This Week in Leelanau: March 17, 2011

News, weather, sports, events – it’s in there!

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day we’re featuring a little summertime green!

Sleeping Bear in Film

This week we featured not one but two Sleeping Bear films. One is a full-length dramatic feature that is seeking funding through Kickstarter.

The other is a short film you can view online titled Sleeping Bear that received three Michigan Film awards: Best Experimental Film, Best Editing for director Jack Cronin and Best Michigan Short Film.

Click the links for trailers!

Regional Basketball Update

Leland rolled captured the Class D District title by defeating St. Mary 55-41 and beat Bellaire in the regional opener. Last night Leland’s season ended with a 55-43 loss to Manistee Catholic Central in the Regional final. Congratulations on a great season Comets!

Sugar Loaf discussion continued to be productive most of the week until the Grumpy Bunch rode into town, insults blazing. More on our Sugar Loaf blog – check them out.

Sip & Savor wine tour and more at the Leelanau Wine Trail Website!

Last week we reported that Northern Lights activity was expected to be on the upswing and it certainly didn’t take long for them to be seen in Michigan. UP Photographer Shawn Malone caught some great aurora images late last week – click over to Michigan in Pictures to see them!

March Madness blasts off tonight and Michigan has not one but THREE teams in the tourney: Michigan, Michigan State and Oakland! Click to Absolute Michigan for all the info and some great videos to get you in the spirit!

If you have a Michigan business, you can add your link for free to Michigan’s largest site for Michigan news & links, absolutemichigan.com!

The photo this week is Blue Sky after the Rain by cedarkayak. Todd writes After a night of torrential rain on North Manitou Island, we awoke on Day 2 of our backpacking trip to a blue sky. In the village, the abandoned Monte Carlo cottage can be seen on the right.. See it background big and in his North & South Manitou Islands slideshow.

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The Leelanau Calendar

If you’ve got a Leelanau event, you can add your information (for free) to the Leelanau Calendar. Not only will it be listed in this newsletter every week, but we may do a feature story on your event on Leelanau.com!

FEATURED EVENT
Benzie County Water Festival ~ March 18-19, 2011
The First Annual Benzie County Water Festival is a community water celebration that takes place this weekend (March 18-19) in Frankfort. A family-oriented, community-centered program will feature Michigan musicians, speeches from water luminaries (including Tom Kelly of Inland Seas Education Association and GTB Tribal Chairman Derek Bailey), interactive multimedia projects and presentations and much, much more.
Read more and see some great videos right here!

Suttons Bay Schools presents You’re A Good Man, Charlie BrownSuttons Bay invites you to their musical based on the Comic Strip “Peanuts” by Charles M. Schultz. Performances are Friday, March 18th and Saturday, March 19th at 7 PM and Sunday, March 20th at 2 PM in the Suttons Bay High School Auditorium.

Tickets are $10 adults, $8 students in the high school office and at the door and you can call 231-271-8600 for info!

MORE EVENTS FROM THE LEELANAU CALENDAR

Mar 17 – O’mena St. Patrick’s Day Parade (Northport Omena Chamber of Commerce)
Mar 18 – Talk a
bout Art (Glen Arbor Art Association)
Mar 19 – Spring Rendezvous for Sailors (Quantum Sail Design Group)
Mar 19 – Northport Follies (Northport Promise)
Mar 19 – Recycled Art with Jeanne Hinds (GTCD)
Mar 20 – Detroit Chamber WInds & Strings (Huntington/Opera House)
Mar 22 – PEEPERS – Here Comes Peter Cottontail (GTCD)
Mar 22 – Wetland Protection & Restoration Workshop (Leelanau Clean Water)
Mar 26 – Basic Tree and Shrub Planting (GTCD)
Mar 31 – Flora Hoffman – Talk About Art (Glen Arbor Art Association)
Apr 5 – River North Chicago Dance Company (City Opera House)
Apr 7 – Arthritis Foundation TAI CHI Class (Glen Arbor Athletic Club)
Apr 16 – Charity Garage Sale (Women’s Resource Center)

Advertise on Leelanau.com – call us at 421-1172!

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Did we mention you could add your events forfree? Get busy folks!

Ethnic Nights at the Bluebird in Leland happen every week on Wednesday & Thursday nights. Tonight you can enjoy New Orleans featuring Blackened Strip Steak, Crawfish Carbonara, Bourbon Maple Spiked Shrimp and Oyster on the Half Shell and next week is Italian!

Now Playing at the Bay Theater in Suttons Bay: The Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon & Emily Blunt (PG-13) ends tonight. Starting Friday is 127 Hours (R) starring James Franco. March 20-22, the Bay Film Series brings Waste Land (Check out the web site – looks amazing!. Mid-Week Specials are available!! Tuesdays – Free Popcorn (one medium corn with ticket purchase), Wednesdays – $5.50 for all seats (Specials are not valid for special events or film series). Bay Theatre Gift Certificates: ‘Say it with a Movie’ gift certificates provide a memorable and enjoyable experience all year ’round. Check the web site for details!

The Weather

Ken writes: Pa Brown’s Sugar Bush on Camp Haven Rd (231-386-5882): Jim Brown dedicates the whole operation to his grandson Rance who succumbed to a rare childhood cancer at the age of a few days short of 5. All the proceeds from the syrup sales go to the St Judes Research Hospital. Last year they made/sold 38 gallons, which at a rate for last year of about 50/1, comes to 1,900 gallons of sap collected and cooked down to syrupy goodness. Folks are welcome to buy syrup or just make donations!

It’s an amazing 58 degrees under partly sunny skies at 2:00 PM at Leelanau Coffee Roasting in Glen Arbor. The record high for a March 17th was a balmy 74 degrees in 1966 with the low of -8 set in 1916. The forecast for today calls for scattered showers and 50s with more rain and upper 30s overnight. For Friday, look for mostly cloudy skies and temps topping out in the mid 40s. The weekend outlook calls for sunny skies with a high around 40 on Saturday and partly sunny and low 40s on Sunday.

Click for the news & weather from last year!