Noted Aerial Photographer Opens Leland Gallery, Numerous Local Businesses Expand To Leelanau
An art gallery debut in Leland, new Suttons Bay locations for a handful of beloved northern Michigan businesses, and news about a temporarily closed Glen Arbor restaurant. Read on for these and other stories in our June 2026 roundup of Leelanau business news.
New art gallery to open in Leland
Tyler Leipprandt, owner of the aerial photography business Michigan Sky Media, has opened a new art gallery in Leland, along with his wife, Rachel, who is a painter. The pair of former teachers have been dreaming of launching a retail space to showcase their artwork for years. Their new space, called The Art Dock and located at 108 North Lake Street, officially marked its grand opening this past weekend, and will proceed with 10am-6pm daily hours going forward.
“I taught for 11 years and [Rachel] taught for four, and we had no idea when we started those careers that we'd end up getting into photography and into art and painting down the road,” Leipprandt says. “But I picked up a camera early on in my teaching career and fell in love with photography. I started taking photos just for fun, and it just kept growing and growing, and I kept getting more clients. I was basically doing two jobs at once for five years, and then in 2020, I quit teaching to do photography full time.”
Leipprandt’s work spans from landscape photography to aerial drone and helicopter shots, all the way to virtual tours for real estate agents. Locally, his photos went viral earlier this year when he captured the devastation of flooding in and around Traverse City. His biggest claim to fame, though, was snapping an aerial shot of the Rose Bowl in 2024 (pictured), when the University of Michigan beat the University of Alabama en route to a national college football championship.
“My number one bucket list shot was to capture the stealth bomber that does the traditional Rose Bowl flyover, but only if Michigan was playing in the game,” Leipprandt tells The Ticker. “So, once we found out Michigan was playing in the Rose Bowl in 2024, I spent 30 days communicating with air traffic control, the helicopter pilots, and the stealth bomber pilots to coordinate everything. My brother and I took the photo, and then we went to the game. I posted it on social media, and a couple minutes later, ESPN asked me if they could use the photo. It went viral, over 100 million people have seen it, and it was my best-selling photo ever in less than two days. To this day, I still get orders for that photo all the time.”
The Art Dock will “showcase all of my aerial work,” Leipprandt says, including the Rose Bowl shot and other sporting event flyovers from around the state. “And then beyond that, we’re just trying to focus on a lot of local photography, as well as my wife’s paintings,” he adds.
Brew Bus rolls out new Glen Arbor experience
Brew Bus/Kayak Bike & Brew, a Traverse City-based beer, wine, and distillery tour company, announced earlier this month that it is partnering with two Glen Arbor businesses for a new Leelanau County experience. The new concept, dubbed “Kayak, Putt & Party,” is an alliance between Brew Bus, River Club Glen Arbor (RCGA), and Crystal River Outfitters. Customers who book the experience will get transportation between Traverse City and Glen Arbor courtesy of Brew Bus, followed by a “scenic two-hour kayak trip down Crystal River.” The adventure then culminates at RCGA for 18 holes of mini golf.
“We handle all reservations and transportation, allowing guests to simply relax and enjoy the day,” Brew Bus shared in an email announcement last week. Pricing starts at $139 per person for Sunday or weekday bookings, and $149 per person on Saturdays, and includes transportation, kayak reservations at Crystal River Outfitters, and golf at RCGA. Food and drink at RCGA is not included.
RCGA Owner Mike Sheldon says he orchestrated the new partnership as a means of reaching the Traverse City market in a new way.
“I’ve been a huge fan of Kayak, Bike & Brew for years, so I reached out to Troy Daily (Kayak Bike & Brew/Brew Bus owner) and Matt Wiesen (of Crystal River Outfitters) to see if they wanted to try a new offering. They didn’t hesitate for a second and boom, we have Kayak, Putt & Party in Glen Arbor. We believe Traverse City residents and visitors might be interested in an adventure where they could paddle the Crystal River, putt, eat and drink at River Club and not have to worry about transportation. We’ve already booked a few groups and we haven’t even done much marketing.”
The Kayak, Putt & Party experience is open to group sizes ranging from 6-14 passengers, “with pickup available within a five-mile radius of downtown Traverse City.”
Suttons Bay expansions
Multiple local businesses are expanding their footprint to Suttons Bay this summer.
Last week, The Leelanau Ticker reported on the new Suttons Bay location for Grand Traverse Distillery, which had previously only had a Leelanau presence in Leland. The distillery also plans to reopen its Leland tasting room soon.
Also expanding to Suttons Bay is The Flower Station, a downtown Traverse City flower shop. Flower Station owners Dan Rohe and Meagan Thomas Wells recently acquired the retail footprint of Forget Me Not Florist, formerly located at 100 Adams Street in downtown Suttons Bay, and have relocated to 73 West Fourth Street space, near Hansen Foods. That building previously housed ATI Physical Therapy, and was briefly occupied last year by The Aspen House, a short-lived hybrid child care and coworking space.
According to Rohe and Wells, Forget Me Not Florist’s old phone number (231-271-1977) will now ring to the Suttons Bay Flower Station location. The shop will be open 10am-5pm, Monday through Friday. Forget Me Not Florist closed its retail operation this past spring.
Finally, the popular local specialty food brand American Spoon has opened a new location at 218 North St. Joseph Street in downtown Suttons Bay. “We're so happy to open our doors in the heart of the Leelanau Peninsula, right down the road from where so much of our fruit is grown,” American Spoon said of the new location in a Facebook post last week. The shop marks the fifth American Spoon retail store in northern Michigan, after Traverse City, Charlevoix, Harbor Springs, and the flagship location in Petoskey. The company also has a shop in Saugatuck.
Western Avenue Grill won’t reopen this summer
Western Avenue Grill in Glen Arbor has been closed since February due to water damage, and will remain closed through the winter, co-owner Jennifer Davies tells The Ticker. “Fingers crossed for a fall opening,” she adds.
“In February we had a pipe that froze, and it was connected to a sprinkler head. It burst and flooded the kitchen,” Davies explains. “Now, the kitchen has been totally gutted, and we’re just waiting on our contractor to start work. That should be happening in the next week or so. But it’s going to take some time to get us back up and running again, because we’ve got to replace some equipment and all that fun stuff.”
Davies says the flood ultimately affected the kitchen, a storage room, and a “small part of one of the dining rooms.”
“Our beautiful bar and the front dining room are all intact, and the bathrooms are fine,” she says. “But you can’t run a restaurant without a kitchen, and it’s just been a waiting process to get that work going. Hopefully, we can get everything done this summer, and we’re anticipating a fall reopening.”
Tapas & Tacos Beer Garden opens in Lake Leelanau
Leelanau Steakhouse & Seafood, the new restaurant in the former Nittolo’s space in Lake Leelanau, had a grand opening last Friday for Tapas & Tacos Beer Garden, a new restaurant concept utilizing the Leelanau Steakhouse patio. The new concept is described as a “casual, lively restaurant and beer garden serving Latin-inspired bites, tacos, shareable plates, and drinks made for gathering.” Menu staples include Spanish fried calamari, chorizo nachos, black bean avocado cakes, Asian skewers, and more, as well as burritos and tacos.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Forget Me Not Florest was still in business as a private floral provider for weddings and events. Per Dan Rohe of The Flower Station, "the previous owner is fulfilling a few contracts for weddings" for this current season, but is "not taking on any new business."