It’s back, and it’s going to be the best one yet.

That’s the message from organizers at the long-running Leland Wine & Food Festival, who are busy planning and preparing for the June 14 event. The festival returns after a hiatus last year, and it will be back at the harbor (the event’s traditional home) for the first time since 2019.

While previously almost entirely contained in the harbor’s parking lot, this year’s festival will spread some of the action up onto Lake Street, which by virtue of its elevation provides excellent views of the Manitou Islands and a nice overview of the harbor.

“We walked it just yesterday, and we really do think it’s going to be better than ever,” organizer Maggie Mielczarek tells The Ticker. “To have tall tops up there on the deck overlooking the water, I think we're going to be happier than we ever were before.”

The wine portion of the food and wine tandem will be up on Lake Street, gathering many of the county’s top wineries and their increasingly celebrated products. Food, music, merchandise sales and more will be down in the harbor parking lot.

“We’ve talked about elevating the experience, and we’re actually physically doing just that,” organizer Tony West tells The Ticker. “Now you’ll be overlooking the beautiful harbor and the Manitous…We’re super excited with the new layout and what we expect the flow and the feel will be.”

The festival, a staple in Leelanau County, dates to 1986 and is hosted by the Leland Chamber of Commerce. After COVID cancellations in 2020 and 2021, it was forced to move from the harbor to the Leland Lodge for two years due to construction at the harbor.

Then, the 2024 festival was canceled outright after a chain of events that started with a complaint by a fisherman who couldn’t access the boat ramp during the festival. It was eventually determined that the festival could occur so long as the boat ramp wasn’t blocked (the harbor receives significant state funding and must follow certain rules).

After trying to make that work and examing other locations, organizers reluctantly pulled the plug.

“There was a chance to pivot, but it was just too much to do in too short a period of time,” Mielczarek says. “Some people said we just threw in the towel last year, but we really tried everything but standing on our heads to make it work.”

Everyone involved is thrilled to be back at the harbor.

“It’s a homecoming,” West says. “It’s what we were all working to get to.”

West says he’s also looking forward to giving local wineries another chance to shine. There were only seven wineries in the entire state when the festival began, he says (the number is now around 200) and local wineries are continuing to push the envelope. 

“I'm excited to see some of the new wines that are going to be featured, because even that's even different from years past. Now there’s so many different varietals that the county is growing,” he says. “So for the first time down in the harbor, you're going to see a potential of five to six different varietals offered from these 13 different wineries.”

Besides being a lot of fun, organizers say the event is a critically important fundraiser in Leland. Fireworks, Christmas lights, flowers, the 4th of July parade and much more are funded in whole or part by the Leland Wine & Food festival.

“All of the beautiful things that make this community shine are paid for with this wine festival, and that’s not clear to a lot of people,” Mielczarek says. "This means that as a community and as a chamber, we won’t be as stressed to make (these things happen).”

The community at large, whether or not they’ll be attending, is excited to have the festival back (and back home), organizers say.

“I get questions all the time about the festival coming back, because people know what a huge community event it is,” organizer Mark Morton tells The Ticker. “Even people that don't attend it are curious about if it's coming back, because they know what it means to Leland and our identity.”

For more information and for tickets, visit the chamber’s website.

Photo: From left to right, Mark Morton, Tony West, Maggie Mielczarek and Harbormaster Jeremy Anderson