Meet This Year's Most Fascinating People

Every year, reporters from the Northern Express - sister publication of The Ticker - fan out across the region to find 20 average folks dedicating themselves to a not-so-average existence. From Eric Stanfield (pictured), a former construction manager who went on a life-changing trip to Belize and started a vocational school in Uganda for vulnerable children, to Lindsey Anderson, an Interlochen employee who also happens to be an exceptional opera singer who's performed at Carnegie Hall and is starting the Traverse City Opera, this year's annual Fascinating People issue is filled with the surprising and inspiring stories of northern Michigan's colorful residents.

The people on this year's list covers a fascinating and diverse range of backgrounds, including "Swarm Trooper" Garth Ward, who rescues and removes honeybees and transports them to his Rock Ridge Ranch Bee Sanctuary in Grand Traverse County. Mary Scholl spent her honeymoon on Beaver Island and started crying when she had to leave, prompting her and her new husband to pack up and move to the island to open the Beaver Island Toy Museum. Sommelier Jason Kasdorf is living out his dream job at 7 Monks Taproom in Traverse City, curating beers from around the world for the pub's menu, while 16-year-old Inanna Hauger of Boyne City is rated No. 4 in the world among women Snocrossers, an extreme sport that sees snowmobiles speed around a curvy track stacked with jumps.

From a PGA golf professional developing an innovative model for golf tee rates to an expert with an encyclopedic knowledge of monarch butterflies and insects to an 80-year-old former Coast Guard dentist organizing annual clean-ups of the Boardman, Manistee, and Au Sable rivers, the stories of northern Michigan's "most fascinating" residents are wide-ranging, surprising, and deeply inspiring. See the complete list in this week's Northern Express cover story, "20 Fascinating People 2019." The Northern Express is available to read online, or pick up a free copy at one of nearly 700 spots in 14 counties across northern Michigan.