Author: promotemi

A growing number of female recreationalists are taking to the woods, waters and trails of Michigan thanks to a program through the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) called Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW®). Founded in 1991, the national non-profit BOW® is a hands-on educational program with a presence in 38 states and six Canadian provinces that collectively reaches tens of thousands of women each year who learn new outdoor skills from experienced guides in a safe and welcoming environment.

Just off US-131 on M-75 headed into downtown Walloon Lake sits a large gambrel barn style structure that has been entertaining families for generations. While there have been years when the building sadly sat vacant, it has remained an iconic part of the village’s history while waiting patiently for its next chapter. Last month, after months of renovations by owner and developer John Parent, the space has reopened as the Junction Event Space.

Beth Maatta has spent the past 17 years serving and protecting the communities in which she has lived – as a law enforcement officer, advocate and a guardian of injured wildlife.

Six years before Michigan’s statehood in 1837, John Vickers settled in an area of southeastern Kalamazoo County where he built a log grist mill – believed to be the first in the county – along an eight-foot waterfall on Portage Creek. Over the years, this community was known as Holland, Lincoln and Brady (for one whole day) before being incorporated as Vicksburg in 1871. By the 1880 census, there were 784 people living in this small town which today has grown to a population of 3,706 based on the 2020 census.

Movie theaters began popping up around Michigan more than a century ago, becoming the heart of downtown communities and drawing families out for a night on the town. With the 1980s introduction of cable television, laser discs, VHS and DVDs for in-home viewing as well as multiplex facilities, many small-town theaters began to close. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of restoring these historic movie theaters into different types of public spaces like bars, restaurants, dance studios and even a popular haunted attraction.

The city of Marshall has embarked on a fundraising campaign to raise money to convert a 1.6-acre parcel immediately south of its current Athletic Fields complex into a new community area called Eaton Park. The space, at the intersection of Hanover and Fountain streets, was previously a parking lot for the former Eaton Corporation. The building was demolished in the early 2000s and the land was donated to the city in 2020. Marshall, the county seat of Calhoun County with a population of 6,822, maintains nine additional parks and a riverwalk which are accessible to locals and visitors alike.

Every day, you’re bound to find a festival or special event taking place in one of Michigan’s many cities, celebrating everything from agricultural commodities and cultural arts to maritime heritage and holiday traditions. Even the smallest villages host annual events which appeal to their local residents as well as thousands of visitors who spend money on flea markets, pancake breakfasts, concerts, midway rides, arts and crafts, face painting, pageants, caricature drawings, beverage tents and so much more.

A week or so ago, USA Today named Michigan’s Upper Peninsula the “#1 Place to View Fall Foliage in America” as part of its annual readers’ poll (beating out Door County, Wisconsin; Aspen, Colorado; Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania and Stowe, Vermont, among others). This is the third time in recent years that the U.P. has snagged this sought-after accolade – the others being in 2018 and 2020. As with most of the USA Today “10 Best” polls, a panel of travel experts chose 20 destinations around the country and then readers cast their digital ballots to determine the Top 10.

Well before the official Lake Michigan Circle Tour route was established in 1987, travelers have been looping around the largest lake contained entirely within the U.S., the third largest of the Great Lakes, and the fifth largest lake in the world (by surface area).

When John Mueller purchased the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge in Copper Harbor in 2018, he had grand ideas of not only maintaining and improving the historic resort but enhancing the visitor experience by providing access to the unparalleled natural surroundings of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Tucked under a canopy of trees, just a stone’s throw from one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi (second only to Niagara), sits one of Michigan’s oldest craft breweries.