28 July 18 • 2019
jn
in Charlevoix. I walk my dog every
morning around Round Lake and
often watch the sunrise. It’
s always so
gorgeous. It never gets old.
”
In 2015, Freund and his wife,
Emily, opened That French Place, a
café on Bridge Street specializing in
crepes, pastries and coffee. Two years
later, they opened Brian’
s Ice Cream
Experience. Seventy-five percent of
their income is generated between
Memorial Day weekend and the end of
October.
Freund isn’
t the only native Detroiter
with a business in the downtown area.
Brothers Bill and Jack Schulman start-
ed Schulman Paddleworks with their
wives, Lori and Marcia, in 2011. The
store opened the same year they sold
Camp Sea-Gull, a northern Michigan
overnight camp that attracted kids
from Metro Detroit.
“We call Charlevoix the ‘
West
Bloomfield of the North’
because
during the summer it feels like I see
everybody I know from high school
and Temple [Beth El]. My parents’
friends are regulars up here, too,
” said
Freund, a 1988 graduate of Andover
High School.
The popularity of Charlevoix wasn’
t
lost on Todd and Jennifer Kroll. When
they bought their summer home in
2010, they counted the number of
other people they knew with vacation
properties.
“I think we came up with something
like 23 or 24 families with homes in
the area,
” said Todd, who has consis-
tently visited the area for the last 18
summers. He knows this because his
oldest daughter is 18. “Right away, we
got a generational feeling from being
up there, and it was something we
wanted to start with our kids.
”
Because of the large number of
Jewish families who chose to vacation
in Charlevoix, Temple Beth El began
hosting a yearly outdoor Shabbat ser-
vice at East Park, located downtown
and overlooking Round Lake.
This summer’
s service, scheduled for
Aug. 16, is the temple’
s third. The first
two attracted more than 300 people,
including members of Temple B’
nai
Israel of Petoskey, the only permanent
synagogue in the area.
Now there is a Chabad presence in
Charlevoix as well. Mendel Shemtov
of West Bloomfield and Mendel
Goldman of Oklahoma City, both 23,
moved in July 12. They plan to host
a variety of programs ranging from
Shabbat dinners and lunch-and- learn
sessions to putting up mezuzahs on
vacation homes of those who are
interested. There also are plans to host
some kids’
programs. Shemtov and
Goldman decided to spend part of
the summer in Charlevoix with the
encouragement and support of resi-
dents Mark and Shoshana Schulman.
“This is a way where people can
have a dose of Jewish fun in the place
where they vacation,
” Shemtov said.
“We’
re open to hearing suggestions
from the community about what else
they are looking for. We want to offer
things in a fun, relaxed, summertime
atmosphere.
” ■
continued from page 27
COURTESY RICK BERMAN
Jimmy Berman in 1971 on his boat (left) and a
current photo of his son, Rick, near his property
in Charlevoix (above).
on the cover/travel
arts&life
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