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January 15, 2004What's up in Leland?Thousands visit Web site to find outByRecord-Eagle staff writer LELAND - Sitting in Azerbaijan wondering if there's snow in Fishtown? That's not as far-fetched as it sounds. Folks from there, as well as every state but Delaware, and from 21 foreign countries have logged on to Keith Burnham's Leland Report to find out what the weather's like and what people are saying in this picturesque little town. Nearly 350,000 people logged on to www.lelandreport.com last year. Many also left messages on the electronic bulletin board, either as a current resident, a homesick college student, an expatriate, a snowbird or a lifetime summer resident. "We have a lot of people that have not got enough on their hands to do," said Burnham, laughing. The site boasts more than 2,300 subscribers from dots all over the globe. Burnham, 70, updates the site 365 days a year with a new picture. "It's not intended to be a pretty picture every day," he said. "It's supposed to show what it's like here today and sometimes we get lucky and it is a pretty picture." He takes about 95 percent of the photos, but has friends take them if he's out of town. Burnham also puts up a thought for the day, which can be anything from a lesson on how ice is formed to a comment on the "pioneer stock" who choose to stay in Leland despite the cold winters. The rest is up to the visitors and depends on what they feel like leaving on the bulletin board. Sometimes, they carry on conversations about long-time Leelanau County residents, wish someone a happy birthday or post memories of a resident who has just died. Often, they compliment that day's picture. Other times, they ask for fewer pictures of Fishtown and more of barns; or fewer pictures of barns and more of Fishtown. Burnham started the Leland Report four years ago as an e-mailed newsletter to his four children. About three years ago, son John Burnham of Waterford linked his father's e-mail newsletter from his own Web site that he used to keep in touch with his friends. His other son, James Burnham of West Chicago, Ill., offered to design and program a Web site for his father and link it off of his own, as well. His site is for Burnham Graphic Arts, the business that used to be Keith's; James took over when his father retired. By word of mouth and click of mouse, the number of visitors started to take off and is at 2,350 per day now. "All of those people have some connection with Leelanau County," Keith said. The site also includes an archives to record all of the daily updates. "Basically, we have a running three-year daily log of life in Leelanau with opinions from all over," James Burnham said. They set up subscriptions for those who want to leave messages and who may also want an e-mailed update. That allows them to control the content. "The Leland Report is not a complicated or intellectual endeavor," Keith Burnham said, adding that he doesn't want people using it to advance their own agendas. Keith Burnham sells prints of the photos on the site to help pay for running it. He also gets satisfaction from maintaining the site. "It gets me up and running every day," he said. "I think in your life you have to have something that keeps you moving." James Burnham is currently designing a site to be linked off of his and his father's sites, called Artist Asylum. Describing it as a "sanctuary for the arts," it will offer Leelanau County artists a venue for selling their works. "Leelanau County has got a lot of artists, and good ones," Keith Burnham said. "This will give people all over the world a chance to buy from these people."
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