06/01/2026
Today is my last day open at the Art Shanty in Fishtown, and I'm reflecting on this beautiful week.
Waking up to the smell of smoked fish drifting off the docks. Falling asleep to the sound of the dam. The kind of slow, unhurried pace that reminds you what summer is actually supposed to feel like.
The shopkeepers here welcomed me like I'd always been part of this place. A local named Jim stopped by more than once just to share little pieces of Fishtown history I could pass along to curious visitors. The Fishtown Preservation Society is quietly doing something really special here, and you feel it in every corner of this town.
What got me most were the stories. Families who have been making the trip up here for generations. College kids who come back every summer, some traveling all the way from Europe, because this place just has a hold on them.
And watching people pick up one of our Michigan maps or Leelanau pieces and say "this is exactly what I've been looking for" -- that's why I do this. A way to take a little piece of this place home with them.
Fishtown has a hold on me too.
If you haven't been to Leland, Michigan, put it on your list. And if you have, you already know.
