ESCANABA — Delta County is an amazing place any time of year, but winter offers special experiences for visitors that are worth telling the world about. Our access to nature offers guests a variety of options when they visit including ice fishing, snowmobiling, trail sports like cross country skiing, and so much more. The beautifully decorated downtowns are perfect for travelers looking to get into the spirit of the season with some shopping and a great meal.

Visit Escanaba will be highlighting the area on our website and media channels this winter showing our audience what they can do when they visit Delta County. Nick Behling explores unique places in Michigan for MLive’s MIBest series that highlights the most interesting things to do around the state. He will be here in January to create a short video and publish it on MLive digital channels reaching a large audience across the Midwest. We will also take a deeper dive looking at our unique local attractions on our website and digital channels to continue telling the story of Delta County to the world through timely updated content about the area.

There are so many amazing people and places around Delta County. I have had the opportunity to get to know a lot of them and look forward to meeting many more. The willingness of local leaders and business owners to help raise the bar for our community is an asset that we all benefit from. In the coming months we will talk to more locals about the interesting people, places, and stories that represent Delta County’s finest and publish them on our digital channels. Visit www.VisitEscanaba.com and find us on Facebook and other social media platforms to see what we find interesting in the area.

A big thanks the cities of Gladstone and Escanaba for their effort to decorate our towns for the holiday season. Visit Escanaba has been sharing information and pictures of the area on social media and received a lot of compliments about the decorations. Rapid River has also increased their presence this winter by starting a “Light-Up Rapid River” campaign led by the Rapid River Business Association to dress up the town during this special time of year. This no doubt added to the successful Christmas in Rapid River event held in the beginning of December.

“We have such amazing people and volunteers in Rapid River,” said Bonnie Nussbaum, president of the Rapid River Business Association, “Christmas in Rapid was an awesome day! Between craft shows, wagon rides, pasties and other goodies to eat, caroling, and the wonderful tree lighting, it was just a wonderful day”.

It may be a little harder to attract visitors here in the winter, but with strong communities working together to create value for customers we will see additional guests and new commerce in the area even when the weather is at its coldest. Visit Escanaba sponsored some new holiday light structures for the fairgrounds this year and we will help the fairgrounds expand the facility in the future to be a winter attraction. This facility is a vital economic driver for the area and it is important to maximize our impact with this valuable asset.

It is imperative that our local stakeholders work together to develop a variety winter infrastructure projects that will draw visitors during the slower winter months. Working together we can create a vibrant winter community that features amazing outdoor activities and attractions that will make Delta County a destination for winter travelers.

Thank you for making this area so beautiful and a special place for visitors and residents alike. Please let me know if you would like to talk more about infrastructure projects that will make our community a destination for travelers or if you would like to tell us about an interesting local winter event or attraction that you would like to see featured. I can be reached at the Delta County Commerce Center at (906)786-2192.

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By Robert Micheau is executive director of Visit Escanaba