This Week in Leelanau: May 26, 2011

All the new, photos, weather & events from Leelanau.com. Sign up for our newsletter at the top right of this page.

Blossom Watch (May 26): Cherry blossoms are everywhere, and while some trees are beginning to go green, there’s still lots of great (and rare) cherry blossoms for Memorial Day Weekend! As an added bonus, we have white morels AND lilacs out!!

Spend 10 and Taste the Local Difference!

Taste the Local Difference has released their 2011 Northwest Michigan Food Guide. The pocket-sized guide is packed with information about more than 300 businesses that feature local food: local farms, wineries, breweries, distilleries, farmers markets and retail businesses and food artisans in our 10-county region. A highlight is their Spend 10 Local Dollars Campaign, which encourages people to make a pledge to spend $10 weekly on local food products.

Click here for all the details.

Leelanau gets a Microbrewery: Sugarfoot Saloon!

The Glen Arbor Sun has a cool feature by Pat Stinson about how Sugarfoot Saloon has formed a beer-making partnership with homebrewer Brian Bartos and is serving microbrewed beer.

Read all about it and good call Pete! Love seeing taps that are pouring Leelanau-made beer!

Win tickets to these events & more in Absolute Michigan’s Festival Summer.

"Superior Dawn" - Grand Sable Dunes , Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

In addition to a feature on Michigan’s glowing tombstones, Absolute Michigan released the latest Driving Michigan feature, in which host Seth Bernard visited Jeremy Kosmicki, head brewer for a tour of Founder’s Brewing in Grand Rapids.

Speaking of beer, Michigan in Pictures features included the Leelanau facility of the Michigan Hop Alliance producing their first run of locally grown, organic hop pellets. There’s everything from North America’s smallest & most common falcon to the excitement of the Frankenmuth Dog Bowl with a healthy does of the Pictured Rocks thrown in.

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 by Ken Scott of a foggy morning in Peshawbestown … at the commercial fishing marina. Ken’s Peshawbestown slideshow starts with a time-lapse from the harbor

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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
Memorial Day Weekend Plant Sales
Cedar’s Perennial Plant Sale is Saturday, May 28 from 9 AM – 4 PM. Over 500 perennial and wildflower plants, inspected by Michigan Dept. of Agriculture are ready for planting in your garden. Beautify your home with plants that attract butterflies and birds.

The Annual Plant Sale on the Village Green in Leland is on tap for Memorial Day Weekend! Purchase native ferns, blood root, and trillium and more along with a huge selection of other nursery perennials, trees and shrubs. Sale begins Friday, May 27th and runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday; Sunday noon to 4 p.m.
Click for all the details.

Leelanau Peninsula BirdFest
The Leelanau Peninsula Chamber of Commerce presents the First Annual Leelanau Peninsula BirdFest, held Wednesday, June 1 through Sunday, June 5. This unique festival offers a wide variety of distinctly different field trips, including a Sunday morning sail aboard Inland Seas’ schooner to see nesting gulls, cormorants and Caspian terns on Gull Island. Also slated are a bus trip to the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy’s prairie installation near Arcadia Dunes to see nesting upland birds such as northern harrier, and several pontoon boat trips down the Leelanau Conservancy’s Cedar River Preserve.

Saturdays at the Lakeshore
Every Saturday afternoon through the summer you can enjoy the “Saturdays at the Lakeshore” programs at 1:00 p.m. The programs are free, last 1 to 1 1/2 hours and are no longer than 1.5 miles.
Get all the details from Leelanau.com!

Leelanau Farmer’s Markets
Leelanau Farmer’s Markets are getting underway. Head over to their website for a complete schedule!

MORE EVENTS FROM THE LEELANAU CALENDAR

May 26 – Taimur Cleary (Glen Arbor Art Association)
May 27 – “Sweet Summer”: Paintings of baked goods (Lake Street Studios)
May 28 – Cars in The Park (Northport/Omena Firefighters Association)
May 28 – Cedar Plant Sale (Cedar Area Community Foundation)
Jun 1 – Leelanau Peninsula BirdFest (Leelanau Peninsula Chamber of Commerce)
Jun 9 – Michael Letts-Artist In Residence (Glen Arbor Art Association)
Jun 9 – Rachel Meginnes-Talk About Art (Glen Arbor Art Association)
Jun 14 – Distiller Dinner (Uncorked)
Jun 18 – Impact Music Festival Golf Scramble (Impact Music Festival)

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

Support these and other sponsors of Leelanau.com!

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

Now Playing at the Bay Theater in Suttons Bay: Pirates of the Caribbean): On Stranger Tides (PG-13). 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

jakphoto took this shot and more the other day in Leelanau. See some great shots from spring in northern Michigan in his slideshow.

It’s 44 degrees under clear skies at 9:45 PM at Leelanau Coffee Roasting in Glen Arbor. The record high for a May 26th was 87 set in 1978 with the low of 27 notched in 1969. The forecast for today calls for cloudy skies with wind and rain and highs in the mid to upper 50s. Expect clear skies overnight, and as the gusty north winds die down, we may see some patchy frost. Sunny & 60 for Friday. Your Memorial Weekend forecast is for mostly cloudy skies early on Saturday with clearing skies and highs in the low 60s. We’ll see a good deal of sun on Sunday with a 30% chance of rain sweeping through and highs near 70 and Monday is looking very nice – mostly sunny & low 70s!

Click for the news & weather from last year!