Mackinac on the Fourth: Fireworks, Front Porches & the Feeling of Another Era

Every year, in the weeks leading up to the Fourth of July, I slip into a slower rhythm at our 1939 log cabin in northern Michigan. It’s a place where the days are measured in lake swims, antique picking along the back roads, and dinners on the porch as the sun melts behind the trees. There’s no better way to spend the summer — and yet, just when I think the season couldn’t get any more magical, I make the short journey north to:

Mackinac Island for the Fourth.

Mackinac is only about 30 minutes by car and ferry from our cabin, but it always feels like stepping into another time. No cars. No neon signs. Just bicycles, horse-drawn carriages, and the sound of waves lapping against the dock. And on Independence Day, the entire island becomes a vintage dream — bunting draped across Victorian porches, flags flying from every turret, the smell of fudge and lilacs dancing in the breeze. Fireworks from the Front Porch The true highlight for me — the moment I count down to every summer — is watching the fireworks from the front porch of:

The Grand Hotel

If you’ve never been, let me set the scene: You arrive by ferry just as dusk begins to settle. A three-piece jazz band plays softly, echoing through the halls and out onto the veranda. You sip something chilled and sweet as you sink into one of the Grand’s white rockers, surrounded by boxwoods, striped awnings, and the polite clink of silverware on fine china. In that moment, it feels like you’ve traveled back in time — to an era of ocean liners and summer whites, perhaps even to the final days before the Titanic set sail. And then, just as the band swells, the first fireworks bloom over the straits — brilliant bursts of red, gold, and blue reflecting off the water. It’s not just a show — it’s a reminder of what it means to pause, to remember, and to celebrate this country’s enduring charm.

Designed to Be Remembered Part of what makes the Grand so unforgettable is the design — bold and unapologetically whimsical, thanks to the legendary Dorothy Draper. Her signature mix of color, pattern, and personality created a space that feels larger than life, yet somehow still familiar. It’s Americana at its most elegant — the kind of design that dares to be joyful and timeless at once. That spirit — of holding onto the beautiful, the meaningful, the storied — is what I try to bring to Hand-Picked by Heidi.

Whether I’m sourcing an antique brass lamp or uncovering a perfectly patinaed piece of folk art, I always think: Would this feel at home on the Grand’s porch? Would it make someone pause, and smile, and remember something they didn’t even know they’d forgotten?

A Personal Tradition Fourth of July on Mackinac has become a treasured ritual — one I hope to pass on to my children just as my mom passed her love of Americana and old treasures on to me. There’s a kind of magic that settles over that porch, in those final minutes before the sky lights up — a collective hush, a shared awe, and a swelling pride in being part of something both rooted and fleeting.

So this year, as the fireworks crackle over the water and the jazz band plays on, I’ll be right there — on the porch, in the past, and fully in the moment.