West Michigan's Morning News
Pure Michigan Holiday Weekend
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It does take a little exploring to get up on top of the highest peak or however you do it, but there is no signal up here if you look a little bit. The view is always nice. We contacted him yesterday and said, what if we find yourself with a couple of days off either this weekend or in the future? What kind of things are there to do? And as it turns out, this is a massively cool weekend. Start with Battle Creek and I believe this or not, as an Air Force Brett, never been. And I think this is the weekend that I will go to see my friends at the Air Zoo. Yeah, I'll tell you what, if you go down to Battle Creek this weekend, if you're an aviation geek or if you love to see Air Show, this is the place for you, the Field of Flight Air Show and Balloon Festival. Not only are the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds performing down there in Battle Creek, but there's also a balloon launch every night at 7 p.m. and then one thing it's a little bit of a throwback to some of the classic festivals back in the day, David the Bullet Smith will be shot out of a cannon. Man, you buried the lead. Holy smokes. There's a guy you don't want to sit next to at a fundraiser. Now Nick, I don't touch this stuff, but I've been told that pickles are the greatest thing on earth and they are being celebrated this weekend. Well, each year on July 4th, the Baryon Springs Pickle Festival, they bring all kinds of different stuff to the table, including pickles, of course, but they have big wheel races. Now, I don't know who on this discussion here has owned a big wheel, or one of my favorite parts of growing up was having a big wheel, so that alone I think is worth the trip. Now, can adults participate? We need that this is an all ages thing. You know, because I would want to be involved for sure if I was down there. Well, Nick, one of the heritage events that we promoted for years here on wood radio is the National Cherry Festival, obviously in Traverse City, and that is an amazing week full of events. Yeah, well, you guys got in touch with me yesterday about what I do with these three day weekend. It actually brought back a true live story back in my lived in Mount Pleasant where I went to junior high and high school. The fire for the July was over, but it was still a holiday weekend. And a couple of buddies of mine and I are like, what are we going to do? And I said, well, the Cherry Festival has fireworks tonight, and we drove from Mount Pleasant to Traverse City to watch the Cherry Festival fireworks on the clothing night of Saturday. And it really is a great family activity. They have activities happening all day long from events to, of course, the elephant ears and gibby fries available down to Midway, the carnival ride, and of course, the beauty of Traverse City. So really a great option to head north and enjoy the Cherry Festival. What about the sunrise side? What if you're going over that side of the state? This is something when I lived in Traverse City, I had not spent much time over there and made a decision. This is about 10 years ago to go over and explore the sunrise side of Michigan. It is really still a hidden gem. So many beautiful places like Sturgeon Point Lighthouse between Alpina and Erasville and all the way down to East Talwa, which is where Talwa Point State Park is. Gorgeous beaches on Lake Huron, really beautiful communities. Great place to explore. A lot of folks haven't taken advantage of it. Twenty years of renting a cabin in Oskota. I can tell you, it is gorgeous over there. That's right. Finally, my husband's family, they come from the Great North. UP is a great experience and you can do that anytime. Every time I come to the Upper Peninsula, I discover something new. And to calm it on falls, it's kind of one of the headliners of the UP. I've mentioned that because coming across the bridge, it's only about an hour, an hour, and 15 minutes north of the bridge. But go east, go over towards Susant Marie, Drummond Island along the Lational Islands. Absolutely gorgeous. If you had the other direction to music in Marquette, so many waterfalls, the national parks, of course, Petchett Rock National Lakeshore. Lots to explore in the UP. There it is, a French Lationo. Always wondered. Now we know how to say it. So, Nick Mirbon, media digital industry relations director at Travel Michigan. Thank you so much for your time today. Have a great holiday, folks.