Coffee talks have been a longstanding tradition in Leelanau County with several coffee club meetings every Thursday across the peninsula.
The coffee chats are reminiscent of the International Coffee Club of America, Leland Coffee Club, that was featured in a 1973 CBS news segment called “On the Road” with Charles Kuralt.
The Omena Coffee hour meets every Thursday as locals from the area gather to have conversations topped with coffee and pastries.
The Omena Historical Society started the Omena Coffee hour that is located at the Putnam-Cloud-Tower house, according to Marsha Beuhler.
“We want people in the museum and people talking together,” she said. We hope to be talking about history but we don’t have a topic picked out. We chat about current events and general mingling. “
The coffee hour typically has between four and 12 people show up, although there is always an open invitation for people wanting to socialize.
“It’s nice that people can go somewhere on a regular basis and maybe meet some people but not be expected to make a social commitment,” Beuhler said.
Coffee is provided at the Omena coffee hour.
Local residents including historian Allan Dalzell venture off to Omena whenever they have a Thursday morning free.
“That one is usually friendly and historic and we talk about (history) that went on in the area, and it is not very political,” Dalzell said. “There’s a few of us that are natives to the area, and it’s just a fun thing to do that’s why I go.”
One thing for certain regarding Leelanau County — everything is connected.
Head north, and there is another coffee meeting held over coffee nearly every Thursday at the Trinity Church on Nagonaba Street at 8:30 a.m.
This bring-your-own-coffee meeting tends to bring more local politics into the discussion about what is and what isn’t going on.
Today, Larry Mawby, along with other local officials will be attending the coffee meeting to discuss community housing.
By the Bay Garden Club
Step into Northern Latitudes Coffee shop in Suttons Bay on Thursday morning at 10 a.m. for a coffee club with a garden twist.
This hour is spent talking about the group’s prized gardens as well as life in general.
“We’re supposed to talk about flowers, but we talk about all our ailments and our families. And last week we got into the government a little bit,” Garden Club member Marilyn Norwood said.
The coffee chat allows for maintenance of friendships during winter months before the busy summer gardening season.
In 2023, the club received a “Plant Michigan Green” Beautification Award from the Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association for the Blue Star Memorial Garden project at Herman Park. Dedication of the memorial, which honors our veterans, was celebrated in September, 2022. The community is welcome to honor their family members by purchasing a brick and having it installed at the memorial garden.
“Think almost every garden club in the state has a Blue Star memorial. And of course they fought us wanting to do that, but we did it anyway,” Cathy Martin said.
The garden club is celebrating 15 years in 2024.
“It has just really blossomed,” Martin added.
Vera Hernandez, director of the garden club, says, “We are trying to get members out during the winter months. A lot of our members are gone during the winter but the ones that stick around want to touch base with them and have a get together where we can discuss gardening issues or whatever.”
The garden club manages 22 Suttons Bay village flower pots every year. The coffee club is in its second year thanks to president Margie Osborne.
“It’s to encourage people that are around to get interested in learning more about the club so they can come and just talk to us and not really have a commitment made to join just to maybe get involved,” Hernandez said.
The purpose of the club is to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening; aid in the protection of native trees, plants and birds; and participate in community beautification. There are currently 35 members and eight “friends” of the By-The-Bay Garden Club of Suttons Bay. The public is welcome to join for spontaneous conversations involving everything under the sun and sometimes even gardening.
By-The-Bay Garden Club monthly meetings are held at the Suttons Bay Fire Station, 201 S. St. Mary’s Ave. at 1 p.m. the second Monday of each month (excluding March). The public is welcome to attend meetings. The next meeting on Monday will feature Al Ammons who will present “Making Maple Syrup at Home.”
