A Michigan Thing

12/17/2025

Michigan’s largest concert ever was Zach Bryan’s September 27, 2025 show at Michigan Stadium, which pulled in 112,408 fans—the biggest ticketed concert crowd in U.S. history. It was the first concert ever held at the Big House, a venue built for football, not music, making the scale even more absurd. The show topped the previous national record, featured surprise guests like John Mayer, and proved Michigan can outdraw anyone when it finally turns its biggest stadium loose for music. One night, one artist, and a hard attendance record that won’t be easy to touch.

Were you there?

12/17/2025

It’s great to see Bedrock and Dan Gilbert get the attention they deserve! We did a peice on this earlier this month.

12/17/2025

It is great to see Dan Gilbert get the recognition he deserves! We ran our piece on him earlier this month!

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DCYs3k3eq/?mibextid=wwXIfr

12/17/2025

We adopted poutine, now it’s a Michigan Thing!

12/17/2025

For all of you who do not understand the sway of the Mackinac Bridge, this should put your mind at ease. Thank the search engine.

The Mackinac Bridge is designed to move to accommodate wind, temperature changes, and weight. While often referred to as "swaying," its movement is technically a slow lateral deflection.
Movement Mechanics
Lateral Shift: In severe wind conditions, the bridge deck at the center span can move as much as 35 feet to the east or west.
Slow Deflection: The bridge does not "swing" quickly like a pendulum. Instead, it moves slowly in one direction based on wind force and returns to center via the weight of vehicles once the wind subsides.
Vertical Flexing: The deck is flexible enough to move up and down slightly as weight distribution changes from vehicles.
Engineering for Stability
To prevent dangerous oscillations (like the infamous "Galloping Gertie" Tacoma Narrows Bridge failure), the Mackinac Bridge uses specific features:
Open Grating: The center two lanes consist of open metal grating. This allows wind to flow through the deck rather than pushing against it, canceling out aerodynamic lift.
Stiffening Truss: A deep, heavy stiffening truss supports the deck, providing structural rigidity against high winds.
Temperature Expansion: The bridge includes expansion joints that allow for up to 27 total feet of length change across its 5-mile span due to thermal expansion and contraction.
Safety Measures
Wind Restrictions: If sustained winds reach 50 mph or more, the Mackinac Bridge Authority restricts high-profile vehicles (like motorhomes) or closes the bridge entirely to ensure safety.
Vehicle Weight: The weight of crossing traffic acts as a stabilizing force, helping to dampen movement.

12/16/2025

Reed Timmer is from Michigan!

12/16/2025

Mackinac Bridge fun facts
• 🌉 5 miles long — officially 26,372 feet. You feel every one of them.
• 🌬️ Built to move, not fight the wind: it can sway about 35 feet side-to-side and rise/fall roughly 25 feet without damage.
• 🟩 Painted “Mackinac Green”, a custom color chosen to blend into the sky and water — not stand out.
• 🔩 The open steel grating isn’t scary design — it lets wind pass through, making the bridge safer in storms.
• 🚗 Nervous drivers can request driver assistance to cross during high winds. That’s how real the fear is.
• 🗓️ Opened in 1957, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world between anchorages at the time.
• 🏗️ The center span is longer than the Golden Gate Bridge’s main span.
• 🧍‍♂️ Normally no pedestrians — except during the annual Labor Day Bridge Walk, when thousands cross on foot.
• ❄️ Winter storms can coat the cables with tons of ice, turning it into a frozen sculpture over the Straits.
• 🏛️ The towers rise 552 feet above the water, taller than most buildings in Michigan.
• 🧭 It connects two peninsulas and (depending on the season) two time zones.

12/16/2025

😆

12/15/2025

Michigan’s limestone is ancient tropical seafloor—laid down 430–330 million years ago when the state sat near the equator under warm, shallow seas.

Shells, corals, and marine life piled up, hardened into limestone, and settled into the Michigan Basin, a giant bowl of rock thickest in the Lower Peninsula. Some layers later transformed into dolostone, but all of it became the backbone of Michigan—powering cement, concrete, steelmaking, roads, and farm soils, while shaping fossil beds, shorelines, reefs, sinkholes, and caves. In short:

Michigan is built on a long-lost ocean.



The market size of the lime manufacturing industry in Michigan was estimated at a total value of $63.6 million in 2025,

12/15/2025