Features

Northern Michigan’s Toys for Tots Network Braces for Record Need

Navigating the Happiest (and Hardest) Time of the Year

By Kierstin Gunsberg | Nov. 22, 2025

As so many best-places-to-visit lists will tell you, there’s nowhere quite like northern Michigan. Mike Kent, assistant coordinator for Toys for Tots Northwest Michigan, agrees—but not just because of our beaches, bays, and food scene. “We live and work in an extremely generous community,” he says. “And in the years that I have been doing this program, we have never fallen short.” That’ll be true again for Toys for Tots this holiday … Read More >>

A Morning at the Mercato

Explore more than a dozen shops at the Commons

By Molly Cox | Nov. 22, 2025

Beneath the yellow brick and red spires of The Village at Grand Traverse Commons is The Mercato, the Italian word for “market.” Tucked into the lower level of Building 50—the main building of the hundred-year-old former asylum—are 15 small stores selling treasures you won't find anywhere else. We spent a day exploring the Mercato to help you find the best places to find gifts for everyone on your list (including yourself). B50 … Read More >>

Doing the “Wright” Thing

For one day only, this Petoskey man’s Wright Brothers Museum showcases impressive memorabilia collection

By Eric Cox | Nov. 22, 2025

It was 1956. David Russell was a quiet, wide-eyed seventh grader at Petoskey Junior High, and he’d just been asked to stay after class by his history teacher, Miss Arlene Van Ness. What had he done, he wondered, to warrant this apprehension? He searched his mind, but could recall no classroom mishap or lapse in good behavior. Yet, there he remained, at his desk, waiting to hear his fate. “Do you like … Read More >>

Game On!

Exploring northern Michigan’s playful side

By Lourin Sprenger | Nov. 22, 2025

This year, the best gift might come in a box topped with a bow…and then unfold on a tabletop, in a burst of laughter, strategy, or quiet concentration. Across northern Michigan, local game shops are bringing people together, not just through cards, dice, and puzzles, but also through good old-fashioned fun. Whether it’s the satisfying click of a puzzle piece fitting just right, the friendly rivalry of a Magic tournament, or a … Read More >>

Give the Gift of Reading

Local booksellers share their top recommendations

By Jillian Manning | Nov. 22, 2025

“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.” – Maya Angelou We asked booksellers across the North to share their top recommendations for the holiday season. Read on below! The Folded Leaf, Cedar … Read More >>

Music That Feeds the Soul

GLCO looks back over 25 years and ahead to the future

By Ren Brabenec | Nov. 22, 2025

“This is where it all started,” 89-year-old Dr. Robert Pattengale says as he plays a few keys on the old harpsichord in his living room. “I had originally said, ‘If this thing lasts three years, that’d be a good run.’” Pattengale co-founded the Petoskey-based Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra (GLCO) 25 years ago, so it’s safe to say his humble living room idea has well surpassed anything he and his fellow musicians could … Read More >>

15 New Albums for Your Festive Playlists

It’s the holiday (music) season

By Ross Boissoneau | Nov. 22, 2025

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, unless you are sick to death of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” or “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.” Never fear. Despite the ubiquity of Mariah Carey and the sad story of Grandma’s holiday-related demise, there is a trove of music beyond the well-worn and overly familiar. Holiday season 2025 is here with all-new versions of all-old songs, as well as … Read More >>

Film Review: Nouvelle Vague

5 Stars

By Joseph Beyer | Nov. 22, 2025

You can be forgiven if the latest Richard Linklater film isn’t on your radar yet, as almost everything about it is a bit obscure, curious, and subtitled. But for fans of the French New Wave, a movement and loose dogma of filmmaking born in France during the 1950s that radically changed cinema, Nouvelle Vague will sweep you away and may become one of your most treasured Linklater projects yet. That’s saying a … Read More >>

Fighting Food Insecurity in Elk Rapids

Nov. 22, 2025

The end of the government shutdown doesn’t mean a quick fix to the country’s food insecurity problems brought on by rising grocery prices and SNAP delays. That’s especially true here in northern Michigan, where Feeding West Michigan estimates one in seven people is at risk of hunger. So the Elk Rapids Chamber of Commerce is keeping their foot on the gas by adopting three nonprofits for the holiday season to drive donations … Read More >>

Gifting the Local Difference

Stuff We Love

Nov. 22, 2025

If you need a one-stop shop to explore Michigan-made products, look no further than the Taste the Local Different Local Gift Guide. Per the TDL website, “Purchasing from your community triples the joy, as your dollar returns three times the value when you shop with an independent business compared to a box store.” From food, wine, coffee, and tea (plus Drinking Chocolate from Grocer’s Daughter!) to tours, gift boxes, and apparel, there’s … Read More >>