Downtown shops and amusements

Main Street, with its Victorian-era hotels, is packed with stores, fudge shops, and restaurants, busy with horse-drawn carriages and bicycles. The fort and the natural limestone stack in front of it tower over Main Street’s southwest end.

Retailing has evolved beyond the humdrum tourist shops of yore. The chamber of commerce web site, www.mackinacisland.org, has a helpful annotated list of shops, some with links. End-of-season sales in October can be terrific. Shops are also in the Grand Hotel. Also, the chamber mentions dog-friendly businesses on the island.

Don't forget the shops in various parts of MACKINAC STATE HISTORIC PARKS —on the island at the Visitors' Center down on Main Street across from the fort and Marquette Park, and inside the fort at shops in the soldiers' barracks, the long building by the central parade grounds, and a children's shop by the Kids' Quarters interactive mini-museum in the Officers' Stone Quarters. Buyer Ron Crandall, once an antiques dealer in Harbor Springs, knows a lot about history and antiques and has a great eye. He works hard to find (and sometimes commission) unusual items relating to the history and theme of each Mackinac Park location. He seeks distinctive merchandise at all price points, always with some inexpensive things for kids. Profits support Mackinac State Historic Parks operations - and this year extra monies are needed more than ever.

FUDGE SHOPS are everywhere. All four fudgemakers, each with multiple outlets, give free samples and ship gifts. Visit www.mackinacisland.org, then "fudge" for links. In the 1890s the Murdick family and others sold many sweets, according to Phil Porter's Fudge: Mackinac's Sweet Souvenir. He adds that before 1950 peanut brittle, salt-water taffy, and hand-dipped chocolates were just as popular. In the 1960s master fudge marketer Harry Ryba revolutionized island fudge shops by moving the marble-topped fudgemaking tables to the front of his shops, offering samples, adding new flavors, and installing fans to blow the sweet smells outside to the sidewalk. It was he who popularized the term "fudgie" by handing out "Fudgie" buttons as free souvenirs.

Great Turtle Toys has goofy fun and kites and other flying things, demonstrated by staff who love their work. One branch is in the Lilac Hotel by Island Books, near the Arnold Dock. Here Mary Bernstein of Clark Lake in Jackson County shows the Fun Grip water football in M.S.U. and U-M versions.

Here are some unusual shops on and off of Main Street, arranged from east to west, starting with the fort and the Arnold Dock. Shops generally open at 10 a.m. In summer shops are often open until 10 p.m., and usually until 8. More shops are in Grand Hotel's terrace level. Call for wheelchair access. Older buildings may involve one or more steps.

Nantucket lightship baskets, sold at Scrimshaw.

♦ SCRIMSHANDERS. Scrimshaw, or engraving on ivory or bone is a New England thing. Gary Kiracofe continues the craft on Mackinac Island (using bone, not ivory, of course) and also sells antiques and signed contemporary carved bone and tusk objects, plus walking canes, custom knives, and Nantucket baskets. At 7221 Main. In the Chippewa Hotel's lobby at the east end of Main across from the park and fort. (906) 847-3792. Open from Mother's Day into late Oct. Summer hours 9-9 or 10. Spring and fall 9-6 or so. Dogs welcome. Wheelchair-accessible.
♦ PROFESSOR HARRY'S OLD-TIME PHOTOS. Harry's is a longtime Mackinac favorite for vacation souvenir portraits of you and your family or friends as various Victorian personae, from saloon girls and cowboys and Indians to Civil War soldiers. Other possibilities: gangsters, c. 1900 beachwear, pirates. On Main by the Chippewa Hotel at the foot of Fort (wheelchair-accessible). Also by the Star Ferry Dock on the west end of Main (one step; no steps in back). (906) 847-6000. Summer hours 10-8. Fall, spring 10 to 5 or 6.
♦ MACKINAC BIRKENSTOCK. Mackinac Island means walking, and many Americans' shoes aren't designed for the job. The Birkenstock sandals are made for walking, and for standing on your feet all day. Chacos are good walking shoes that can not only be worn while wading on stony beaches, but washed in the washing machine. This shop's well-informed staff can also advise customers about insoles and arch supports. (906) 847-6065. On Astor between Main and Market. Open from May thru Oct. Summer hours 10-7. Spring and fall 10-5. Handicap access: 3 steps.
♦ MICHIGAN PEDDLER. Here are made-in-Michigan wines, cherry and other fruit products and sauces (American Spoon, Cherry Republic, Mackinac Collection, and others) and other Michigan foods, stationary, music and gifts. Some food can be sampled. Gift boxes can be shipped. 7327-108 Main, facing Main St. in the Lilac Tree Center west of the Arnold Dock. (906-847-6506). Summer open 10-10. Spring and fall 10-6. Wheelchair-accessible.
♦ISLAND BOOKSTORE. This independent bookseller is an all-around bookstore and newsstand, in addition to carrying a close-to-complete selection of the ever-increasing body of books about Mackinac Island. (906) 847-6202, which can also be purchased online at islandbookstore.com. Some of the best are classics like Iola Fuller's carefully researched historical novel Loon Feather, about an Ojibwa girl born on Mackinac and propelled into Quebec society through her French stepfather. Island Bookstore's discriminating web site calls it "one of the most popular books ever written about the conflict of alien peoples." Staffers here are readers who know what they sell. Also of interest to people on vacation: value-priced audio books, Michigan and Great Lakes books, guidebooks, and DVDs. Books on shipwrecks, ghost stories, and lighthouses are well represented. Call or check for a schedule of summer book-signings. 7327-108 Main in the Lilac Tree Center west of the Arnold Dock. (906) 847-6202. Open 10-6 in spring and fall, 10-10 in season. Wheelchair-accessible. DONE
♦ GREAT TURTLE TOYS. Demonstrations by zany young salespeople-performers bring out the kid in customers of all ages. Music and color draw people in. It's all so much fun, even for jaded children. There are lots of classic games; novelties; kites, flying toys, spinners and wind toys; and some juggling supplies. This play develops skills. Kite demos are held daily at 11, weather depending, at Windermere Point. (See index.) Not many toys have batteries, and video games are hardly to be seen. The atmosphere is way more goofy than obviously educational. A second store is in the The Gate House, between Main St. and the Grand Hotel. (906) 847-6118. In the Lilac Tree Center west of the Arnold Dock. Open May thru Oct., 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. in high season. In spring or fall open 9-6 or later. Dogs under control welcome. Wheelchair-accessible.
♦ MAEVE'S ART GALLERY. Smaller than her previous Main St. shop, this space focuses on owner Maeve Croghan's vivid expressionist landscapes and on American crafts — some ceramics, some glass, some leather — and varied jewelry. There's still a bit of folk art from faraway cultures. On Market between Astor and Hoban in the Carousel Shops. (906) 847-3755. Open daily from early May into late Oct.

Doc's House of Magic

♦ DOC'S HOUSE of MAGIC. This tiny space is crammed with card and coin tricks, stage magic books and videos, plus gags, novelties, some costumes, and colorful hats and sunglasses. Staffers and Doc himself love to demonstrate illusions and tricks. Next to the Haunted Theater at 7392 Main between Astor and the Shepler Dock. (906) 847-8188. Open from early May thru mid Oct. Hours depend on ferry. 9 to 5 or 6 in spring, 9-9 in summer. Wheelchair-accessible but tight.
♦ The HAUNTED THEATER. "A haunted house and wax museum dedicated to the legends and lore of Mackinac Island and the region." So states the Haunted Theater's advertising. An annual visitor says it's "beautiful and enjoyable" for adults and "a little scary" for most kids. Proprietor Welden "Shorty" Blum (he's 6' 8") has constructed 5 haunted houses and visited many., since his friend started a Wisconsin amusement park and got him into the haunted house business. Shorty says the artistic monster dioramas, made by an unusually talented craftsman, make this stand out above haunted houses with purchased mechanical props. A Mackinac institution since 1974, the theater's façade is some 100 years old, but the exhibit area is recent. There's free baby-sitting for very small children. Tours are customized by age group, so teens a scarier experience. Kids under 7 will likely be afraid of the dark; most kids of 7 or 8 will like it a lot. "It won't take long to see, but it will take you a long time to forget." Admission $6 a head. (906) 847-6545. 7696 Main between Astor and the Shepler Dock. Open at least from mid May thru September. Open from 10 or 11 to 6 at least, later when it's busy. Dogs can be tied up outside. Wheelchair access: awkward, unofficial, but it works.
♦ CADDY WAMPUS. Another fun toy store for all ages, with retro toys and new trends, too. Here are pet toys, baby gifts, tin windups and robots, Gumby and Pokey; puzzles desktop toys; kinetic toys (magnet-powered, they keep on swinging once set in motion), and chimes and copper spinners. Another category: jewelry and decor made out of recycled materials. On Main St. in the Main St. Inn courtyard, next to the Haunted Theater. On Main St. in the Main St. Inn, next to the Haunted Theater. Open from May thru Oct, 9-10 in season, 10-5 or 6 in spring and fall. (906) 847-0950. Wheelchair accessible. Dogs welcome. Wheelchair-accessible.
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