Craig Manning | Author

July 4, 2020

Why is it that some cocktail styles endure while others fade away? Just about any bar in the world will serve you an old fashioned, or a Negroni, or a whiskey sour, or a Manhattan. Nothing against any of these concoctions (we love them as much as you do), but with a limitless number of po... Read More >>

The National Cherry Festival That Wasn’t

June 27, 2020

In any other year, Traverse City would be gearing up for its biggest week of its busiest season. The city’s world-famous National Cherry Festival regularly draws a half-million visitors to the area for festivities ranging from concerts to parades to road races to pie-eating contests... Read More >>

LGBTQ+ Up North: How Far Have We Come?

June 20, 2020

In 2019, the Up North Pride Traverse City Visibility March drew more than 6,000 attendees. It’s an event that has become, in the six years since it began, the single largest LGBTQ+ Pride march in the state of Michigan.

But Traverse City wasn’t always known for bein... Read More >>

On the Hunt for WWII Aircraft Under GT Bay

June 13, 2020

Dozens of World War II aircraft are lost somewhere beneath the waters of Lake Michigan, and students and faculty from the Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) could play an important role in recovering them.

Last summer, the Office of Coast Survey — part of the National Ocean... Read More >>

The Must-Have Toys of Summer 2020

June 6, 2020

Your mission this summer: Spend as much time as possible playing outside in the sunshine. Without the usual slog of graduation parties, weddings, and other all-day commitments squeezing the next three months of your summer-weekend schedule, the time is right to seize the season your way. ... Read More >>

The Ultimate U.P. Brewski Tour

May 16, 2020

“We love beer. You love beer. Let’s get together.”

That motto is inscribed on many cans of beer cranked out of Blackrocks Brewing in Marquette, one of the largest breweries in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It’s a particularly resonant thought right now,... Read More >>

Boom or Bust Time

May 9, 2020

What do you do if your favorite restaurant is closed, and you’re wary about wandering into a grocery store? For many local households, the answer has been to rely more heavily on northern Michigan farms.

While the North’s agriculture industry is facing its own challeng... Read More >>

Arrested Development?

May 2, 2020

Affordable housing is a dilemma that northern Michigan has been contending with for years. On the one hand, few would argue that the region needs more low-cost housing options for hospitality workers and other low or mid-income residents. On the other hand, few developers are willing to i... Read More >>

Two dudes on an 8,000-year-old mission to resuscitate ... dirt?

April 25, 2020

“Very few cultures worldwide have really learned how to build soils. Most cultures rise and fall, and when they crash, they've usually taken their soils with them.”

That’s the wisdom of Tim Overdier, a retired Northport-based soil scientist who has spent his c... Read More >>

A Kinder, Gentler Beer

April 18, 2020

Could climate change impact what’s in your pint glass?

In late January, brewers and beer drinkers alike packed The Workshop Brewing Company in Traverse City’s Warehouse District to find out the answer to that question. 
The brewery was the venue for a &ldq... Read More >>

The Filling Station Microbrewery in Traverse City

April 11, 2020

When The Filling Station Microbrewery opened in Traverse City on March 5, 2012, it was a unique proposition. For one, the brewery was situated in an old train depot, originally built in 1927 and still carrying much of its old-time charm. For another, northern Michigan’s status as a ... Read More >>

Weed Takes Root: A Look at the Newest Addition to Up North Retail

April 11, 2020

Depending on your perspective, recreational marijuana’s arrival in northern Michigan was either very poorly timed or got here at precisely the right moment. Michigan voters elected to legalize non-medical adult-use marijuana throughout the state in November 2018.
 
De... Read More >>

The Pre-Wedding Prep Couples Actually Need

April 4, 2020

Five-hundred twenty-eight. That’s the number of hours that the average American couple spends planning their wedding, according to a 2019 study conducted by the artist-and-designer marketplace Minted. That’s 22 entire days spent on everything from wedding dress shopping to cre... Read More >>

Despite Virus, Soon-to-be Wedded Couples Are Marching On

April 4, 2020

Each year, roughly 2.3 million weddings take place in the United States, with approximately 60 percent of them occurring between May and October. But as fears over COVID-19 (Coronavirus) continue to infect virtually every aspect of day-to-day life, it’s time to ask an important ques... Read More >>

Can the Count Go On?

March 28, 2020

Census Day 2020 fell on April 1 — a fact that might have registered as something of a cruel April Fool’s joke in a year when the pandemic crisis has pushed virtually everything else from people’s minds.

Still, despite the lockdowns, quarantines, fear, and unc... Read More >>

Southern Saviors: Our Chance to Save NoMi Forests?

March 28, 2020

For years, the Leelanau and Benzie Conservation Districts have been selling bare root seedlings and encouraging locals to plant trees on their properties. This spring, those local organizations are trying something new: a “citizen science” initiative called the Assisted Tree R... Read More >>

Earthen Ales’ Beers To Go

March 21, 2020

Someday, hopefully soon, we’ll all be able to head back to our favorite breweries and enjoy sampler flights like the ones pictured. Until that day comes, though, our northern Michigan breweries are hustling to make their beers (and food) available for the quarantine era. Ever since ... Read More >>

Mama Lu’s Curbside Pickup & Delivery

March 21, 2020

Each day, from 11am to 8pm, Mama Lu’s taco shop in Downtown Traverse City is offering both curbside pickup outside its front door and free delivery within a 10-mile radius. If you’re ordering for the entire family, consider a taco kit (pictured), which includes 20 tortillas, y... Read More >>