05/30/2026
Spring in Leelanau means asparagus. Norconk Farms () cuts them in the morning. Laura brines them in the afternoon. By suppertime they're in jars on the counter, working their way toward the cheese and charcuterie boards. Sharp, salty, with the bite still in them.
Norconk's is selling at the Empire Asparagus Festival next Saturday, June 6, ten miles south on M-22. So is Art's Tavern Glen Arbor. Right Brain () is pouring. There's a 5K called "Kick-yer-Assparagus." There's a poetry contest at the library called "Ode to Asparagus." There's an Asparagus Queen on stilts. Empire knows what it has. Because when a town goes to this much trouble for the first green thing out of the ground, you go.