HOUGHTON-HANCOCK, Mich. (WZMQ) – Kicking off the summer tourist season, June is setting out to be a busy month of celebration in Houghton-Hancock.
Over the past weekend, the 2025 Bridgefest celebrated the 65th anniversary of the Portage Lake Lift Bridge with an outstanding crowd. Katie Schlief of the Keweenaw Chamber of Commerce Bridgefest Committee reported close to 10,000 people across the four day event.
Locals and tourists took part in events including helicopter tours, live music, a hot dog eating contest, numerous market vendors, and the Bridgefest parade. The full schedule be found here.
“For parade attendance the streets were packed, our float entries were about 72 to 75 and we made it across the bridge in record timing, maybe a little too fast,” said Schlief. “Everyone was out to enjoy those, the weather did put a little damper on our Saturday morning fun, but we still saw numbers and a huge crowd at our morning events.”
Following Bridgefest will come another round of festivities this weekend in Hancock, for the Juhannus Summer Solstice Celebration.
Starting Friday, June 20, the Finnish festival celebrates the longest day of the year, and will feature a weekend of music, dancing, and daylight. This is the first year this festival is being celebrated over the span of three days, but Visit Keweenaw hopes to see everyone there.
“We’re hoping to be pretty comparable to the Bridgefest weekend,” said Jesse Wiederhold of Visit Keweenaw. “We’re trying to fill that gap in summer after Bridgefest, to get us into the warmer weather, so really just stacking up our weekends, trying to build this out to be something more.”
Visit Keweenaw has also teased a surprise announcement during the Saturday morning Juhannus festivities. For the full schedule of events, go to visitkeweenaw.com.