As Northport's New Bohemian Café looks forward to summer 2022, a few new offerings are on the horizon from co-owners Amy and Kevin Murphy. For a treat on a hot summer day, the eatery will have three frozen drink options. While the details are still being fine-tuned, Kevin says we can expect a frozen latte or frappuccino, a frosty lemonade, and some version of an Italian ice.

A bigger update is bringing on a coffee truck in the form of a renovated 1960’s Volkswagen bus. Featuring a condensed version of the café’s beverage menu, the truck will be able to visit different sites in the region. Its home away from home will be outside the Omena Bay Country Store, which is planned for a 2022 reopening and will be operated by the Murphys.

The vision there is for a neighborhood general store, providing Omena locals and visitors with the routine items needed around the cottage, on the boat, or at the beach, says Kevin. “We’ll have a very nice selection of beer, wine and liquor. We’ll have snacks and grab-and-go food. We’ll have coffee. We’ll have all the odds and ends that people might want to drive up to Northport or down to Suttons Bay for — like batteries, bug spray, charcoal, and that sort of thing.”

The Omena Bay Country Store is coming soon. Meanwhile, New Bohemian Café is open all year round, and in doing so has become a community spot for locals and seasonal visitors alike. 

“I would just encourage people if you could fit into that category of ‘I can’t even think of the last time I went up to Northport,’ come up to Northport!” Kevin says. “We have the Mitten Brewing Company; we have an amazing public beach; we’ve got trails; we’ve got a golf course. It is a really nice little town to just come up and poke around, and there’s an increasing number of shops and new businesses. If you haven’t been to Northport in the last five years, you will find that the Northport of 2022 is a very different thing than it was before.”

Check out a full story on the Murphys in this week's edition of our sister publication, Northern Express. Find them at 110 S. Waukazoo Street, Northport.