Annual events are well-supported by all residents in the area, including the summertime Festival of the Arts, Music Under the Stars and professional entertainment from the Detroit Symphony. In mid-summer, The Pine Mountain Music Festival fills the air, presenting workshops, opera and chamber music. Year-round, the Community Performing Arts Center provides live theater, concerts and educational speakers. The Woodtick Festival is an outdoor concert in late summer that features rock, blues, bluegrass and country music. The nearby Iron Mountain Iron Mine offers guided underground tours by train. Located in Iron Mountain is the Millie Mine Bat Cave, an abandoned mine shaft with a temperature of 40 degrees year round. The Pine Mountain Ski Jump, dubbed the “King of Hills,” is a 123.5-meter ski slide, the world’s highest artificial ski jump. National and International Jumps are held each year during the month of February.

The entire area reflects the mining and logging heritage and began in 1879 with the discovery of the Chapin Mine, then considered one of the greatest iron mines in the world. The mine is now closed, but the mining industry brought many Italian, Swedish and Cornish immigrants to the area and their ethnic food and traditions remain. Smokestacks, pumps, underground mines and mine shafts are daily reminders of the area’s humble beginnings. The Cornish Pump Museum is also located here and features the largest steam operated water pump in the world. Diversity and steady expansion have long been the trademarks of the Upper Peninsula economy and have been the foundation of their strong economic growth and community standing during the recent past.