Black and white road signs marking state highway M-22 have been disappearing in Leelanau County with alarming frequency - and the chairman of the Leelanau County Road Commission, Lee Bowen, thinks he knows the reason.

MODELING APPAREL produced by m22online.com
are company sales manager Will Harper (left) and
company founders Matt and Keegan Myers.

In fact, Bowen occasionally wears the reason.

Bowen, like hundreds of people who love this part of Michigan, recently purchased one of the increasingly popular M-22 tee-shirts on sale at dozens of shops throughout the region and on the world wide web. The tee shirts are produced by a local company known as m22online.com.

The company also produces sweatshirts, hats, visors, aprons and stickers all adorned with an image familiar to Leelanau residents – that of the square black road sign with “M22” emblazoned on a field of white. M-22 is the state highway that runs up and down the east and west coasts of Leelanau County along Lake Michigan and into Benzie and Manistee counties.

The company’s sales manager is Northport resident Will Harper.

“We’re flattered that a lot of people like the M-22 logo and are buying a lot of our products,” Harper said, “but we’re definitely not pleased that a few people now seem to be stealing M-22 signs from the roadway. Our idea is to honor M-22 and all it stands for – so we hope people will stop stealing the signs and buy our stuff instead.”

County Road Commission chairman Bowen told the Enterprise last week that he first noticed an M-22 sign missing between County Road 641 and Novotny Road on Sept. 29. By Oct. 4, another three signs were missing, Bowen said.

“Local people all know where they are, but the visitors don’t,” Bowen said. “It’s aggravating to the visitors.”

It’s also aggravating to m22online.com co-founder Matt Myers who, like Harper, said he wishes people wouldn’t steal the signs. Matt Meyers and his brother Keegan Meyers have been in business together for several years, marketing and selling kiteboards, running kiteboard “camps” and giving kiteboarding lessons.

“The M-22 business definitely came from our kiteboarding business,” Matt Myers explained. “M-22 takes you to all the best places for kiteboarding in this part of the world.”

The Myers brothers grew up on Old Mission Peninsula near Neahtawanta Point. Their other business is known as Broneah Kiteboarding, with “bro” a reference to their brotherhood, and “neah” a reference to their home. Each winter, the brothers conduct kiteboarding camps in Puerto Rico and on a freshwater lake in Argentina’s Patagonia near the 42nd Parallel South.

“When it’s winter up here, it’s summer down there, so there we are,” Myers said.
“You don’t want to disparage these guys,” said Bowen. “They are very creative. And they give a portion to the community.”

Harper said m22online.com currently donates 1-percent of its gross revenue to the Leelanau Conservancy.

And if people think the M-22 logo phenomenon is just some kind of youthful fad – “then they’ve totally got the wrong idea and just don’t get it,” Myers said.

“You either see the M-22 design and you get it – or you don’t,” Myers said. “A lot of people are as passionate about this part of Michigan as we are, and as proud of it as we are. The really cool thing is that the logo is just such a simple idea – it represents a lifestyle, a mindset.”

It’s also copyrighted for use on the company’s apparel and other products, according to the m22online.com web site.

“People have asked us if we’re going to sell M-22 signs, but we haven’t decided yet,” Myers added. “We’re trying to be very careful about where we’re heading with the brand. We don’t want it to just become some cheesy fad or touristy thing.”

The signs people are stealing from the M-22 roadway cost about $20 apiece, according to Road Commission clerk Joe Nedow. But the signs themselves are not the biggest expense.

Nedow said it costs about $100 to replace each of the stolen signs when you add one man-hour of labor and the use of a “bucket truck” needed to reach the mounting pole.