Kohn Park is at 5844 Sawyer Road, Sawyer Garden Center at 5865 and the former Greenbush taproom at 5885. Those three addresses form the core of downtown Sawyer. A year ago that block had a fire station lot and a busy brewery. This November, one stretch of Sawyer Road has a new park still waiting on its centerpiece, a garden center keeping its regular daily hours, and a brewery whose owners are working toward a December reopening.

Sawyer has been through off-seasons before. What sets this one apart is that its two biggest changes of 2026 are both unfinished as winter starts. The thing most likely to bring people together in December is still a sheet of ice in Harbert, and that depends entirely on the weather.

The fire station lot became the town's center

Kohn Park opened with a dedication ceremony on Friday, Sept. 18, Harbor Country News reported. Bev and Jerry Kohn bought the old fire station lot and donated it to Chikaming Township. According to Chikaming Township Supervisor David Bunte, the family also paid for the demolition and was the main financial contributor. The park is named for Jerry Kohn.

Grants and a crowdfunding campaign raised more than $600,000 for the project. The park includes an interactive children's music play installation, native plantings and pollinator gardens, a bike repair station and a water refill fountain. John and Debbie Chipman donated the music installation, and John Chipman described the idea behind the park at the ceremony:

"We as a community" had a vision for a new park and a trailhead for our trails in the center of Sawyer's commercial area.

One major piece hasn't arrived yet. The sculptural shade shelter is meant to host concerts, performances and community events, and the Harbor Country News account says it will be installed "in the near future." Before the ceremony, Moody on the Market reported that the gazebo-style shelter was expected to be delivered in the fall. So the park will spend its first winter as a play space, a garden and a trailhead, with its gathering space still to come. That matters for the rest of the block, because the business next door is also waiting to open.

Greenbush is planning its return around the slow months

Greenbush Brewing announced its closure in April 2026, after nearly 15 years on Sawyer Road. ABC57 covered the announcement. In late September, the Herald-Palladium reported that original co-owner Justin Heckathorn and his family had taken over the business and were pushing to reopen in October. The family had done that summer's interior and exterior work themselves, paid for it personally and relied on volunteer help from family and friends.

That date has slipped. In a later Herald-Palladium story, Heckathorn said he is now trying to reopen in December. He listed the hurdles as local permitting, deferred maintenance, refreshing the space and reassessing finances. December is a target. There's no confirmed opening date.

This version of Greenbush is being set up with winter in mind. According to the brewery's post quoted by the Herald-Palladium, the new Mug Club charges an annual renewal fee "to help support the business in the slower, down-season months," and existing memberships will be honored for the rest of 2026. At its peak, the old club had about 4,700 members and nearly 2,000 numbered mugs.

The menu will be shorter, but the turkey bacon melt, brisket and wings are staying. Heckathorn said the brewer "may be more of a consultant situation for now," with a crew brought in later to train. Heckathorn told the paper that Scott Sullivan, who ran the brewing side, has stepped away and that the two remain on friendly terms. Last summer, Sawyer Road worked without the brewery. This winter, the question is whether the brewery can reopen in time to anchor the cold months.

Until then, the steady presence on the block is Sawyer Garden Center at 5865 Sawyer Road. Its listed hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day.

Winter's sure thing is in Harbert, once the cold arrives

With the park shelter still to be installed and the brewery working toward December, the place most likely to draw a crowd this winter is the rink at Harbert Community Park, 13411 Red Arrow Highway. The Chikaming Township parks page already announces that the rink "Returns!" It doesn't give an opening date.

The ice controls the timing. At the township board meeting on Jan. 8, Parks Director Joe Martin explained what the rink needs, Harbor Country News reported:

"We just need six or seven consecutive days of 25 degrees below for it to freeze and to be skate ready. Two years ago, we had four days of ice. Last year, we had 33 days of ice."

Four days one season and 33 the next is the range residents are working with. Last winter, the rink opened Jan. 15 and was still open on the Jan. 31 to Feb. 1 weekend. Once it freezes, here's what's there:

The park around the rink also changed in 2026. Upgrades celebrated on June 27 added pickleball courts, public restrooms, accessible paths, pollinator landscaping and a connection to the Red Arrow Linear Trail, according to Harbor Country News. The new restroom building sits near the Dog Park, between the rink and Township Hall.

The trails don't need ice

That trail connection links Harbert to Sawyer's new trailhead. Friends of Berrien County Trails describes the Red Arrow Trail as an 8-mile multiuse route from New Buffalo to Sawyer, with an extension planned north toward Warren Dunes and Bridgman. Kohn Park's role as a trailhead is the one part of it that works in any weather.

For snow days, Chikaming Township lists walking and cross-country ski trails at its 263-acre Chikaming Township Park and Preserve on Warren Woods Road, open sunrise to sunset. The DNR lists cross-country skiing among the amenities at Warren Dunes State Park, 12032 Red Arrow Highway. The park's naturalist programs have ended for the year, and the DNR says to check back around Memorial Day 2027.

November, before anything freezes

The weeks before the rink opens and Greenbush's target date still have a few fixed dates nearby:

1. Nov. 7 and 8: The Autumn Artisan Market runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Journeyman Distillery, 109 Generations Drive in Three Oaks. Admission is free, according to the Harbor Country Chamber listing.
2. Nov. 15: Local Pour, 12857 Red Arrow Highway, hosts a JLN Studio Winter Tree Bottle Painting class from 2 to 4 p.m. It costs $38, and you need to register in advance.
3. Nov. 21: A Meetup group has a four-mile Warren Dunes hike at 11 a.m., meeting at the north end of the lot at 12032 Red Arrow Highway.

For a standing plan, Solasta Winery's tasting room at 11945 Red Arrow Highway lists hours of noon to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Luisa's Harbert Swedish Bakery & Market, 13698 Red Arrow Highway, lists hours of 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Thursday through Sunday.

Last winter shows how January tends to go. On Jan. 2, 2026, Dunes Diva's winter closures roundup listed Luisa's as closed until Jan. 22 and Susan's in Sawyer as closed until spring. It named Hummingbird, The Historian, Post Boy and LongStory as Sawyer-area restaurants staying open. That list described last winter, not this one. Even then, the roundup told readers to call ahead because hours shift once the season turns.

The order Sawyer's winter fills in depends on the shelter delivery at 5844 Sawyer Road, the reopening at 5885 and the first stretch of six or seven hard-freeze days in Harbert.

Over decades of living here, Wortman Group has watched Sawyer Road change one storefront at a time, and we pay close attention to how a new park or a returning brewery changes the feel of a block. If you're wondering how this year's changes in downtown Sawyer affect your own property, we'd be glad to talk it through. Request a private consultation and valuation.