The latest issue of the Traverse City Business News is going in depth with a lot of great features on Benzie County including one on betsiebay.net that starts with site co-founder Andy McFarlane explaining how this whole thing got started:
"I have been working with Ken Lake, a Frankfort resident and college roommate of mine, on the site," said McFarlane, who is married with two children. "This winter, Ken and I were walking around Frankfort and talking about all the new energy and development in the Benzie County area. Ken’s hopes were that as people moved into the area, they'd know something about where they were moving to."
With that in mind, McFarlane said they decided to create betsiebay.net.
"We decided to create a web site that tells positive stories about Frankfort and the surrounding areas," said McFarlane. "We'll focus on Benzie, but we’ll range south to Manistee, north into Leelanau and east to Traverse City—in a way that encourages people to enjoy what's there and to become a part of the local economy."
"We want it to be informative, fun and the kind of site that helps you enjoy your life more fully."
Betsie Bay Kayak builds high performance wood/epoxy/glass kayaks from a ancient Inuit design.
The beautiful, aesthetically pleasing design paired with the grace, mobility, and lightness of the crafts have been attracting people to these high-performance Greenland-design sea kayaks since 1984. Many big-name kayaking competitors swear by Betsie Bay Kayaks.
You can click above for their web site with information and photos of all the kayaks they build and some articles that will help you understand just how special a Betsie Bay Kayak really is!
betsiebay.net was built by Leelanau Communications, one of Michigan's leading providers of web, web marketing and new media services. From the longtime guide to Leelanau County, Leelanau.com, to the pretty darn amazing Absolute Michigan, Leelanau Communications is dedicated to telling the story of Michigan as it was, is and could be.
Leelanau Communications' owner Andy McFarlane is the publisher of betsiebay.net. He grew up (and still lives) a little ways north in Leland. Ken Lake is the manager of betsiebay.net. He's a classically trained landscape artist (MSU) who lives in Frankfort. Ken & Andy were college roommates. You can see more of Ken & Andy in the Welcome video.
Our goal with betsiebay.net is to help you get more out of visiting or living in the region from Manistee to Frankfort to Empire to Traverse City, which we're calling Betsie Bay … because we like the sound of that.
About the photos at the top of the pages. Some people have wondered about these. They were all taken on location in the area and have been subjected to digital lomography.
