Ross Boissoneau | Author

Thunder Bay Inn

Jan. 23, 2021

Former playground to Henry Ford and part of a famous film and novel based on a real-life murder in the town, the courtroom trial — and a most unusual insanity defense

Mark Bevins had a dream. A 30-year employee at General Motors, he longed to fill the role of innkeeper. And no… Read More >>

What do you call a business that’s been handed down within a family for more than 75 years until it rests in the hands of the originators’ great-grandchildren — with the possibility of another generation on the way? In Cadillac, you call it Parkview Lanes.

“I… Read More >>

Frankfort’s Garden Theater Sold

Jan. 16, 2021

An innovative, eco-friendly move to include solar energy at the Garden Theater instead led to it being sold to a local nonprofit. Owners Rick and Jenni Schmitt and Blake and Marci Brooks signed it over to the Friends of the Garden Theater just before the turn of the new year, and the nonpro… Read More >>

Arts & Entertainment to Warm Your Winter

Jan. 9, 2021

The pandemic has played havoc with all facets of life, including the arts. Whether music, lectures, visual art, dance, the live experience has all but disappeared. While the world awaits the vaccine and (hoped-for) subsequent return to something approaching normality, artists of all stripes… Read More >>

The New New Year’s Eve

Dec. 19, 2020

“Should auld acquaintance be forgot?” Well, in the case of 2020, absolutely. Can’t get it in the rearview mirror fast enough.

But with the threat of COVID-19 around every corner, how to ring in the new year safely? There are some options. … Read More >>

Spin It: The Latest Holiday Music

Dec. 19, 2020

Ahhh, Christmas. Time to put on Perry Como, Julie Andrews, George Winston, Mannheim Steamroller. Get things rocking with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra or the Waitresses’ New Wave “Christmas Wrapping.” Slip back in time to Wham’s “Last Christmas” or Wham! o… Read More >>

The Retirement of Mrs. Claus

Dec. 19, 2020

’Tis the season — albeit a bittersweet one for Karen Bobay. The entrepreneur has operated the Children’s World toy store inside downtown Traverse City’s indoor shopping Arcade for nearly a half-century.

This Christmas, for a change, Santa is bringing Bobay so… Read More >>

Your Ultimate Winter Bucket List

Dec. 12, 2020

Snowshoe and Sip in Boyne
At Boyne Valley Vineyards, you can enjoy a glass of wine and then snowshoe through the winery’s property to the trails at the Postle Nature Preserve — or snowshoe first and then enjoy your wine. Heck, maybe wine both before and aft… Read More >>

Ski On, Northern Michigan

Dec. 12, 2020

It’s beginning to look a lot like winter — but it’s going to be a different winter, that’s for sure. Whether the local ski hill or the four-season resorts that dot the area, the overriding factor this year won’t be the weather, or new hills, or new terrain. It … Read More >>

A Girl, a Bird, and a Gardener

Nov. 28, 2020

An unlikely trio of characters from the pen of a local author has inspired a concert-length musical composition by the author’s husband. After delays caused by the pandemic, the piece will receive its world premiere, online, Dec. 4. And it all stemmed from events of 100 years ago.

Holiday Entertainment: Will the Curtain Rise Anywhere?

Nov. 21, 2020

The show must go on — except when a pandemic changes things.

That more or less describes the holiday season in 2020. The usual cornucopia of concerts, plays, showcases, and multiple “Nutcracker” performances around the region has been whittled to a precious few thi… Read More >>

Is Bird Still the Word?

Nov. 14, 2020

At Thanksgiving, thoughts always turn to the big bird. Not the yellow one from Sesame Street but the bronze and buttered breast-side-up bird on a platter that’s the centerpiece of so many family gatherings each November.

This year, the pandemic has altered so much of what&rsqu… Read More >>

The Stone Oven

Nov. 14, 2020

Brian Adams saw an opportunity in his hometown. When the LA Café closed, he took up the torch, opening The Stone Oven in 2012. It appears he hit on something, as the business has continued to grow even in this year of the pandemic.

Maybe it was simply his destiny. After all, … Read More >>

New Turkey Day Traditions

Nov. 7, 2020

It’s the (second) most wonderful time of the year. For many people, the chance to gather round the table with a bevy of friends and family to give thanks for the year ranks only behind Christmas Day for joy and merriment.

Only this year it’s — different. The … Read More >>

Septuagenarian Still Running

Oct. 31, 2020

If you see Mickey Fivenson out running, it must be a day that ends in d-a-y. The veteran racer not only runs every day but also runs a 5K every day — rain, snow, sunshine, spring, summer, fall, winter, you’ll find him loping through his neighborhood, greeting his neighbors, maki… Read More >>

Whistle If You Dare

Oct. 24, 2020

’Tis the season … the season for visiting people’s final resting places. Maybe you’re of a slightly morbid fascination, and you find cemeteries interesting because of the ghost stories you read as a child. Perhaps you enjoy tracing history and genealogy through the … Read More >>

Halloween Rising

Oct. 24, 2020

While the pandemic continues to impact lives and prevent mass gatherings, some Halloween events Up North, much like your average zombie, are proving unstoppable. Here are our picks from around region — some virtual, some not, but all ready to raise some chills up your spine:

<… Read More >>

Straight Outta Hamtramck

Oct. 17, 2020

There it stands, in downtown Cedar: The Polish Art Center. Some paintings of the Old Country probably, maybe some Polish pottery. Likely some Polish-made jewelry as well. How appropriate, right in the middle of a town that — until this strange summer, of course — celebrates its … Read More >>

A House Painter, a Steel Worker, and the Art of Seeing Potential

Oct. 10, 2020

Two companies. Two very different businesses. Yet they both came to a similar place: creating gorgeous tables, using reclaimed wood, historic downed trees, live edges, often with “rivers” of epoxy over a bed of stones.

Adam Gancarski has been painting homes for years, fi… Read More >>

String Theory

Oct. 10, 2020

For Josh Shelton, the restrictions imposed by the pandemic were felt more keenly than for many others. Like many other people with a learning disability who were forced out of their daily routine and couldn't engage in social interactions, Josh struggled with the new normal.

H… Read More >>