When Traverse City Lost Her Vibe

Guest Opinion

By Mary Keyes Rogers | July 1, 2023

Happy summer vacation to all of our returning visitors! We’ve missed you—glad you’re back!

Before I moved here permanently in the ’90s, I remember being so excited to get Up North to the fresh air, get my toes in the sand, eat breakfast in a fabulous cheap diner, and stay in a cottage or a motel. Yay, we’re going Up North! You too?

Over the years, you’ve appreciated how Traverse City maintained her comfortable welcoming vibe with friendly locals that the wealthier northern coastal towns had lost. You’ve had years of laid-back good times in Traverse City. Our town became your vacation tradition passed from one generation to the next. When you visit, where you stay, and the things you do while you are here—keeping things the same is what made it special.

You, my friend, are an Up North Regular.

You’re not really a local because you don't actually live here. But you’re more than a tourist because you’ve been coming here forever. Your friends may ask your advice on visiting here because you’re considered a Traverse City expert.

It’s easy to feel like a local when you have come to the same vacation spot summer after summer, year after year, since you were a kid. Your heart is invested in this town. You know some locals. You know your favorite beach, you comfortably find your way through the same grocery store, and you will always remember, when downtown, Front Street is one-way traffic only.

As Up North Regulars, you offer a unique annual perspective on the changes locals experience incrementally.

Today, I ask my fellow locals, have you heard what I’m picking up from the Up North Regulars? I’ve heard something different this year. Rather than, “So good to be back!”, they arrived this year and felt somewhat blindsided. “Whoa! What happened?”

Their observations: The vibe has changed. Downtown has changed. Everything is more expensive. There are so many more people than before. So many cars. Hotels cost so much more. Downtown sidewalks are beyond crowded. They are surprised to see some people experiencing homelessness each day. All the new buildings, so many new buildings! Everything is so upscale.

Everywhere you go, the lines are longer, and the service is slower. Where are you supposed to park your car? Who are all these people? Again, where do I park my car?? What happened to Traverse City?

Here is what I want to say to our Regulars, especially our fellow Pure Michiganders: I’m sure this must feel like a jolt to your senses. I’m so sorry that, at least in my opinion, as a community, we sort of screwed this up.

Was it reckless developers? Thoughtless investors? Poor civil planning? Overly zealous promotion of tourism? Short-term rentals? Lack of vision and leadership? Maybe. If you ask five locals, each will tell you something different, each of us pointing our fingers in a very different direction. Most of us griping. Many avoid downtown altogether.

The Up North Regulars and locals have a great deal in common now. We’ve seen it coming, but now we really must let go of our nostalgic ideas of Traverse City. That is in the past. This is now the metro area of northern Michigan and an international tourist attraction.

We can’t put the genie back in the bottle. While there is much excitement here, there will be locals and Up North Regulars who may not love the new vibe and will leave.

I am being sincere, not in a smart-aleck kind of way, when I say what a shame it is that the trek Up North to the old Traverse City will become a memory exclusive to people of a certain age. Fewer regular visitors will see their own children grow up visiting here.

I am so grateful to have experienced it.

Mary Keyes Rogers is a resident of Traverse City who has held leadership roles throughout the community. She is an outspoken advocate for the U.S. Constitution and women’s rights, and is a freelance writer, speaker, and podcaster.