Muddy Boots, Quiet Posters, and a Few Good Nights Ahead
A calm listen-in on what’s coming up around Leelanau and Old Mission over the next week—films, talks, music, and a couple of meetings worth noting.
The doormat’s doing overtime right now—March in northern Michigan always has that damp, gritty honesty. You can hear it in the soft scrape of boots at the door, see it in the salt dust on windshields, and feel it in that cool air that slips in when somebody cracks a front door too long. Out the window it’s still the lake’s gray light, not the bright stuff yet—just a flat shine on the bay and bare branches tapping the glass when the breeze turns.
As the week unfolds here in March 2026, a couple of the public-life lights are on. Leelanau Township has Board of Review on Tuesday, March 10 at Leelanau Township Hall in Northport, and Leelanau Township’s Planning Commission meets Thursday, March 12—both the kind of nights where you’ll see a few cars angled carefully in the lot, headlights washing over snowbanks that have settled into dirty, uneven ridges. Over on Old Mission, the Old Mission Peninsula Historical Society is set for a Thursday, March 5 evening meeting at Peninsula Community Library—close enough on the calendar that folks are still talking about what they heard, folding the handout once, then again, before tucking it into a coat pocket.
Then there’s the St. Patrick’s week energy that tends to show up even when winter won’t quite let go. Saturday, March 14, Glen Arbor and Lake Leelanau both have Shamrock Crawl-style St. Patrick’s gatherings running through participating spots—weather-conditional in the way everything is right now, with folks adjusting a scarf at the doorway and glancing up at the sky before stepping out. In Suttons Bay, the Bay Community Theatre’s schedule has been humming too, including its Made in Michigan Film Series and those Formula 1 watch parties that have people showing up early, coffee cups in hand, while the streets are still quiet.
Midweek into next weekend, the arts-and-film side of our shoreline keeps steady. City Opera House in Traverse City has the 2026 Fly Fishing Film Tour on Friday, March 20—one of those nights where you notice damp hats hung on chair backs and the faint smell of wet wool in a warm room. Over at State Theatre and Bijou by the Bay, TCFF Tuesdays Winter 2026 continues its winter run—films moving through the week like they always have here, with lobby conversations carrying low and easy as people read the posted schedule.
And looking out a little farther—still within that coming-week window—Tuesday, March 24 brings Leelanau Trivia Night 2026 at Leland Township Library, plus a 7:00 p.m. program listed by the Leelanau Historical Society & Museum in Leland (co-hosted with the Leland Cultural District, Fishtown Preservation Society, Leland Township Library, and the Old Art Building). Then Wednesday, March 25, the Bay Cinema Society meets at the Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay. By Saturday, March 28, there’s a country show on the calendar at Leelanau Sands Casino in Peshawbestown—one more warm room to step into while the outside still sounds like wind in dry grass and the last of the roadside snowmelt runs in thin, dark ribbons.
Event Info:
Leelanau Township (Northport) — Meetings & Notices
Leelanau Township Planning Commission
Peninsula Township (Old Mission) — Notices & Meetings
Old Mission Peninsula Historical Society
Leelanau News — Shamrock Crawl (Glen Arbor & Lake Leelanau)
State Theatre & Bijou by the Bay — TCFF Tuesdays Winter 2026
City Opera House — Events
Leland Township Library — Calendar
Leelanau Historical Society & Museum — Events
The Bay Community Theatre — Bay Cinema Society
Leelanau Sands Casino — Entertainment Calendar