Memorial Weekend: Options Galore

Parades, parties, art shows, midway and more

By Lynda Wheatley | May 22, 2021

Walloon’s Memorial Weekend Three-fer
Seems only fair to offer folks three fun options for their three-day weekend. The petite but always innovative Village of Walloon Lake is rising to the challenge with a trifecta of fine art, very fine food and wine specials, and an appropriately wild waterside bash. First, the village’s Wet Paint Art Show, 10am-5pm May 29 and May 30, brings the finished work of local and national artists to Village Green park, where you can also bid on a custom painted pig (proceeds benefit Walloon Lakes Conservancy and Trust) or watch award-winning artist Noel Skiba as she paints a piece live. Over at Tommy’s Walloon, the annual “Rock Out with Your Dock Out” summer kickoff party will be in full force from 9am to 9pm May 29­–May 31, with Dock Bar drink specials, games, popcorn, prizes, sidewalk sales, and more. Care to slip into summer in a more quiet fashion? Stroll over to the historic Walloon Lake Inn for the first Walloon Wine Time of the summer Monday, May 31, and take advantage of your last chance to enjoy the inn’s off-season deal, three courses for $50. Dinner reservations: (231) 535-2999 

Classic Memorial Day Parade Returns to Harbor Springs 
After the year we (and, OK, the whole world) has had, the opportunity to honor the American spirit and those who sacrificed their life to defend it seems especially important. That’s why we’re so glad, after so many Main Streets across America remained quiet and empty last Memorial Day, that one of the North’s will be enlivened with a parade honoring our fallen members of the military. The Harbor Springs Memorial Day Parade will begin its march up the city’s Main Street at 10am, Monday, May 31, and end at the waterfront at 11am with a ceremony organized by the Smith-Hoover American Legion Post 281. As it has for many years, the parade will include the Legion’s Drum & Bugle Corps and will be preceded by another sweet tradition, the Legion’s annual Memorial Day Breakfast (7am–9am at the Legion building at the corner of State and Third Streets), featuring scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy, coffee, orange juice, and a big ol’ helping of American pride.

Mega Fun in Mancelona for Memorial Day Weekend Plus
Don’t ever doubt the can-do attitude of Mancelona. Or the multitude of ways it finds to celebrate its annual Bass Festival, its 65th this year. Like a mini Cherry Festival (only 35 miles northwest of Traverse City and dedicated to fish rather than fruit) this five-day party features a Mancelona kid and pet parade, a Grand Parade, a classic car and bike show, a daily crafters market and cornhole tourney, a beverage tent (sponsored by Budweiser and Cox Distributors) that opens at noon daily, and a carnival midway complete with Ferris wheel, bumper cars, games, and all the salty, sugary, fatty treats you can make in a booth. Live music starts in the beverage tent every night at 7pm, and oh, there’s a Mancelona Rotary BBQ Chicken Dinner and even a free pancake breakfast (plus sausage and eggs) for the entire community of Mancelona. The fun begins when the midway opens at 5pm, Thursday, May 27, and doesn’t quit until 4pm Monday afternoon. See the daily schedule and all details at www.mancelonabassfest.com.