The Mackinac Bridge Walk is an annual event held every Labor Day since 1958 in Michigan in which people may walk the length of the Mackinac Bridge. Walkers are traditionally led across by the governor of Michigan. In an average year, 40,000 to 65,000 people participate in the five-mile walk. This is nearly the combined population of the three counties connected by the bridge.
The Labor Day bridge walk is the sole exception to the rule prohibiting pedestrians on the bridge.
The walk was started and took place in late June 1958 during the Bridge's dedication ceremony, led by Governor G. Mennen Williams. That first year only 68 people walked across the bridge. The walk was changed to Labor Day in 1959, and until 1964, participants in the walk alternated north and south in consecutive years.
During the 2007 bridge walk, celebrating the bridge's 50th anniversary, participation was estimated at 60,000 walkers. The record number of walkers is estimated at 85,000 in 1992 when President George H. W. Bush crossed the Mighty Mac.
Starting in 2017, all vehicular traffic on the bridge as well as shipping and boating below, is stopped during the duration of the event. [1] The 2020 edition of the walk was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; the bridge authority cited logistical hurdles and falling toll revenue as reasons for the cancellation. [2]
The Mackinac Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac, connecting the Upper and Lower peninsulas of the U.S. state of Michigan. Opened in 1957, the 26,372-foot-long bridge is the world's 24th-longest main span and the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere. The Mackinac Bridge is part of Interstate 75 (I-75) and the Lake Michigan and Huron components of the Great Lakes Circle Tour across the straits; it is also a segment of the U.S. North Country National Scenic Trail. The bridge connects the city of St. Ignace on the north end with the village of Mackinaw City on the south.
Mackinac Island is an island and resort area, covering 4.35 square miles (11.3 km2) in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac and "Mitchimakinak" in Ojibwe meaning "Big Turtle". It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island was long home to an Odawa settlement and previous indigenous cultures before European colonization began in the 17th century. It was a strategic center of the fur trade around the Great Lakes. Based on a former trading post, Fort Mackinac was constructed on the island by the British during the American Revolutionary War. It was the site of two battles during the War of 1812 before the northern border was settled and the US gained this island in its territory.
Scouting in Michigan has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.
Williamston is a city in Ingham County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,854 at the 2010 census. Williamston is located east of the city of Lansing and borders Williamstown Township to the north and Wheatfield Township to the south. The Red Cedar River and M-43 run through the center of the city.
Mackinac Island is a city in Mackinac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. In the 2010 census, the city had a permanent population of 492. The summer population numbers in the thousands due to an influx of summer visitors and hundreds of seasonal workers.
Mount Jewett is a borough in McKean County, Pennsylvania, United States. The current Mayor is Annie Wolfe. The population was 919 at the 2010 census. The students of the borough attend school in the Kane Area School District, even though the borough is surrounded by Hamlin Township—belonging to neighboring Smethport Area School District. Mt. Jewett is home to the Kinzua Sky Walk, formerly the Kinzua Viaduct.
Mackinaw City is a village in Emmet and Cheboygan counties in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 806 at the 2010 census; the population surges during the summer tourist season, including an influx of tourists and seasonal workers who serve in the shops, hotels and other recreational facilities there and in the surrounding region. Mackinaw City is at the northern tip (headland) of the Michigan's Lower Peninsula along the southern shore of the Straits of Mackinac. Across the straits lies the state's Upper Peninsula. These two land masses are physically connected by the Mackinac Bridge, which runs from Mackinaw City north to St. Ignace. Mackinaw City is also the primary base for ferry service to Mackinac Island, located to the northeast in the straits.
The Straits of Mackinac are the short waterways between the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas, traversed by the Mackinac Bridge. The main strait is 3+1⁄2 miles wide and has a maximum depth of 295 feet, and connects two of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Hydrologically, the two connected lakes can be considered one lake, known as Lake Michigan–Huron. Historically, the native Odawa people called the region around the Straits Michilimackinac. The Straits of Mackinac are "whipsawed by currents unlike anywhere else in the Great Lakes".
Fort Michilimackinac was an 18th-century French, and later British, fort and trading post at the Straits of Mackinac; it was built on the northern tip of the lower peninsula of the present-day state of Michigan in the United States. Built around 1715, and abandoned in 1783, it was located along the Straits, which connect Lake Huron and Lake Michigan of the Great Lakes of North America. Present-day Mackinaw City developed around the site of the fort, which has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. It is preserved as an open-air historical museum, with several reconstructed wooden buildings and palisade.
Prentiss Marsh Brown was a Democratic U.S. Representative and Senator from the state of Michigan.
Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan, is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. A popular tourist destination, it is home to several small- to medium-sized cities, extensive state and national forests, lakes and rivers, and a large portion of Great Lakes shoreline. The region has a significant seasonal population much like other regions that depend on tourism as their main industry. Northern Lower Michigan is distinct from the more northerly Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale, which, obviously, are also located in "northern" Michigan. In the northernmost 21 counties in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, the total population of the region is 506,658 people.
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is a constitutional government principal department of the US state of Michigan. The primary purpose of MDOT is to maintain the Michigan State Trunkline Highway System which includes all Interstate, US and state highways in Michigan with the exception of the Mackinac Bridge. Other responsibilities that fall under MDOT's mandate include airports, shipping and rail in Michigan.
The Grand Hotel is a historic hotel and coastal resort on Mackinac Island, Michigan, a small island located at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac within Lake Huron between the state's Upper and Lower peninsulas. Constructed in the late 19th century, the facility advertises itself as having the world's largest porch. The Grand Hotel is well known for a number of notable visitors, including five U.S. presidents, inventor Thomas Edison, and author Mark Twain.
The Boyne City Railroad was a railway based at Boyne City, Michigan, U.S., during 1893–1978.
The Detroit–Windsor region is an international transborder agglomeration comprising the American city of Detroit, Michigan, the Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario, and the Detroit River between them. The Detroit–Windsor area acts as a critical commercial link straddling the Canada–United States border and has a total population of 5,976,595. It is North America's largest cross-border conurbation.
Arch Rock is a geologic formation on Mackinac Island in Michigan. It is a natural limestone arch formed during the Nipissing post-glacial period, a period of high Lake Huron levels following the end of the Wisconsin glaciation. To this day Arch Rock stands on the Lake Huron shoreline 146 feet (45 m) above the water.
St. Martin Island is located off the Garden Peninsula in Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the southernmost island in Michigan that is part of a line of islands at the mouth of the bay of Green Bay and is part of the Niagara Escarpment.
The Round Island Channel is a navigable Lake Huron waterway located between Mackinac Island and Round Island in the Straits of Mackinac. It forms a key link in the lake freighter route between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, on which millions of tons of taconite iron ore are shipped annually. The channel also provides access to the harbor of Mackinac Island, Michigan, and is used by commercial ferryboats delivering passengers to the small island city.
Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to occur in present-day society. Estimates of the number of slaves today range from around 38 million to 46 million, depending on the method used to form the estimate and the definition of slavery being used. The estimated number of slaves is debated, as there is no universally agreed definition of modern slavery; those in slavery are often difficult to identify, and adequate statistics are often not available. The International Labour Organization estimates that, by their definitions, over 40 million people are in some form of slavery today. 24.9 million people are in forced labor, of whom 16 million people are exploited in the private sector such as domestic work, construction or agriculture; 4.8 million persons in forced sexual exploitation, and 4 million persons in forced labor imposed by state authorities. 15.4 million people are in forced marriage.
The Lilac Festival is a ten-day annual festival held in honor of the common lilac at Mackinac Island in the U.S. state of Michigan. The festival, which has been held since 1949, begins on the second Friday of June and concludes, on the third Sunday of June, with the horse-drawn Lilac Parade.