Your 6th Annual Leelanau Ticker Fireside Trivia

Another year, another reason to celebrate a county loaded with history and never short on cool stories (or lore!). Huddle in with your holiday crew for the sixth annual Leelanau Ticker Fireside Trivia and find out who’s still on their toes…even after another pour of eggnog.

1. We might not be known for tornadic activity, but Leelenau’s seen its share of wild weather, including the infamous 2015 storm that caused $82 million in damage with 100 mph straight-line winds. How many actual recorded twisters has the county seen in the last 50 years?
A)    Three
B)    Seven
C)    None
Answer: Three. On July 31, 1977, an F1 tornado cut a diagonal path from Big Glen Lake through Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore before ending in the Swanson Preserve. Another touched down the following summer, while the next didn’t arrive until 2011, when an EF0 briefly took out boats, docks, and trees.

2. The Sleeping Bear Dunes get their name from an Anishinaabe oral tradition in which the dune overlooking Lake Michigan is the Mother Bear watching over her two drowned cubs. Which two islands represent the cubs?
Answer: It’s North and South Manitou Islands.

3. Sea lampreys are the stuff of freshwater (and also saltwater) nightmares and, according to the Inland Seas Education Association in Suttons Bay, one of the greatest threats to our coast’s native species. How many eggs can a single female sea lamprey lay in a year?
A)    50,000
B)    100,000
C)    150,000
Answer: Up to 100,000 eggs annually. Yikes. Now you know (and probably wish you didn’t).

4. Which Newbery Award winning Suttons Bay author of 14 children’s and YA books sold over 25 original illustrations this summer to support arts funding for local students?
Answer: Lynne Rae Perkins, whose latest book, Violet & Jobie in the Wilderness, follows mouse siblings adapting to life outside their habitat. Many of the artworks sold were original illustrations from the book.

5. What animal was introduced to North Manitou Island nearly a century ago in 1926?
Answer: White-tailed deer. The herbivores were introduced as a way to boost hunting for the wealthy businessmen who were invited to the island by the Manitou Island Association. Those early hunters had it pretty posh – they were transported to and from North Manitou with a guide by their side who told them exactly when and where to shoot, no strategy required.

6. Defunct since 1972, sailors once relied on the Grand Traverse Lighthouse to guide them safely into the bay. According to legend, one former keeper never stopped keeping watch. Who is said to haunt the lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula?
A)    Marion Lee Hancock
B)    John Tregembo
C)    Captain Peter Nelson
Answer: Captain Peter Nelson, (though John and Marion were both keepers in the mid 1900s). Nelson, a Danish ship captain, served as lighthouse keeper from 1874 to 1890. Volunteers and visitors report hearing footsteps on the hardwood floors and voices in the tower — signs, some believe, that the old keeper is still on duty.

7. Which one-of-a-kind lodge built over a dam was the first major project of a young University of Michigan architecture grad in the 1960s?
Answer: It’s Fishtown’s Falling Waters Lodge, designed by Roger Hummel as his first major architectural project and constructed over Leland River’s (manmade) waterfall.

8. With so many of Glen Haven’s landmarks named after him, what was D.H. Day’s full name?
A)    Douglas Haverhill Day
B)    David Henry Day
C)    Donald Hudson Day
Answer: The “D.H.” stands for David Henry, a man who helped grow Glen Haven from a lumber port into a once very busy-little village. Arriving in 1878 as an agent for a shipping company, he soon bought the town, ran its dock and general store, and lived with his family above the shop. He later became an early advocate of reforestation, fruit farming, and tourism and donated the 32 acres of land that became, in part, D.H. Day Campground.

9. Located just over the county line into Benzie (but still part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore), this spot is known as NoMi’s best-kept secret beach (shhh). But a century ago, it was a full-on lumber town thanks to its hardwoods and white pine. Where is it?
Answer: Esch Road Beach. Once the ghost town of Aral, where the sawmill sat adjacent to Otter Creek, it’s now a favorite summer splash spot.

10. How many jars of Cherry Republic’s beloved Cherry Salsa flew out of their Glen Arbor campus doors last year?
A)    29,247
B)    3,745
C)    17,023
Answer: 29,247 jars of the sweet-and-spicy favorite were sold in 2024.