 | | Early 20th-century storefronts line Elm Street where it joins Munising Ave. (M-28). | Munising has a real downtown, though you may not notice it driving through town on M-28/ Munising Avenue. Look for the four-corners at Munising and Elm, where there are four historic two-story buildings, one a handsome stone bank. The block of Elm Street just south of M-28 is the traditional downtown's chief business block. Stores and service businesses extend around the corners onto Superior.
Munising Bay is one of Michigan's most beautiful landscapes, and BAYSHORE PARK is a fine place from which to view it. There's apicnic area with grills, and a memorial to Vietnam veterans. The big new bandshell is home to well-attended Concerts on the Bay,each Tuesday at 7 p.m. (Free admission.) The new Farmers' Market is held Tuesdays from 4 to 7 under the adjacent covered picnic paviion. Bayfront Park is at the foot of North Elm Street, across from the docks of the Pictured Rocks Boat Cruises.
Note: the People's Store, descended from a very old dry goods store and stocked with better casual and functional clothing, has closed. So has Northern Attitudes gifts and crafts on Superior, replaced by the Munising News.
Noteworthy spots for visitors, arranged from east (M-28) to west, include:
THE GIFT STATION. It occupies a picturesque brick building, a former Mobil service station from the 1930s. It's a multifaceted general gift store with an extensive stock of collectible lines, crystal, and theme gifts: fishing and hunting, north woods, lighthouse decor and books, nautical and lighthouse items, and unusual Magic Motion clocks that play many kinds of melodies on the hour. The T-shirts and sweatshirts are unusually attractive. 101 Cedar at M-28, east of downtown. (906) 387-3013. Current hours 7 days in summer, 10-7. In winter 10-5. Shop is for sale. Handicap accessible.
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 | | The pleasant Falling Rock Cafe has become a lively Munising gathering place. | FALLING ROCK CAFÉ and BOOKSTORE. J
Falling Rock Café is a year-round community gathering place that's smoke free, unlike many kaffee klatsch spots in town. The soda fountain is an informal information and networking hub as well as a place to get Jilbert's ice cream; malts, sundaes, and shakes; custom-roasted coffee (also for sale in bean form); hot dogs and brats, and sandwiches, bagels, and soups.
Sofas and easy chairs in back allow for lounging, reading, and playing chess or many board games on hand. Many local clubs meet here. There's free wireless internet and tables to sit at. Call or visit fallingrockcafe.com for info on upcoming events: regular year-round Saturday-night concerts,/b> at 7 p.m., plus occasional book signings, children's storytimes, poetry nights, and classes.
Falling Rock is a fine rainy-day destination; kids could get coloring books from Putvin's Drug Store and bring them in. The bookstore part (used and new) has good regional books, a stock of over 55,000 volumes, and a regional crafts shop with photographs, pottery, walking sticks, and half-models of boats to display on the wall.
Falling Rock got its start after Jeff and Nancy Dwyer moved to town, having quit their academic positions at the University of Florida. (Nancy was a nursing professor, Jeff a gerontologist.) They didn't know many people, but Jeff loved the U.P. from family vacations spent here. (His great-grandfather was Marquette County sheriff.) First the Dwyers fixed up their new home on a lake. Then they bought a beat-up former tavern and its neighbor. (Falling Rock is on M-28 downtown, next to the former home of the Charing Cross bookstore.) They created a multi-use space, hauling out 55 tons of trash and building material in the process.
Jeff, a sociologist by training, had read and reread Ray Oldenburg's widely influential study of "third places" — not home, not work —The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. Ask to read the legend of Falling Rock behind all those "Watch for falling rock" signs.
Some things have changed — Jeff no longer builds log cottages but serves as associate dean for research at MSU's medical school. Nancy is in nursing in the Munising area. And Charlotte, the friendly Louisianan, is the manager. But the Great Good Place idea remains. 104 East Munising/M-28 downtown, just east of Elm. (906) 387-3008. fallingrockcafe.com Open daily, year-round. Summer hours (from about Memorial Day) Mon-Sat 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sun 9-10. From Oct to end of spring, open Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 10-10. Closed Sunday in winter. Wheelchair accessible.
 | | Rondi Olson is again making wooden bowls like those of Munising Woodenware which began production in 1911. They sell for $20 and up. | MUNISING WOOD PRODUCTS and MUNISING MANNA. Rondi Olson has purchased rights to the venerable Munising Woodenware trademark and sells contemporary versions of Munising Woodenware bowls, also hand-painted, in the front space of the former Charing Cross book store. A Seventh-Day Adventist, she also sells health and bulk foods from two vegan and vegetarian co-ops. 102 East Munising/M-28, just east of Elm downtown. (906) 387-1911. Open last week in May to mid-Oct, Mon thru Friday 10 to 5.Front entrance wheelchair-accessible.
St. VINCENT de PAUL. "Vinnie's" is always a favorite for U.P. specialty shopping. The Munising store draws on donations from a wide range of households, including well-to-do summer people. Friday is bag day. 107 Elm between M-28 and Superior in the heart of Munising, next to the Corktown Bar. (906) 387-3496. Open Monday through Friday 10 to 4. Handicap access: three steps.
PUTVIN HEALTH MART. This large, exceptionally helpful downtown drug store also offers gifts, summer fun accessories, and coloring books and games for rainy days, a Radio Shack outlet, wraps and supports for aching feet, and many special services, including 24-hour emergency prescription service. 119 Elm at Superior. (906) 387-2248. Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9-4. Handicap accessible.
PEOPLE'S STATE BANK. A handsome fountain centers on the propeller blades and anchor from the wreck Kiowa, sunk off Point Au Sable in a fierce storm in late November of 1926. At night, amber lights illuminate the water plume — gorgeous! The water highlights the pink in the fountain's stones. The rock, with interestingly variegated patterns, is 2 billion-year-old kona dolomite from near Gwinn. (You can pick up small quantities for your garden. Call Lindberg & Sons at 906-249-1815 and be sure to get good directions.) Colored pink by iron, Marquette County dolomite is thought to be the world's only pink dolomite.
The story of the sinking of the big freighter Kiowa lived on in the area because of the valor of three deer hunters in taking 18 survivors off the stranded ship. In 1968 two young scuba divers, Charles Nebel of Munising and his friend Brian Schulze organized a team to raise the anchor and propeller blades. Nebel, whose law office is in the bank building, incorporated the blades and anchor in this fountain. Southeast corner of Elm and Superior.
MADIGAN'S ACE HARDWARE. This old-time hardware store, rebuilt in 1940 after a fire, has been in the Madigan family since 1920. Its friendly staff doles out helpful advice for local people's projects and for visitors' emergency repairs. Madigan's carries a general line, including automotive, camping, tackle, some sporting goods, and automotive supplies. 202 Elm at Superior, kitty-corner from Putvin's. (906) 387-2033. Mon-Fri 8-5:30, Sat 8-5, Sun 9-3. Wheelchair-accessible.
KIDS' CONNECTION PLAYGROUND. Volunteers built this impressive castle-like linkage of play equipment. Varnum at Court, one block west of Elm. Open daily 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
MUNISING RANGE LIGHTS. One form of navigational aid for vessels coming into a harbor was having two range lights. Lining them up kept the vessel on course. Here the front range light is a white conical tower set back a little on M-28/Munising Avenue at the foot of Hemlock Street, five blocks west of Elm. Looking up Hemlock, you can see the rear range light perched on a hill with a woods behind it. Because it's up, it could be much smaller. It looks like a backyard ornament of some sort.
(—June, 2008)
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