Mud on the Boots, Music in the Rooms
A calm look at what’s happening around Leelanau and Old Mission in mid-March 2026—indoors first, with the lake still watching through the glass.
The furnace kicks on with that soft whoosh, and you can hear a few grains of sand skitter across the entry tile when the door opens. March in northern Michigan always shows up in the small things first: damp cuffs on jeans, a row of muddy boots drying heel-to-toe, and the gray lake light hanging in the windows like a thin curtain. Somebody pauses at a bulletin board by the coat hooks, finger tracking a flyer, then folds a program in half and tucks it into a pocket.
Early in the week, the sound of strings and voices is the kind of thing that carries even through slushy parking lots. On Tuesday, March 10, Interlochen Arts Academy’s Imagine US tour stop is being carried live by Interlochen Public Radio—one of those nights where you can picture the stage lights and music stands even if you’re listening from a kitchen table. And looking back just a few days, the Old Mission Peninsula Historical Society meets Thursday, March 5 at Peninsula Community Library’s Community Room—so if you missed it, that’s the kind of note that’s still on folks’ lips in the library aisle, between the returns cart and the window that faces the bay.
By the weekend, the peninsula gets a little busier in that March way—half indoors, half out, with everyone still wearing the same jacket they wore in February. Friday through Sunday, March 13–15, Leelanau Wine & Cheese runs across the Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail, the sort of roaming event you notice from tasting sheets on counters and a few extra cars parked crooked where the snowbanks used to be. At the same time, the Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail’s Mystery Vines Wine Hunt continues through the month (March 1–31), showing up as little clues and stamped papers—something you’ll see tucked into glove compartments and coat pockets.
Saturday, March 14, St. Patrick’s week spills early into the towns: there’s a Shamrock Crawl in Glen Arbor and another in Lake Leelanau, and you can already imagine the green paper clovers taped to windows and the sound of doors swinging shut against the wind. Over in Glen Arbor, the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s exhibit Small Accomplishments is still up through Sunday, March 15—quiet, indoors, and right for this time of year when you want to stand close to a piece and listen to the room.
And if your week pulls you closer to Traverse City, keep an ear out for what’s happening at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons. Sunday, March 15 brings an Ides of March Shakespeare festival—live performance mixing with footsteps in the corridors, and that particular Commons echo that makes even a small crowd sound like it’s moving through history.
Event Info:
Shamrock Crawl (Glen Arbor and Lake Leelanau) — Leelanau News
Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail — March 2026 Events
Glen Arbor Arts Center — Events Calendar (includes Small Accomplishments exhibit dates)
The Village at Grand Traverse Commons — Events
Interlochen Public Radio — Imagine US Tour Live (March 10, 2026)