the current (and 28th!) owners have taken pains to reclaim the store’s unique charm, keeping intact its original yellow pine floors, detailed woodwork, many antiques, and a vintage soda fountain that still serves up authentic malteds. Appropriately, an entire wall is dedicated to its most famous customer. (231) 582-7827, www. hortonbaygeneralstore.com Toast the Arts Dart for Art & Crooked Tree Arts Center, Petoskey Born in a basement in 1971 and moved into the 1890-built United Methodist Church in Petoskey in 1978, the original arm of Crooked Tree Arts Center is a hive
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of inspiration, awe, and creativity. Credit its ever-growing buzz to its sweet offerings: four galleries —all free and open to the public for viewing — an elegant theater, dance studio, classrooms, culinary arts kitchen, and more community events than you can shake a stick at … or throw a dart. Which happens to be one of the best opportunities to support the 50-year-old organization and, bonus: It's happening this week. And as of press time, tickets are still available to the preview night of CTAC’s annual Dart for Art fundraiser, Wednesday, July 14, at LOCAL in downtown Bay Harbor. While enjoying heavy apps, wine, beer, and live music, art-loving attendees will have the chance to mix and mingle with the artists behind the 150 pieces of original artwork featured in the Dart for Art gallery — paintings, photography, jewelry, ceramics, sculpture, glasswork, and more. Can’t make it? You can catch “Beneath the Moon and Under the Sun,” the solo show of Dart featured artist, Heidi A. Marshall, and “Past is Present” a retrospective of featured artists from past Darts at CTAC in Petoskey until Sept. 4, as well as several other online and in-person exhibits, lectures, coffee talks, musical performances, and classes (art, ballet, cooking, and more) for kids and adults. Start at www.crookedtree.org
Put Some Skin in the Game Odawa Casino Resort Petoskey Got a good feeling about Conor McGregor? Put your money where his mouth is. Inside the Sportsbook Lounge at Petoskey’s Odawa Casino Resort, you can drop a straight bet, parlay, future, teaser, and more on your favorite (or underdog) MMA master, boxer, golfer, or racecar driver; football, baseball, soccer, or
Clockwise from left: Bliss Polo Club, Horton Bay General Store, Crooked Tree Arts Center Petoskey, an Earl Young home, Odawa Casino Resort Petoskey
hockey team; and plenty more games and sports. Don’t know a money line from a point spread? Brush up on the basic terms and sport-by-sport explanations at www. odawacasino.com/casino/sports_betting. php (the How to Bet link delivers great examples), but don’t be shy to ask the lounge’s on-site experts; they’re far less intimidating than McGregor and won’t call you a fecking eejit … unless maybe you bet on the Lions making the Superbowl this year. Cruise the Hobbit Houses Earl Young Architecture Tours, Charlevoix Mancelona-born and Charlevoixraised Earl Young had a thing for the rocks and boulders left by the glaciers that long ago crept across the land that would become Michigan. He also had a thing for Frank Lloyd Wright’s philosophy: Architecture should fit, not interrupt, its landscape. Nearly 10 years after dropping out of the University of Michigan’s architecture program (following just one year of study), Young began building and designing homes made almost entirely of stone in Charlevoix. Over the next 50plus years, he would use native rocks and boulders, earthy green and white mortars, and native wood to build 30 homes and businesses in his own unique style. Often referred to as “mushroom houses” or “gnome homes” because of their squat bearing, undulating roofs, curling eaves, and sprouted-from-the-earth appearance, many of Earl Young’s creations still stand in Charlevoix’s neighborhoods, and there are
