Patrick Sullivan | Author

Up North’s Golden Age of Cinema, Part II

July 22, 2017

Sara Herberger, one of three paid employees of the Vogue Theatre in Manistee, got involved with the nonprofit in a roundabout way. Her eight-year-old son had asked about the then-dilapidated building after a fundraiser to restore it was announced, and she tried to explain to him what restor… Read More >>

The Show Must Go On

July 15, 2017

Michael Moore, booked for a 12-week run on Broadway, can’t be at the festival he founded. A critical behind-the-scenes organizer died suddenly in June. And the largest venue is unavailable. Thirteen turns out to be a tough number for the Traverse City Film Festival.

The Art of Racing on the Bay

July 8, 2017

In the minutes leading up to the start of a Wednesday night sailboat race on West Grand Traverse Bay, the Grand Traverse Yacht Club’s longtime weekly tradition, vessels crowd together, each angling for an advantageous position on the water’s invisible starting line.

If y… Read More >>

(Un)Welcome to Kalkaska?

July 1, 2017

The scandal began with controversy over a Donald Trump sign on a shuddered hotel on Kalkaska’s Cedar Street. That was followed by outrage over hateful Facebook posts by the village president (and owner of the hotel), Jeff Sieting. Things crescendoed when demonstrators took to each sid… Read More >>

Hooah! Hooya! Oorah! Hoorah!

June 24, 2017

Mike Carey had just retired from the U.S. Air Force at the rank of brigadier general. He was picking out patio furniture for his home in Colorado Springs. Then he decided he wanted to return to his home state of Michigan.
“I walked by a little white board and someone had … Read More >>

Study Shows Bellaire Mountain Bike Trail is Worth Millions

June 10, 2017

When folks from the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy decided to construct a mountain bike trail near Arcadia more than a decade ago, they got a lesson in trail building.

“We hired a mountain bike specialist from Colorado, supposedly one of the best mountain bike trail … Read More >>

Bear in Mind

June 3, 2017

Scott Tucker has been with the National Park Service for 20 years, but he’s been superintendent of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore for just one.

Tucker comes to northern Michigan from Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, where he was superintendent. Before that… Read More >>

The Mile-High Subsidy Club

May 27, 2017

Northern Michigan’s 1st Congressional District is vast, spanning the northern lower and entire upper peninsula. It's also home to more subsidized airports than any other in the country.

President Donald Trump’s 2018 Budget Blueprint proposes eliminating Essential Air Ser… Read More >>

House & Homeland

May 20, 2017

You grow up in Michigan, you know a little about Mackinac Island’s landmark events in history: Dr. William Beaumont and the stomach hole experiments, the ill-fated 1763 baggatiway game turned bloody battle at Fort Michilimackinac, the English takeover of Mackinac Island… Read More >>

Answering the Call

May 13, 2017

If you live out in the sticks and your house catches fire, hope it doesn’t happen during business hours. That’s when, in many townships, few firefighters are available to answer calls.

It used to be that rural departments were staffed with true volunteer firefighters, pe… Read More >>

Beach Town Board Battle

May 6, 2017

The first inkling Frankfort surf shop owner Larry Bordine had that he was in trouble — for an incident involving an employee on a skateboard last July — was when a city police officer removed him, in front of customers, from his store, then handcuffed him and took him to jail.Read More >>

Remember The Cherry County Playhouse?

April 29, 2017

In the ‘70s and ‘80s, summer in Traverse City was akin to the greatest episode of The Love Boat ever, thanks to a revolving door of television stars – some a little past their prime – who shined in performances at the Cherry County Playhouse (CCP).

Rita Moren… Read More >>

The Cold–Blooded Murder of William Swan

April 22, 2017

Nearly 150 years after the first black resident of Charlevoix County was murdered in cold blood, a relative of two of the men responsible for the death gives talks at libraries to bring attention to the crime, having pieced together as clear a picture of what happened as he possibly can.Read More >>

How Northern Michigan Landed Ansel Adams

April 15, 2017

It took four full years of planning and fundraising, so when Crooked Tree Arts Center secured the rights to display the traveling exhibit titled “Ansel Adams: Masterworks,” it decided that merely hanging the iconic photographs in its Petoskey gallery would not be enough. Instead… Read More >>

Local Governments Face Down The Airbnb Phenomenon

April 8, 2017

For some, vacation rentals are an enticing way to own a little bit of heaven Up North – buy a home on the water or near your favorite downtown, stay for a couple of weeks in the summer and pay for it by renting the property short–term for the rest of the year.

That&rsquo… Read More >>

The World According To Meeker

April 1, 2017

She’s a best-selling author and hosts one of the world’s top parenting podcasts. She was name-checked by Donald Trump in the lead-up to the presidential election. And she’s a practicing pediatrician right here in Traverse City.

Dr. Meg Meeker might not be a househo… Read More >>

Lingering Doubts

March 25, 2017

Ivan Lee Bechtol was mostly a good kid, by all accounts, who’d drifted into the dangerous world of cocaine and alcohol by the time he was 19. That’s when things fell apart.

Bechtol partied at a friend’s house into the morning of Sept. 3, 2001. He got a ride from so… Read More >>

What's a Kilowatt of Solar Worth?

March 18, 2017

Concerned about the future of solar in Michigan? A new state law passed late in 2016 could significantly change the terms under which solar panel owners connect to the grid.

New Terms, New Arguments
The law, which consists of Senate Bills 437 and 438, was celeb… Read More >>

How Beer Revived Bellaire and Other Northern Michigan Towns

March 11, 2017

Even though Don Hoyt grew up in Gaylord, he never visited Bellaire until he met his future wife, a chiropractor from California who had moved to the Antrim County town for a job. That’s the thing about Bellaire – it’s not on the way to anything. People need a reason to go … Read More >>

An Altruistic Capitalist Trying To Change The World

March 4, 2017

When you look at the vast list of projects that comprise Paul Sutherland’s life, they might at first appear to be all over the place, the product of a manic mind that can’t stay in one place.

There’s FIM Group, the Traverse City-based money managing firm Sutherland… Read More >>