Category Archives: Frankfort

Blocking The View

Blocking The View

Blocking The View, photo by jbnuthatch.

jbnuthatch writes Channel marker base on the northern stub pier of Frankfort Harbor. The channel is the entrance into Betsie Bay - a.k.a. Lake Betsie

Sorry posting has been light this month - too much fun stuff to do outside!
Speaking of lighthouses, if you haven't already, take a look at The Town Between Two Lighthouses video!

Josh White Jr. at the Betsie Bay Inn

On Friday July 11th the Betsie Bay Inn & Restaurant in Frankfort will host Josh White Jr. from 8-10 PM. Josh is the son of legendary folk & blues player Josh White and a fantastic musician in his own right. If you can, you should go. Visit their site or call the Betsie Bay Inn at (231) 352-8090 for details!

Here's a video of Josh playing a little song high above the Michigan countryside with fellow guitarist Mike Ball and pilot Scott Lorenz of Westwind Balloon Company:

The Betsie Valley Trail in Benzie County

The Betsie Valley Trail is a 22 mile long, hard surfaced trail. The asphalt portion is six miles long and goes from Frankfort, through Elberta, along Crystal Lake to Beulah - perfect for biking, rollerblading and walking. From Beulah to Thompsonville the trail cuts through woods and farms. This portion is 13 miles long and is a compacted aggregate surface that is great for mountain biking and all kinds of pedestrian uses (it's. Friends of the Betsie Valley Trail's great trail tour page (with photos) begins:

The Betsie Valley Trail is built on the bed of the former Ann Arbor Railroad, which carried freight and passengers from Toledo through Ann Arbor, Owosso, Cadillac, Thompsonville and Beulah to Frankfort and Elberta. From 1892 until 1982 the freight cars were carried across Lake Michigan on car ferries to Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Passenger service was discontinued in 1951 and freight service in 1985. The railroad was abandoned in 1994 and, in 1998, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) bought the rail corridor. Benzie County and the Friends of the Betsie Valley Trail have been working with the DNR since 1992 to build the Trail.

You can even ride the trail one way if you make reservations with the Benzie Bus service who will take you, your friends and bikes to any spot on the trail for $2 ($1 for seniors). For info and reservations call 231-325-3000 or visit BenzieBus.com. Here's the Betsie Valley Trail map and you can also check it out on the betsiebay.net map!

Frankfort's Garden Theater - reopening July 5, 2008 (or so)

The Garden Theater is under new ownership and said to be opening July 5th!

From the Garden Theater web site:

The Garden Theater located in downtown Frankfort Michigan was
built in 1924 and with a few small exceptions has been in continuous
operation since that time. In June this year, The Garden was
purchased by a group of community members with the intent of
renovating the building. The new ownership will continue to show
first run movies and also hopes to expand with independent films,
foreign cinema, live theater and live music.

Fun in the Sun: Early Season Surfing, Paddle-surfing, Kayaking & Kiteboarding in Frankfort

Visit the Sleeping Bear Dunes

At the Mouth of Otter Creek, Autumn, 2007 by John Clement HoweOver on Absolute Michigan there's a nice feature on visiting the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It features some thoughts about fun things to do in the park along with a ton of links & photos. Check out Dig Michigan: Sleeping Bear Dunes.

While there's a tendency to think of the park as a Glen Arbor or Leelanau park, much of the acreage is in Benzie County and Benzie played a significant role in the early days of the park as you can read in the online book A Nationalized Lakeshore: The Creation and Administration of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore:

The first lakeshore headquarters was in Frankfort, Michigan, at the site of the former State Savings Bank, a terra cotta trimmed commercial building located on Main Street. Martinek, a former Traverse City resident, would have preferred that location as a temporary headquarters. But the park service had already committed itself to Frankfort, besides, Benzie County had a number of long-time supporters of the project and Martinek was informed they were offering space in the bank for free. The space had to be thoroughly renovated, teller cages removed and carpets put in, and ended up costing the agency $700 dollars a month in rent. Of greater assistance to the lakeshore was Ted Carland's offer to the superintendent to publish in the Benzie County Patriot a series of columns (eventually titled "Bear Facts") to explain park service policy and give readers an update on the development of the lakeshore.

…Although all owners of property within the lakeshore boundaries were notified of the existence of the park project immediately after the passage of Public Law 91-479, they were generally at sea concerning how it would affect them. Property owners had to come down to Frankfort and discover what classification their tracts had been assigned. If their land was projected for public use it was rated "Category I" and it was doomed to be lost to the government.

We've also added a ton of trails and other items of interest to the betsiebay.net map!

The photo is At the Mouth of Otter Creek, Autumn, 2007 by John Clement Howe, part of his amazing Benzie County set (slideshow).

Frankfort Breakwater Light by Billie K67

Frankfort Breakwater Light by Billie K67

Frankfort Breakwater Light, photo by Billie K67

This photo is part of Bill's cool Benzie County gallery (slideshow).

He posts them "big enough for backgrounds" too!

News from the Fusion Restaurant in Frankfort!

betsiebay.net's Ken Lake chats with Bobbiesee Ku of The Fusion Restaurant in downtown Frankfort about exciting new developments including culinary school, their new Mediterranean restaurant Tali (at the current location) and the new location of Fusion at the former Rhonda's Wharfside (with a dessert bar downstairs!).

Here's a brief article from the Traverse City Business News about Fusion.

Ice Breaking up on Betsie Bay

Ice Breaking up on Betsie Bay

Ice Breaking up on Betsie Bay, photo by anttler.

anttler took this photo while soaring over Frankfort on Sunday and says:

This shows some of the Ice break up on Betsie Bay from a glide flying at about 3000 feet. I like the ice formations when viewed from a warm cockpit.

I like the ice formations when they're on the way out for the year!

This photo is part of his set of Aviation photos which includes this sweet view looking north to the Sleeping Bear Dunes and Leelanau. He also has some amazing Astrophotos.

Seriously, check them out.

Cold, Hard, & Bumpy

Cold, Hard, & Bumpy

Cold, Hard, & Bumpy, photo by jbnuthatch.

jbnuthatch observes that there are better places to throw down your sleeping bag. Bumpy mounds of ice inside the Frankfort Harbor.

His Lighthouses photo set (slideshow) includes some other cool views of Frankfort Light and Harbor like this beauty of the ice in the harbor and this fantastical fusion of a photo and artwork by Sven Geier.