Celebrating Bridgefest in Houghton, MI
Bridgefest is the annual kickoff to summer for Houghton, Michigan and the surrounding Keweenaw communities. It was organized to celebrate the completion of the Portage Lake Lift Bridge in 1959, and has been connecting communities across the historic Keweenaw Peninsula since. You can find a wide array of events from outdoor concerts, sporting events, the annual Bridgefest parade, boat parade, and Jon Davis Memorial Fireworks. Local shops and artisans line the scenic waterfront, so be sure to walk the bike path so you don’t miss anyone!
Whether you prefer to watch the video above, or read down below, I am going to take you through everything we did while the festival was in town!
Day 1
On the first day, we parked near the library and walked the whole waterfront. We didn’t realize you could park closer, the road turns into a one way to allow parking on one side. On our walk, we stopped at many vendors and checked out the docked boats. To keep us cool, we got snow cones on our walk to Kestner Park.
After walking around the park (the blow up houses weren’t there yet), we headed to The Forge food truck for a bite. Charlie and I both got the pulled pork, mac-n-cheese to share, cheese curds, and a homemade moon pie! I’m finding it incredibly difficult to find vegetarian/vegan friendly options up here, but I’m not giving up hope. Some of the times I have to opt for the meat option because the veggie options are just not great.
After our meal, we headed back home to finish some chores before ending the night with the parade. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a parade and completely forgot about the candy throwing! Everyone showed up with their bags and thankfully I had brought my backpack. Our daughter made some friends who helped her fill the backpack until it was overflowing! Afterwards, we split the candy and passed some on to our neighbor who couldn’t make it.
Day 2
We woke up bright and early to hit the water on the second day. Portage Paddle Sports was doing discounted guided paddles to the bridge and back. It was a beautiful start to the day and the water wasn’t too choppy.
After having breakfast, we came back to enjoy the main events! There were two performances of water ski shows by the Plum Ski-ters that we thoroughly enjoyed. The performers were so talented between the crazy flips to pyramids.
Then we participated in the rubber ducky race, where our daughter was able to take home a rubber duck. We didn’t win, but it was fun to watch the ducks attempt to float down the canal into the chute.
We grabbed some Frybread to enjoy the second water ski show, then headed over to the Yoopers for Ukraine tent. While my daughter got her face painted and painted a rock, I was able to meet Nadija Packauskas’ and her 91 year old Lithuanian born father. His story is awe-inspiring and if you get the chance to meet him at any of the events, I highly recommend it! They decorated the truck for Chassell’s strawberry festival, then headed down to Ann Arbor, and who knows where they will be next - continuing to fight this fight and do amazing work for Ukraine.
We also visited the balloon animal tent, bounce houses, and so many other fun things for kids!
We ended the night with the boat parade, where boats are decorated and head down the canal, and with fireworks. It was a wonderful weekend and we are already looking forward to next years (where we will hopefully be able to do one of the helicopter rides!)