Hey TC

Please email our team at [email protected] if you are interested in learning about our partnerships. Have a great week friends!

Hey, happy Tuesday.

Saturday is the summer solstice. The longest day of the year. The one we've been waiting for since January when the sun set at 5:15 and you questioned every life decision that led you to a place with real winter. Well, here's your reward: 15 hours and 33 minutes of daylight. Parcel is throwing a party in a field in Leelanau with Top Chef contestants cooking for free. TC Whiskey is pouring cherry whiskey all afternoon. The Old Town art fair is back. And Sunday is Father's Day.

This is the week summer peaks. Here's your plan.

This week in TC (June 16–22)

☀️ Summer Solstice Party at Parcel | Saturday, June 20, 3–9pm | Maple City
This is the event of the week. Parcel's second annual Summer Solstice celebration on their 7-acre property near Little Traverse Lake. Natural wines by Ritual out of Grand Rapids. Spirits by Faccia Brutto. Food by Bunny Bunny, the duo of Jennifer Jackson and Justin Tootla who are both Top Chef Season 23 contestants. Presented by Graza olive oil and Great Lakes Tinned Fish.

All of it is on the house.

RSVP is required and capacity is limited, so only sign up if you're actually going. This is the kind of evening where you're standing in a field in Leelanau County drinking natural wine and eating food from Top Chef contestants while the sun takes its sweet time going down. For free.

RSVP at parcelfriends.co/events

🥃 7th Annual Cherry Whiskey Fest | Saturday, June 20, 3pm | TC Whiskey Co. Stillhouse
The Stillhouse goes full cherry whiskey for the afternoon. Tastings, cocktails, live music, food, and the kind of Saturday energy that only happens when you combine whiskey and the longest day of the year. If you're not making it to Parcel, this is your Saturday move.

🎨 Old Town Arts & Crafts Fair | Saturday, June 20
The most relaxed art fair of the year, nestled in the Old Town district. Local artists, handmade goods, and the perfect Saturday wander. Low-key, friendly, and wonderfully unhurried. Free.

🏠 NW Michigan Parade of Homes | Starts Thursday, June 18
The annual Parade of Homes kicks off Thursday with tours of newly built and remodeled homes across the Grand Traverse region. If you're into architecture, design, or just being nosy about what people are building up here, this is your week. Tickets and details at the Home Builders Association of Grand Traverse.

🏃 Fleet Feet Summer Solstice Run | Sunday, June 21
A double run for the longest day of the year. Celebrate the solstice on your feet. Check Fleet Feet TC for details.

🛒 Sara Hardy Farmers Market | Saturday, 7:30am–12pm
Strawberry season is in full swing. Get there early. Lot B at Cass & Grandview.

TART Trail: Summer traffic. Bikes, runners, families, strollers. Go early or go on a weekday if you want space.

VASA Singletrack: Perfect. Full canopy, shaded, fast. The best riding of the year.

Palmer Woods: Open, lush, and the summer canopy is in full effect. Download maps. No cell service.

The water: The lake is warm enough. Get in. Paddle TC, The River Outfitters, and Acqua Dolce are all running rentals. The Boardman River is still the best beginner paddle in the region.

This week’s newsletter is brought to you by one of our founding Move Series partners Energize.

🏃 TC Track Club Fun Run | Monday 6/22 @ 6:30pm — Mondays at Nocturnal Bloom. Miles, movement, community. Free, all paces. tctrackclub.com

🚶 TC Track Club Seniors on the Run | Wednesday @ 10AM — Factory Man Roasting House

🚶 Lakes and Grapes Walking Club | Wednesday @ 6:30pm — Walk, connect, shop. @lakesandgrapes

🏃 TC Track Club Summer Series Kickoff | Wednesday @ 6:30PM | Central High School Parking Lot — Join us for a fast, flat 3-mile run.

🧘 Bonobo Flow | Saturday @ 10am | Bonobo Winery — Weekly yoga on Old Mission.

🏃 Fleet Feet Women’s Run Club | Tuesday @ 6:15AM & Friday @ 8AM | F&M Park — Open to any pace and running ability! Each week is a new distance (2, 3, 4 & 5 mile routes).

🏃 TC Track Club Community Run | Saturday @ 8:30AM | Playa Bowls - Warm up begins at 8:20AM

🏃 Fleet Feet Summer Solstice Run | Sunday Sunrise 3 Mile Run @ 5:40AM | Sunday 2 Mile Sunset Run @ 9PM — Double run for the longest day. At Fleet Feet TC, downtown store. RSVP here

Book today if you haven't already.

🍳 Aerie Brunch at Grand Traverse Resort | 10am–3pm | $48 adults, $18 kids 5-12 Panoramic views of Grand Traverse Bay from the 16th floor. Kids 4 and under eat free. Complimentary golf for all dads. If he golfs, this is the play.

🍳 Seven Hills Brunch | Old Mission Peninsula Brunch on the peninsula with Old Mission Distilling, Mission Proper, and the lawn. Drive up, eat well, take the long way home.

⛳ Golf Your Daylights Out | Grand Traverse Resort | June 15–21 Unlimited golf from sunrise to sunset all week. If Dad's idea of Father's Day is 36 holes and a nap, this is it.

🍷 Old Mission Peninsula Wine Tour Skip the brunch crowds. Drive up Old Mission, stop at a few tasting rooms, split a cheese board, and give Dad an afternoon with a view of both bays. All 10 tasting rooms are open.

🍺 Brewery Hop Rare Bird, Right Brain, Workshop, Silver Spruce, Filling Station, Monkey Fist. TC has more breweries per capita than almost anywhere. Build your own tour and let Dad pick every stop.

How a family surf shop in Empire became something much bigger

In 2004, Beryl and Frank Skrocki packed up their family and moved from downstate to Empire, a tiny village on the shore of Lake Michigan at the doorstep of Sleeping Bear Dunes. They opened Sleeping Bear Surf & Kayak with a simple idea: share the magic of their backyard with anyone who walked through the door.

For two decades, the shop has served the local surf community, selling boards, accessories, surf apparel, and surf lessons. Beryl was the heart of it. Her laugh was contagious. Her energy was childlike. She believed you care for what you love, and she loved the lake.

Beryl passed away in 2022. The shop didn't close. Her daughter Ella took over and kept going, carrying her mother's spirit forward in every lesson, every beach cleanup, every conversation with a first-time surfer standing nervously on the shore.

Last year, the Skrockis threw an anniversary party, calling it Beryl Days after their late mother. "And then, we just decided, holy smokes, that was too much fun, we have to do it again," says Ella.

The event merges surf, stewardship, music, and play to cultivate a culture of connection, to the Lakes and to one another. There are paddle outs on Lake Michigan where surfers gather in a ring formation on boards and SUPs to honor Beryl. There are beach cleanups. Surf competitions. Live music. And the beginning of what the family hopes will become the Beryl Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding water access throughout the Great Lakes through scholarships to junior waterman camps and free community events like full moon paddles and water safety clinics.

The power of the Great Lakes is seriously underestimated by visitors and locals alike. Ella and the SBS crew have been running surf rescue trainings with the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project all spring, teaching people how to read rip currents and stay safe in open water. It's the other side of the mission: love the lake, but respect it.

Sleeping Bear Surf is more than a shop. It's a family's love letter to a mother, a lake, and a way of life that only exists in a place like Empire. If you've never been, drive out, walk in, and ask Ella to tell you about Beryl. She will. That's the kind of place it is.

Sleeping Bear Surf & Kayak. 10070 W Front St, Empire. sleepingbearsurf.com | @sleepingbearsurf

🍦 The cherry soft serve at Pleva's in Cedar. Not Empire. Not Suttons Bay. Cedar. It's on M-72 and it's the best cherry soft serve in the region. The line is never long because nobody knows about it. You're welcome.

🍷 The sunset from Rove Winery. Everyone talks about the sunset from the bay. The sunset from the top of Rove on the Leelanau Peninsula, the highest point in the county, is better. Go on a Friday. They have live music until 7pm.

Bringing you interesting stories from in and around this amazing state!

🎨 The Heidelberg Project Turns 40
Tyree Guyton's legendary outdoor art installation on Detroit's east side is entering its 40th year in 2026. If you've never walked it, this is the year. Meanwhile, MOCAD is also celebrating a milestone anniversary and the Motown Museum is set to complete its years-long expansion by the end of the year. Detroit's arts scene is having a moment.

🏝️ "What's New on Mackinac Island" | Hour Detroit
Hour Detroit's editor-in-chief headed up to Mackinac and came back with the full report on what's changed: hotel renovations, new attractions, and everything worth knowing before you plan your trip this summer. If you've been saying "we should do Mackinac this year" since April, this is the article that turns the idea into a plan. Read it

🦈 Detroit Zoo Just Opened a $49 Million Interactive Playground and It's Wild | Hour Detroit
The Detroit Zoo's new Fred and Barbara Erb Discovery Trails just opened: seven acres of hands-on animal encounters, canopy trails, and play spaces. Touch and feed stingrays and bamboo sharks ($2 entry, $3 to feed), pet goats and alpacas, watch your kids lose their minds on the canopy-style playground with rope nets and bridges, and explore the Senses Trail. Prairie dogs, burrowing owls, giant anteaters, and miniature donkeys are coming later this season. If you're planning a Detroit trip with kids this summer, this just became the first stop. Read it →

If anyone has a unique stay they want to share; please send inquiries to [email protected]

See you on the Bay

No stay is complete without a bonfire at the Anchor Inn.
Photo: @anchorinn_tc

Please email our team at [email protected] if you are interested in learning about our partnerships. Have a great week friends!