Kent Wood’s recent column keeps up the relentless attack on our urban neighborhoods, pushing greater density. Hedismisses the obvious problem of parking but does not suggest how additional cars can be accommodated without sacrificing green space or adding impermeable pavement.
Most of these density proposals aim at older neighborhoods with smaller homes and small lots. Nobody dares propose the same density development for the larger suburban lots with vast lawns. I don’t think that modest neighborhoods like mine should bear the burden of housing the employees of those suburban residents.
Chris Campbell | Traverse City
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The Long Memory Project: Farmland
Nonprofit Crosshatch Center for Art & Ecology is the driving force behind The Long Memory Project, an artist residency program designed to “cultivate the passing down of our community’s stories” to help us “understand where we came from, who we are, and what we envision for our future.” The first year, 2018, was focused on Activism and the little-known social and environmental issues of Michigan’s past. The second year, 2024, centered on Pride, featuring stories from our LGBTQ+ community. This year’s theme is Farmland, with “elders who have ties to the state’s farming history” working in collaboration with MSU’s Broad Art Museum’s farmland exhibition. Artists did their residency in summer 2025, and on April 24, The Alluvion in Traverse City will host the opening of the exhibit from 5-8pm. (Entry is free, but registration is required.) Learn more at crosshatch.org/art-meets-earth/long-memory-project.
2 tastemaker GT Pie Company’s Fresh Coast Pie
There’s a new pie on the menu at the Grand Traverse Pie Company. Created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Pure Michigan, the Fresh Coast Pie features tart cherries, Northern Spy apples, and Rubel blueberries. (For those familiar with Pie Co.’s offerings, these are the ingredients in three of their bestsellers: the Grand Traverse Cherry, the Peninsula Apple, and the West Bay Blueberry.) This is one of the signature crumb pies, so you know you’ll be getting plenty of sweet oat crumble topping. And, in place of the bakery’s usual heart at the center, there’s an edible Upper and Lower Peninsula! Get this special this spring and summer at either of their two TC locations (525 West Front Street or 101 N. Park Street) or shop online at gtpie.com.
Community Clothing Swap
Spruce up your wardrobe, reduce waste, and celebrate Earth Day! The Second Annual Earth Day Clothing Swap is held on Earth Day, April 22, at Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City from 11am4pm. But first bring any gently used clothing (teens – adults, no undergarments) to the museum to donate April 17-21 during open hours. On April 22, browse and take home clothing. New this year is also a gear swap held in collaboration with the Grand Traverse Conservation District. Recreation gear (lightly used) will be accepted at the Boardman River Nature Center from April 1-21 during open hours. dennosmuseum.org/events
Hey, read It! Strange Buildings 4
When we meet our enigmatic Author, they’re still basking in the glow of success from their previous book, Strange Houses (which, by the way, is a real international bestseller). With that success, however, comes scads of fan-mail, some of which contains reader requests for Author to investigate even more structural strangeness—specifically, the mysteries, tragedies, and unproven lore surrounding a series of local buildings. Could a dead-end hallway really expose a mother’s ulterior motives? Could a cheap floorplan be to blame for a family’s murder? What sins might a hidden closet contain, and is a young man’s new home in the woods really haunted? Structured as a series of case files, Uketsu’s newest novel, by Jim Rion, slowly unravels the sinister secrets of 11 outwardly-normal Japanese spaces and the terrible truth that connects them all. Propulsive, unique, and delightfully eerie, this labyrinth of a read is a riddle-lover’s paradise.
Ready for a weekend at the theater? Here’s your itinerary: Thursday, April 23, catch the Rivertown Follies on the Cheboygan Opera House stage for their “Follies Flashback,” a sketch comedy musical that “recreates some of the greatest moments of the last 40 years.” (Show at 7:30pm; tickets $20.) Friday, find the Manistee Civic Players taking on Four Old Broads, a comedy set in the fictional Magnolia Place Assisted Living and performed at the Manistee Senior Center. (Show at 7:30pm; tickets $15-$20.) Saturday, Old Town Playhouse puts on The Drowsy Chaperone, a show-within-a-show that parodies your favorite musicals of yore. (Shows at 2pm and 7:30pm; tickets $15-$35.) And on Sunday, head to Interlochen Center for the Arts for Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost performed by Academy students in Harvey Theatre. (Show at 2pm; tickets $19-24.)
Earth Day Planting in LA
Stuff We Love: Violins of Hope
Israeli luthier Amnon Weinstein and his son Avshi are on a mission to restore violins that survived the Holocaust. One of their violins will be on the stage here in northern Michigan with the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra on Saturday, April 25, for their Violins of Hope performance at the Great Lakes Center for the Arts. Per a press release from GLCO, music from the show includes Auerbach’s T’filah (Prayer), Prokofiev’s Overture on Hebrew Themes, Balgley’s Klezmer Concerto, Shostakovich’s String Symphony, and “John Williams’ haunting music from Schindler’s List.” GLCO’s music director, Libor Ondras, adds that “One violin featured in the program survived a concentration camp, and its voice today stands as a powerful symbol of resilience, remembrance, and the enduring human spirit.” A pre-concert lecture starts at 6pm and the concert at 7pm. Visit glcorchestra.org to learn more.
Copemish’s Archangel Ancient Tree Archive is taking their environmental show on the road for Earth Day. On April 22, they’ll partner with 100 at-risk youth from the Los Angeles area to plant hundreds of seedlings cloned from ancient redwoods on the grounds of animal sanctuary Wolf Connection. The goal is to help restore 165 acres that were lost during the 2009 Station Fire that burned for months and remains the largest wildfire in California history. Archangel is a nonprofit that works to “propagate the world’s most important old growth trees” and plant them around the world to combat climate change and deforestation. In LA, Archangel and the students will be planting clones and offspring of the Stag, Waterfall, and Fieldbrook sequoia “champion” trees—some of the largest and oldest trees on the planet. Learn more at ancienttreearchive.org.
Like writer Ernest Hemingway, we’ve also been known to wax poetic about a truly great cocktail—and we could write an entire novel about the First Twenty-Two at Wren in Suttons Bay! Inspired by the first 22 summers of Hemingway’s life spent in northern Michigan, the drink began as a riff on his namesake daiquiri but omits the traditional rum in favor of house coconut-washed Pisco (Peruvian grape brandy) and the nutty-spiced notes of Velvet Falernum liqueur. Shaken with fresh lime and grapefruit juices and a squeeze of scratchmade orange syrup—and in a deliciously herbaceous twist, topped with a few spritzes of Chartreuse Vegetal—this summer sip is bright and citrusy with a subtly-indulgent depth. Your flavor muse awaits at Wren in Suttons Bay (303 N St. Joseph St.). wrensuttonsbay.com
Pictured: The Rivertown Follies at Cheboygan Opera House; photo by Sam Johnson
Pictured: The AATA team climbing a giant sequoia to collect cuttings last summer.
spectator
By Stephen Tuttle
Things here on Earth aren’t so great. We’re at war with Iran, and they seem to have a different understanding of what being “obliterated” means. We’re apparently at least claiming to run Venezuela and are happily stealing their oil by the “millions of barrels” according to our fearless leader, though he would not use the word “stealing.” Instead, he keeps saying, “To the victor goes the spoils” as if we were in the Middle Ages. Plus, we’re threatening
Webb telescope, which is about a million miles above the earth to avoid all light or other forms of interference.
Artemis II was our first trip back to the moon since 1972, our last Apollo mission. People might have forgotten 12 Americans have walked on the moon in six different missions, but nothing since ’72. The old Soviet Union, China, Japan, and India have successfully soft-landed vehicles on
If things don’t improve here at home, zipping off to Mars might not sound like such a bad idea.
Colombia and Cuba, and we’re still looking covetously at Greenland. And of course, the remaining Epstein files are still out there somewhere waiting to be released.
Artemis II and its dash around the moon distracted us for a little while as we claim we’re going to send humans back. Maybe we can use the moon to create some kind of launch platform for a manned Mars mission. Or something.
Space flight is exceedingly difficult and almost bizarrely expensive, but humans are explorers by nature, so go we must. Almost 70 years ago, in 1957, the old Soviet Union started this when they launched Sputnik, the first human-made orbital satellite. It didn’t do much but blink and send back very basic radio signals, but the space race had begun.
We followed just a year later with Explorer, a similarly basic orbiter. The space immediately surrounding Earth has become considerably more crowded since. Eleven different countries have now successfully placed satellites into orbit. The United States Space Command is tasked with keeping track of those 30,000 or so satellites, plus as much as a million pieces of space debris of booster rockets, defunct satellites, discarded parts, human waste (it isn’t stored on the International Space Station), and even a Tesla with a dummy behind the wheel launched by Elon Musk, all the way down to space litter we’ve created only a few centimeters across.
China, Russia, and the U.S. have also all launched dozens of military missions into space, and we have a pretty good handle on how many are up there though not necessarily what they might all do. We’ve all signed a treaty prohibiting space weapons, but it seems likely that has been ignored by everybody who could ignore it.
Elon Musk’s Starlink communications satellite program alone has placed about 10,000 of his little mini satellites into low orbit less than 500 miles above Earth’s surface. At the other extreme is the James
the moon, but only the U.S. has safely put humans on the surface.
The idea now is to somehow use the moon as a staging area for putting humans on Mars. We might want to think long and hard before we commit to this. We have discovered there are negative issues with being in space for long periods of time sufficiently significant that whoever goes to Mars will likely have to stay there forever.
Mars is pretty small, its diameter only about half that of Earth’s. Depending on how and when we choose to get there— Mars orbits the sun elliptically and its distance from Earth varies from 34 million to 250 million miles—it will take seven to 10 months. Those arriving will find gravity at only about 38 percent of what we have here, according to NASA.
That reduced gravity over a long period is a real problem for our human bodies. In the micro-gravity of space travel, we lose about 1-2 percent of our bone density every month. Our heart shrinks and weakens. Without gravity, our body fluids tend to migrate up in our bodies impacting vision, hearing, and digestion. Kidney stones are not uncommon among returning astronauts.
Aside from the gravity issue, astronauts will be exposed to cosmic radiation on Mars, which has neither a strong electromagnetic field nor atmosphere to shield visitors from the sun’s dangerous radiation. That radiation also impairs the human immune system and can even change a person’s DNA. (Yes, some shielding can be constructed to protect from radiation but not easily and not quickly.)
We do not know how, or even if, the human body could readjust to conditions on Earth after any period on Mars. A smaller, weaker heart and compromised immune system would not be good.
If things don’t improve here at home, zipping off to Mars might not sound like such a bad idea. Staying there and starting over has more than a little appeal, too.
THE AFTERMATH OF THE STORM (AGAIN)
From the Editor
By Jillian Manning
As I’m writing this, schools across northern Michigan are closed. Dams have failed, people have been evacuated from their homes, roads are washed out, and other critical infrastructure is in danger of collapse.
I’ve spent more than two-thirds of my life in this area, and I’m hard pressed to think of a decade (and change) that has seen more 100-year storms or historic weather and climate events.
There was the straight-line windstorm of 2015. The high-water levels of 2020. The cherry crop failure of 2021 and subsequent years of struggle. The Gaylord tornado of 2022. The wildfire smoke of 2023. The ice storm of 2025. And now a back-to-back blizzard and flooding rainstorms of March and April 2026.
Those are just off the top of my head; I know we’ve seen plenty more. And while we belowthe-bridge trolls would never presume to be as hearty as our U.P. neighbors, we are usually pretty good at weathering adversity.
But this feels like a lot. It’s a lot on the shoulders of locals who have lost property and livelihoods. It’s a lot on our local governments, which have to scramble to find resources to address these unexpected catastrophes. And it’s a lot on the nonprofits and grassroots movements that try to fill in the gaps when we’re in crisis.
In that lattermost category, I do think we’ve proven ourselves as hardy as any Yooper. Look at the shelters and food stations that appeared in the wake of the ice storm when people were without power for weeks on end. Up in the Petoskey area, the Little Traverse Conservancy saw a surge in volunteers in 2025 because people wanted to lend a hand clearing trails. After the Gaylord tornado, the Otsego Community Foundation raised $1.6 million for relief, response, and recovery efforts.
So let’s start thinking about those three stages and how we’ll tackle them: relief, response, and recovery.
Right now, we’re still in the relief stage. People in our community need access to food, clothing, and shelter. On-the-ground emergent response often comes from local churches, service organizations, and governments. If you need flood-related assistance and don’t know where to start, you can call 211 or text your ZIP code to 898-211 for community resources and safety updates.
If you are safe, then stay informed. In addition to following local news outlets and updates from first responders, you can find alerts, shelter info, news releases, power outage maps, resident resources, and more at michigan.gov/msp/divisions/ emhsd/2026-statewide-flooding.
That website is where you will find more information on state-level disaster relief in the coming days. For example, the Michigan Treasury has already announced that Cheboygan County residents and businesses affected by the flooding can request a tax extension.
You can also do your part by avoiding affected areas. Before getting in the car, check the website and/or social media of your local law enforcement or road commission. At a glance, I saw more than two dozen roads, including some major thoroughfares, closed between Cheboygan and Traverse City.
Once the flood waters recede, then comes response, when we start to plan repairs, raise money, and rebuild. Look to your community foundation and nearby charities to donate dollars or goods, or to volunteer with clean-up. Attend local government meetings to insist we prioritize projects that will help our communities reopen safely. Advocate that we be proactive about future infrastructure issues.
But recovery is the hardest. Within a few days, all of this will be out of the news, supplanted by another emergency somewhere else. Our problems will fade from the minds of the people who aren’t here dealing with them every day just before tourism season arrives with all its attendant pressures.
We have declared local and state emergencies, but that doesn’t mean dollars are instantly funneled toward reconstruction. And as the ice storm has taught us, it can take months and months of lobbying to secure federal aid, if we get it at all.
Disaster recovery is often referred to as a marathon, not a sprint. It is going to take time for us to rebuild our roads and bridges—at least through the summer in the best case scenario. Dams will need serious review between public and private partners. And most importantly, our friends and neighbors will need help today, tomorrow, next week, next month, and beyond.
Let’s do what we’ve been practicing for the last decade and come together in the wake of another devastating storm. We can’t control the weather, but we can control the way we meet this moment with fortitude, generosity, and patience.
The Folded Leaf, a bookstore started in Cedar that moved to TC this spring, is modeling that kind of community response. They’re offering free coffee, tea, and a used book to those directly affected by the flooding, plus free refills for first responders and utility workers. That’s how we provide safe harbor in the storm.
Jillian Manning is a fourth-generation northern Michigan resident and the editor of Northern Express.
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See You Later, Alligator
Anthony Buhl, 56, and March Chadwick, 57, are awaiting arraignment after being charged in Florida for driving with a dead alligator on the roof of their car, The Smoking Gun reported. On April 4, witnesses and license plate readers tracked Buhl and Chadwick as they drove from central Florida to the Atlantic coast with the carcass in plain view. After learning that possession of an alligator is illegal in Florida, the two tourists came up with a solution: They covered the deceased with a white sheet. A Fish and Wildlife Conservation (FWC) commissioner finally caught up to them and pulled them over, but it's unclear whether the pair still had the alligator at that point. The arrest report indicated that they had earlier called the FWC dispatch to inform them they had disposed of the alligator. The report also offered an explanation: Evidently, the duo "admitted taking the roadkill alligator and wanting to take it to a taxidermy office to have it stuffed." They were booked into the Brevard County jail and released after paying a $5,000 bond. They are scheduled to appear in court on April 28. [The Smoking Gun, 4/8/26]
Live, From Cincinnati WKRP is finally coming home to Cincinnati. D.P. McIntire of Raleigh, North Carolina, runs a media nonprofit that has been the proud owner of the call sign WKRP since 2014. McIntire, 56, recalled watching the first episode of the 1978 CBS sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati": "I got up and I proclaimed, 'I'm going to be in radio. And if I ever have the opportunity, I'm going to run a station called WKRP.'" According to The Associated Press, McIntire's local broadcast WKRP-LP -- 101.9 FM -- went live on Nov. 30, 2015, and boasted "irreverent" offerings such as a show called "Weird Al and Friends," and even an annual Thanksgiving turkey giveaway, where McIntire's team gives out gift certificates to a local grocery store -- a nod to the sitcom's famous Turkey Day episode. When McIntire sought bids on the call letters, Cincinnati answered. "I cannot, by contract, tell you when. I cannot tell you who. But I can tell you, direct to the camera, WKRP, after 48 years, is coming to Cincinnati," McIntire said. "It has a special place in the hearts of an awful lot of people, and we have been very, very, very proud to have been a steward of that legacy." [AP, 4/3/26]
In the Mood
In London, younger millennials and older Gen Zers are ditching the dating apps for slide decks. At "Date My Mate," a live dating event hosted by a north London pub, participants create and present PowerPoint slides to pitch their close friends as potential dates for those looking for love, Reuters reported on March 27. Attendees adorn "Date" or "Mate" stickers, and friends boast about their pals. "A bit more about Lauren. She's 30. She's a structural engineer, so even though she will stop walls from falling down, she'll always be there to support you," said one friend. All 150 tickets sold out within minutes, and organizers are already planning additional events. "Date My Mate" comes as satisfaction with dating apps has dropped across the U.K. in recent years. The wine company Nice helped organize the event and hopes to plan as many as one per week across the country. [Reuters, 3/27/26]
Diehard
There are sports fans, and then there are sports fans. Andy Milne, a 62-year-old retired teacher, is set to follow the 2026 World Cup around North America, The Associated Press reported on March 27, just as soon as he sells his second home to do so. Milne currently lives in Thailand and rents out a home in northern England, which he plans to put on the market for the equivalent of $465,000 to fund his World Cup dreams. ÒI definitely want to see the whole tournament. I am going to the U.S. on June 3 and will be there for seven weeks," he said. "So it will cost quite a lot of money.Ó [AP, 3/27/26]
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
KFC isn't just about chicken anymore. The fast-food chain is partnering with BYD, China's electric vehicle company, to place car chargers at its locations across the country, CNBC reported on April 9. The ultra-fast (9-minute) chargers will provide just enough time for drivers to fill up on finger-lickin' chicken and all the fixins. BYD will facilitate the visits with onboard ordering and location displays. KFC is, according to an industry report, China's leading fast-food chain, with 13,000 outlets in 2,500 cities. [CNBC, 4/9/2026]
Unclear on the Concept KABC-TV reported on April 6 that a man at an Orange County, California, gas station sat in his car and refused to leave until he was given $55 in gas. When Irvine Police Department officers arrived, he told them, "I sincerely believe that money as a unit of payment is not real." Police tried to reason with him, but eventually he was placed in handcuffs and taken away. [KABC, 4/6/2026]
Bright Idea
University of British Columbia engineering students have a tradition of placing Volkswagen Beetle shells in unusual locations, The Associated Press reported on April 6. This year's prank involved a Beetle shell precariously perched on a rock face above a highway in Squamish, B.C. Authorities have asked people to avoid the area as they figure out how to secure the old car and lower it to safety. Squamish Mayor Armand Hurford called the area a "sacred place" among the Squamish Nation and said what "may have felt like an innocent prank" has affected hikers and climbers, too. "This is an area that deserves respect, and that wasn't the case here," he said. Officials say the VW will be removed within the week. [AP, 4/6/2026]
The Passing Parade
On March 31 at Tokyo's DisneySea amusement park, Rapunzel's Forest took on the look of Hitchcock's "The Birds," the New York Post reported. As an animatronic Rapunzel leaned out of her tower window, singing merrily, two black ravens started pecking at her head and ripping out strands of hair. Of course, being animatronic, Rapunzel had no idea about the birds ravaging her signature feature, and she continued singing and smiling to onlookers. One commenter said, "I thought the birds were animatronic, too!" Rapunzel was removed from her perch temporarily for repairs. [NY Post, 4/2/2026] DID
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What Happens When Your Dog Gets Ahold of a Weed Gummy?
Vets and pet owners call on the community to be safer with cannabis products
By Art Bukowski
Plenty of people enjoy cannabis, perhaps more than ever now that it’s legal and widely available in Michigan.
But greater accessibility has led to an uptick in dogs or other pets ingesting this psychoactive substance. Local vet offices deal with hundreds of dogs a year that either got into their owner’s stash or ate a gummy (or two) on the trail or beach.
“It truly is a very common toxicity, if not our most common toxicity in the summertime,” says Dr. Karen Seiple, who owns Bay Area Pet Hospital, the region’s only 24/7 emergency veterinarian clinic. “We have multiple cases a day.”
While cannabis poisoning is rarely fatal, it can be very hard on the dog and upsetting for the owner to watch, particularly if they aren’t sure exactly what their pet ate. That’s the case with many owners who seek emergency care.
“The ones where [the owners] know they got into somebody’s bag at the house usually aren’t panicking and calling the vet, even though they probably should,” Seiple says. “The cases we see most commonly are owners who are truly panicked, who think their dog is actively dying, and they have no idea what happened.”
Riley’s Misadventure
Long Lake Township resident Olivia Leyton is one such owner. She and her sister were walking her standard poodle, Riley, at Ransom Lake Natural Area last summer. Not long after the walk, during which Riley
was on a leash, he began acting seriously ill.
“Because we didn’t have a single freaking clue what was going on, we just assumed the worst. We really thought he was dying,” she says. “He was stumbling around and couldn’t stand up, his eyes were dilated, his mouth was hanging open. And he has a history of seizures, so that’s what we thought might be happening.”
They took him to the emergency vet, where a urine test showed THC in Riley’s system.
“Our relief was immense when we found out what it was,” Leyton says. “Not that we were happy about it, but we at least [had some answers].”
They still don’t know exactly where Riley ate the drug, though they are almost positive it was on the trail.
“He obviously ingested something, but nobody even saw him do it,” Leyton says. “And [Ransom Lake] was the only place we had gone that day, and it would not have been on our property because nobody here consumes edibles or weed of any kind.”
Riley made a full recovery, but Leyton remains upset and wants people to be less reckless with their cannabis.
“When people are walking on these trails and they’re eating edibles, I’m assuming they just toss down any bits that they didn’t consume, and then it’s going to be right near the trail where a dog can eat it,” she says. And even if they throw it deep in the woods, “it means wild animals are going to get it and they’re going to suffer…people are so mindless, thoughtless, and careless.”
Treatment and Toxicity
Dr. Jennifer Grindstaff at Long Lake Animal Hospital says her team is no stranger to cannabis toxicity in dogs (the issue is far less common in cats, though it does occur).
Like Seiple, Grindstaff says many people come in having no clue what their dog ate, though the legalization of cannabis has made people who do know far more willing to admit it. This clarifies and speeds up the treatment process by letting the medical staff know exactly what they’re dealing with.
“At least with it being legal, people are more willing to admit it,” Grindstaff says.
“What we used to have to tell people is that we’re not judging, we’re not going to report you, we just want to help your pet.”
While it’s not usually fatal, ingesting cannabis can have serious side effects that require medical attention, Grindstaff says, especially when consumed in large quantities.
“The higher amounts are much more dangerous because when you see that, you can see seizures and that kind of stuff. And it affects their blood pressure and their heart rate, even with smaller doses, which is when it gets a little bit scary,” she says. “So if owners know they got into it or have a suspicion, we always tell them to bring them in.”
Treatment usually involves fluids and time, though severe cases involve more intervention.
“In those types of cases where we can’t get them to vomit, we give them activated charcoal. Activated charcoal will bind to the toxin, and then we hook them up on the IV to help the body flush that through,” Grindstaff
says. “Then while they’re here, of course we’re monitoring their heart rate, their oxygen saturation, their blood pressure.”
(Side note: Never try to induce vomiting in your pet at home, vets say, as it carries considerable risk of complications)
Sobering Up
In some cases, the pets can head some relatively soon after being checked out at the hospital.
“We check their vitals, and as long as their heart rate and their temperature are in a safe place, and we know that marijuana exposure is probable, it’s reasonable to keep those pets in a quiet, safe room at home and let them sober up,” Seiple says.
Grindstaff has seen enough dogs getting into random weed to share Leyton’s frustrations about people who are careless with it.
“I wish people would just take care of their stuff and not discard it in the woods,” she says. “And if you have your pet out, be aware of what your pet is doing, don’t let your pet get too far away from you…make sure you have your eyes on them and you can see what they’re doing at all times.”
Seiple echoes those sentiments.
“Especially with walks on the beach or in areas where people have had campfires, or where there’s been obvious signs of socialization, it’s unfortunately reasonably likely that [dogs] might find remnants of weed to get into,” she says. “I think letting your dog run free on the beach is a great thing in appropriate areas, but it’s a risk. This is something that is commonly left behind and is likely to cause symptoms.”
Dr. Jennifer Grindstaff of Long Lake Animal Hospital
Still green, or running out of steam? It’s a question worth asking about the cannabis market in Michigan in 2026.
On the one hand, Michigan retailers sold more marijuana than ever last year—a combined 7.4 million pounds of flower, edibles, and vapes, according to reports from the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA). December 2025 alone saw retailers move nearly 682,000 pounds of those products, more than any other single month since recreational weed sales became legal in December 2018. If these numbers indicate anything, it’s that consumer demand for cannabis products is still growing.
But all is not well. Despite record demand, 2025 was the first year since recreational weed sales began where revenues actually declined in Michigan. Also on the downward slide is the state’s number of licensed marijuana dispensaries, a clear indicator of industry consolidation. Add a new statewide excise tax many retailers view as an existential threat, and it’s possible the high times are over for Michigan’s marijuana market.
The Math
While 2025 brought record cannabis sales in terms of volume, it was a different story in revenue. Statewide sales last year worked out to $3.17 billion, down a whopping $100 million (3.1 percent) from 2024’s $3.27 billion. It was the first time since adult-use was legalized that marijuana revenues in Michigan went down instead of up.
The number of active cannabis licenses in Michigan is also down. According to the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association (MICIA), there were 2,171 dispensaries in Michigan by the end of last year, a drop of 85 from the year before and “the first yearover-year decrease in active licenses since adult-use sales began.”
These industry declines have been widely credited to nosediving cannabis prices. Based on CRA reports, the average retail price for an ounce of marijuana flower in Michigan dipped nearly 40 percent over a two-year period, from $95.08 in December 2023 to $58.20 in December 2025.
Local sellers don’t see a reversal coming any time soon.
“There’s just a ton of product out there on the market,” says Steve Ezell of Interlochen Alternative Health. “That’s what’s driven the prices down to these exceptionally low levels.”
“There’s a reason a lot of cannabis operators can’t pay their bills,” adds Kelly Young, CEO of the Central Lake-based Torch Cannabis Co. “When the prices of the commodity itself have continued to go down, it only stands to reason that the profits for retailers have gone down, too. Nobody’s making any money at this. Nobody’s been making any money in Michigan for four years.”
The Communities
Dwindling dispensaries and declining revenues aren’t only impacting the people in the cannabis business.
Michigan communities have benefitted from adult-use cannabis thanks to the cut they receive from the state’s 10 percent marijuana excise tax. Each spring, counties and municipalities receive payments based on statewide revenues and how many licensed dispensaries operated within their borders the prior year.
Those numbers are going down as Michigan’s market declines. Case in point: Grand Traverse County will receive a tax revenue payout of $756,239.40 for the 14 active dispensaries it had last year. While still a sizable sum, it’s down 18.8 percent from 2024, when the county pocketed $931,658.56 in marijuana money.
Grand Traverse County has used the cannabis funds to support nonprofits doing work around conservation, housing, disaster relief, and more.
The (New) Tax
When it was passed in 2018, the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act carved out both a 6 percent sales tax and the aforementioned 10 percent excise tax for all adult-use cannabis sales in the state. Last year, though, the Michigan Legislature approved an additional 24 percent wholesale tax on marijuana, projected to generate $420 million for the state’s $1.8 billion road improvement plan. The tax went into effect on January 1.
Daniel Caudill, owner of Olean’s Northport—the lone cannabis dispensary in Leelanau County—was vocal from the start that the new tax could spell the end of the industry in Michigan.
Speaking to Northern Express sister publication The Leelanau Ticker last fall, Caudill said the tax would force him to pay an extra 24 cents for every dollar of product he purchases to stock his store. Only the largest operators in the state, he argued, would be able to absorb that increase. Smaller businesses like his would need to pass the extra cost on to customers, likely driving some of them away.
Fast-forward to April, and Caudill says his fears were justified. “We are definitely down this year from previous years,” he tells the Express.
“I would say the month of January was the slowest month we’ve had since we’ve been open,” Ezell concurs—a notable statement, given that Interlochen Alternative Health is the rare pre-recreational dispensary and has been operating since 2013. “Probably 80-90 percent of the people who came in were complaining about the new taxes. And I don’t blame them. 24 percent, on top of the existing 16 percent taxes, puts us at 40 percent on every product that we sell. The state is trying to drain every dollar they can out of this industry, and in my opinion, it’s just going to encourage the black market [trade of cannabis] again.”
Caudill and Ezell aren’t the only ones seeing tax impacts. Statewide, marijuana sales dipped 16 percent in January compared to December, the largest month-over-month decline since adult-use legalization.
“When you continue to tax one specific area just because it’s a convenient category to tax, eventually it’ll either hurt or kill the business,” Caudill says of that decline.
The Future
Despite these woes, local retailers are optimistically watching a pair of major industry conversations that could change their fortunes.
The first is the rash of legal challenges Michigan’s marijuana sector, led by the MICIA, has brought against the state.
The MICIA holds that the new 24 percent wholesale tax is unconstitutional because it was not written into the ballot initiative Michigan residents approved in 2018 to legalize adult-use cannabis. The association’s primary lawsuit is currently scheduled to go to trial in September, and the verdict has potential to overturn the tax for good.
Dispensaries are also watching the possibility for federal reform, which could reshape the market in profound and transformative ways.
While much of the United States has now legalized cannabis in some fashion—40 states allow medical marijuana, and 24 (plus the District of Columbia) have adultuse laws—it is still technically illegal at the federal level.
In December, though, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Attorney General to “take all necessary steps to complete the rulemaking process related to rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act in the most expeditious manner in accordance with Federal law.”
Marijuana is currently considered a Schedule I substance alongside the likes of heroin, LSD, and ecstasy, denoting “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Schedule III, meanwhile, indicates significantly lower “potential for physical and psychological dependence” and includes substances like ketamine and testosterone.
For her part, Young thinks federal rescheduling of cannabis would be an even bigger win for Michigan’s dispensaries than a reversal of the state’s 24 percent wholesale tax.
“Any kind of reclassification and movement towards federal reform gives us retailers the ability to do tax write-offs,” Young explains. “Right now, if you own a marijuana dispensary, you can’t write off your labor, or your lights, or anything. What rescheduling does is it puts us in the kind of medical category where it’s like we’re selling ketamine. You still have to have your license and your proper approval through the state, but as long as you have that, you are able to move about freely and operate like every other business in this country.”
GOOD BREWS MAKE US HUNGRY
By Geri Dietze
One brewery, two dining options. Silver Spruce Brewing on Eighth St. in Traverse City now hosts Toby’s Dog House food truck (originally started in the U.P.) and is the new home for Two Sons Pizza (previously found at The Coin Slot).
“People have been very eager to try something new with Toby’s Dog House as well as revisit Two Sons Pizza who…already [has] a great reputation in the community,” says Silver Spruce co-founder Leah Tyrell, noting that at least one vendor is always open during taproom hours and that the duo of eateries has increased traffic at the brewery.
Make Every Day a Dog Day
Toby Smith of the eponymous Toby’s Dog House took a circuitous route to Silver Spruce from his longtime home of Florida.
After deciding that he was “too old” for the restaurant grind, Smith earned a
teaching degree in special ed, teaching for two years before moving to Manistique, where his family has roots, to be closer to his mother. When he looked at teacher’s salaries, he realized that he could “do better [selling] hotdogs on the street,” so that is precisely what he did, dealing his product out of an 11-foot refurbished travel trailer.
Before long, Smith had expanded into a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Munising, while garnering a large collection of 5-star reviews on Google. “The business took off,” he says. “I was booming.” Then his sister in Traverse City told him about a Facebook ad looking for a food truck to set up shop at Silver Spruce. “I’ve gotta give this a whirl,” he thought.
Toby’s Dog House opened for business that December, and even though we don’t think of winter as food truck season, it didn’t seem to matter, as Smith is known to sell 150-200 sandwiches a day. “When the sun breaks out, the place is mobbed,” he says. And the location is a plus, with Smith citing
the “fabulous patio” and proximity to the walking and bike trails and the library.
Toby’s Dog House serves Michigan’s Koegel brand hotdogs (on a recommendation from Toby’s grandmother in Flint) and Maxbauer’s brats with about a dozen varieties of toppings and some very clever names. (You can also design your own.)
Try the New Yorkie, with authentic Coney sauce, using a recipe straight from Coney Island, NY, circa 1961, topped with cheddar, onion, and yellow mustard. The Windy City Weiner has sliced tomatoes, relish, onions, and sport peppers, the tangy Chicago staple; the Porky Pug is topped with BBQ pork and grilled onions; and the German Shepherd comes with grilled sauerkraut, grilled onions, and spicy brown mustard. Sports fans will appreciate the Roaring Lion, in honor of the team, with blue cheese crumbles, bacon, and grilled onion.
There’s more, but we can’t forget freshpressed Cuban sandwiches, gyros with
chicken, steak, or traditional lamb, and lobster rolls (currently on special) with lobster purchased from a closely guarded source. Tacos feature chicken, steak, or the Korean Street Tacos with shaved steak or chicken, Korean BBQ sauce, sesame Asian slaw, and pickled cucumbers.
Expect a nice selection of sides and bar bites, and look for new additions for the warmer months.
The Inspired Slice
Steve Tyson and his wife, Jen, of Two Sons Pizza really love pizza, so his move from commercial construction to the purveyor of New York style pie makes this a labor of love with a deep commitment to quality.
Inspired by a pizza-making class during a 2019 trip to Italy, followed by a move to New York City for business, Tyson developed his taste for the authentic NYC slice. The Tysons did their “research” throughout the city’s boroughs, sampling the wide array of choices until finding their favorite—with just the
Toby’s Dog House and Two Sons Pizza serving up American eats at Silver Spruce
right flavor, crust, and heft—at Baker’s Pizza in NYC’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.
When they moved to Traverse City in 2022 to be closer to family, they searched for the same experience, but to no avail, so they decided to create their own. By then, Baker’s Pizza had closed, but the Tysons connected with the former operations manager and pizza chef, Jamie Cacace, who helped them bring New York style pie to Traverse City, first through lengthy Zoom sessions, and then in person when Cacace moved to TC temporarily to help set up shop at The Coin Slot on E. Front St. where they had a great run.
When the lease was up, the Tysons moved Two Sons into the renovated kitchen space inside Silver Spruce Brewing.
The Two Sons recipe is based on fresh, from-scratch ingredients and preparation, including their bromate-free cold-fermented crust. (Bromate is an industrial flour “improver,” and you don’t want it in your pizza, or anything else, for that matter.) Instead, Two Sons lets the mix of flour, salt, water and yeast work its magic the way nature intended, and the cold-ferment process is slower, allowing for a more complex flavor and enhanced texture.
Each pie is hand-stretched, covered with a pound of artisanal mozzarella from Wisconsin’s Grande Cheese Company and then parbaked, because NYC-style pizza, generally sold by the slice, holds up better in the case. Homemade marinara and toppings finish the process, and then the pie is baked again, resulting in a flavorful, textured experience whether you choose the whole 20-inch pie straight out of the oven or a generous slice quickly refired.
The Grand Pepperoni, covered with crispy cup pepperoni, is the big favorite. But there are so many more: Mushroom, Baked Eggplant, Homemade Meatball, Hawaiian, the Graffiti (Two Sons version of the Supreme), and Jamie’s Bianca Pie, with caramelized onion base, fennel paprika sausage, ricotta, and finely chopped parsley.
Keep an eye out for the return of two signature pies: the TC with pulled pork
and the Smokehouse Chicken, currently dependent on accessing a smoker at the new site.
The Tysons are excited to see how the new location plays out across the seasons—a busy day sees 120-180 sales—while at the same time, positioning Two Sons for more growth. They recently opened a store in downtown Grand Rapids, a city they love for its food, entertainment, and culture.
Two Sons also partners with the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy to make a positive impact with its “Eat Pizza Plant Trees” initiative, a nod to Jen Tyson’s background in environmental science and forestry. For every bag of flour purchased by Two Sons, GTRLC plants a tree, currently at 700 plantings.
BEER + FOOD
What’s the secret to pairing brews with food?
“It’s good to make sure the pairings don’t overpower... but rather create a nice balance,” Leah Tyrell of Silver Spruce explains. “We typically recommend something crisp and light to go with pizza and hot dogs, such as our Bohemian Pilsner or New Zealand Pilsner.” She adds, “There is a Silver Spruce Brat on Toby’s menu that has sauerkraut and pairs nicely with the Vienna Lager.”
Along with the regular brewery line-up, patrons can expect a rotating draft list which changes monthly and keeps things interesting: “We [like] to feature a seasonal release like our Irish Lager or Hefeweizen alongside staples like the German Pilsner and at least three wild and sour ales,” says Tyrell.
Visit 439 East Eighth St. (or their second location at 2770 Silver Lake Rd. with food from Francisco’s Market). silversprucebrewing.com
Mother’s Day
Sunday, May 10
Celebrate Mom at Artisan with a spring-inspired three-course brunch or dinner. Book your table today! artisantc.com
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Pantry Visits Continue to Rise
Northern Michigan food pantries face uphill climb in the fight against food insecurity
By Kierstin Gunsberg
While northern Michigan makes headlines as a top foodie destination, the number of locals struggling to access affordable, nutritious meals is simultaneously growing.
According to Feeding America’s 2025 Map the Meal Gap study, food insecurity in Grand Traverse County rose from 10.7 percent of the population in 2021 to 13.5 percent in 2023. In nearby Benzie, the increase was even bigger, climbing from 10.9 percent to 14.7 percent over that same period.
The reasons won’t come as a surprise. Groceries, housing costs, and utilities have all ballooned, while wages have stagnated for a lot of folks, leaving more and more households operating within tight margins.
Last summer, Northern Express spoke with area pantries and nonprofits about how those rapidly rising costs plus changes to food and health benefits under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and the potential resulting coverage loss could widen that “meal gap” (the answer was quite a bit). This spring, we checked back in to find out where they’re seeing the most need and how their communities can help.
Here’s what they said.
Pantry Usage Is on the Rise (Again)
National data may trail by a couple of years, but NoMi leaders say that food insecurity numbers are still rising.
Between the summer of 2024 and summer 2025, pantry programs within the Northwest Food Coalition saw an average 6 percent increase in use, according to coordinator Rachael Cougler. The Coalition—made up of roughly 70 food pantries, emergency meal sites, and baby pantries, including Project Feed the Kids and the Father Fred Foundation—serves Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Leelanau counties.
Across those sites, more than 129,000 meals were distributed last year, along with staple groceries like milk, eggs, bread, and fresh produce.
Some counties are able to cover more ground than others though. Grand Traverse County has over two dozen sites, while more rural areas struggle to stretch their resources across the miles. Over in Kalkaska, the Coalition is finding that with only six member sites in place, the need is quickly outpacing resource availability.
“There are fewer organizations that are having to support both their local communities and surrounding communities,” Cougler explains.
Kalkaska Area Interfaith Resources
(KAIR) is one of them. The organization provides hot meals through its Ladles of Love program, along with help for utilities and other basic needs. Over the past five years, demand for its services has climbed by 44 percent.
Executive Director Cathy Somes saw it coming. Last summer, she told Northern Express that changes to federal programs like SNAP would likely make it harder for families to keep up with everyday costs. Now, Somes says that indeed, “Families have experienced reduced benefits, and in some cases lost benefits altogether.”
Even for those still receiving assistance, higher grocery prices mean those benefits don’t go nearly as far, pushing more households to lean on pantry support to keep food on the table. Likewise, people who’ve never had to rely on assistance in the past are finding it necessary to make ends meet these days.
“Last year we served more people than we have in the past eight years,” says Somes. And based on the steady stream of new families walking through KAIR’s doors in 2026, that demand isn’t letting up anytime soon.
Run by 30 volunteers, The Elk Rapids Community Cupboard Food Pantry in Antrim is another rural site where visits are surging. Operating out of First Presbyterian Church, the pantry serves the Elk Rapids area with both food and personal care
items, delivering groceries when needed and making sure residents without transportation aren’t left out.
Despite serving a small community, “Our usage increased by 76 percent since October 2024,” says President Pam Coleman.
The Challenges Are Getting Bigger
One thing nearly every pantry notes is that their volunteer base (which totals hundreds across the Coalition) is made up of rockstars who go above and beyond to show up for their neighbors in need.
But as usage increases, so does the discovery of new challenges, like the need for interpretative services most pantries aren’t yet set up for, or more frequent furloughs creating sudden jumps in food demand that doesn’t always line up with supply.
Unsurprisingly, this winter was one of the biggest wildcards over the last year, with the barrage of bad weather delaying deliveries, snowing-in volunteers, and making it difficult for people to access food sites. This last March storm, which resulted in the State Police shutting down several roads, forced NMC’s regularly scheduled mobile food pantry, which is open to the entire community, later into the month. When it finally happened, organizer Cathy Warner says the turnout was way higher than expected, bringing 144 households—
totaling 439 individuals, including 185 children—through the line.
“We were out of food with 20 minutes left,” says Warner. “We budget for 75 to 110 families.”
Since November, though, those numbers have consistently come in higher, at more like 140-150 families.
Warner also oversees NMC’s student pantry in the Osterlin building, where she’s seeing more multigenerational families coming through.
“Our students are in the ‘sandwich’ generation, taking care of both their children and parents at the same time,” she says, noting that the most popular items among those busy students are snacks like yogurt, apples, oranges, and Poptarts that can be eaten on the go.
In the future, Warner hopes to expand the mobile pantry’s reach into surrounding counties, including Leelanau. That’s where, just a skip and hop from luxe wineries and seasonal homes, Mary Stanton says yearrounders are finding it harder to make ends meet each year.
As executive director of the nonprofit Leelanau Christian Neighbors, Stanton sees an average of 150 families, many of them newcomers, each week. “We distribute flour, sugar, and oil once a month, and those days tend to be our busiest,” she notes.
Empty Bowls for Full Bellies
If more folks need more food, then it only stands to reason that pantries need more funding to buy that food. The Coalition receives that funding through a mix of private donations and government grants. But with some of the grants they’ve traditionally relied on disappearing over the
last year, monetary donations are becoming even more important.
One way the community can help is by showing up for the Northwest Food Coalition’s annual Empty Bowls fundraiser, set for 11am to 2pm on Sunday, May 3, at Howe Arena inside Traverse City’s Civic Center.
“The goal of the Empty Bowls event is twofold,” says Cougler. First, it raises money.
Each year, the event brings in about $50,000 for The Coalition’s Farm2Neighbor Fund, which buys fresh produce and
protein from local farms for distribution through pantries and meal sites. Ticket sales (which are $29 in advance, $35 at the door, and free for children under 16 with a ticketed adult) plus event sponsorships are “critically important” and make up about 17 percent of the annual funding needed for those purchases.
The second goal is awareness, making sure more people understand just how widespread food insecurity is Up North.
Attendees will get to choose a
handmade bowl created by local artisans to take home and will sample soups from 17 local vendors. There will also be artisan bread, desserts, and beverages provided plus a DJ, photo booth, bowl-making demonstrations, popcorn, and a bazaar full of donated goods to shop. Are you facing food insecurity? Visit Northwestmifoodcoalition.org/food-pantries to find resources near you.
The Empty Bowls fundraiser will be held May 3, 2026.
STEP INTO A BOOTH AT RIVER STREET MARKETPLACE
Inside the buzzing new retail spot in Manistee
By Anna Faller
If you ask Michigan native Robert Gras, a telling marker of a community’s health is the in-person shopping scene.
Even with online retail on the rise, he says, there’s an irreplaceably human factor that comes from seeing and touching a product—maybe even consulting an expert firsthand—prior to making a purchase that helps build and maintain a loyal following.
“If [a business] treats me correctly and has reasonable prices, I’m going to go back to them,” Gras says. “If you can create that, I think that’s something to foster.”
It’s that connective layer of local commerce that Gras and his wife Cheryl are aiming to cultivate in their recentlyopened Manistee mini-mall, River Street Marketplace.
Officially launched in September 2025, the complex—which occupies a multi-lot space whose previous lives include a fiveand-dime and a dentist’s office—is home to an indoor market hall with rentable units for up to 10 vendors (only two of which are yet unclaimed).
As for what you might find while browsing? Handmade goodies galore are a given. Read on for a look inside the shops of three River Street Marketplace vendors!
Crafty Craft Creations – Sharon Tetzlaff
Tucked into one of the market’s two street-facing suites is Crafty Craft Creations. Owned by veteran sewist Sharon Tetzlaff and her husband Bill, aka Doc, the shop, as its name suggests, is home to scads of crafty commodities, from artisan soaps to euchre sets, ornaments, sun catchers, magnets, and more.
The boutique operates on a consignment model, wherein upwards of 35 makers and artisans, the vast majority of whom are Michigan-based, stock Crafty Craft’s shelves with their one-of-a-kind products. About 95 percent of Tetzlaff’s inventory is handmade, she says, with a series of artfully-crocheted dishtowels, laser nightlights, and her own sewing designs (think: aprons, baby bibs,
tote bags, etc.) all topping the list of routine fan-favorites.
As Tetzlaff tells it, her first foray into the creative world came in high school, when she learned to make her own clothes, and later, to sew items for her daughter. Fast-forward several decades and years spent traveling for craft shows, and she and her husband set their sights on pursuing a brick-and-mortar location.
Per Tetzlaff, it was the promise of a busy downtown space coupled with accessible rent that first led her to her shop on River Street.
“I figured I couldn’t go wrong with that!” she says, and so far, reception has been “unreal.” In fact, her street-facing storefront marks an upgrade from her original suite, a smaller, 450-square-foot affair, and with it, a more than 100 percent sales increase from 2024 to 2025.
“This is the best spot in town,” Tetzlaff adds. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else!”
Boutique 1692 – Andrea Hindman
As spiritualist and empath Andrea Hindman notes, the journey towards spiritual wellness can be lonely and even prohibitive for those without a supportive community.
“There was nothing in this area where people could go and talk about that experience,” she says. “I really wanted to build a community and learn from other people.”
It was in that interest, and to source an arsenal of niche supplies, that Hindman opened Boutique 1692.
Named in cheeky homage to the Salem Witch Trials, this metaphysically-driven shop is all about nurturing the positive energy that comes from reconnecting with ourselves and each other. To equip visitors for their various quests, Hindman stocks everything from funky bleach leggings, intention candles and herbs, and essential oils, to the more directed ritual tools of crystal sound bowls, hand-blown spirit balls, and ornate athame blades for directing energy.
There’s also a “farm finds” layer to the space, wherein Hindman sources antique furniture like butcher block tables, buffets, and apothecaries and stocks them with goods, both for display and for sale. Onsite services like tarot readings and candle blessings are also available, and she hints that plans for expanded gatherings might also be on the future docket.
The goal for Hindman is to bolster the area’s small but burgeoning spiritual community—an endeavor that’s so far garnered positive reception—while establishing the boutique as an all-souls shopping hub. This makes for an everchanging inventory, notes Hindman, but that’s half the fun!
“When people walk into the store, I want it to evoke an emotional experience,” she says. “I want them to say [that] it feels good in here.”
The Nautical Nook – Michelle Dunlap
You know that singular sense of joy that comes from spending a day on the water? Artist and crafter Michelle Dunlap does—
in fact, she’s rendering it in driftwood, film, acrylic, and everything in between at her River Street Marketplace boutique, The Nautical Nook.
The daughter of creative parents—“my mother was a crafter and my father was a woodworker,” she says—Dunlap was raised on art and painting before entering the craft show circuit in the 2010s. Since then, she’s dabbled in photography, woodworking, mosaic, garden crafts, and beyond.
“I just fell in love with the lakeside and [using] natural elements to help create my artwork,” she notes.
So it comes as no surprise that The Nautical Nook is laid out like a cozy art gallery. Inside, shoppers can expect to wade through a treasure trove of arty finds, headlined by a driftwood and metal mural of the Manistee North Pier Lighthouse near the entrance. Other maritime merchandise includes hand-made magnets, glass ducks and sailboats, kitschy beach and cabin signs, paintings, prints, and hand-crafted goodies aplenty. As part of her art-centric inventory,
Selections from Boutique 1692.
Dunlap also features a few larger pieces, including whimsical furniture, a giant folkart seagull print inset within a driftwood frame, and—one of her favorite pieces—a beach glass mosaic wave and sailboat creation entitled Breaking Through As for future nautical adventures? With
not quite a year of business under her belt, Dunlap still has shop space to fill, though she anticipates collaborating with the other marketplace vendors will make for short work.
“The shops here are so unique, and we all work well together,” she adds. “It’s been a lot of fun!”
ONE STOP SHOP
While you’re visiting, don’t forget to check out the other five River Street Marketplace shops!
In the retail column, the lineup includes the Frenchinspired Taphouse Boutique, a curated women’s clothing store; She Shed Shenanigans, helmed by Gras’s wife, which offers aromatherapeutic blends, bath products, and custom sublimations; and a recentlysigned wholesale liquidator, whose pallet-based inventory ranges from silverware and holiday décor to power tools and beyond!
Salt City CPA also occupies one of the building’s 10 spaces, as does Aesthetics by Andrea, whose licensed aesthetician services include skin and nail treatments and body waxing.
And the marketplace shows no signs of slowing down! In fact, Gras hints at plans for expansion ranging from basement classes and storage space to solar panel installation, and maybe even a second story.
“We just want to support downtown [Manistee],” he says. “If we can make a living doing something that benefits someone else, that’s the idea behind the building.”
Find River Street Marketplace at 390 River St. in Manistee. (231) 299-1061
The Nautical Nook is home to hundreds of water and boat-themed finds.
Buzzing about the Kingsley Tuba Parade
Local tubists unite for their day
By Ross Boissoneau
If it’s a holiday, there’s a parade somewhere. St. Patrick’s Day, Christmas, the Fourth of July, International Tuba Day—they all feature mirth, merriment, and parades.
Which means that it is almost time once again for the Kingsley Tuba Parade. The brainchild of Kingsley musicians Kevin and Sierra LaRose is entering its third year and will take place Friday, May 1, at 5pm in downtown Kingsley. (That’s the date of International Tuba Day for the uninformed.)
“Kingsley becomes the tuba capital of Michigan for 30 to 40 minutes,” says Sierra with a laugh.
Kingsley Village Manager Charlie Jetter says the parade is an opportunity for the community to gather and celebrate together. “Any time you can get the community involved, it’s great for the village. I’ve heard the numbers continue to go up,” he says, meaning both those participating in the parade and those watching.
Cucumbers & Therapy
Veteran low brass player Kevin LaRose was inspired by an unlikely source: Larry the Cucumber, the Veggie Tales character who played the tuba. Kevin actually started on violin, then moved to cello; his first wind instrument was trumpet, before he switched to tenor sax because of braces. But when he heard the music on the cartoon, he was immediately drawn to the big brassy sound way down low.
The Marshall native first came to northern Michigan to study at Interlochen Arts Academy before earning a Bachelor’s degree in music education and performance from Michigan State University and a Master’s in tuba performance from the Hartt School.
These days he’s well known for playing a variety of low brass instruments in Northern Michigan Brass Band, the Northern LOWER
Brass Quartet, the Encore Winds, Song of the Lakes, and musical theater work for area schools and Old Town Playhouse. He and Sierra also have a folk duo, in which he plays bass and she plays ukulele while they both sing.
And while not a veteran tubist like her husband, Sierra now plays tuba as well. In fact, she’s an enthusiastic convert.
“What I like about it is tuba could be marketed as therapy,” she says. “The act of playing is incredibly therapeutic. The breath work floods the body with oxygen. The low notes resonate through the body. You focus on breathing, your body, posture—I find it to be a really healing experience.”
Celebrations & Sounds
Joel Day first came up with the idea of a holiday celebrating the tuba in 1979 while part of the Lower Merion High School Band outside Philadelphia. One of only two tuba players in his band, he and his fellow tubist didn’t believe that their instruments (and they themselves) got the respect and recognition they deserved from their fellow high school band members. So he decided to set a day aside for the instrument and gain recognition for the tuba and tuba players as reputable musicians.
Day went on to study at Millersville University in Millersville, PA, where he established International Tuba Day celebrations. Since its inception, International Tuba Day has been celebrated throughout the country and around the world, including in Kingsley, where the parade winds around the sidewalks of downtown and ends at Kingsley Local Brewing, which hosts the after-party.
As for the music the musicians play for the International Tuba Day parade? Anything they want. “Historically it’s entirely improvised, based around a B-flat dominant jam,” says Sierra.
Kevin says the B-flat scale is typically the
first one students learn in band class, making it the easiest for anyone to play along with. “B-flat is familiar. They can pick the notes, add rhythmic excitement,” he says.
Participants & Spectators
Everyone is welcome to participate, whether they play tuba or not. The LaRoses lead the way on tubas, but other brass, wind, and percussion players are welcome. Even if you don’t play, you’re welcome as part of the show, carrying flags, carrying signs, or simply carrying on.
If you do want to participate but don’t have an instrument, don’t worry: You can check out instruments at the Kingsley branch of the Traverse Area District Library.
“As librarians, we encourage kids to get involved in activities like the parade,” says Amy Monette, the branch manager. “We have shakers, maracas, tambourines.” (No tubas, unfortunately.)
Monette says she hasn’t participated in past parades herself but counts herself an invested observer. “A parade needs an audience,” she says.
She says the LaRoses are among the most visible and busiest residents of the village. “What Kevin and Sierra won’t tell you is they bring musicality to the village like we haven’t seen before,” she says. “They host the weekly open mic at Kingsley Local Brewing. They manage the Kingsley Farm Market, which features live music,” alongside the offerings of fresh vegetables and produce, bread, meats, fruits, prepared foods, and more.
“The two of them are real powerhouses in Kingsley.”
Jetter says the parade is a boon for Kingsley and a way for the community to come together. “Music is so important,” he says, noting all his children participated in band for at least one semester, with two of them playing throughout their school years.
And it’s even better when it is something as prosaic as a casual parade, celebrating
an instrument so unique that even a cucumber can play it. Jetter’s hope is the parade continues to grow, to the point other participants join in and the parade takes to the street from the sidewalk.
And he doesn’t want to stop there. “I want to bring back the homecoming parade and a light parade in winter,” he says.
Fun Facts about the Tuba
• Tubas come in varying sizes, weighing from a dozen pounds to 50 pounds or more
• The tuba was patented in 1835 by Wiebrecht and Moritz in Germany
• A tuba has between three and six valves
• The tuba is the largest instrument in the brass family
• The original tubas were made of wood, contained holes, and looked a bit like a snake; as a result, these unusual instruments were named serpents
• Tubas exist in a variety of keys. The smallest, an F tuba, has about 12 feet of tubing, while the largest, the Bb tuba, boasts some 18 feet of tubing
• The sousaphone is basically a circular version of the tuba, with the weight carried on the player’s shoulder. It was first created around 1893 at the direction of American bandleader John Philip Sousa
• Tubas replaced the string bass in early jazz bands of the late 1800s to early 1900s to avoid exposing the much more delicate string bass to harsh weather when performing outside
• The tuba is a member of the valved bugle family; other members are the euphonium and the flugelhorn, aka soprano tuba
by Joseph beyer
For those of us who missed the existential human reverberations of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, the recent successful Artemis II mission has brought us a glimmer of that awe to whole new generations.
At the time of Apollo 11, the cinema had just been blown away by the mysterious futuristic depictions of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Perhaps there’s no coincidence that at the time of Artemis II, the cinema has just been reinvigorated in similar fashion by a very different kind of scifi in Project Hail Mary, a fully satisfying ride still playing to solid audiences in theaters and expected to stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video (Amazon Studios produced the film, their most successful opening ever).
Based on Andy Weir's 2021 novel, the film follows Ryland Grace, a man who wakes up on an interstellar spacecraft with no memory of who he is or how he got there (but who managed to pack a dazzling array of Big Lebowski style sweaters on his space journey). As his memory returns in bits and pieces, Grace begins to realize he’s the sole surviving crew member of a oneway suicide mission, hurtling toward a distant star as Earth’s last hope against an extinction-level solar crisis.
It’s a film about the isolation of space, the ingenuity it requires (the title says it all), and—in one of the more genuinely surprising cinematic turns in recent memory—the potential friendship that might await us in that vast universe we still know so little about.
It’s also a delightfully tender comedy, made realistic (if one can call sci-fi that) by the central performances of megastar Ryan Gosling playing the embattled Grace, the genuinely remarkable portrayal of an alien named Rocky, and a supporting ensemble
Spring Cleaning? SHARE THE JOY AND DONATE
of restrained and nuanced performances. Always surprising, actor Gosling here is nerdy, rumpled, and emotionally unguarded. He carries long stretches of screen time alone and pulls you in with a warmth and goofy, self-deprecating charm. Grace’s rapport with his non-human counterpart, Rocky, performed mostly in real-life by famed puppeteer James Ortiz, has such genuine feeling that you’ll almost forget it’s not real. Ortiz’ portrayal was so animated, the filmmakers recruited him to also do the character’s voicework as well.
Sandra Hüller—the German actress who rocketed onto the international scene in 2023 with back-to-back performances in Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest here plays Eva Stratt, the no-nonsense project director who recruits Grace for the mission with a quiet, compelling practicality that displays again why she’s one of the most interesting actors of our time.
In the talented hands of directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (the inventive minds behind The LEGO Movie and SpiderVerse among others), Project Hail Mary shows beautiful timing and rhythm, a love for the characters and premise, and an incredible visual landscape against which anything can, and does, happen in the course of a 2 hour 37 minute epic.
The script comes from screenwriter Drew Goddard, who already proved with The Martian that he knows how to make one scientist’s desperate MacGyver-ing feel thrilling rather than ridiculous (and does it again here). It’s a story of collaboration, curiosity, and the radical idea that two very different creatures can find common ground if they can trust each other. And in multiplexes full of franchise noise and repeats, that’s not just refreshing—it feels almost transformative.
Project Hail Mary
Acme Alpena Cadillac
Charlevoix Cheboygan Gaylord Grayling Petoskey Traverse City
THRIFT AND DONATE ACROSS NORTHERN MICHIGAN
TRAVERSE AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: 2pm, Traverse Area District Library, McGuire Community Room, TC. The goal of the Traverse Area Historical Society is to share local history of TC & the Grand Traverse region. This month’s speaker will be: Marty MacLeod - The Cradle of Traverse City: Slabtown. Free. tadl.org/event/traverse-area-historicalsociety-27847
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS FORUM & NATIONAL WRITERS SERIES PRESENT: AN EVENING WITH AZIZ ABU SARAH & MAOZ INON: 7pm, TC West Senior High School. Featuring “The Future is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land.” GA: $20. tickettailor.com/events/nationalwritersseries/2007728
monday
APPLIED AI & ENTREPRENEURSHIP: BUILDING CONNECTIONS FOR INNOVATION: 10am, NMC, The Hagerty Center, TC. Presented by GVSU’s College of Computing. Join entrepreneurs, business leaders, & community innovators to explore how AI can drive real-world business growth. Seats are limited; register. Free. gvsu.edu/computing/ applied-ai-entrepreneurship-264
BRIGHTLETICS/AGELESS GRACE CHAIR
EXERCISE: 10am, Senior Center, TC. Brightletics founder Lisa George facilitates seated brain/body fitness classes featuring Ageless Grace. Register on site or online. $5. gtcountymi.gov/2165/FitnessExercise
SPRING CAMPUS CLEANUP: 10am-2pm, Inland Seas Education Association campus, Suttons Bay. Help get the ISEA campus ready for students. There will be inside & outside tasks. Includes putting docks in the water, light weeding, preparing the Outdoor Classroom, & organizing bookshelves.
BRIGHTLETICS/AGELESS GRACE PAR-
KINSON’S EDITION: 11am, Senior Center, TC. Brightletics founder Lisa George facilitates a Parkinson’s edition of seated brain/body fitness classes featuring Ageless Grace. Free. gtcountymi.gov/2165/FitnessExercise
WAKING UP THE GARDEN WITH PLANT IT WILD!: 5:30pm, Benzie Shores District Library, Frankfort. Cheryl Gross from Plant It Wild covers the essential first steps to take after a long winter: what to clean up, what to leave, & how to get your soil & beds ready for planting. bsdlibrary.org
tuesday
SPRING PEEPERS PROGRAM: TWIG TO TREE : 10am, Boardman River Nature Center, TC. Follow the journey from tiny twigs to towering trees. For ages 3-5 with an adult. Includes stories, crafts, music & discovery activities. $5/child per session; cash only. natureiscalling.org/preschoolpeepers-program
SHARECARE FOR SENIORS: 1pm, Glen Lake Community Library, Empire. Learn about the many services available to area seniors in this presentation by Dawn Bousamra, executive director of Sharecare of Leelanau. Dawn will describe their various programs, including transportation assistance, home visits, & wellness programming. glenlakelibrary.net
SASHIKO DENIM EMBROIDERY: 3:30pm, Traverse Area District Library, McGuire Community Room, TC. Learn to mend worn-out jeans with the art of Sashiko embroidery. This Japanese fiber art uses simple running stitches to strengthen fraying fabrics & turn old clothing into unique new looks. Taught by Katie Asher, owner of Slip Vintage. Free. tadl.org/event/sashikodenim-embroidery-30248
TCNEWTECH PITCH COMPETITION: INNOVATION CHALLENGE SPECIAL EDITION: 4:30pm, City Opera House, TC. Local nonprofits pitch real-world challenges — particularly in the Blue Tech & water innovation space. Over the course of a fast-paced, multi-day sprint at the NMC Innovation Center, teams of entrepreneurs, students, creatives, & subject matter experts form around those challenges & build brand-new solutions from scratch. The audience votes for the winners. Register. Free. 20fathoms.org/ event/tcnewtech-innovation-challenge-special-edition-during-nmsw
FRIENDS OF THE CADILLAC LIBRARY
MEETING: 5:30pm, Cadillac Wexford Public Library, Cadillac. Join for this monthly meeting. friendsofthecadillaclibrary.wordpress.com
SWEETWATER EVENING GARDEN CLUB
APRIL MEETING: 7pm, Acme Twp. Hall. Speaker Lindsey Lampton from McGough’s Farm and Lawn Supply will talk about their products & services & then have a Q&A session.
wednesday
BIRDING HIKE WITH BRIAN ALLEN: 9am, Arcadia Marsh Nature Preserve. Join the Manistee Audubon chapter for a walk along the universally accessible boardwalk at the Arcadia Marsh Nature Preserve. Volunteer leader Brian Allen will highlight the many bird species including songbirds, shorebirds, wading birds, & raptors that can be viewed from the boardwalk at this time of year. Free. gtrlc. my.salesforce-sites.com/es/event/home/ birdinghike042226
EARTH DAY TREE PLANTING WORKBEE
AT THE NER: 10am-2pm, GT County Natural Education Reserve; meet at Boardman River Nature Center, TC. Help plant native seedlings & plants in the bottomlands of the parkland on the east side of the river to help restore forest & riparian ecosystems. Stop by any time or stay for the whole time Free; register. natureiscalling.org/events
EARTH DAY CLOTHING SWAP: Spruce up your war drobe, reduce waste & celebrate Earth Day! The Second Annual Earth Day Clothing Swap is held on Earth Day – April 22 – at Dennos Museum Center, NMC, TC from 11am-4pm. But first bring any gently used clothing (teens – adults, no undergarments) to the museum to donate between April 17-21 during open hours. On April 22 browse & take home clothing. New this year is also a gear swap held in collaboration with the Grand Traverse Conservation District. Recreation & gear (lightly used) will be accepted at the Boardman River Nature Center from April 1-21 during open hours. Find ‘Earth Day Clothing S wap’ on Facebook for more info. Free.
BUSINESS EXPO & TASTE OF GAYLORD: 3-7pm, The Ellison Place, Gaylord. gaylordchamber.com/events/details/business-expotaste-of-gaylord-2025-13279
Grand Traverse & Kalkaska
CELLAR 152, ELK RAPIDS
4/25 -- John & Madeline PiatekThe Fridays, 5:30-8:30
CHATEAU GRAND TRAVERSE WINERY, TC
4-6:
4/18 – Christina Teresa
4/25 – Reese Keelor
ENCORE 201, TC
4/17-18 & 4/24-25 -- DJ Ricky T, 9
EUGENE'S RECORD CO-OP, TC
4/25 -- Kamikaze Presents: When Worlds Collide! Vol. 4; Hosted by Ben Bradshaw wsg Nick Stafford, 8
IDENTITY BREWING CO., TC
4/21 -- TC Celtic, 6-8
4/23 -- Beyond Trivia!, 7-8:30
KILKENNY'S IRISH PUBLIC HOUSE, TC
9:30:
4/17-18 -- Scarkazm
4/24-25 -- Lucas Paul
KINGSLEY LOCAL BREWING
4/21 -- Open Mic Night, 6-9
4/23 -- Trivia Night w/ Marcus Anderson, 6:30-8:30
LEFT FOOT CHARLEY, TC
4/19 – Ides of April, 1-5
BARREL ROOM:
4/20 -- Open Mic w/ Rob Coonrod, 6-9
MARI VINEYARDS, TC
4/18 -- Jerry Byville, 4-6
MIDDLECOAST BREWING CO., TC
4/22 -- Trivia Night w/ Steveo, 7-9
4/24 -- David Lawston, 6-9
NORTH BAR, TC
4/18 -- Jimmy Olson, 7-10
4/23 -- Drew Hale, 7-10
4/24 -- Christina Teresa, 7-10
4/25 -- Think Pink Party w/ DJ Kavic, 8
OLD MISSION DISTILLING, TC SEVEN HILLS:
4/18 -- Erik Burke & Mark Daisy, 6:30
4/24 -- John & Madeline PiatekThe Fridays, 7-9
4/25 -- Chris Sterr, 6
TC WHISKEY CO. 6-8:
4/18 -- Blair Miller
4/24 -- Rebekah Jon
4/25 -- Jesse Jefferson
THE ALLUVION, TC 4/18 -- Anthony Stanco “In The Groove - Live At The Alluvion” Album Release, 7:30
4/20 -- Big Fun - Funky Fun Mondays, 6-8:30
4/21 -- May Erlewine w/Packy
Lundholm: SOLD OUT, 7:30-9
4/23 -- The Jeff Haas Trio feat. Laurie Sears + Lisa Flahive, 6-8:30
4/25 -- rivereye - Album Release by Max Lockwood, 7:30-10
4/26 -- The Alluvion Big Band, 3-5
THE HAYLOFT INN, TC
7:30-11:
4/18 -- Empire Highway
Antrim & Charlevoix
4/24-25 – Off Duty
THE PARLOR, TC
4/18 -- Loren Kranz, 9
4/19 -- Music Bingo, 7-10
4/21 -- Jesse Jefferson, 8-11
4/22 -- Rob Coonrod, 8-11
4/23 -- Jimmy Olson, 8-11
4/24 -- Jim Hawley, 9
4/25 -- Rhett DuCouer, 9 4/26 -- Music Bingo w/ MC Steezy, 7-10
THE PUB, TC
4/18 -- Jeff Linsell, 7-10; DJ Producer AJ, 10-11
4/19 & 4/26 -- Kids Karaoke w/ DJ Shawny T, 3-6
4/20 -- Karaoke, 8-11
4/22 -- Zeke Clemons, 7-11
4/24 -- DJ Vai, 10-11:30 4/25 -- DJ Producer AJ, 10-11
TURTLE CREEK CASINO, WILLIAMSBURG
WATERFALL:
4/25 -- Red Corvette - A Prince Tribute Band, 8
THE WORKSHOP BREWING CO., TC
4/20 -- USS Comedy Open Mic, 8-9:30 4/21 -- Open Mic w/ Zak Bunce, 6-9
4/22 – Straight Forward Bluegrass Jam, 6-9; DJ Bingo, 7-8:30 4/23 – DJ Trivia, 7-9
4/26 – Full Tilt Comedy – Comedy Mixtape, 6-8
Emmet & Cheboygan
BEARDS BREWERY, ROOT CELLAR, PETOSKEY
4/18 -- Synthetic + Darkwave + Post-Punk + Goth + Industrial w/ DJ Franck & DJ Yakob, 8
BOYNE VALLEY VINEYARDS, PETOSKEY
2-6:
4/18 -- Chris Calleja
4/25 -- Michelle Chenard
BRANDY'S HARBORTOWN, BAY HARBOR
5-8:
4/18 -- Derek Boik
4/24 -- Chris Calleja
4/25 -- Ricky Hill
BC LANES, BOYNE CITY
4/18 – Yankee Station, 8
BOYNE CITY TAPROOM
4/23 -- Adam & The Cabana Boys, 7
BOYNE RIVER INN, BOYNE CITY
4/23 -- Nelson Olstrom, 7
CAFE SANTÉ, BOYNE CITY
4/20 -- The Shifties, 6-9
CASTLE FARMS, CHARLEVOIX
4/25 -- The Hazel James Band with Chris Calleja, 5
THE CASTLE PUB:
4/22 -- Singo, 6-8
4/24 -- Michelle Keyboard, 7-9
ETHANOLOGY DISTILLATION, ELK RAPIDS
4/25 -- Blair Miller, 7-10
MUSKRAT DISTILLING, BOYNE CITY
4/18 -- Seasonal Road, 8-11
4/22 -- Karaoke Night, 8-11
4/25 -- Emo Karaoke Night, 9
SHORT'S PUB, BELLAIRE
4/22 -- Open Mic Night, 6-8
4/23 -- Trivia w/ DJ Trivia, 6-8
4/25 -- 22nd Anni Party w/ Braxton Hicks & The Contractions, Outbound Packard, Delilah DeWylde, Kelly Quinn Blues Experience & More!, 11am-11pm
SHORT'S PULL BARN, ELK RAPIDS
4/24 -- Grass River Natural Area Trivia, 6
TORCH LAKE CAFE, CENTRAL LAKE Thu -- Nick Vasquez, 6 Fri. & Sat. -- Leanna Collins & Ivan Greilick, 7
BOATHOUSE VINEYARDS, LAKE LEELANAU
TASTING ROOM:
4/24 -- Embraceable2, 5:30-8
CEDAR TAVERN
4/25 -- Jim Hawley, 8-11
FIVE SHORES BREWING, BEULAH
6-8:
4/20 -- Monday Music Trivia 4/23 -- Trivia Thursdays
FRENCH VALLEY VINEYARD, CEDAR
4/23 -- Jesse Jefferson, 3
CITY PARK GRILL, PETOSKEY
4/21 -- Trivia Night, 7-9
4/23 -- 5th Annual Hopfest, 6-8
4/24 -- Annex Karaoke, 9:30
4/25 -- Cabaret Singers, 7:30-9
NOGGIN ROOM PUB, PETOSKEY
4/18 -- Sydni K, 7-10
4/20 -- Quiz Runners Trivia, 6-8
4/22 -- Singo Bingo (Modern Pop), 6:30
4/24 -- Mike Ridley, 7-10
4/25 -- Brian McCosky, 7-10
NORTHERN LIGHTS RECREATION, HARBOR SPRINGS
4/23 -- Trivia, 6:30
4/24 -- Michelle Chenard, 5:308:30
Leelanau & Benzie
IRON FISH DISTILLERY, THOMPSONVILLE
5:30-7:30: 4/18 – Alex Teller 4/24 – Tali Snowden
4/25 -- Cheryl Wolfram
LAKE ANN BREWING CO.
4/18 -- The Dune Brothers, 6:309:30
4/22 -- Open Mic Night Hosted by Johnathon North, 6:30-9:30
SEWING, ALTERATIONS, MENDING & REPAIRS. Maple City, Maralene Roush 231228-6248
NUEVA’s LAWN CARE, DOCKS, AUTO DETAILING, ETC: Lawn Care $40+/hr, Docks $400+, Auto Detailing $80+ Call 231-499-3822 FREE QUOTE
FREE WEEKLY ORIGINAL HOT YOGA COMMUNITY CLASS: EVERY WED. @ 7:30PM - 845 S. GARFIELD AVE. ORIGINALHOTYOGATC.COM 231-392-4798
NIGHTLY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY STAYS NEAR TC!: “The Suites” Turnkey Homes & Motel. Travelers/Construction crews 231-633-5464
HELP WANTED - PROJECT BUDGETING / ESTIMATING / JOB COSTING A mini golf design/build firm is seeking a detail-oriented and experienced Project Budgeting/Job Costing Specialist to join our growing team. Responsibilities include: Working with detailed Excel-based budget sheets, soliciting and reviewing bids from suppliers, coordinating with team members to review and refine cost estimates, and more. Must have experience in project budgeting, estimating, and job costing, proficient in Excel and Microsoft programs. Ability to communicate effectively. Full-time, in office with benefits.
VETERAN
LUNCH AND LEARN
FRIDAY, MAY 8 11:30AM-1PM THURSDAY, JULY 16 11:30AM-1PM THURSDAY, AUGUST 20 11:30AM-1PM
|
00000 Parcel B Bluff Road | $775,000
Rare 2.5-acre parcel with 200’ of private frontage on East Grand Traverse Bay, nestled among mature hardwoods on Old Mission Peninsula. A beautiful, gently wooded setting offers privacy and the perfect canvas for a dream home or Up North retreat. Just minutes from Old Mission School, the library, and renowned wineries, and under 20 minutes to downtown Traverse City.
793 West Long Lake Road | $695,000 10 ACRES
Impeccably maintained 4-bedroom, 2-bath ranch on 10 wooded acres just 20 minutes from downtown Traverse City. With over 2,700 sq ft, a cozy gas fireplace, finished lower level, and bonus space, it’s ideal for comfortable living and entertaining. Enjoy a new composite deck, oversized garage, and a secondary garage with a 960 sq ft workshop. Landscaped with underground sprinklers and generator hookup, plus easy access to trails, state land, and nearby lakes, all just 5 minutes from Westwoods Elementary.
