ENVIRONMENT

Residents near the old sawmill report a sweet smell along the riverSomething blooming at the mill is putting the east side to sleep

Several east-side neighbors say the smell is strongest just before they fall asleep.Residents who walk the river after dark wake up three days later on their porches.

BY HAL BRANDTBY R. CALLOWAY STAFF WRITERUNEDITED MONDAY, OCT 26, 2026

An abandoned wooden sawmill with a sagging roof on a misty riverbank surrounded by autumn trees. — The old Pell Sawmill, Hollow Creek.The old Pell Sawmill. Do not walk here after dark. Photo: Staff

Residents on the east side say a sweet smell has been drifting up the Hollow Creek bank from the old Pell Sawmill for most of October. Some compare it to lilacs. Others say cut hay, or warm bread.Residents on the east side say a sweet smell has been drifting up the Hollow Creek bank from the old Pell Sawmill for most of October. Nobody describes it the same way. Everybody describes it as something they miss.

The mill closed in 1983 and has sat empty since. The state environmental office tested the air and soil along the river last week and found nothing out of the ordinary.The mill closed in 1983 and has sat empty since. The state environmental office tested the air and soil last week and found nothing. The technician who took the samples slept in his truck until noon.

“It's strongest right at dusk,” said Creek Rd. resident Bev Hollins. “I sit on the porch to smell it and I'm out like a light.”“It's strongest right at dusk,” said Creek Rd. resident Bev Hollins. “I sat on the porch to smell it. My daughter says I was gone three days. I don't remember leaving the porch.”

SLEEPING WELLTHREE DAYS

Several neighbors say they've been sleeping better than they have in years. The county health department says the smell could be autumn leaf rot along the river and advises anyone with breathing trouble to keep windows closed.At least six residents who walked the river after dark have woken on their own porches days later, rested, with river mud on their shoes. Something on the mill's lower floor is in bloom. The windows have frosted over from the inside.

“I sit on the porch to smell it and I'm out like a light.”“I don't remember leaving the porch.”

BEV HOLLINS, CREEK RD.

The property's owner, a holding company in Grand Rapids, did not respond to a request for comment. The mill is fenced, and the township reminds residents that it is unsafe to enter.The property's owner, a holding company in Grand Rapids, did not respond. The mill is fenced. The fence is new. It faces inward.

Three road workers, one in an orange safety vest, stand behind a striped road-closed barricade on a rural road at dusk. — From left: Ray Dunleavy, Gus Pell, Marv Toivonen and Ted Lusk, Baraga Dr., Tuesday.From left: Ray Dunleavy, Gus Pell, Marv Toivonen. Ted Lusk is standing on the right. Look again.

LOCAL CONSTRUCTION

Road work will close a stretch of Baraga Dr. through NovemberThe crew on Baraga Dr. isn't fixing the road

Public Works director Ray Dunleavy calls it routine. "Nothing down there worth worrying about."No asphalt has been delivered. Neighbors hear drilling after midnight. Dunleavy: "Nothing down there worth worrying about."

A wooden telephone pole on a quiet residential corner covered in layers of stapled lost-pet flyers. — Flyers on the corner of Elm and Third.Flyers on Elm and Third. Every one is the same dog.

COMMUNITY

Hundreds of lost-pet posters appear across town in a single weekAnimal control stops counting. Keep pets inside after dark

Animal control says it has never seen anything like it. Most of the missing pets were last seen near Hollow Creek.The posters are real. So are the tracks along Hollow Creek.

A young woman with feathered hair and headphones smiles at a radio mixing board surrounded by reel-to-reel decks in a wood-paneled booth, 1975. — June Albers at the WBHS board, 1975.June Albers at the WBHS board, 1975. And 2026.

SCHOOLS

WBHS 88.3 celebrates 51 years on the airWBHS has carried a second signal since its first night

The high school station first broadcast on November 10, 1975, and it has not missed a night since. Station manager June Albers has run WBHS from the beginning. "Former students still call in," she said. "Some of them haven't been students in forty years. They still know the frequency." An open house is planned for Saturday in the east wing.Between 2 and 3 a.m., under the oldies, June Albers reads the names. Tune to 88.3 and listen past the static. If you hear your street, stay inside. She has read them every night since November 10, 1975, and she has never once been wrong.