Second Annual Ultimate Up North Kitchen Tour is a Huge Success!
The second annual Ultimate Up North Kitchen Tour is history—and everyone involved from the tour-goers to the designers agree it was historically fabulous. I was able to make it to 10 kitchens between Traverse City and Charlevoix and at each kitchen I overheard exclamations about how much fun people were having.
It was so energizing to see so many folks finding their way to these kitchens scattered from Manistee to Petoskey. I was able to make it to ten kitchens from Traverse City to Charlevoix. And even if the weather wasn’t perfect, the foliage and the stormy lake were still beautiful. In East Jordan I took the Ironton Ferry across Lake Charlevoix to Boyne City—I can’t think of a more charming way to do a home tour.
By 3 in the afternoon, some designers were reporting as many as 200 people had through their kitchens.
By 5 p.m. tour goers began drifting into the Wooden Hammer showroom in Traverse City to enjoy wine and cheese and to share their tour highlights. Among the tourgoers were the Barnetts of Columbus, Ohio. On Friday these delightful people had driven from Ohio to Petoskey so they could do kitchen tour route from north to south. They figured they could make it to 19 kitchens if they kept to a strict schedule.
But at Bullfrog Candles in Charlevoix the Barnetts couldn’t resist a slight deviation. Turns out they've been seeing the advertisements in Traverse Magazine for years and when they saw the sign they couldn’t resist stopping. The clock was ticking, but the Barnetts made it and out of Bullfrog with a bag of Christmas gifts in record time.
In the end the Barnetts only made it to 18 kitchens. Still they’d had a great day. Part of their reason for taking in so much of the tour, it turns out, is because they are hoping to retire to Northern Michigan but can’t decide which town they want to settle in. Robert told me that every place they've stayed in Northern Michigan in the past—Harbor Springs, Suttons Bay, Traverse City, Charlevoix, Petoskey, people tell them, "THIS is the best town.”
The couple hoped that taking the tour would make their decision easier. It would also introduce them to builders and kitchen designers—great information to have when they decide to build. So I put the question to them: did the tour help them decide the "it" town of Northern Michigan?
Turns out, no. The homeowners the Barnetts met couldn’t talk enough about the advantages of living in Harbor Springs, Petoskey, Charlevoix, Elk Rapids, Boyne City. If the couple learned anything it was that they really, really love Northern Michigan and it doesn't matter where they decide to locate—they really can't go wrong.
I met so many fascinating folks on this tour, I wish I had time to interview them all. The staff at Northern Home and Cottage and the members of the Northern Michigan Chapter of the National Kitchen and Bath Association want to thank everyone who participated in this tour for making it such a huge success. A special heartfelt thank you to those wonderful volunteers who greeted tour goers so warmly. And, of course, we are enormously grateful to our sponsors.
Here are some pictures from this fabulous day.
Our new friends the Barnetts of Columbus, Ohio, who made it to 18 kitchens in one day:
The Ainslie kitchen; Nancy Blandford, designer
The Bailey kitchen; Deb Mahon, designer
The Buhalis kitchen: Heather Gus, designer
The Ultimate Up North Kitchen Tour is sponsored by:
Wooden Hammer LTD.
Fustini’s Oils & Vinegars
>Legacy of Clean
Cherryland Cut Stone
TileCraft Inc
It was so energizing to see so many folks finding their way to these kitchens scattered from Manistee to Petoskey. I was able to make it to ten kitchens from Traverse City to Charlevoix. And even if the weather wasn’t perfect, the foliage and the stormy lake were still beautiful. In East Jordan I took the Ironton Ferry across Lake Charlevoix to Boyne City—I can’t think of a more charming way to do a home tour.
By 3 in the afternoon, some designers were reporting as many as 200 people had through their kitchens.
By 5 p.m. tour goers began drifting into the Wooden Hammer showroom in Traverse City to enjoy wine and cheese and to share their tour highlights. Among the tourgoers were the Barnetts of Columbus, Ohio. On Friday these delightful people had driven from Ohio to Petoskey so they could do kitchen tour route from north to south. They figured they could make it to 19 kitchens if they kept to a strict schedule.
But at Bullfrog Candles in Charlevoix the Barnetts couldn’t resist a slight deviation. Turns out they've been seeing the advertisements in Traverse Magazine for years and when they saw the sign they couldn’t resist stopping. The clock was ticking, but the Barnetts made it and out of Bullfrog with a bag of Christmas gifts in record time.
In the end the Barnetts only made it to 18 kitchens. Still they’d had a great day. Part of their reason for taking in so much of the tour, it turns out, is because they are hoping to retire to Northern Michigan but can’t decide which town they want to settle in. Robert told me that every place they've stayed in Northern Michigan in the past—Harbor Springs, Suttons Bay, Traverse City, Charlevoix, Petoskey, people tell them, "THIS is the best town.”
The couple hoped that taking the tour would make their decision easier. It would also introduce them to builders and kitchen designers—great information to have when they decide to build. So I put the question to them: did the tour help them decide the "it" town of Northern Michigan?
Turns out, no. The homeowners the Barnetts met couldn’t talk enough about the advantages of living in Harbor Springs, Petoskey, Charlevoix, Elk Rapids, Boyne City. If the couple learned anything it was that they really, really love Northern Michigan and it doesn't matter where they decide to locate—they really can't go wrong.
I met so many fascinating folks on this tour, I wish I had time to interview them all. The staff at Northern Home and Cottage and the members of the Northern Michigan Chapter of the National Kitchen and Bath Association want to thank everyone who participated in this tour for making it such a huge success. A special heartfelt thank you to those wonderful volunteers who greeted tour goers so warmly. And, of course, we are enormously grateful to our sponsors.
Here are some pictures from this fabulous day.
Our new friends the Barnetts of Columbus, Ohio, who made it to 18 kitchens in one day:
The Ainslie kitchen; Nancy Blandford, designer
The Bailey kitchen; Deb Mahon, designer
The Buhalis kitchen: Heather Gus, designer
The Ultimate Up North Kitchen Tour is sponsored by:
Wooden Hammer LTD.
Fustini’s Oils & Vinegars
>Legacy of Clean
Cherryland Cut Stone
TileCraft Inc
Tags: cherryland cut stone, fustini's, harbor springs, legacy of clean, manistee, national kitchen and bath a..., northern home and cottage, tilecraft, traverse city, traverse, northern michigan...
Add a Comment
You need to be a member of MyNorth to add comments!
Join this network