Meet Colleen Brennan! Colleen was born and raised in Michigan City, IN. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Media Communications from Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame and a Master’s Degree in Speech Language Pathology from Purdue University. Currently, Colleen splits her time between 1) running Brennan Speech Services Limited, her speech language pathology practice specializing in treating children with speech and language disorders, 2) writing, performing and producing stand-up comedy and 3) raising her two children with her husband. She lives in Chicago, IL but tries to spend as much time along the shores of Lake Michigan as humanly possible.
What brought you to the dunes? My parents, their parents, their parents’ parents – my family has lived in this area for at least four generations.
How long have you lived here? I grew up at Stop 19 in Long Beach. My parents still live part-time in my childhood home so we try to spend as much time there on the beach as they will allow. I don’t think we’ve totally worn out our welcome…yet.
What is your favorite thing to do in the area? Watch sunsets, find beach glass, walk the hills, watch storms blow over the lake, pick apples in October.
Tell us a secret about the dunes. The best children’s birthday parties can be thrown on the beach. My favorite parties as a child involved scavenger hunts, three-legged races and bonfires on the beach.
Give us your top three “hidden treasures” (restaurant, shop, trail, beach, event…really anything!)
a) Finding clay deposits on National Lakeshore beaches near Mount Baldy
b) Radke Orchard in mid-October – the Radke Family is so wonderful to share this beautiful piece of land with the public. Every year we bring our children and a large group of friends to pick fruit, ride on the hay wagon and run down the hills. It is our favorite thing to do in the fall.
c) Driving Wozniak road from 400 North to Garwood Orchard in mid-October – the best stretch of road in the Midwest in the fall!
What would you like to teach people about the dunes? Lake Michigan turns silver at about 4:30 every afternoon in August. It’s magnificent to see!
Anything else? Please come see me on August 5 in Waves of Laughter in Michigan City! It’s a fundraiser for Unity Foundation that I am producing with Dig the Dunes. We will be bringing some great talent from Chicago out this way.
You can read about more neighbors right here!
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