ESCANABA — The following is a recap from attendees of the Northern Lights RV Rally that took place at the U.P. State Fairgrounds July 19th-22nd. We extend our most sincere gratitude to the entire community and our amazing Chamber members for helping to prove that our waterfront community as a great please to “Live, Play, Shop and Dine”

Northern Lights Escanaba Rally July 2022

Escanaba and the Upper Peninsula are in our rear-view mirrors now and what a fun time we had at the Upper Peninsula State Fairgrounds!

On Tuesday July 19th, the coaches arrived with Mike Price leading us to the parking sites and everyone was ready for a fun week in the U.P. Sheila Krueger and the fairgrounds staff were great in fulfilling all of our needs.

Everyone met for happy hour where the Rally Masters Doris and Mike Price passed out bags from the Delta County Chamber of Commerce with information about all the things to do and see in the area along with a schedule of events by Ed Bearse. Also, at that time, everyone was given a Yooper Dark Chocolate Bar made by the famous Sayklly’s Confectionery of Escanaba. They were now declared an official YOOPER for the week!

Next, a fabulous catered dinner was delivered by Wiles Food Service prepared by Chef Matt Wiles. The dinner consisted of homemade coleslaw, grilled chicken over wild rice covered with mornay sauce, honey blazed ham, cheddar mashed potatoes, and delicious loaded baked beans.

After dinner, we helped celebrate a 70th wedding anniversary with a specially designed cake for dessert. Congratulations for attaining a huge milestone!

Wednesday, after coffee, donuts, muffins, and yogurt, we were free to spend the day exploring beautiful Escanaba, the Farmers Market, restaurants, and great shopping. That afternoon was the Wine and Cheese tasting with wines from Leigh’s Garden Winery downtown. They had six different wines to sample from dry red to white sweet picked out by Julie Lambert. Everyone had their favorite, but most agreed the wine called Yooper was the most popular. The cheese plates that were designed by our Doris Price were over the top! Thanks Doris.

Thursday started again with coffee and donuts. Then we were free to explore until Card Bingo at 2 p.m. with our Northern Lights Bucks. After the cards, members bid on a great supply of prizes picked out by the Prices and Bearses, using their play bucks winnings to bid for bottles of wine, blankets, doodad’s, etc. It was fast paced and fun as we had an early group dinner reservation at the famous Stonehouse Restaurant downtown. The service was absolutely super, and the food was excellent! Go there if you get the chance!

Friday, we cleaned up the remaining donuts and coffee, packed up our rigs and headed back to be Trolls again remembering what a neat place Escanaba is. Our thanks to Rick Payne for getting us coffee’d up every morning!

Our thanks especially go out to Mike and Doris, Ed and Anne for all the work on this rally considering the distance, fuel costs and several trips to make all of the arrangements.  Thank you for your time and efforts!

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Sheila Krueger is associate director of the Delta County Chamber of Commerce