Craig Manning | Author

The Other Side of the Boom

Sept. 25, 2021

Zach Endres and Taylor Peterson are in tough spots. As you read the headlines almost daily about booming Traverse City home sales and housing shortages, Endres and Peterson are living the reality, in the thick of the housing hunt. And to hear their tales of the past 12-18 months, you hear... Read More >>

Dropping the Gloves

Sept. 4, 2021

What’s northern Michigan’s biggest claim to fame when it comes to hockey?

Ask most hockey fans in the area – die-hards and casuals alike – and you’ll probably a hear a couple common answers: the fact that NHL legend Gordie Howe once called Traverse Ci... Read More >>

Now Hear This: Michigan's Best 2021

Aug. 7, 2021

Is it just us, or are Michigan bands and songwriters raising the bar in 2021?

Maybe it’s the fact that lots of artists held back works that were supposed to come out in 2020, in hopes that 2021 would allow for a return to gigs, tours, and normal album promotion campaigns. Or... Read More >>

Break on Through: Michigan Rattlers' and the Will to Keep on Rockin'

Aug. 7, 2021

 

“I felt the storm coming, it was coming for you and I/I felt the storm coming that night.”

So goes the chorus to “The Storm,” the song that opens the sophomore full-length album from Petoskey-born-and-bred roots-rock band Michigan Rattlers. I... Read More >>

Whiskey's Treasure Island

July 24, 2021

Whiskey aficionados take note: You may soon be able to taste what whiskey tasted like in the midst of the Prohibition era — or, at least, closer to that flavor profile than anyone has gotten in the better part of a century.

The key to the past, in this case, is a specific ty... Read More >>

6 al Fresco Favorites

July 24, 2021

We don’t know about you, but we think that everything tastes better when you can enjoy it outside in the summertime. Pizza or burgers, fish or steak, pasta or chicken; beer or cider, red wine or white, straight spirits or splashy cocktails. Especially in the evenings — when th... Read More >>

Have Cocktail, Will Roam: Up North Social Districts

July 17, 2021

 

A year ago, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill into law that opened the door for local communities to establish outdoor “common areas” where customers could enjoy alcoholic beverages from properly licensed establishments. Now, several northern Michigan down... Read More >>

Stone Hound Brewing Co.’s Sour de TART

July 10, 2021

Nothing says summer like a tall glass of ice-cold lemonade. The Sour de TART from the recently opened Stone Hound Brewing Co. in Acme is a fitting stand-in: A cherry-lemonade sour beer that tastes so much like your favorite lemonade you’ll hardly notice the 5.4 percent ABV. The hint... Read More >>

Rescue Tales of Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City

July 3, 2021

The good news is easy to see along the west end of Grand Traverse Bay this week: After the 2020 summer that wasn’t, the National Cherry Festival has made its grand return to Traverse City this summer — as sure a sign as any that life is approaching “normal” again, ... Read More >>

Guts

July 3, 2021

Next time you catch a fish, save the stomach: It might just hold the key to saving the Great Lakes fishery.

That’s the message that researchers at Michigan State University (MSU), along with a cadre of other collaborators, have been trying to relay to recreational anglers th... Read More >>

Torch Lake Takeover

June 12, 2021

You don’t need to live on the shores of Torch Lake to know how breathtakingly gorgeous it is. A massive inland lake (the biggest in Michigan, by water volume), Torch Lake is known for its party-raising sandbars, its cavernous depths (nearly 300 feet to the bottom at its deepest poin... Read More >>

The North's Workforce Housing Crisis Just Got Worse

May 15, 2021

Is the ideal of “affordable housing” even possible to achieve in northern Michigan?

It’s a question that workers, employers, and housing advocates in the region have been asking for years —  and in the wake of a game-changing 2020, seem increasingly fa... Read More >>

Evicting Enbridge

May 1, 2021

“Shut Down Line 5 Pipeline.” “Keep Oil Out of the Great Lakes.” “No Tunnel.”

If you’ve driven around a northern Michigan neighborhood in the past five years, you’ve probably read these messages on a yard ... Read More >>

Grow Your Own Morels?

April 24, 2021

Hunting for morel mushrooms is a springtime tradition in northern Michigan — especially Up North. But what if you could take this elusive, beloved genus of wild mushroom and grow it yourself, at home?

The party line, historically, has been that cultivating morel mushrooms is... Read More >>

Traverse City Marijuana Permits

April 17, 2021

A “death sentence.” That’s what Traverse City’s medical marijuana establishments are calling the City of Traverse City’s stalled progress toward allowing the sale of recreational cannabis.

The businesses, which have largely banded together as the &ldq... Read More >>

Truth vs. the World

April 10, 2021

Tell the truth. A journalist’s job can be summed up in those three small words. It sounds like the simplest thing in the world. 

Dr. Courtney Radsch knows better.

She knows how, when government interests clash with the truth, it’s often the journalists who... Read More >>

Ag Preservation, Diversification, and the Plight of Two Peninsulas

April 3, 2021

What is the future of agricultural land in northern Michigan?

For generations, the region has been known for its farms. Traverse City is the Cherry Capital of the World, but northern Michigan’s agricultural prowess goes beyond just cherries. From apples to blueberries to hop... Read More >>

The Truth About the North's Music Venues

March 20, 2021

“The show must go on.”

It’s a common mantra in show business, but what happens when a global pandemic shutters venues and turns concerts and other live performances into potential super-spreader events? How can the show go on when the show literally can&... Read More >>

Why the World's Water Scarcity Matters Here, Now

March 13, 2021

What happens when the taps run dry?

That’s one of the key questions J. Carl Ganter will be discussing at 5pm on Thursday, March 18, during an event for the Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) International Affairs Forum (IAF) titled “Global to Local: Climate Change, Wa... Read More >>

7 Batches Made in Heaven

Feb. 27, 2021

Let’s be honest: Picking the best cookies in northern Michigan is an impossible task. There are so many “right” ways to do a cookie: crispy or gooey; classic or creative; massive or bite-sized; lightweight and refreshing, or rich and decadent.

Of course, the impo... Read More >>