Labor Day weekend is upon us. And with that, one last tourist-filled weekend at Mackinac Island before the hotel owners, fudge shops, and temporary workers begin battening down the hatches for another long winter. For many a Michigander, Labor Day Mackinac Bridge walk, in its 57th year, marks the unofficial end of summer.Published this summer, the new book, “Mackinac Island: Inside, Up Close, and Personal,” delves into the social, economic and political events that have shaped the island resort for the last half century. It’s written by perhaps the state’s foremost expert on Mackinac: Dennis Cawthorne.
A longtime politician and lobbyist here in Lansing, Dennis and Mackinac go back 54 years. From loading carriages in college to founding one of the island’s most popular restaurants, the Village Inn, to heading the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, Dennis Cawthorne has seen a lot on Mackinac over the decades. He joins Current State to talk about some of the memories.