Moving to the sound of Stoops’ music

Another fantastic Arcadia Daze fireworks display. Photo courtesy of Sue Stoops.

By Milton F. Whitmore

When he and Sue Keillor were married, Ron Stoops told his bride he didn’t want to work for someone else and would rather be self-employed. Sue, raised south of Frankfort, already knew about her new husband’s love of music. Born and raised in Benzonia, Ron taught himself how to play the guitar at an early age and fell in love with it from the get-go. 

After a 1968-’69 stint in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, he returned home. Ron and Sue settled in the Arcadia area, began their family, went into business and explored the local music scene. In 1968, the area’s salmon fishing boom began, and anglers, many in very inappropriate boats, flocked to ports along northern Lake Michigan in pursuit of the exploding population of silver bullets. A mechanical tinkerer, Ron, together with Sue, founded Arcadia Marine in 1975 at the north end of Arcadia Lake, in the old Arcadia Mirror Works building. The property had docks, a small shop and a campground. The young couple leased the property from a local fellow and things worked out, despite a hiccup or two along the way.

Their family grew to five, with the addition of children Amy, Rachel and Jim, and the kids were constantly on the scene. Ron, a talented guitarist, played every night at home and spent time in local bars where bands played. When he was in a bar, Ron would always, ALWAYS end up on stage playing with the band. Before long, Ron became a key instrument in a local group called The Galaxies, and they flourished on the Manistee/Benzie music scene. Not a musician, Sue faithfully attended Ron’s gigs, and the children soon picked up their own bits of musical expertise.

Bringing up the business

Being a bit crowded in the Mirror Works building, the mechanical part of the enterprise was moved to M-22, and from there the business grew. As a young lad, son Jim took a natural interest in the mechanical aspects of boating to work alongside his father.  At 15, he earned his outboard motor mechanic certification.

Daughters Amy and Rachel were always there to lend their hands when needed. Sue soon took to the idea of furthering the business venture and added the Lily Pad Gift Shop. Things were busy indeed. By 1989, the gradual move of the enterprise to M-22 was completed. This gave Ron and Sue more freedom to expand their business ideas.

In 1981 the Arcadia Lions Club began sponsoring a weekend summer festival called Arcadia Daze. The festival was typical of such events throughout northern Michigan. After a few years, the Stoops saw a need. The festival lacked sweets, and ice cream came to mind. After a bit of searching, they bought a used soft-serve ice cream machine from a used car salesman (strange, but true) near Baldwin. By building a small, red-and-white wooden kiosk and setting it up on Lake Street during Arcadia Daze, the family offered Arcadia something it didn’t have ⸺ a sweet frozen treat during a warm July weekend. Thus, was born the Arcadia Ice House, which today serves ice cream as well as soft serve.

I asked Sue what the impetus was to open the Ice House. She said Ron saw her standing around the gift shop, doing nothing, and thought an ice cream shop would keep her busy. Realistically, Sue can easily find things, perhaps too many, to keep her occupied. For instance, Sue doesn’t serve one brand of ice cream in the parlor; the shop’s product comes from a variety of vendors. Once again, the Stoops stepped up to fulfill more than one need. In this way they are atypical and extremely independent. 

The ice cream parlor building is anything but typical in its construction. It was built with recycled lumber from the early 1900s, retrieved from Arcadia Lake, the Betsie River, and local old buildings and barns. Most of the lumber was milled and handcrafted by Sue’s father, Vy Keillor, a local, lifelong builder and cabinet maker. He created the one-of-a-kind moldings and trims, including the hand-carved maple leaves. 

With their expansion of Arcadia Marine to include boat storage facilities, the Lily Pad Gift Shoppe and Arcadia Ice House, the Stoops family offered some products and services the community didn’t have. They fulfilled a variety of previously unmet needs and, in doing so, performed a community service.

Music … and fireworks … moved them 

Meanwhile, music remained a key element in the Stoops’ lives. Ron bought Jim a set of drums during his pre-teen years, and the lad took to them right off the beat.  He’d play his drums on warm summer afternoons in their Arcadia home, and with the windows open, Jim shared his love of the drums with the neighboring townsfolk. Adding to the serenade, Amy played trumpet and Rachel played clarinet in the Onekama High School band.

Ron continued to play his guitar wherever he could, including jam sessions at the Ice House. In the week before Christmas, Santa Claus would make a guest appearance in the ice cream shop, courtesy of the Arcadia Township Fire Department.

One Fourth of July, about 2012, Rachel was watching the fireworks display in Frankfort, to the north. Of course, the city’s display dazzled the eye, but what is more, it created a spark in her mind.

“Arcadia Daze needs fireworks,” she thought.

In a typical mind, this would be but a passing thought. In the mind of a member of the Stoops family, it was like lighting a Roman candle. A committee was formed, meetings were held, the process of putting on such a show was investigated with thorough attention to detail, and fund raising commenced.  The result was, beginning in about 2013, a Friday night fireworks’ display offered annually during Arcadia Daze to the community and its visitors. The event is a version of Friday Night Lights unparalleled in any northern Michigan town, save perhaps Traverse City.

Musical legacy lives on

In 2016 Ron began showing symptoms of health problems.  He was diagnosed during a brief and rare winter vacation in Florida. The diagnosis brought news of brain cancer. Surgery would be performed in Orlando. However, before surgery, Ron asked Jim to drive across town to fetch his guitar. He wanted to play one last time before the operation. The guitar was brought to the hospital room, and Ron strummed for, perhaps, the last time. He died later that year and now strums with the angels.

Through the years, “Music Moves Me” was a recurring theme with Ron and his family. They were never verbal about it, but quietly did their own musical thing. After Ron’s passing, Sue and the children had a desire to “elevate the musical experience” and at the same time honor their husband and father. The idea for a music festival was born, coupled with the public’s growing taste for craft beer, known as the Minnehaha Brewhaha. Minnehaha refers to a 19th century schooner, a shipwreck found almost on the Lake Michigan beach at the end of Oak Street in Arcadia.

Festival planning was dense, thorough and exhausting.  No stone, no idea, no scenario was unexplored. The family’s undertaking would dwarf their other life and business experiences. They had no idea how to put together such an event, but they forged onward with the help of friends and community members. It all came together on Labor Day weekend, 2019. 

The festival is a fundraising event sponsored by the family’s nonprofit, Music Moves Me, Inc. Its mission is three-fold: to promote music by providing a venue for local musicians, to enhance and enrich the teaching of music to local students, and to educate the public about the benefits of music. Profits from the first festival generated over $40,000 to create the Ronald Stoops Memorial Scholarship endowment at Interlochen Arts Academy. With this year’s event, the Stoops hope to raise another $10,000 to complete the $50,000 endowment which will sustain the annual scholarship. The organization has provided and will continue to provide funds in support of the music departments of Onekama, Bear Lake and Frankfort schools.

I gotta million of ’em

Music! Arcadia Marine! Lily Pad Gift Shoppe! The Arcadia Ice House! The Minnehaha Brewhaha! One would think that was enough for one family, but we’re dealing with the Stoops of Arcadia.

Last autumn, concrete workers were hired to pour a new floor in one of the boat storage buildings. Without a local restaurant, Arcadia could not feed the crew; they would have to eat elsewhere. The Stoops would have none of that and bought pizza for them from another town.  

“We need a place to eat here in town,” they remarked, and thus was the birth of the food truck known as Ketch 22. The family had no experience in such an endeavor, but that didn’t deter them. With the idea that a food truck would serve Arcadia, the family dove into the research, planning, and implementation with the idea of offering a quality food truck experience to residents and visitors. Last winter, while in Florida and elsewhere, Jim’s wife Brandy Stoops, Shelby Dusseau and others researched menu items. Jon and Jackie Grommons were brought in as menu planners and cooks, bringing their experience and expertise to the enterprise. As for the name, a ketch is a two-masted schooner; one mast is shorter than the other, and the wheel is positioned aft (behind) the mizzen, or shorter mast.

The family’s latest enterprise, perhaps aka Stoops’ Sloop, is a food truck located between the Arcadia Ice House and the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy’s Arcadia Marsh Preserve. The menu is varied and a bit different, one might say elevated, from typical food-truck fare and includes skewered shrimp, BLTs, fried green tomatoes, mahi sandwiches and more. This latest venture fits nicely into the family’s philosophy of providing something the community doesn’t have, while adding a bit of flair.

Aaarrgh, begone, ye curses

“What does all of this have to do with the Gypsy Curse?” one might ask. As the story goes, Sue Keillor Stoops was raised south of Frankfort. Back then, the area was serviced by the Arcadia Post Office. Sue’s mother and grandmother told the story of a gypsy family that came into the area around 1933. At first, they were welcomed with open arms by the community. After a while some accusations were made, and it became clear that group was no longer welcome. Before leaving, the gypsies put a curse on Arcadia that warned the town wouldn’t grow for 100 years. That legend became the Gypsy Curse on Arcadia. 

During the past 30 or more years, members of the Stoops’ family have put a lot of thought, work and time into the community.  All the while, they’ve been moved by music and brought music to many of their friends, neighbors and visitors. 

The Stoops are beating the Gypsy Curse.

Read more stories by Milt Whitmore HERE.