Mackinac & Straits
Mackinaw City
The base for the Straits, beside the Mackinac Bridge at the tip of the Lower Peninsula, with a reconstructed colonial fort and ferries to Mackinac Island.
Heritage · Parade · Holiday · Family · Mackinaw City
Memorial Weekend Pageant
Mackinaw City's Memorial Day weekend: a parade to Colonial Michilimackinac and free reenactments of the events of 1763, with hundreds in the cast.
The Memorial Weekend Pageant opens the season in Mackinaw City and is billed as the longest-running free historical Memorial Day performance in the country.
Start with the Saturday afternoon parade, then catch one of the reenactments later that day or on Sunday or Monday. Check the chamber’s listing for the year’s times and locations.
What to expect
The Saturday parade runs from Conkling Heritage Park to Colonial Michilimackinac. Reenactment performances follow over the weekend, recreating the events of June 2, 1763 involving the French, the British and Native nations, with a cast of more than 400. Admission is free.
Location
Where Memorial Weekend Pageant happens
4 places on an OpenStreetMap map
The pin marks the town; check the organizer for exact venues.
About Mackinaw City
Nearby attractions
Straight-line distances, not driving distances.
Lighthouse
Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse
The 1892 castle-style lighthouse just east of the Mackinac Bridge, with restored keepers' rooms, a tower you can climb and a shipwreck museum.
Under a mile away (straight line)
Historic site
Colonial Michilimackinac
Mackinaw City's 18th-century fort and fur trading village, rebuilt from historic maps and one of the longest-running archaeological digs in the country.
Under a mile away (straight line)
Bridge
Mackinac Bridge
The five-mile suspension bridge that carries I-75 across the Straits of Mackinac between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace, open since November 1, 1957.
About 2 miles away (straight line)
Places to stay nearby
Hotel · Budget
Baymont by Wyndham Mackinaw City
In central Mackinaw City, within walking distance of downtown and the ferry docks
A chain hotel in central Mackinaw City within walking distance of downtown shops and the Mackinac Island ferry docks, with an indoor pool.
Bed and breakfast
Deer Head Inn
On Henry Street in downtown Mackinaw City
A bed and breakfast in a restored 1913 Arts and Crafts home, among the oldest houses in Mackinaw City, a short walk from the island ferries.
Hotel · Mid-range
Holiday Inn Express Mackinaw City
On Louvigny Street near the Mackinac Bridge in Mackinaw City
A chain hotel near the Mackinac Bridge that lists year-round stays, an indoor pool, free hot breakfast and shuttles to the Mackinac Island ferries.
Listed as open all year.
More events in and around Mackinaw City
- A Colonial ChristmasA December evening at Colonial Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City, where lantern-lit paths, storytellers and crafts recall how the fort's 17th- and 18th-century residents kept the holidays.
- Mackinac Bridge WalkThe Labor Day morning walk across the Mackinac Bridge, starting from St. Ignace or Mackinaw City while the bridge is closed to public traffic.
- Mackinaw City Fourth of July FireworksA large Fourth of July fireworks show at Conkling Heritage Park, the headline of Mackinaw City's summer fireworks nights.
- Fort2Fort Five Mile ChallengeAn early May five-mile run that starts inside Fort Mackinac and loops through Mackinac Island State Park past Arch Rock, Sugarloaf Rock and Fort Holmes.