A Sweet Destination

(Written for the Mackinac Island Classics blog during my internship with The Spot Marketing)

You’ve been planning the family trip to Mackinac Island for months.  Your spouse is excited for the hikes in the park.  The kids are excited to see horses and buggies.  Grandma is excited for the shopping, and Grandpa is excited for the history.  You, however, know exactly what you want.  And what you want is Mackinac Island fudge.

Mackinac Island fudge is a style of fudge that originated on the island.  Before the Civil War the candy craze on Mackinac Island were maple sugar sweets packaged in birchbark containers and shipped out to the big city confectioners.  After the war, stores on the island stocked these sweets as well as Whitman’s and Stuart’s candies, but tourists wanted something unique to the island that they couldn’t find at home.  Thus, Mackinac Island fudge was created by the Murdick family in the late 1880s.  During the Great Depression, sugar rations were at a high, and there were historically long lines of people waiting to get a taste of the sweet treat.  After the second world war, the economy boomed, and with it boomed the Mackinac Island fudge business.  More and more shops opened up on the island, making Mackinac Island fudge a true draw to the already tourist-driven destination.

Today, there are more than 15 fudge stores on Mackinac Island, providing tourists with no end of options.  Flavors range from the traditional, such as chocolate and peanut butter, to gourmet, such as pumpkin, caramel apple, and vanilla cranberry walnut.  Anyone can order a box of fudge right to their door, but there is still nothing quite like walking into a fudge shop and bathing in the aroma as you pick out your favorite flavor.  That is, if you’re able to choose!