Mackinac Island is finally in full bloom.
Sunday wrapped up a full week of events celebrating the 74th Annual Lilac Festival.
For many visitors on the island this weekend, this was their first Lilac Parade.
“It’s gorgeous—living downstate, a lot of our tulips are already done, so just coming back here and seeing some of the spring flowers, the trees are still in bloom, the lilacs are gorgeous,” said Liz Nagrant of Livonia. “It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been here and this is our girls’ first trip, so it’s great fun for them.”
For Timothy Ellis of Lapeer, his entire family gets to enjoy the Lilac Parade together.
“We’ve been here a few other times, but not for this, so it’s pretty exciting,” said Ellis.
For those who’ve made Mackinac Island their home, The Lilac Festival marks the start of summer for them.
“This is the tenth season for me now, watching the Lilac Parade and it’s very interesting,” said Winston Cambelen, fudge maker at Sanders. “We’ve got a lot of people, a lot of business, a lot of fudge, a lot of ice cream, you know what I mean, it’s good for business.”
Even some furry friends like to get in on the festivities. Linda Cohen of Kalamazoo is walking her poodle Champagne in the Lilac Parade, with the grooming company she works for.
“There will be five poodles and Champagne, of course, is the star,” said Cohen. “She was done especially for the parade in lilac.”
However, there’s one couple on the island that takes the most pride in The Lilac Festival each year. That’s Ken and Loriann Thompson, owners of The Lilac House Bed & Breakfast. Passed down from Ken’s family, they’ve run the house for 15 years now.
“This is my family home and my mother’s family has been on the island since the late 1700s, so we’ve been here quite a while,” said Thompson. “The Lilac House behind us was kind of her dream, her family home was behind Sainte Anne’s Church and when she and my dad retired, she wanted to come back up to open up a place so other people could come and visit her home.”
The lilacs bring in thousands of visitors every season and the Thompsons are more than happy to share their home.
“The Lilac Festival is somewhat the start of the busy season here and from here on out, we’re pretty much busy throughout the whole summer,” said Thompson.
They call their bed and breakfast a “labor of love” and say they’ve gained recognition from all over by being known as the “pretty purple house” on the island.
“With it being The Lilac Festival and we’re the Lilac House, we kind of play on that as well too,” said Thompson. “We have five different shades of hues of lilac here on the property and also, it’s a nice thing when folks walk by, they’re here for The Lilac Festival, I’m not a complete expert on lilacs, a lot of people know more than I do, but I know enough to tell them a little bit about them and some fun facts.”
You don’t need to be an expert to know that the lilacs are just a beautiful highlight of visiting Mackinac Island.
“The Lilac Festival’s a great time,” said Andrew Doud, owner of Doud’s Market. “It really ties in before kids get out of school and as you can see, the lilacs are beautiful, they’re out, almost in full bloom right now, which we’re very lucky, somehow every year it seems to work out, which is amazing.”
Even if you missed the parade, there’s still time to catch a ferry and make it out to the island while the lilacs are blooming.
“We have a ritual every year, especially today on parade day, where quite a few of the relatives—Ken’s related to half of the island and special friends, we love to watch the parade and it’s a very fantastic day, very fun day, one of my favorite days of the summer,” said Thompson.
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