Michigan Country Lines Magazine

07/04/2025

02/04/2025

“Well they’re here helping everybody else, so we need to help them.”

Among all the heart wrenching scenes we’ve seen over the last five days – there are heartwarming stories like this one.

We caught up with the owners of the Iron Kettle Restaurant in Lewiston who are dropping everything to take care of their community and the crews working to get the lights back on.

From the bottom of our hearts – thank you.

02/04/2025

“I’m just glad to start being able to turn people back on..”

An exciting sign of progress at the Munson Healthcare Munson Medical Group Lewiston location today – when a crew was able to restore power for this essential community service.

With so much damage and so many outages to tackle – crews are focusing on getting necessities like medical centers back up and running to serve the community.

02/04/2025

“It’s equivalent to what a category 5 is, and it’s not leaving…”

There are hundreds of lineworkers, tree trimmers, utility professionals and more in northern Michigan tonight working around the clock to respond to what feels like a never ending storm.

Everyone we have talked to – says it’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen. Here are just a few comments from our time with Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op today..

02/04/2025

"Look what Mother Nature can do, and she didn't turn it off for essentially three days.."

With more snow and freezing rain in the forecast -- communities hit hardest by the recent ice storm are bracing for more. Many of the individuals responding to this disaster are not only giving their all to get their communities back up and running-- they are residents coping with the impacts this devastating weather event is having on their personal lives.

Great Lakes Energy South Operations Manager Derek Smith told us he's had to chainsaw a path out of his driveway to get to work multiple times since the storm rolled in Saturday.

01/04/2025

"This is 100 times worse than I've ever seen."

More than 100 mutual aid crews are in northern Michigan tonight, including Jeff Butcher, a lineman from Cherryland Electric Cooperative. He's one of many working around the clock to not even repair, but completely rebuild large sections of critical electrical infrastructure.

It's no small task -- and for everyone we spoke to today -- it's the worst damage they've ever seen.

01/04/2025

"And that's when everything really started collapsing..."

We caught up with Great Lakes Energy South Operations Manager Derek Smith to get an update on what's happened since ice started accumulating on Saturday and the unique challenges a storm like this poses...

Just because the freezing rain has taken a little break -- it continues to take a toll, snapping trees, straining electrical lines, and causing outages even days later.

08/03/2023

Nature's masterpiece on display at the Eben Ice Caves 📸
Thanks for tagging us in this cool shot! It has been selected to run as the featured Instagram photo in the April print issue of Michigan Country Lines magazine.
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24/01/2023

Where the shoreline meets the rainbow 📸
Thanks for tagging us in this cool shot! It has been selected to run as the featured Instagram photo in the March print issue of Michigan Country Lines magazine.
Do you have a shot we should feature on our insta feed or in our print magazine? Tag us or use in your post. If we select it as the “Featured Instagram Photo” for print in an issue, you win $100.

10/01/2023

Even the snow can't cool down this pup's excitement to explore the great outdoors! 📸
Thanks for tagging us in this cool shot! It has been selected to run as the featured Instagram photo in the February print issue of Michigan Country Lines magazine.
Do you have a shot we should feature on our insta feed or in our print magazine? Tag us or use in your post. If we select it as the “Featured Instagram Photo” for print in an issue, you win $100.

25/07/2022

Big city energy comes to Boyne City.

It’s hard to visit the small town of Boyne City, Michigan, and not conjure up words like “quaint” and “charming.” A town of around 3,700 residents on the shore of Lake Charlevoix, it’s what you imagine when you think of a peaceful place to live or visit. But every year, the weekend after...

20/05/2022

At 40, Michigan's Baumgartner is the oldest medalist in Olympic snowboarding history

By Yvonne Whitman | photography by Keven Zini It’s not every day that an Olympic gold medal finds itself in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. But that’s what happened after Nick Baumgartner of Iron River captured first place with teammate Lindsey Jacobellis while competing in the mixed team snow...