May 10-11, 2019; The Hunchback of Notre Dame; Interlochen; an adaptation of the classic Victor Hugo tale with songs from the Disney animated feature. Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. May 10 and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. May 11 at Corson Auditorium. tickets interlochen.org.

Competitors donned their lucky green for the Leapin’ Leprechaun 5K foot race in downtown Traverse City’s Warehouse District. The annual St. Paddy’s Day event features a post-race party with medals for top finishers and prizes for the best Irish costume. This year’s event supported Munson Healthcare’s new Family Birth and Children’s Center.

CARDINAL COAT AND OTHER STORIES by Katharine Crawford Robey

A drive down M-115 leads to the small village of Mesick, which sits near the Manistee River just north of the vast Manistee National Forest.

Springtime fills our hibernating souls with a burst of energy, and it’s the perfect time for distilleries, coffee houses and tea shops to offer an array of libations with fruit, herbal and floral notes to melt away the winter blues.

SUTTONS BAY — Demarie Jones’ mornings start hours before her day job at Disability Network — two alpacas, four rabbits, 13 Angora goats and eight sheep keep her busy.

Name: Loghan Call. Job: Regenerative foods chef and founder of Planted Cuisine, creating events centered around showcasing hyper-local, plant-based foods. I work in partnership with Table Health TC and local businesses on events, education and pop-up food experiences.

Humans love flowers — so much so that it’s a billion dollar industry.

Alex Zelinski likes to think he started the patterned sock fad.

Strolling through the Old Growth Forest at Hartwick Pines State Park it’s not a stretch to think it required the might of Paul Bunyan to log northern Michigan woodlands. The park’s 45 acres of 350- to 400-year-old pines reach 150 feet skyward, offering a living view of the state as it was before the great lumbering era.

Spring is a time of renewal, when we shake off the slumber of winter and wait for the natural world to catch up.

When in doubt, make a tart.

To date, I have personally saved 9,782 chickadees and nuthatches, 421 woodpeckers, 54 squirrels, two lonely opossums, and an entire herd of deer from total annihilation. This thought proudly occurred to me one recent frigid morning as I filled the bird feeder — again — on our deck. A strange thought indeed given that a month earlier, I enjoyed shooting a few mallards during duck season. I know, it’s complicated.

Winterfest

Competitors bundled up for the Farmland 5K Run and Free For All Bike Race, a “winter weather” event featuring a European-style, turf-grass cross country race with knee-high barriers, followed by a six-lap, 12-mile bike race on fat, cyclocross and mountain bikes. The annual event is organized by the Traverse City Track Club the first Saturday in December.

AIDEN’S TREE, by Karen Rieser

Dashing through the snow often creates a yearning for warm libations to help get the chill out.

NAME: Vanessa Grasset. Position: Owner/executive chef, Crepes and Co., Traverse City

Boyne City is a popular vacation spot — especially once the snow starts flying

Karen Hilt knows a thing or two about shopping for the “unique.”

Soup. It’s for lunch. Maybe for dinner. It warms on a cold day. It provides comfort and even — some believe — healing (think chicken).

A sure way to survive the long north country winter is to embrace it. Taste it, admire and explore it. Make “ice is nice” your mantra and before you know it spring will come calling.

It snowed the day I moved to northern Michigan with my late husband.

With an abundance of good cheer spreading itself around during the Christmas season, it’s easy to overlook — or deal with — the “hectic-ness.” Modern-day celebrations of the birth of Christ involve gathering as friends and families, planning parties and buying presents, fully accepting that some form of chaos will accompany the few weeks leading up to the big day.

Christmas tree buyers, like evergreens, come in many varieties. There’s the Goldilocks customer who carefully scopes an entire inventory before making a claim, and the hurried grab-and-go elf.

Downtown - Traverse City Light Parade

Cross Village may only have a couple hundred residents, but its holiday activities draw people from all over northern Michigan.

There’s probably never a bad time to catch wonderful scents at Moomers Homemade Ice Cream in Traverse City.

CHICKADEELAND by Bill O. Smith, illustrated by Charles R. Murphy

Move over, apple cider and pumpkin latte. It’s eggnog’s turn. And virgin or spiked, it’s a mainstay of holiday celebrations.

Members of the Association of Michigan Basketmakers set off a ‘basket-weaving bomb’ at Shanty Creek Resort in Bellaire during the association’s annual conference. The organization was founded in 1981 to develop and perpetuate the art of basketry and now has more than 500 members from the United States, Canada, Japan and Russia.

Ingrid Brophy likes to get a jump on her holiday shopping while supporting local artisans and craftsmen.

Organization: Healthy Chef Ali, a health coaching and cooking service. Also teaches cooking classes at Oryana, Grace Episcopal Church and Northwestern Michigan College.

Decking the halls is a serious endeavor at Castle Farms.

The Grand Traverse Resort and Spa in Acme hosted the first The Grand Event: LIFE, a new fundraiser organized by The Grand Traverse Pavilions Foundation. Supporters played the classic Hasbro board game for fun and prizes.

John Teichman for decades has been decorating the Christmas tree in Traverse City’s historic Candle Factory building with vintage glass ornaments.

In a society where disagreeing is a sport, when was the last time you had something in common with everyone? Maybe at a rally against root canals, or a parent support group about the video game FortNite. But what about regionally? Nationally? It just doesn’t happen in any well-intentioned democracy, with one exception — the fall color season.

Fall Fest — Oct. 13, 2018: ELK RAPIDS

Visitors to the Port Oneida Fair stepped back in time to the late 1800s and early 1900s to experience life as it was then in the farming community now called the Port Oneida Rural Historic District.

Traverse Citians donned dirndls and lederhosen for Hoof 'N Sloshin, a 2-mile Bavarian-theme race at which participants hoof it up the back side of Mt. Holiday then slosh down a series of slip 'n slides to raise money for the nonprofit community recreation area. Photos by Jan-Michael Stump.

CHASING HELICITY by Ginger Zee

East Jordan owns the fall.

MAPLETON — Old Mission Peninsula’s one-room schoolhouses, some of which predate the Civil War, still stand as icons of the region’s evolution from frontier to destination community. Their legacies are preserved by those living and working where school bells clanged and slate boards were the forerunner to learning technology.

SUTTONS BAY — The trees hang heavy with ripe reds and bright greens, and blustery wind carries a chill promising winter.

NAME: Bryan Petrick. POSITION: Head Chef at Aerie Restaurant & Lounge, Grand Traverse Resort & Spa.

Patty Huhta of Elk Rapids attended Michigan State University, So did her parents. And sister. And her sister’s kids. And one of her own kids, plus another who is likely heading there next year.

Ada Doerner once heard someone say, “I have everything I need and most of what I want.”

Northern Michigan’s hilly, glaciated topography offers a seemingly unlimited number of opportunities for scenic views. One of the newer view sites — dubbed the Skyline Overlook, which tells you something about its view potential — should be on your short list of places to visit this fall.

Some wait for the Great Pumpkin to appear beneath Halloween night moonlight. Others make their own autumn magic.