The Harbor Springs Visitors Guide

The Harbor Springs Area Chamber of Commerce is pleased to provide you with the 2011 Harbor Springs Visitors Guide, the premier guide to shopping, dining, and activities in the Harbor Springs area. It is filled with year ‘round information that can help you plan your time here.

The Chamber of Commerce is located on Main Street in downtown Harbor Springs with the Andrew Blackbird Museum in an historic building easily identified by the totem pole outside. During the summer months, you also can visit our information Gazebo on the waterfront.

We are experts in answering your questions about the Harbor Springs area. From where to play a round of golf, or even a round of disc golf, to the best bike paths, to a spot for a picnic dinner, we can help. Leave us a message if we’re not in the office or visit our website, www.harborspringschamber.com for up-to-date information on the area.

Our small town charm, natural beauty, and wonderful amenities bring visitors every year and we are glad you are one of them. Come back again.

The Great Outdoors

Many visitors come to the Harbor Springs area because of our many outdoor activities. Our weather—moderate summers and crisp winters—make outdoor activities a year ‘round happening.

Within the city of Harbor Springs are two beaches and within a few miles, there are many more. Our harbor is perfect for boating and kayaking. Kayak services deliver kayaks right to the waterfront. Sailing on Little Traverse Bay is superb. Cyclists, runners, and walkers love Harbor Springs. Golf? Lots of it and on fabulous courses.

Winter is a season that is beloved in Northern Michigan. With two great ski resorts, Nub’s Nob and Boyne Highlands, we have downhill skiing for young to old. Cross country skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, ice fishing, and ice boating are here for the taking.

Biking for Everyone

Whether it is serious mountain or road biking or gentle cruising for the family, Harbor Springs is the place for biking. The Little Traverse Wheelway’s trail head in Harbor Springs links to Petoskey and Charlevoix. The 26-mile Wheelway is paved with occasional board walks. This non-motorized Wheelway weaves by the Petoskey State Park, historic Bay View, the Petoskey waterfront, Bay Harbor, Bay Shore and into Charlevoix.

Mountain bikers love the North Country Trail. This 4,000-mile long trail across the U.S. has 38 miles of trails just north of Harbor Springs running from Mackinaw City to Petoskey with woods, streams, vistas, and hills along the way. Bring your bikes or rent them while you’re here.

Sailing

The Little Traverse Yacht Club (LTYC) formed in 1895 as a way for families to sail together on Little Traverse Bay. Sailing here is superb. Organized racing takes place on Tuesday nights and weekends all summer long. One highlight of the summer in Harbor Springs is the Little Traverse Yacht Club’s Regatta. Some of the best sailors in the U.S. come to Harbor Springs July 29-31 for this year’s Regatta.

Little Traverse Sailors has been teaching young children to sail for 56 years. Located on the LTYC waterfront on Bay Street, this non profit organization offers nine weeks of sailing school for youth ages 8-18. The Junior Racing Team allows young sailors to better their sailing skills.

New this year in Harbor Springs: Big Boat sailing for the entire family. Thanks to a generous donation to Little Traverse Sailors of a 35’ sail boat, sailing instruction with everything from basic to advanced—including sessions just for women and families—take place on Little Traverse Bay this summer. Get out on the water!

Snow, Snow, Snow

Yes, we love snow in Harbor Springs. We have the real thing here—the white, fluffy stuff that is perfect for playing. Name your snow pleasure and we have it here for you to enjoy.

For snow skiers, our two resorts, Boyne Highlands and Nub’s Nob have so much to do: downhill and cross country skiing, snow boarding, apres activities, racing and more. Tubing, zip lines, sleigh rides? Yes! We have it all.

Miles and miles of groomed trails near Harbor Springs are a snowmobiler’s delight. The annual Moose Jaw Safari in January takes snowmobilers from Harbor Springs to Lark’s Lake for a great day of snow fun and a bon fire (and bean soup, too!).

Cross country skiers love the Loppet, a nearly 30-year-old event where skiers traverse from Harbor Springs to the Crow’s Nest near Harbor Springs in February. This event is capped at 120 skiers so register early.

Tunnel of Trees

Often compared to Carmel, California’s scenic drive, M-119, the Tunnel of Trees is a stunning display of Northern hardwoods. This Heritage Route traveling from Harbor Springs to Cross Village is carved through the woods to create a canopy, or tunnel, of trees.

The Tunnel of Trees is a four-season experience. In the spring, the carpet of wild trillium in the woods is spectacular. Summer is a tunnel of green with glimpses of the blue water. Fall is a breathtaking landscape of color. And winter provides clear views through the woods to Beaver Island.

Bicyclists love the Tunnel of Trees. The winding, rolling terrain is challenging....and beautiful.

Things to Do

There is so much to see and do in the Harbor Springs area. In addition to a myriad of outdoor activities, art and music events fill the calendar. Each Thursday night from late June-early September, Street Musique comes to downtown Harbor Springs with music on the street corners.

Nearby Boyne Highlands hosts the fabulous Young Americans Dinner Theatre during the summer. The Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey has art exhibits and classes. Blissfest holds monthly concerts in addition to the Blissfest weekend in July. The nearby Bay View Festival has concerts, theatre, and opera.

Each and every month of the year, special events take place in the Harbor Springs area so check our calendar of events so that you don’t miss them.

In the downtown area alone, there are so many things to do: picnics, beach time, quiet time on one of our many park benches, shopping, dining, a visit to the library or the history museum, outdoor dining, coffee shops, sailing instruction.....yes, there is much to do in Harbor Springs.

Harbor Springs Area Chamber of Commerce Events

The Harbor Springs Area Chamber of Commerce hosts a variety of events each year so put these on your calendar now:

• President’s Weekend Chili Cook-off
• Street Musique every Thursday evening, June 23-September 1
• Waterfront Wine Festival, in conjunction with Scenic Michigan, June 25
• Fine Art Gallery Tour, June 30
• July 4th parade and fireworks
• Cars in the Park, August 11
• Street Sales & Celebrations, September 3
• Taste of Harbor Springs, September 24
• Thanksgiving Weekend Holiday Events including Christmas Tree Lighting, November 25
• Downtown Holiday Open House, December 10
  

Harbor Springs History

History is celebrated every day in Harbor Springs at the History Museum on Main Street. And there is so much to celebrate. The community has been a trading center, Native American community, a mission, summer destination, and year ‘round community.

In 1691, Catholic missionaries came to the area to work with the Odawa Indians. The area from Harbor Springs to Good Hart was known as L’Arbre Croche and during the 1800s, it was a thriving community to the Odawa who supported themselves with agriculture, trapping, carpentry, tailoring, fishing, and shoemaking, to name a few.

The Village of Little Traverse came to be in 1858 and in 1886, Emmet County’s first court house was built on Main Street in the structure that is now the History Museum. Harbor Springs became known as a summer retreat beginning in the 1870s. Our deep, natural harbor was perfect for the steamships that arrived with passengers and the railroad arrived in 1882. Visitors escaped the pollen, heat, and dust of their hometowns to “summer” in Harbor Springs. Boarding houses and hotels were built and the associations of Harbor Point and Wequetonsing were created along the waterfront. By the 1920s, Harbor Springs was known as the Naples of the North and 11 hotels greeted summer guests.

History can be explored at the Harbor Springs History Museum. The Museum, once City Hall, is one of many historic buildings still in use today. The Depot, Holy Childhood Church, Ottawa Stadium and the Ephraim Shay house are pieces of the past that are still present today.

To receive a free copy of the Visitors Guide, email: info@harborspringschamber.com

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