A downtown Traverse City beach in summer
What’s Up North…
News and Information from Traverse City, Michigan
April - June 2013
A free news tip service from the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau
1-800-TRAVERSE or www.TraverseCity.com
Fodor’s Names Traverse City One of America’s 10 Best Small Towns
Fodor’s Travel has named Traverse City one of America's 10 Best Small Towns.
“For years, this town of 14,894 on the shores of Grand Traverse Bay has tempted visitors with its natural wonders, which include freshwater beaches, skiing areas, forests, and the stunning Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Lakeshore,” said writer Sandra Ramani. “More recently, though, it's the food scene that's creating a buzz, thanks to kudos from magazines like Bon Appétit and chefs like Mario Batali, who makes his home here in the summer.”
The list included such destinations as Healdsburg, Calif., Bozeman, Mont., Sedona, Ariz., St. Augustine, Fla., Provincetown, Mass., Brattleboro, Vt., Door County, Wis., Galena, Ill. and Walla Walla, Wash.
All 10 were chosen, explained the respected travel site, because they "are attracting visitors with an often unexpected — and surprisingly sophisticated — array of independent and locally minded cultural, outdoor and culinary offerings, all minus the urban price tags."
“It’s just continuing the string of great accolades we’ve had over the last several years,” said Brad Van Dommelen, president of the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau. ““It continues to keep Traverse City in a very great limelight that really helps create interest and awareness across the nation.”
In the past year, National Geographic has named Traverse City one of its Top 10 Summer Trips for 2012, while the Travel Channel ranked it among the Top Seven Beer Destinations in North America, Budget Travel called it one of the 11 “Coolest Winter Places in America,” and Money Magazine ranked it among the Top 25 Best Cities to Retire. In January the online travel site Away.com named Traverse City to its list of ten “Best Four-Day Vacation Spots” for 2013.
CVB Presents 2013 Spring “TC Escape Packages”
The Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau is offering a Spring “Traverse City Escape” package – good until May 16 – that combines special rates at more than 17 participating hotels and resorts with a wide range of discounts on recreation, shopping, dining and entertainment.
Traverse City Gets Direct Summer Air Service to Newark, Cleveland
This summer United Airlines will offer seasonal service between Traverse City’s Cherry Capital Airport and the cities of Newark and Cleveland. Weekend service to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport starts June 9 and service to Newark’s Liberty International Airport begins July 5.
Traverse City already has summer service to New York via American and Delta, but Newark is United’s New York area hub, and the new service will expand travelers’ options from other East Coast and international destinations.
Openings, improvements, expansions, etc.
On June 30, the Days Inn & Suites at 420 Munson Ave. will become a Country Inn & Suites by Carlson following a $1.5 million renovation. Guests will find more amenities at the 33-year-old hotel, including a new state-of-the-art fitness center, a new breakfast area serving two meals a day, updated guestrooms, vanities and corridors, and new artwork.
The Country Inns brand operates 483 hotels worldwide and plans to add another 250 hotels by 2015.
Incredible Mo’s, a new family-oriented fun center, is now open on US 31 between Traverse City and Interlochen. Owners Chris and Sandra Mohrhardt, have revamped a 34,000 square-foot building that now includes indoor bocce and cornhole courts, 10 bowling lanes, a laser tag area, and a Kid Zone designed for toddlers. Its 80-seat restaurant specializes in artisan pizzas, burgers, salads and "lots of appetizers.” Sporting events will be broadcast on several big-screen TVs.
Traverse City’s unique Greek-Polish fusion restaurant, Opa! Coney & Grill, is moving closer to downtown. In April, they’ll be opening a new restaurant on Front Street, across from the Holiday Inn West Bay and the Bayview Resort. (The original Opa! will remain at its home in the Cherryland Center.)
Speaking of fusion restaurants: Georgina’s, an Asian and Latin taquería, has opened at 439 E. Front St. – the original home of The Cook’s House and later of 9 Bean Rows Café. Chef Gregory Anthony Craig was born in Bluefields, Nicaragua to a Cuban father and a mom who was Chinese/Nicaraguan.
Lehto’s Pasties, the legendary Upper Peninsula purveyors of traditional Cornish pasties, have opened a store in at 720 W. Front, the former home of the Latte-Dah café. Lehto’s, in St. Ignace since 1947, was purchased last year by Bill and Laurie Walker, who operated their own truck-based pasty stand here for several years.
Construction has begun on Osteria, a 40-seat Italian-style restaurant, in The Mercato at the Grand Traverse Commons. Owners Giorgio Lo Greco and Monica Cucoreanu plan to open in April.
In July, brewer Pete Kirkwood hopes to open The
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