Michigan
vacationers often think “Up North” is anywhere north of where
they live, but savvy vacationers from the populous Chicago region have
long known that southwest Lower Michigan (“Up North” to them)
is the perfect place to relax and explore.
From the sand dunes in the southwest corner of the state,
to Grand Haven’s festive waterfront, to Lansing’s state-capital
history—with plenty of vineyards, fine homes, peaceful streams and
rolling hills mixed in—this charming region offers it all.
Grand Haven’s annual 10-day Coast Guard Festival
(www.ghcgfest.org)
has grown with the increased awareness of the services of America’s
military. It’s been honoring the 215-year-old Coast Guard for 81
years.
How big? Last year, officials expected about 400,000
visitors. Every year, festivalgoers enjoy free ship tours, then pause
in Escanaba Park for the reverent ceremony honoring those who have served,
especially those who have died in that service. The park, in fact, is
named for a Coast Guard ship stationed for eight years in Grand Haven
but then sunk in the North Atlantic during World War II.
Reverence shares the bill with festivity, though, and
that’s obvious in three parades, including a boat parade, concerts
including local, as well as national acts, a cruising car show, carnival
midway and a festival-capping fireworks display.
You like some of your fun indoors? Maybe you should check
out Saugatuck’s annual Waterfront Film Festival (www.waterfrontfilm.org),
a mid-June celebration of the best in independent films. Producers of
these films mingle here with the people who love them. Many titles from
the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in Utah are shown on waterfront
screens. Last year, films were to be projected in a high school auditorium,
a renovated pie factory and a seasonally emptied boat storage facility.
When the lights come back up, explore Saugatuck’s
mix of funky fun. Cruise the art galleries here on Michigan’s “Art
Coast,” take a dip or sunbathe, sample the fishing or the fine dining.
A highlight on the southwest Michigan travel calendar is the four-day,
mid-July Venetian Festival (www.venetian.org)
in St. Joseph. It celebrates the town’s location on both the St.
Joseph River and Lake Michigan with fireworks, a lighted boat parade,
competitive sand sculpturing and contests in running, beach volleyball
and swimming. In a setting like this, everyone—contestant and spectator
alike—wins.
At Grand Rapids, the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture
Park (www.meijergardens.org)
last year opened an area especially designed for kids—and the Lena
Meijer Children’s Garden quickly gained fame as one of the largest,
most interactive children’s gardens in the nation.
What kid or adult wouldn’t enjoy exploring a garden
with ponds shaped like the five Great Lakes that define this state and
region? This is just one of 10 distinct areas within the Children’s
Garden, and its ponds even reflect the relative water levels and depths
of the lakes.
The Kid Sense Garden has a giant eye, ear, nose, mouth
and hand that lead kids to a better understanding of the role senses (such
as sight, smell and touch) play in appreciating plant life.
A sure kid-pleaser is the Tree House Village, with five distinct tree
houses that are sites for exploration of botanical and woodland subjects
including birds, trees, insects, spiders and wildlife.
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park continues
to draw thousands of visitors, including art fans eager to see the gardens’
collections of sculptures including those by Michigan native Marshall
Fredericks.
Speaking of plants, it’s pretty clear that tulips
have made Holland famous, and that Holland has made tulips famous. It
will all come together again May 7-14 this year, when the community with
Dutch roots celebrates them with the 76th annual Tulip Time Festival (www.tuliptime.com).
There’ll be three parades, nationally known entertainment, a Dutch
market, kids’ activities and more—all revolving around the cup-shaped
flowers.
Whether it’s festival time or not, be sure to spend
some time in Holland’s Washington Square Neighborhood, a welcoming
collection of shops and restaurants, where you can prowl an antique shop,
trade at an authentic corner grocery store, and dine at a white-linen
Italian restaurant. Holland has art shows and flea markets all summer—and
it never forgets that it is one of Michigan’s classic beach towns.
You won’t, either, once you splash in the Lake Michigan “surf”
and stretch out on Holland’s sands.
Inland, the past beckons you enticingly at the 14th annual
Silver Leaf Renaissance Faire (www.silverleafrenfaire.org)
July weekends at River Oaks County Park between Galesburg and Comstock.
There are live jousting competitions, falconry exhibitions, and comical
and musical acts, many of them wandering over the grounds. Each weekend
has a special theme; on a given weekend, you might hear distinctive Highland
bagpipes playing, or be accosted by seaborne buccaneers.
From the fanciful,
on to the famous
In Lansing, the Michigan Women’s Historical Center
& Hall of Fame (www.michiganwomenshalloffame.org)
celebrates the lives and achievements of more than 100 important women,
some from the distant past and some from yesterday. It’s all presented
by the Michigan Women’s Studies Association, an academic-professional
organization founded in 1973 at Michigan State University.
The Historical Center has changing exhibits, and sponsors
many events throughout the year. It has also published an anthology, Historic
Women of Michigan, and other publications.
There was talk last year of changing the name of their
home stadium, but the game is sure to be just as exciting, and just as
much fun, each time the minor league Lansing Lugnuts (www.lansinglugnuts.com)
take the field in Lansing.
Changing the stadium name? General Motors, with naming
rights, was reportedly pondering alternatives to “Oldsmobile Park”
since it laid that brand to rest. The Lugnuts, though, are getting ready
to take on minor league opponents, including the West Michigan Whitecaps
(www.whitecaps-baseball.com)
from Comstock Park and the Battle Creek Yankees (www.battlecreekyankees.com)
from that Cereal City.
Ready for a break after a big game?
The West Michigan Tourist Association (www.wmta.org)
recently pointed out the delightful opportunities the region offers for
dining along the water. Dine on the deck overlooking the St. Joseph River
at Clementine’s Too (www.ohmydarling.com)
in St. Joseph; or in an 1898 Michigan Historic Site at the Waterworks
Station Cafe at Warner Vineyard (www.warnerwines.com)
on the Paw Paw River in Paw Paw; or at the last of the original car-hop-served
Dog-n-Suds drive-ins along the White River in Montague.
There’s another important way to enjoy water, too—playing
in it! And for that, there’s no better destination than Michigan’s
Adventure and Wild Water Adventure (www.miadventure.com)
in Muskegon. After sampling some of several-dozen amusement rides at Michigan’s
Adventure, you’ll be ready for the thrills and chills of more than
a dozen water rides in the Wild Water Adventure park. One daily fee admits
you to both.
Cool Cities, the state program aimed at making our communities
richer in every sense, announced grants last year that will see historic
building restoration, streetscape improvements, art and culture centers
and more in Grand Rapids, Jackson, Kalamazoo and Saugatuck. In Portland,
a boardwalk will carry visitors along the Grand and Looking Glass rivers.
But don’t wait. Visit Michigan’s southwest now, and you’ll
be sure to come back and enjoy its ever-increasing charms.
