In a beautiful place at the very top of the state of Michigan, where year-round residents are few and far between, two growing businesses are making it work, and doing it in their own way.
The Keweenaw Adventure Company has been leading tours of trails and water around Copper Harbor under the leadership of Sam Raymond for more than a decade. Raymond began his love affair with Copper Harbor long ago and eventually combined it with the love of mountain biking he picked up during college.
"I had spent summers up in Copper Harbor my whole life," he says. "I had moved away to Colorado after college and had got really hooked on mountain biking. I came back one summer with my bike and I saw a familiar place with a different perspective on my bike."
After some thought, Raymond returned to the area in 1998 to work at the Keweenaw Adventure Company, which was then owned by Steve and Julie Brimm and was focused mostly on kayaking in the summer and dog-sledding in the winter. The Brimms sold the business to Raymond, and in 1999, he spent his first season as the owner of the Keweenaw Adventure Company.
"It's been slow but steady growth since then," Raymond says. "It continually seems to get a little better each season--most years it's consistently up from the prior year. There has been more of a presence of silent sports in the area. The community has really bought into this. They realize it is a resource for tourism, beyond the usual hunting and fishing."
Raymond and his staff at the Keweenaw Adventure Company offer kayak, mountain bike and canoe tours and rentals, as well as guided nature hikes for all experience levels. Trips range from two-and-a-half hours to overnight stays on Isle Royale. They have experienced bike mechanics on hand at the shop, as well as a 14-passenger van outfitted with a special trailer that can haul 14 bikes up to the top of a downhill run, so mountain bikers can start at the top and just ride down.
Raymond says mountain biking in Copper Harbor has expanded in recent years.
"The mountain biking has significantly become a presence. In the late 1990s, you could pretty much count the locals on the trails on one hand," he says. "Now people come from all over the country on a regular basis. We have hundreds of people on the weekends coming just to ride."
Making a go of it in the Keweenaw isn't always easy, but simply living in Copper Harbor is payoff enough, Raymond says.
"You have to do what it takes. It's always feast or famine here. You work hard when people are here to get ready for when they aren't," he says. "It's definitely a tight-knit community. A lot of people including myself are volunteers in a number of aspects and are involved in promoting the area, and do what it takes to keep things going. A lot of people wear a lot of different hats. You aren't getting rich, but you are rich with quality of life. It makes it all worth while."
The Keweenaw Adventure Company is open from May to October, like many Copper Harbor businesses.
Young entrepreneurs offer relaxing environment, fine food and whiskey bar
Located not too far from Copper Harbor, tucked 20 feet from the edge of Lake Superior, is a surprising find and another example of making it work in the Keweenaw. Attached to the Eagle River Inn in Eagle River, is Fitzgerald's Restaurant, open from April to October.
Mike LaMotte and Marc Rea, who have been friends since first grade, run Fitzgerald's Restaurant. LaMotte's family has owned the Eagle River Inn since 1980 and LaMotte took over the restaurant in 2007, where his creativity has been blooming ever since.
"There's a lot of things that people are surprised about that they find here," LaMotte says. "We really go after a casual atmosphere. We don't want it to be stuffy. We want it to be a place for people to come and hang out. We always try to keep the menu changing every season, we don't like it to get real stale."
Everything from Southern barbeque to contemporary American cuisine is on the menu this year, along with an impressive list of beer, wine and more than 200 whiskeys. Lately one of the most popular menu items has been spare ribs, prepared with a dry rub. Fitzgerald's also focuses on creating a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere with delicious food, one you will want to write home about.
"We're a really fun place to come and we try to do live music a few times a month. We're more of a younger crowd that's just out trying to have fun. We're not looking for anything extremely formal; we're just serving great food at great prices. Whether it's our whiskeys or beers or homemade desserts that are made by my dad, there's all these facets to this place that make it a neat place to come to," LaMotte says. "People have been really happy for the most part. People can't wait to tell their friends in Chicago or things like that."
This wasn't always what LaMotte saw himself doing, especially while working in other restaurants while he was younger, but now, he says he can't imagine doing anything else, despite the challenges it brings.
"It's tough. There are a lot of unique challenges to being a business up here. For us, we're in a town of maybe 25 to 30 year-round residents and we're away from every major population area," he says. "Everything else is more expensive up here. People have to make a commitment to come out here and people are still coming out here. It's really kind of flattering."
The menu at Fitzgerald's will continue to change and the whiskey list will continue to expand, but the philosophy of good food and a warm atmosphere in a beautiful place will stay the same.
"It seems like every year that goes by, everything evolves," LaMotte says. "I honestly have no idea where we're going to be in five years. We're starting this year with catering and maybe in 10 years we'll have a brewery and a distillery, who knows."
Claire Abent is a freelance writer living in Marquette. She left the warmer weather of Lower Michigan to attend Northern Michigan University, where she graduated with a degree in graphic communication. When she isn't behind a computer screen writing or designing, she enjoys running with her dogs, photography, vegetarian cooking and a warm pair of socks. You can follow her on Twitter @claire_suzanne.
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