Community Calendar

Two forest stewards bring to life the world of Northern Michigan’s woodland 250 years before -- at the time of the nation’s founding -- and after. Woodland Home: A History Of A Place takes place at the Glen Arbor Arts Center on August 1, 11 am, with Dave Fenlon, Interpretive Park Ranger with Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore; and Mae Wright, Tribal Historic Preservation Officers with the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians. The program is free, and is offered as part of the GAAC’s American Tree exhibit.

The woods and forests of Leelanau County were here before Leelanau County was officially declared a place on the map. They are as iconic as Art’s Bar and the Sleeping Bear Dunes Dune Climb. But like so many familiar things, it’s easy to forget their histories. Fenlon and Wright will explore the woods’ history -- who called them home, what was the life of the forest like before European contact -- and speculate what lies ahead in the next 250 years for these woodlands.

American Tree features the work of 28 visual artists. The exhibit examines the role trees played in the formation of the United States, and the role trees will play moving forward into this nation’s next 250 years. It is on view June 5 - August 13 in the GAAC’s Main Gallery. For more information go to GlenArborArt.org / EXHIBITS.

Join LTC as we dive into our successes of the last year and look toward our exciting future. This year we will host you at the Viewlands to look out over Little Traverse Bay.

4:00pm Hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, and mingling
4:30pm presentations by staff and board
5:30pm optional field trips, see our website for more details

This event is open to the public! Please RSVP using the "ticket" link below.

Members will receive an invitation in the mail. Please call 231.347.0991 for more information or visit our website at www.landtrust.org/events. Address: 995 Hideaway Valley Drive, Harbor Springs

Join us--first thing in the morning--in collaboration with the Grand Traverse County Senior Center Network. We will talk about books, authors, read excerpts, maybe even have an author visit!

This Month's book Off the Beaten Path by Eloise Corvo.

This presentation features Stephen D. Tongue, author of Lanterns & Lifeboats – A History of Thunder Bay Island and takes a deeper look into the “cradle” of Alpena’s history. It is co-hosted with the Thunder Bay Island Lighthouse Preservation Society (TBILPS).

Those who venture to remote Thunder Bay Island today will find remarkable features such as:

- The second oldest lighthouse still standing on Lake Huron
- Remains of a lifesaving station that assisted in the rescue of over 1000 lives
- A coast littered with the remains of numerous shipwrecks
- Limestone rock carvings dating back to the 1800s
- Evidence of a fishing colony that was home to the earliest settlers
- Rare flora and fauna which thrives in the island’s unique “alvar” ecosystem

Steve’s book is for sale in The Sanctuary Store inside the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center. Also, TBILPS will be gifting special anniversary stickers to attendees.

“The Sanctuary Presents” is a monthly community outreach event hosted by Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. They are free, educational, and a great way to get into your sanctuary.

Many are discussing what AI and other advanced technologies may become; few have thought through what we will become. "Generation AI"-those who are born after 2022-will be the first humans to grow up in a world of immersive AI, intelligent robots, and ambiguous boundaries between the born and the made. They will differ fundamentally from us, yet their future is our future too.

Drawing on evolutionary biology, social science, and progress in advanced technologies, renowned scientist-philosopher Gregory Stock offers the most comprehensive analysis yet of how AI will reshape not just our world, but our very nature. "Generation AI: The Transformation of Human Being" is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the profound transformation already underway-and our place within it.

Event Details
Doors open at 6:00 p.m. with live music, and the conversation begins at 7:00 p.m. This event includes a Q&A session and an author signing immediately following in the lobby.

Virtual Tickets are available to view the event live or on-demand.

Thank you to our donors and sponsors!

In 1867, three young orphaned brothers left New York to live with their sister in Adrian, Michigan. They began to sell sewing machines to raise some money, but after stumbling across a large assortment of new musical instruments, they discovered that selling musical instruments was far more successful.

Join us for a look back at the history of the Grinnell Brothers Music House with Hugh Grinnell, great-grandson of Herbert Grinnell who, with his two brothers, founded the company in 1879 in Ann Arbor. The brothers could not envision that their little wooden Ann Arbor store would launch a business that would be headquartered in Detroit by 1895. There, they built what was known as the Grinnell Building at 1515 Woodward Avenue. By 1950, they would become the largest music company in the world with 40 branch stores, including a branch store in Petoskey.

Mr. Grinnell's presentation will include the history of the company along with hundreds of historic photos from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Michigan is home to an amazing array of food and drink brands, each with a fascinating story behind it. Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals like Kellogg’s and Post changed how the world eats, and Gerber first made baby food commercially available. But the Wolverine State is bursting with many other notable edibles, such as Faygo, American Spoon, Jiffy, Sanders and Vernors. Better Made uses Michigan potatoes for its chips. Fudge, pasties and anything made with cherries are also local standards. Others are gone but not forgotten, like Awrey’s and Twin Pines. Authors Gail Offen and Jon Milan explore the history and stories behind all of these and many, many more.

Mills Community House & ZOOM

Join the Benzie Area Historical Society for its August Benzonia Academy Lecture as local historian Andy Bolander examines the impact of Commercial Fishing on Benzie County. From its early presence shipping barrels of fish to Chicago, to the later introduction of salmon into Lake Michigan via the Platte River Fish Hatchery. Fishing tugs, net reels, fish docks, and Frankfort’s waterfront will be discussed.

Andy Bolander is a volunteer researcher with the Benzie Area Historical Society. He enjoys reading old newspapers, looking at cabinet cards, and talking about the old days to whoever will listen.

This presentation is part of the Benzie Area Historical Society’s Benzonia Academy Lecture Series, held on the second Thursday of each month. Admission is by donation, with a recommended $5 donation.

To learn more about the August 13th lecture, visit the Benzie Area Historical Society’s website, benziemuseum.org, Instagram, or Facebook page; call the Museum at (231) 882-5539; or email info@benziemuseum.org.

Emily Umbarger, Sustainability Director and Instructor of Agricultural Sciences at Interlochen Center for the Arts, will discuss the diverse pollinators of Northern Michigan and their essential roles in local ecosystems. Emphasizing native plants, we examine the species that have co-evolved with them revealing intricate relationships shaped over time.

To join by Zoom, join our mailing list to automatically receive Zoom links for all programs. Go to Plantitwild.net.

Like many creatives before her, Ohio artist Rachel Mentzer finds inspiration in the Leelanau Peninsula. During her Glen Arbor Arts Center artist residency Mentzer will look to the “light, textures, and forms of the Sleeping Bear Dunes” to create a series of intaglio collagraph printing plates. Mentzer will describe her process, and show examples of her residential work during a public presentation August 20, 10 am at the GAAC.

“Immersion in the Sleeping Bear Dunes will inspire new technical approaches, expand mytextural vocabulary, and yield a series of plates that informs future printed editions and strengthens my sustainable printmaking practice,” Mentzer said. “While I will not print on-site due to the need for a press, developing these plates in Glen Arbor allows me to push technical boundaries, refine composition, and create a cohesive, light-driven series that fosters growth in
both technique and visual storytelling.”

The GAAC has been hosting visiting artmakers as part of its residency program since the 1990s. For more information about the GAAC’s AIR Program go to GlenArborArt.org /
ARTISTS.