Leelanau.com’s
Top Stories of 2025
With over a quarter of a million views, our top story of 2025 was Leelanau Conservancy’s announcement that they would be acquiring & re-opening long dormant Sugar Loaf. They quickly met their fundraising goal and will begin work this spring to re-open the long shuttered resort as a public natural area! While it was a great year for the Conservancy, they sadly lost one of their founders, Ed Collins.
Our second most popular feature was also the last of the year, a photo by Michigan Nut Photography of the holiday lights in Fishtown.
We went to the archives for our third most popular feature, a look back at the devastating storm of August 2015 as shared in large part by our friends at the Glen Arbor Sun. We now know that the storm was more powerful and more destructive than any other Glen Arbor storm ever recorded with wind speeds as high as 100 mph.
The Sun also broke the 4th most viewed story: the raid on the home of Jeff and Shaleia Divine leaders of the Twin Flames organization in Suttons Bay on July 1st by federal, state and local law enforcement officers.
Closing out our top 5 was the news of the removal of the Lake Michigan Overlook platform on Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The wooden structure was built in 1986 and has provided sweeping views of the coastline from the towering dunes for 50 years of visitors.











