• If you head to a Michigan cider mill, see if they sell cider slushies
• Corn mazes are tricked out this year, from ones with glowsticks to ones shaped like country singers
• Fall festivals provide opportunities to drink, wear flannel or see people get very creative with large pumpkins

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The leaves are getting prettier, donut diameters are getting a little smaller and one particular latte flavor is dominating coffee menus. Fall is upon us.

Here at Bridge Michigan, we just wrapped up a Michigan summer bucket list so we thought we’d put together a list of ways you can fully embrace all that is fall in our state. 

Ready to fall for fall all over again?

Slurp a cider slushie

Hot cider? That’s old fashioned. Ice cold apple cider slushies are all the rage these days. 

The owner of Uncle John’s Cider Mill in St. John’s, north of Lansing, told the Detroit News last year they started carrying slushies more than a decade ago. These days, many cider mills carry them, including Snappy Apple Farms in Casnovia north of Grand Rapids (which serves them with a donut on top), along with Franklin Cider Mill, Yates and Apple Charlie’s South Huron Orchards around Detroit. 

Mayberry Ice Cream in Davison, Southeast of Saginaw, has them too but also carries The Glacier, an apple cider slushie topped with ice cream. 

Taproot Cider House in Traverse City offers alcoholic and nonalcoholic cider slushies. Want to take it up a notch? Try their cherry vanilla bourbon apple cider slushie cocktail.

Conquer a corn maze

Simply eating corn is a summer thing. Fall fanatics stand inside cornfields and (hopefully) find their way out of them.

Corn mazes are credited with coming from Pennsylvania but you wouldn’t exactly know that from looking around Michigan where we have more than two dozen. 

Deep Roots Produce in Alto near Grand Rapids offers Glow Nights in its corn maze on Fridays and Saturdays this week through Oct. 25. Tickets come with five glow sticks and participants earn a light at each checkpoint to help them navigate through the maze. Westview Orchards & Winery in Washington outside Detroit has a maze cut to look like country singer Lainey Wilson.

Starting Saturday, Corn Fun: Corn Maze Adventure & Pumpkin Patch in Casco, northeast of Detroit, will offer games inside its four miles of corn maze trails. They have two mazes, one cut to look like a “beautiful princess,” and the other a “scary dragon head” when viewed from above. 

In the Upper Peninsula’s Delta County, Hayes Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch in Rock also opens up on Saturday. They offer a question-and-answer maze challenge with a cash prize of up to $1,000.

If your vibe is more “Children of the Corn” than children’s games in corn, Slaughterhouse & Grand River Corn Maze in Fowlerville outside Lansing might be more for you. Their haunted maze opens up October 19. Be ready for creepy clowns, chainsaws and paths that lead to nowhere. According to the website: “We built it and they did come! Who knew that they would want blood and mayhem.” If you really want to get in on the action, they are currently hiring talent.

Peep leafs

With 14 billion trees, Michigan is a great state to view fall colors. That might be why USA Today, last year, ranked the UP the best place in the country to see fall colors.

According to fall foliage forecasts, oranges, yellows and reds are expected to emerge in the UP by mid-September, near Gaylord around Sept. 22 and in Grand Rapids and Detroit by the end of the month. Peak fall colors are forecast to hit the UP and northern Michigan around Oct. 6, and Southern Michigan around October 13.

Some top places to view fall colors include on the Copper Peak ski jump in Ironwood, the chairlift at the Porcupine Mountains State Park Winter Sports Complex in Ontonagon and the SkyBridge Michigan at Boyne Mountain in Boyne Falls.

Pick your own produce

What’s better than a bushel of apples? A bushel of apples picked by you!

There are several places around the state where you can pick your own apples, from Red Rubens to Golden Supreme to Honeycrisp. 

There’s Crane Orchards in Fennville outside Holland, Summersweet Orchard in Caledonia near Grand Rapids, the Fruitful Orchard & Cider Mill in Gladwin in the middle of the Mitt, Jacob’s Farm in Traverse City, Knaebe’s Apple Farm & Ciderworks in Rogers City between Cheboygan and Alpena and Wasem Fruit Farm in Milan outside Detroit.

Make sure to check with the orchard before you head out because u-pick apples are seasonal and varieties are subject to change daily.

If a pumpkin patch is what you’re after, there are countless including, in the Detroit area, DeBuck’s Family Farm in Belleville, Plymouth Orchards & Cider Mill in Plymouth and Miller Farms in Armada. There’s also Reese Farms in Lansing, Schwallier’s Country Basket in Sparta north of Grand Rapids, Calvin Lutz Farms in Kaleva near Manistee, Pond Hill Farm in Harbor Springs, AJ’s Berry Farm in Lachine near Alpena. In the UP, there’s Hofer’s Pumpkin Patch in Mellen Township, the pumpkin patch at Hayes Corn Mayes in Rock opens Saturday and the patch at Slagle’s Family Farm in Felch is expected to open soon (they’ll post here on Facebook when they do).

Attend a fall fest

Festivals of note include FrankenFest, a celebration of the paranormal as well as magical and mystical art happening Saturday at historic Fort Wayne in Detroit; Up North Cider Fest, featuring more than 60 ciders to sip in Traverse City on Sunday. The Menominee Historic Downtown Waterfront Giant Pumpkin Festival, set for Sept. 20, includes activities such as pumpkin seed spitting and a hollowed-out giant pumpkin boat race. That’s not to be out-competed by the Frankfort Fall Fest, happening Oct. 11, which among its festivities includes dropping a giant pumpkin on a car. The Witches Walk on Sept. 27 in Marshall includes a costume contest and palm readings. 

Frankenmuth Oktoberfest, happening Sept. 18-21, will feature German food and drinks and a large wooden dance floor. Other Oktoberfest gatherings include Rocktoberfest in Howell on Saturday, Yooptoberfest in Iron County’s Alpha on Sept. 20, and OktoberfestGR in Grand Rapids Sept. 26-17. 

There are also a smattering of festivals that seem to be centered around lumberjacks, like the Fire & Flannel Fest Sept. 26-27 in Wyandotte, which will include axe throwing, live chainsaw carvings and S’more roasting. There’s also Flannel Fest in Manistique on Sept. 27, Ludington’s first Lumber Days on Oct. 3-5, which will include a “Plaidurday Pub Crawl,” and the Keweenaw Plaidurday Celebration on Oct. 3, which will include an attempt to break its 2023 record of 1,745 people together wearing plaid.

Plus, fall and harvest fests will be held by several communities including Fowlerville (Saturday), Harbor Beach (Saturday), Howard City (Saturday), Sparta (Sept. 19-20), Romulus (Sept. 19-21), St. Joseph (Sept. 10), Big Bay (Sept. 20), Rockford (Sept. 26), St. Ignace (Sept. 27), Tuscola County (Oct. 2- 5).

Janelle D. James contributed to this story.

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