While the recent snow & cold might not have agreed with everyone, it means that Crystal Mountain will see the earliest opening day in three years as 2 or more slopes open Thanksgiving Day, 2008! Crystal is offering special rates with lifts tickets priced at $20 (adults 16+), $15 (juniors 9-15), and children 8 & under FREE.
They will remain open Thanksgiving Day through Sunday from 9am-4:30pm and then be closed Monday, December 1-Thursday, December 4 for snowmaking opportunities. The resort reopens for the full season on Friday, December 5.
In addition to skiing, Crystal has a number of activities scheduled for the Thanksgiving Reconnect Weekend (November 27-30). The Turkey Vulture Trot 5K & One-mile Fun Run presented by the Traverse City Record-Eagle begins Thursday (November 27) at 9am. Crystal’s Thanksgiving Day buffet features a delectable array of traditional holiday favorites. Saturday, the village core will be set aglow with thousands of twinkling lights during the First Light Celebration (5pm).
The annual Fall Festival offers two weeks of fun in Frankfort, Beulah, Benzonia and the surrounding area. The Benzie County Visitor’s Bureau has a page of information on the festival and for more details visit the Frankfort-Elberta Chamber.
Weekend of October 4-5
Fall food takes center stage with the Fall Soup Contest on Saturday (Oct 4) in Beulah Park and the Honor Lions Club Hillbilly Breakfast from 8:00 – 12:30 and Darcy Memorial Library of Beulah Cookie Bake Sale at the Trailhead in Beulah. 10am -2pm on Sunday (Oct 5).
There’s also a Sidewalk Art Contest and a Fall Market in Beulah on Saturday and the Crystal Lake Elementary FallFest Fundraiser in Benzonia on Saturday with a full lineup of fun for families including a produce & products market, cider press, carnival with prizes, food, refreshments, petting zoo and fire truck rides.
Crystal Mountain offers scenic chairlift rides to view the fall colors (4-6 PM both Saturday the 5th & 12th) and a haunted forest (6:30-9:30 PM) on Saturday and then hosts the Betsie Valley Run on Sunday with a 10K Run and Half Marathon Walk & Run.
At 11 AM on Saturday, October 11 2008, the Fall Festival Parade and Mutt March will take place in downtown Frankfort (costume judging for the Mutts is at 10 AM). Other events following the parade include a Pumpkin luncheon at the Recreation Center, performances by the internationally acclaimed Scottville Clown Band and a ton of fall fun at the Open Space including:
Giant Pumpkin weigh-in (guess the weight and win a bike!)
A hay wagon ride through Frankfort with a storyteller
The Pumpkin Regatta
Activities for kids including games, pumpkin decorating, face painting, balloon man, straw maze, fortune teller, pumpkin bowling and pumpkin hillbilly golf!
On Saturday a really cool feature is the Pumpkin Chuckin’ Catapults and the Giant Pumpkin Drop on a Car at 3:00 PM in Frankfort! Check out the video below to see what happens when a 500 lb. pumpkin is dropped on a vehicle from over 100 feet in the air.
The Betsie Valley Trail is a 22 mile long, hard surfaced trail. The asphalt portion is six miles long and goes from Frankfort, through Elberta, along Crystal Lake to Beulah – perfect for biking, rollerblading and walking. From Beulah to Thompsonville the trail cuts through woods and farms. This portion is 13 miles long and is a compacted aggregate surface that is great for mountain biking and all kinds of pedestrian uses (it’s. Friends of the Betsie Valley Trail’s great trail tour page (with photos) begins:
The Betsie Valley Trail is built on the bed of the former Ann Arbor Railroad, which carried freight and passengers from Toledo through Ann Arbor, Owosso, Cadillac, Thompsonville and Beulah to Frankfort and Elberta. From 1892 until 1982 the freight cars were carried across Lake Michigan on car ferries to Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Passenger service was discontinued in 1951 and freight service in 1985. The railroad was abandoned in 1994 and, in 1998, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) bought the rail corridor. Benzie County and the Friends of the Betsie Valley Trail have been working with the DNR since 1992 to build the Trail.
You can even ride the trail one way if you make reservations with the Benzie Bus service who will take you, your friends and bikes to any spot on the trail for $2 ($1 for seniors). For info and reservations call 231-325-3000 or visit BenzieBus.com. Here’s the Betsie Valley Trail map and you can also check it out on the betsiebay.net map!
Our region is blessed with some amazing terrain and golfers know that when terrain isn’t making you hurl your clubs, it’s creating a challenge that sharpens your game and enjoyment.
Crystal Mountain will host the 3rd Annual Michigan Beer & Brat Festival on Saturday, May 24 from 4-8 PM. This year the Michigan Brewers Guild will partner with Crystal, and the festival features more than 40 Michigan microbrews from Bell’s, Short’s, New Holland, Founder’s, Arbor, Arcadia, Jolly Pumpkin and more. Specialty brats (jalapeno to tart cherry), Bavarian pretzels and live entertainment by Egon complete the day (check out that link – awesome rendition of Red House!).
Admission is $20 and includes a commemorative mug and tickets for beer and brats. Crystal is also offering Michigan Beer & Brat Festival package which includes free admission FREE admission to the festival.
Explore photos of Frankfort, Manistee, The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and along the Lake Michigan shore in the BetsieBay.net group on Flickr (view full screen!)
While the recent snow & cold might not have agreed with everyone, it means that Crystal Mountain will see the earliest opening day in three years as 2 or more slopes open Thanksgiving Day, 2008! Crystal is offering special rates with lifts tickets priced at $20 (adults 16+), $15 (juniors 9-15), and children 8 & under FREE.
