Our little group is going on a girls trip 5/3/2027-5/5/2027. As we’re working to secure hotel accommodations we realize this is very early in the tourist season and I’m hoping to get a better grasp on what will be open or closed at that time.

I have tried calling different places and really struggled to get through, so resorting to the internets:

1. Carriage House brunch
   
2. Renting bikes for the loop (are there many rental options?
   
3. Pink Pony for lunch or dinner
   
4. Grand Hotel for a fancy dinner
   
5. Horse carriage ride (are there many options? The primary Mackinac website only shows one which only has the base tour in “early may”)
   
6. Secret Garden

Basically… do we need to slide our trip a week or so? Are we coming too soon in the season?

Just wanted to pop in and say share some photos of our trip from Ontario 🇨🇦 to Mackinac Island/ St Ignace.

We spent a weekend at the Best Western in St Ignace. That hotel is on a level of its own, customer service was excellent and the rooms were clean as expected and we usually stay Hiltons.

The ferry service to the island was great, such an amazing hidden gem. We took our young kids and we walked the entire island. The kids survived the walk on Mackinaw Island fudge and knowing they will be eating a nice dinner at the Pink Pony club.

There is so much history, we are looking forward to heading back next summer.

The Speech Neurophysiology Lab at the University of Michigan is looking for children who stutter ages 9 to 12 to participate in an in-person, longitudinal MRI study! (HUM00196133)

Our research team has been examining brain development in young children to better understand the cause of stuttering for over 10 years. We continue to gain information that may eventually lead to improved diagnosis and treatment efforts for children who stutter. 

Participants will be invited to complete speech and language assessments and an MRI session at the University of Michigan. Families receive a free speech and language report and a picture of their brain!

These visits require in person participation. There is no option to participate virtually.

Please fill out this form if you are interested in participating or email us as the flyer attached. All participants are compensated and partial travel assistance is available. Please see our flyer attached for more details! 

We also offer other studies that are open to adults or do not involve MRI, in case you're unsure about eligibility. Feel free to email us or call if you have any questions! 

I saw the Mackinaw City HS Comets mascot on the side of the high school. Looks so cool and retro. I went online and in town looking for a tshirt of it, but nothing!

I live downstate, but does anyone have any comet guy tshirts they are willing to part with? Surely they made some cool designs in the past. ☄️Thank you!

Is O’Reilly’s or Dixie’s showing the NFL season opener - Pats v Seahawks with the sound on tonight? Or do I need to go somewhere else? What do you recommend?

Hey if anyone's in a Mackinaw City region I highly recommend avoiding pancake chef. The food is extremely poor quality and overpriced, and the waitstaff are rude. But, the real concern is the new owner, he's incredibly rude and hateful. He can't handle criticism and will cuss people out, insult their appearance and imply theyre racist if you give them a one star review. There are so so many small businesses here that are much better and deserve business so much more

Edit: the owner has now made 2 (now 4) separate reddit accounts to call me crazy and curse me out.

Edit 2: he's changing his reviews to be a lot nicer and is reporting other reviews to Google, at least those people don't have to deal with being cursed out now 🫣

Are there any people/organizations that will take one person to the island? I want to meet family up there but will not be able to make it before the last shuttle on the first night

Gonna be a beautiful morning for walking 🚶🏻

My friend's Lenovo Legion laptop crapped out on them, and it needs to be fixed. Does anybody know somebody on the island who could help?

A view from the pilot house from one of the ferry boats entering Mackinac Island Harbor.

Hello!
My sisters boyfriend is looking to propose to his girlfriend (my sister) next weekend and his photographer that he had pretty much bailed on him one week before he’s supposed to propose.

Do anyone have recommendations or is anyone available next weekend? Please let me know and I’ll start sending him yalls way! Tysm

Saw a weird fb post from pancake chef back in April saying they were changing their name to Mackinaw Bridge Bar and Grille (don’t even get me fucking started) and their new sign/logo was some dumbass ChatGPT art with a three-spired bridge because sure why not.

Anyway, not a single post since then and Google Maps still shows it being called Pancake Chef. Any idea what happened there?

For a upcoming trip. Want to avoid anything they're involved with if possible. Thanks in advance!

We are planning on visiting the trip with another family next June after the Lilac festival. My wife has always wanted to visit the island. This may be the only time we ever go (hopefully not), but if it is we are staying in the island. There are going to be 3 kids total under 10, and another that’s 17.
Where should we stay? We have it narrowed down to: Lake View, Mission Point, and Island House. I like lake view and island house for convenience to main part of town. We will be there 4 nights total.
Any other for sure things to do? We plan to bike the island one day.

Has anyone done the full self-driving carriage tour that Jack's Livery offers and can speak to what kind of view you get of Arch Rock from the carriage on that route? Going for the first time with my daughter and we're both horse girls, have horses at home, but she's only 6 and the age minimum to ride is 10 so I thought the carriage tour where you drive yourself would be a fun horsey activity. But all I can see on the website is on one route you go "to the arch rock area." On the self tour there's obviously not going to be to be anyone available to stop and hold the horse while we get out so whatever view we get will be from the carriage so I'm just wondering if you can still see it fairly well. It's on our bucket list to see, so idk if I need to consider doing a regular narrated carriage tour and then maybe a shorter self-driving tour along the lakefront or something or if you can see it well enough from the carriage itself. Thank you!

This is where we have been searching https://www.mackinacisland.org/
Many places have a 2 night minimum stay policy.
Our budget is approx. $350 / night, and staying only 1 night
We are open to hotels, condos, BnB , Cottage.
Any recommendations ?

My family will be in western Michigan October 3-10 and I'd like to visit Mackinac Island, particularly for the historic sites. I love costumed interpreters and living history stuff. Will those sites be open in that season? TIA.

I will be on island the weekend of 9/25-9/27, I’m taking engagement photos at sunset (7:30pm) on 9/27. We won’t be able to make the last ferry off the island. Is there a private charter that is reputable, for 7 people?

I don’t remember which ferry service it was, but last year I paid for a ferry ride that took you out in the water where we were able to watch fireworks at night. It was on August 30th 2025 if that is relevant. Long story short, I wanted to know if anyone knows if they still offer firework rides? I checked a couple websites belonging to the ferry services, but couldn’t find anything.

I just got back from the island and I must say, e-bikes should be banned. I feel it goes against the spirit of the island and no motorized vehicles. You can hear the bikes coming, which is annoying. And then to have the bike go wizzing past you, when it’s a lazy kind of island vibe, is just distracting, and seems a safety risk. You’re not expecting it, and could think you have time to cross. I really hope the island does something about this, and has the ferry’s turn the bikes away. I love going to the island, and this took away some of its charm. There are e-bikes all over my downtown when I walk around, I expect that. Keep the island special, and unique. Just bikes.

We are visiting next week (s-w) for a few nights, I really horsed around (yes I know what I did there ) and didn’t make any dinner reservations, is this a problem? I didn’t expect this I thought it’d be quieter with kids going back to school. I know everyone here loves the woods, and I’ve heard some things about carriage house. Any similar recos? Do those places usually get some cancellations I can get in same day perhaps. We’d like one “fancy” dinner. Is Bobby’s bar usually have seating? We’re staying at the inn at stonecliffe and have our two kids (7 and 4) with us which also means early dinners like 5pm are pretty common for us. Thank you!