Top Ten

this week’s top ten

A Sweetly Sleepy Celebration

Glen Arbor is the place to be this weekend…so long as you don’t want to get out of your pajamas. The little lake town knows how to celebrate the holidays in comfy and quirky style, beginning with the PJ Party “Better than Black Friday” shopping extravaganza from 6am to 9am on Friday, Nov. 25. Yes, that’s early, but you needn’t change out of your sweats before shopping the deals at your favorite local merchants. That way, you’ll already be in costume for the Bed Parade at 9am in downtown, where festive mattresses roll down Western Avenue. (Really, who needs floats when you can decorate beds?) If you must, you can put on real clothes before returning downtown for the annual tree lighting and sing-a-long at Glen Arbor Town Hall at 6:15pm. A holiday marketplace (free admission!) with artisanal goods follows at the hall from 6:30-8:30pm, so you can finish all your holiday shopping in one fell swoop.

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The Boathouse’s Lobster and Shrimp Bisque

As we settle into the cozy season, it’s time to embrace comfort food. And there is nothing more comforting—or delicious, or decadent—than a bowl of the Lobster and Shrimp Bisque ($16) from The Boathouse. The Old Mission Peninsula eatery is known for its high-end cuts of meat, stellar service, and waterside views, and while all of those draws are well worth a visit, we keep coming back for the bisque. The creamy base is packed with flavor thanks to the magic trio of brandy, creme fraiche, and chives, and this is one soup that doesn’t skimp on the seafood bites. With a wedge or house salad, this could be a meal in itself, though it’s hard to resist the rest of the menu, whether you’re going for the seasonal Butternut Squash Pappardelle or the restaurant’s popular American Wagyu Strip. Get your comfort on (in style) at 14039 Peninsula Drive in Traverse City. (231) 223-4030, boathouseonwestbay.com

Turkeys on the Run

Make room in those elastic pants Thanksgiving morning and run your local turkey trot! A few listed in this issue include the Up North Media Turkey Trot and Gobble, Gobble Watch Us Wobble Walk, both in TC; Kiwanis Boyne City Turkey Trot; Turkey Vulture Trot 5K & 1-Mile Fun Run, Crystal Mountain; and the YMCA Turkey Trot 2022, Petoskey. Support your community, run into familiar faces, and get fresh air and exercise! See our Dates section for more info.

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Hey, Watch It! Reboot

In the age of TV show reboots and reunions, it was only a matter of time before someone came along to satirize the whole endeavor. Luckily for us, that someone is Steven Levitan, one half of the comedic brain trust behind Modern Family. On the appropriately titled Reboot, a comedy series that just wrapped its freshman season on Hulu, Levitan skewers the television industrial complex so thoroughly that you may never be able to look at a sitcom the same way again, let alone a cash-grab TV reboot. The story centers around the cast of a low-brow, early-2000s sitcom series brought back together when Hulu greenlights a revival of the show to cash in on millennial nostalgia. The actors, all struggling to find relevance in 2022, gamely climb aboard. But old tensions and buried resentments quickly rear their ugly heads, causing fireworks on the set of the new show. You can bet that the dynamite cast—which includes Keegan-Michael Key, Judy Greer, Johnny Knoxville, Paul Reiser, and Rachel Bloom—make those fireworks a ton of fun to watch. Now streaming on Hulu.

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6 Light It Up!

Even though it’s the week of Thanksgiving, we’ve already been hearing Christmas tunes on the radio and spotting red and green displays in just about every store. If you’re still waiting to get in the Christmas spirit, then you’ll soon have your pick of small town spots to find your inner Cindy Lou Who. Here are just a few of the festivities planned this week. Wednesday, Nov. 23, is the Walloon Lake Village Lighting (5pm). Friday, Nov. 25, has several events, like Holly Jolly Boyne (Boyne City, 5pm); Light Up Cedar (5pm); and Light Up Leland for the Holidays (6pm). Also Friday, Crystal Mountain in Thompsonville hosts the First Light and Holiday Trail celebrations, where Santa helps the resort get twinkly at 5pm and you enjoy live music, horse-drawn surrey rides, retail specials, and even a game of outdoor laser tag. Finally, Saturday, Nov. 26, check out the Light Up the Night Holiday Parade (Petoskey, 5pm); Harbor Springs Tree Lighting (6pm); Holiday in the Village (Suttons Bay, all day); and Northport Tree Lighting (6pm).

’Tis the Season to Subscribe

$3

DECEMBER 2022 • VOLUME 27 • NUMBER 05

Subscription renewal season is upon us, as we plan whether to carry forth our CSAs and food boxes, our (what feels like) 10,000 streaming apps, and our favorite magazines and newspapers into 2023. Northern Express and our sister publication, the Traverse City Business News, are jumping on the bandwagon. Get all 50 issues of the Express for $110 per year—the paper is free, and this covers our postage costs—or all 12 issues of the TCBN for $35. Buy one for yourself or for a friend or family member who loves local news but may not live here anymore; we’ll ship anywhere in the U.S. To order your subscription of Northern Express, head to northernexpress.com/ subscriptions/order. For the TCBN, go to tcbusinessnews.com/single-year-subscription. P.S. If you’re trying to save on paper in the mailbox, you can always get the (free!) Northern Express twice-weekly digital newsletter with all our latest stories by going here: northernexpress.com/newsletter/sign-up.

PERMIT NO. 7 TRAVERSE CITY, MI PAID U.S. POSTAGE PRSRT STD

MOVING THE

NEEDLE FOR GOOD Ten emerging nonprofit leaders already transforming the region Lauren Brandstatter Yarrow Brown Elizabeth Calcutt Caitlin Early Megan Holtrey Katie Jones⚪ Changes throughout the latest bank market share numbers ⚪ Realtors leading the affordable housing charge northernexpress.comNORTHERNexpressFood insecurity ON THE RISE ⚪ A shortage of attorneys? Stephanie Rustem Jill Sill Bekah TenBrink Michelle Bien

Your Fall Restaurant Guide

NORTHERN MICHIGAN’S WEEKLY • Sept 19 - SEPT 25, 2022 • Vol. 32 No. 37INSIDE The Burrow

General stores OF THE NORTH The season’s newest CIDERS

CELEBRATE Thanksgiving ALL WEEK

TUESDAY: TRIVIA NIGHT WEDNESDAY: PAJAMA PARTY 2.0 FRIDAY: PRIME RIB & KARAOKE

Stuff We Love: Hall of Fame Coach John Lober

News broke this week that John Lober, a coaching legend at Traverse City Central High School, would be inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association (NHSACA) Hall of Fame. Lober oversaw the boys track and field team at Central for 52 years, from 1977 until his retirement in 2021, also serving as head cross country coach for 27 of those years (1989-2016). In 2015, NHSACA named him National Track Coach of the Year, and he’s long been a member of numerous noted halls of fame, including for the Michigan High School Coaches Association and for Traverse City Central High School. This particular induction puts Lober in even more rarified air, making him just the third Traverse City Central coach to make the NHSACA Hall of Fame. The other two? Trojan football legend Jim Ooley and former Central golf coach Bob Lober, John’s brother. Lober’s induction will take place on July 25, 2023, at the annual NHSACA conference in Lincoln, Nebraska. Way to go, Coach!

bottoms up Big Buck Brewery’s Michigan Sunrise

As its name suggests, there’s nothing small about Big Buck Brewery. Established in 2018 (though the space had a past life in the mid-90s), this iconic Gaylord alehouse impresses, from its 300-seat interior to the can’t-miss-it beer bottle on the lawn. The pub has pulled out all the stops in its array of artisan suds, headlined by the signature Michigan Sunrise. Brewed with four types of local hops—including aromatic Chinook and Cascade— Big Buck’s flagship beer packs just enough earthiness to sate IPA junkies, while its light body and citrus-scented palette make it a go-to for beer drinkers across the board. Pair one with a plate of house jambalaya or get buck-wild with a sampler rack—if that’s not going big, we don’t know what is. Stop in at Big Buck Brewery (550 S. Wisconsin Ave. in Gaylord) for a six-buck pint or locate your nearest four-pack via the “Beer Finder” tab at bigbuckbrewery.com. (989) 448-7072. Northern Express Weekly • november 21, 2022 • 5