Mackinac Island: Tourists, businesses on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula eager to resume normal life after COVID
Mackinac Island, Mich. ‒‒ Nancy Porter is relieved after the holiday weekend.
Porter is the second-generation owner of Joann’s Fudge on Main Street on Mackinac Island. The island welcomed thousands of tourists over the weekend, a sign of a return to normalcy for business owners on Mackinac accustomed to busy summer seasons.
“Everybody’s been very upbeat, much more so than last year,” Porter said. “Last year had sort of a heavy atmosphere … but people are relieved and excited to be moving toward the end of something.”
This weekend saw nearly double last year’s amount of northern travelers, with a predicted 20,000 crossing the Mackinac Bridge on Monday as people return home for the start of the working week. By comparison, in 2020, about 11,000 vehicles crossed the bridge — a fraction of its typical rate of holiday weekend traffic.
April was a record month for Mackinac Bridge crossings with 257,000 vehicles crossing, compared to just 86,413 in 2020, making it the best April since 2014. Traffic in April was up by 10.8% and fare revenue also increased by 8.6%, according to the Mackinac Bridge Authority.
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On Mackinac Island a year ago, nearly all the business were still closed due to the pandemic.
“Last year was a year of great uncertainty and tension, and we didn’t end up having a lot of people come to the island but we had occupancy limits and it wasn’t the usual experience of being on the island,” Porter said.
Belle Isle Park in Detroit had to close to incoming visitors due to overcrowding Monday evening.
“People are excited to go back to a more normal existence and I think they’ve all been very frustrated,” Porter said.