If the Golden Garter Revue, the Honeybees or the Schussy Cats ring a bell, you’ve got a pretty cool piece of northern Michigan summertime nostalgia. And as it turns out, a lot of those entertainers are still singing and dancing.

These troupes of college kids from across the country performed nightly at Dill’s Olde Towne Saloon (today’s Blue Tractor) in Traverse City, Bellaire’s Schuss Mountain and Brownwood Acres in Central Lake while serving up dinner and drinks. In their own ways, they were legendary northern Michigan spots -- and some of the performers built foundations to singing and dancing success.

Former Dill’s owner Larry Avery (now a local financial advisor) sits down for a look back and an update on who's still entertaining.

“John Meeske brought the concept of singing waiters and waitresses back from Chicago and the Honeybees started singing in a tent at Brownwood Acres in Central Lake in 1970,” says Avery. Shortly thereafter, Schuss Mountain Resort added singing waiters and waitresses. Two of the original Schussy Cats were Ball State fraternity brothers Pat Corso and Avery.

Corso launched the Golden Garter Revue at Dill’s in ‘76, and Avery joined the fun three years later. For the next 21 years, he oversaw 300 aspiring young singers, dancers and musicians who spent their summers performing three shows a night, six days a week – and he still keeps track of them today. “I was in New York City a couple years ago and saw Nicole Parker (1998) with a broom in her hand at the top of the arch of the Gershwin Theater,” says Avery. “She was singing ‘Defying Gravity’ as she portrayed Elphaba (the green witch) in Wicked.”

He also was in Las Vegas recently to see Bob Poynton (1981) starring at one end of “the Strip” with The Lettermen, and the next night saw his son Justin Avery (1999) rocking the keyboard with 1980s rock legend Meat Loaf at Planet Hollywood.

“To my knowledge that’s the first time ever two Golden Garters have been on the Strip at the same time,” he says.

Other alums include Andrea Huber (1979), who has been an opera star in Europe for decades; Barrington Coleman (1979), who is now Dr. Barrington Coleman at the University of Illinois and a legend in jazz, opera and education; Cynda Williams (1987), who co-starred with Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s Mo Better Blues; Joe Ayoub (1998), who tours with Enrique Iglesias as a bassist; and Sue Draus, the first Golden Garter Revue musical director in 1976 who went on to be musical director for the national touring company of Mama Mia for many years.

One of Avery’s favorite moments was seeing Mark Cade (1987) in a Sprite commercial asking “What’s my motivation?” Cade has also landed numerous daytime and nighttime TV roles.

A little closer to home: Music lovers can catch Traverse City singer/songwriter Levi Britton, a Golden Garter performer in 1997, and blues guitarist and vocalist Laith Al Saadi (1996-97), performing regularly at venues around town.