Blog Posts

Blog posts by FLOW team and guest writers

Friday Favorite: Brown Bridge Quiet Area

Look through any Traverse City visitors’ guide book for places to see during your stay, and nine times of out of ten, they’ll point you straight to Sleeping Bear Dunes. With its sweeping, majestic views from the dunes overlook and Caribbean blue waters of Lake Michigan below, it’s no wonder why this place nabs all… Read more »

Make More Michigan Underwater Parks

Michigan’s state park system is considered one of the finest in the nation.  Dating back to 1917, the system includes 103 parks and recreation areas that sustain more than 25 million annual visits. But there’s another, smaller park system, and it’s underwater. The underwater preserve system is also on public land – the nearly 40,000… Read more »

Friday Favorites – Power Island

Power Island in Grand Traverse Bay has always been a hometown favorite of mine. I have been visiting Power Island since I was a young boy and have always been fascinated about the stories my mother would tell me about how she would visit the island as a young girl, and how her parents attended… Read more »

Friday Favorites – the Mackinac Bridge

Friday Favorites is our new series where we explore some of our favorite places in and around the Great Lakes. The Mighty Mac, the Big Mac, the Mackinac Bridge. One of the most iconic sights in the Great Lakes region, the Bridge has always been a source of wonder for me. My family took trips… Read more »

Water is on the Ballot, Too

Now that the primary election is behind us, Michiganders will pay increasing attention to this fall’s all-important electoral choices.  FLOW is contacting the nominees for Governor, Attorney General, and northwest Michigan House and Senate seats this week to inform them of the water and public trust issues we think they should tackle.  We are looking… Read more »

A Tunnel for Line 5? – That Would be a Big Mistake

In an end-run around the public participation process they established, Governor Rick Snyder and Enbridge, Inc., the owner and operator of Line 5, are exploring the possibility of building a $500 million tunnel to replace the stretch of 65 year-old Line 5 pipeline that runs under the Straits of Mackinac.  While a tunnel, properly designed… Read more »

Friday Favorites – Pyramid Point

Friday Favorites is our new series where we explore some of our favorite places to play in and around the Great Lakes. Traverse City residents might be rolling their eyes at the suggestion of Pyramid Point as one of my favorite places in the Traverse City area, but hear me out. This (not so) secret… Read more »

Using Art to Explore Our Relationship with Water

Sarah Bearup-Neal is the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s Communications/Gallery Manager. She graduated from Michigan State University in 1978 with a BFA in Studio Art and has maintained an active studio practice focused on fiber art since 1999. Sarah lives in Benzie County. Each year, the Glen Arbor Arts Center mounts a “New Views” exhibition in… Read more »