Escanaba — All Michiganders root for the Lions, right? Not quite.
Of course, most Michiganders bleed Honolulu Blue. Detroit is just a few hours away for most people. The state’s gravitational pull is toward the Southeast. But Michigan is a big place.
A little west of Manistique, something starts to shift. You cross some fuzzy, invisible barrier and by the time you reach Escanaba, you are closer to Green Bay than you are to the Mackinac Bridge. It’s not the same Michigan here. These Yoopers are drawn southwest toward Wisconsin, not southeast to Detroit. They don’t root for the Lions, they root for the Packers.
Coming into Escanaba on US-2, there is a billboard for McDonald’s. A large box of French fries set against a green background. The text reads, “Free Fries When Packers Win!” A Green Bay Packers logo appears in the upper left corner. A little further east, there’s a custom green street sign next to a driveway and across the street from Lake Michigan. It proudly proclaims, “PACKERS DR.”
On the road, there are weathered trucks with Packers license plates. In downtown Escanaba, Packers flags whip in the wind. Hung below the American flag on a flagpole in the front yard, the green and yellow fabric hangs on for dear life as the frigid wind blows off the water. American flags colored green and yellow hang from front porches.
Chenier’s Reef is a Packers Bar in North Escanaba. Train tracks run between the road and the water to the east. Trucks are parked in a small gravel lot next to the bar. Chenier’s Reef is a locals-only kind of place. It’s the kind of bar you drive by and wonder about, but would never wander into. The locals are friendly, the vibe is relaxed, and the beer is cheap.
I stood at a table in the back of Chenier’s Reef with a PBR on a Sunday night. The Packers were playing the San Francisco 49ers. Locals who all knew each other sat at the bar, fixated on the game as it played on three TVs. A mounted buck’s head hung behind the bar, and a popcorn machine sat next to a door leading out to the patio. A Green Packers schedule hung on the wall, wins and losses were marked with a sharpie. A folding table full of free chips and snacks waited in the back by the ATM and pool table.
A couple wearing Packers gear sat a few feet away. During commercials, they told me they think slightly more than half the people in the area root for the Packers. The man estimated it’s about 60% Packers, 40% Lions.
They said that tensions flare up when the Packers play the Lions. Although Chenier’s Reef is decidedly a Packers bar, Lions fans will come, and it’s not always a good scene when they do. There have been fights. If the Packers are losing and the Lions score and some guy decides to get a little rowdy, celebrating a little too much, there might be a problem. It’s happened in the past. Altercations. Fights. The woman told me their daughter lives down in Wisconsin, less than five minutes away from Lambeau Field. On the western edge of the U.P., you are drawn southwest.
Most Michiganders never make it up this way. You don’t just wander through the western U.P. for no reason. If you come here, it’s for a reason. The thought of a McDonald’s billboard in Michigan advertising free fries when the Packers win sounds bizarre if you live in Saginaw, less so if you live in Escanaba.
They are Michiganders here but with a bit of an asterisk. They pay taxes to Lansing, but it’s a much shorter jog to Milwaukee. State borders are legally enshrined, but state cultures aren’t. There’s law, and then there’s life.
And there’s no law keeping Yoopers from cheering on the Packers. At least, not yet.
O.W. Root is a writer based in Northern Michigan, with a focus on nature, food, style, and culture. Follow him on X @NecktieSalvage.
