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Copyright 2012, Leelanau Enterprise, Inc., all rights reserved.
Vol. 135 — No. 39
Lake Leelanau, Michigan 49653
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Four Sections
72 Pages
USA celebrates 236 years; it’s 25 for kazoo band
C A L E B BURNS, a second m a t e aboard the schooner Manitou based in Greilickville Harbor, mounts Old Glory on the boom of the tall ship.
By Amy Hubbell of the Enterprise staff
Mimi Gass has 50 new kazoos — two for each year the Glen Arbor Kazoo Band has participated in the Glen Arbor Fourth of July parade. “We thought the parade needed a musical group so my sister, mom and I invited our neighbors to meet at Old Settlers Picnic Grounds to practice,” Gass said. “We were the only Peninsula ones who showed up.” The band, which numbered abuzz about 15 that year, has grown to with an estimated 70 and there’s room for more. It will be part of patriotic another star-spangled Fourth of activity July celebration on tap across the Leelanau Peninsula. “I bought 50 new kazoos to mark the anniversary,” Gass said. The “Anything Goes” parade in Glen Arbor is one in a long list of activities making Leelanau County the place to be on the 236th anniversary of the founding of the United States. Whether you’re a patriot or a party-goer there’s something for everyone leading up to and on the mid-week holiday. Festivities begin Sunday morning with the (Concluded on Page 19)
County’s only state or federal candidate moves Leelanau County now lacks a candidate in any state or federal race, although Derek Bailey has supporters — and former neighbors — in Leelanau County. In one of three developments in the race for the 104th district in the State House, the former tribal chair of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians filed his paperwork as a resident of Benzie County, not Leelanau. “Historically, that’s where the Baileys are from,” said Derek Bailey, in explaining his family’s move from Bingham Township to Honor. His great grandfather, Leo H. Stacey, started the (Concluded on Page 19)
INSIDE
Kids Fishing Event Sec. 2
In Section 2:
✓ Elmwood native's cherry art, Pg. 1 ✓ Hansen Pathfinder head, Pg. 5 ✓ Npt. to appoint clerk/treasurer, Pg. 6
In Section 3:
✓ Classified ads
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Busy Fourth of July planned; hold onto your paper You’ll find this a larger edition of the Leelanau Enterprise full of information about the Fourth of July — which is good, because it will need to last an extra day. Because the Fourth falls on a Wednesday, we’ll go to press with the July 5 edition of the Enterprise a day late. Presses will start to turn next Thursday
afternoon, making newspapers available that late afternoon and evening. Local subscribers will receive the paper with their Friday mail. The extra day will allow us to provide coverage of Fourth of July events by the following day. We hope this week’s edition, all 72 pages, will keep readers busy until then. You’ll find a 16-page
Diversions section completely devoted to Fourth of July activities and themes, right down to a story about local teachers’ favorite signers of the Declaration of Independence. We’ve even included a full page copy of the Declaration for your review.
Still tops in cherries But number of farms, acres fall By Amy Hubbell of the Enterprise staff
BLACK SWEET cherries are going for between $5 and $8 a quart, about double that of a usual year due to a shortage of fruit.
the most we’ll have is 200 to 300 pounds,” Bakker said. Cause of the nearly non-existent crop is topsyturvy weather that hastened the development of fruit, resulting in blooms more than five weeks ahead of schedule. The early end to dormancy opened up dark sweets and all other fruit crops to weeks of frost damage. In addition, those blossoms that were able to withstand freezing temperatures were affected by a lack of pollination. Bees don’t like to work in cold or windy conditions. The Michigan Department of Agriculture is expected to release its cherry estimate today. However, some have suggested state growers lost about 80 percent of the sweet cherry crop this spring. Jim Bardenhagen, farmer and retired Michigan
Leelanau County still leads the state in the number of farms and acres in cherry production. That’s the good news. A just-released survey found that the county is down 400 acres in tart and sweet cherry orchards, and lost several farms over a five-year period. The trend, the survey shows, has been to fewer farms with more acres in cherry orchards. The Leelanau peninsula remains home to 11,250 acres of sweets and tarts, respectively — tops in sweets by a large margin and second in tarts. The only county Leelanau with more land in tarts is Oceana with 7,900 acres. still grows The next highest tallies are 1,500 acres of more sweets and 4,400 in cherries tarts, both in Grand Traverse County. than other The 2011 Michigan Fruit Inventory comcounties piled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service and the Michigan Department of Agriculture was released this week. In general, the survey turned up a slight decline in the number of acres planted in cherries across the state, but revealed a drop in the number of cherry farms.
(Concluded on Page 19)
(Concluded on Page 19)
Despite sting from high prices, cherries are selling The good news is there will be local sweet cherries available for the National Cherry Festival, which begins next week in Traverse City. The bad news: Consumers will pay from $5 to $8 a quart for the fruit. Harvest has begun for the few black sweets that survived a series of spring frosts. “I’ve picked a few for the farmer’s markets … but not many,” said Alan Bakker of Bakker’s Acres of East Leland. “They’re just not there.” Frost Bakker picked a few decimated Caveliers this week, an early variety of dark sweets crop, but ,and expects to harvest a some local few Ulsters for the fresh market, but no where near sweets the typical volume of fruit. “We’d usually have sevsurvived eral thousand pounds and