Elk Rapids, MI Real Estate, Homes For Sale, School & Area Information

Nifty Things is known throughout northern Michigan as the most unique gift shop and was voted as the Number One gift store in the region. There is no telling what you may find here. From oven mitts, to jewelry to hilarious magnets, or a local souvenir, Nifty Things has it all. They have a great selection of local artwork from clocks to photographs but my personal favorite is the engraving machine!! Of the four shops in Northern Michigan, the Elk Rapids location offers an engraving machine. Grab a plaque, keychain, clock, rolling pin or whatever your heart desires and head over to the engraving machine. Choose your engraving, edit the font and if you'd like to add some graphic art, then stand back and watch as your vision becomes a reality. This place is great for tourists looking for a local souvenir as well as locals looking to make a personalized gift for a family member or friend. There is something here for everyone!

Waking up a little earlier and driving down to the Chamber of Commerce on Fridays for the farmer's market is a great way to start the day. Shop for flowers, cheese, bread, and so much more or just talk with all of the great people.

We like to help out. We enjoy making your day just a little better, making it run just a little smoother. If you're at the boat launch having trouble getting your motor to start, chances are someone there will offer to take a look, if you want. If you get stuck pulling into the gas station parking lot during the snowy winter months, I bet someone with tow straps will offer to pull you out, shake your hand, and promise it was no trouble at all.

Not sure where the library is? Let us show you! Where can you find a good restaurant in town? Looking for a babysitter, a dog-walker, a dentist? We're brimming with good ideas, and glad to help.

It would be easy to take these niceties for granted, but most of us don't. Out-of-towners express their disbelief at the friendliness of Elk Rapids and the surrounding villages. Not only is it genuine, it's a point of pride - it's why so many of us consider ourselves blessed to call Elk Rapids home.

Wednesday Nights on River Street are a hotbed of activity. As a local, it can be a shock to wander downtown for a quick coffee at Java Jones, or a slice at Chef Charles' Pizza only to see the roads blocked off and teeming with people, but I can't say I'm upset. After all, Wednesday Nights on River Street mean live bands, seeing neighbors and new friends mingling together, and an appreciation of all things Elk Rapids. There's face painting, zumba in the street, fundraisers for the high school wrestling team, and a great excuse for shrugging off the mid-week doldrums for a chance to soak up the sun.

We look forward to it every year, and it's always a treat to look out over the crowd and see a new family standing in the midst of the hubbub, scrambling to take it all in. Elk Rapids is a community unafraid to invite you in, and that's one of the reasons River Street is such a great place to visit any day of the week, though Wednesdays in the summer will always be my favorite.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but sometimes during the hot months I start to look forward to another winter in Elk Rapids. Before I incur the wrath of the summer crowd, let me first say I too love sunshine, dog days, and outdoor barbeques. I just also happen to love nights so quiet you can hear the snow landing on the trees.

It takes a certain appreciation for winter to live in Northern Michigan at all, but in Elk Rapids we have adapted to it and learned to embrace it. We can spend our days crisscrossing the slopes of several nearby ski resorts, and then retreat indoors to watch flurries beat against the windows, cocoa in hand. We have snowshoe enthusiasts, cross-country skiers, snowboarders, tubers, polar bear plungers, and those special breeds who scurry from door to hot-tub in record time.

It's not always easy to wake up early to brush off the car, or make sure the kids are bundled up to wait for the bus, but there are clear nights we can see the Northern Lights that make those fleeting annoyances more than tolerable. We have sledding hills, and hiking trails dotted with deer and rabbit prints. All our neighbors have rosy cheeks and well-tested remedies for driving the chill out of your bones.

Our beaches, filled with volleyballers, swimmers, and sunbathers in the summer, turn into a blustery landscape dotted with ice caves and fishing shanties. Best of all, when you're a resident of Elk Rapids, you only have a short trek to warm slippers, hot beverages, and cozy fires. All year round, there's something to love.

Up here, we have an uncanny ability to spot what we call "Fudgies." A Fudgie is, of course, an out-of-town visitor collecting cherries and fudge while asking things like, "Do you get much snow up here in the winter?" After a few summers up here, some of the repeat visitors get better at blending in, but we locals know what to look for. We look for socks with sandals, sunglasses tan lines, and shopping carts full of big-brewery beers and chips that aren't Better-Made.

The thing is, we'll gladly take the title away from you. There are few things an "Up North" local wants more than to share the landscapes and hospitality of the places we call home. In Elk Rapids, we'd love nothing more than to call you a neighbor and forget all about those sandals-and-socks days. It's a lifetime membership to a community that takes pride in its history and future, and we want you to have it.

Included in the membership are innumerable perks: free advice on which lures work best on which lakes, big smiles from all your neighbors everywhere you go, and the irrefutable knowledge that we have some of the finest craft breweries in the state on our doorstep. Inside of every Fudgie is a potential friend and neighbor. So, we'll take the title away and share the paths less traveled with you because we love it here, and we want you to love it, too.

People live in Northern Michigan for all kinds of reasons, but mostly, I think, they appreciate what life means to the people who live here. In Elk Rapids, we live in a summer paradise we share with others from all over the state, the country, and even the world. We spend hot days lounging on the shores of Elk Lake, listening to live bands at the annual Harbor Days celebration, and welcoming new faces with open arms and big smiles.

But, we stay after the leaves turn, and we get to be here for autumn nights spent sitting around campfires with hot cider. We get to stay for deer season, for the first snowfall, for the day we get to drag the ice shanties out on the lake and catch dinner. We get to thaw with spring and smell the first day the apple blossoms open, and we choose to stay because we love it.

When you live in Elk Rapids, your neighbors love it, too. They take pride in the lives they have built here. We fill our days and nights with gardening clubs, trips to the art gallery, Cajun cuisine underscored with Zydeco music, and hours floating on the sandbar. We go to high school football games and cheer on the home team, play in euchre tournaments, and peruse craft shows. If you're looking to live the Northern Michigan dream, you can't do better than Elk Rapids.