Up Nort h Buzz

New Up North

Cool finds, community updates and sweet new businesses.

FOUNDRY BAR & GRILL

151 RIVER ST., ELK RAPIDS

A popular East Jordan restaurant is launching a second location, aiming for a mid-spring opening. The Elk Rapids Foundry will feature a garage door leading to a pet- and kidfriendly patio with activities like cornhole. foundrybg.com

LAKES AND GRAPES

326 E. FRONT ST., TRAVERSE CITY

The clothing and lifestyle brand opened its new store in downtown Traverse City this February, sharing a space with Compass Rose Outpost. The brand is inspired by the region’s waters, woods and wines. lakesandgrapes.com

PATRICK DOUD’S IRISH PUB

7304 MAIN ST., MACKINAC ISLAND

Mackinac’s newest watering hole will give a nod to the island’s history and honor the Irish heritage of its namesake Patrick Doud. Patrick is the great-great uncle of co-owner Andrew Doud, who also operates the island’s grocery store, among other businesses. In addition to eight taps, there will be a restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Opening this spring. patrickdoudspub.com

TRAVERSE CITY

CURLING CENTER

1712 S. GARFIELD AVE., TRAVERSE CITY

The 28,000-square-foot facility has five sheets of regulation curling ice and spectator viewing. It will host lessons, regional tournaments and USA Curling-sanctioned competitions. traversecitycurling.com

Know of a business that just opened or have a fun community update?

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Michigan State University’s men’s basketball team has made it to the NCAA’s Final Four tourney four times since 2006. The University of Michigan has managed twice. We don’t want to steal those ballers’ thunder bu-u-u-t … we know of a Michigan-grown MVP that, in those same 16 years, has not only appeared in the Final Four every year but also played a clutch role in every single game: the b-ball floor itself.

CONNOR SPORTS AMASA, MICHIGAN

Based in the western Upper Peninsula town of Amasa (population: 300), Connor Sports (employees: 120-ish) manufactures more than 800 permanent and portable basketball floors each year.

If you’ve watched any Final Four games—or their bigger-bracket precursor March Madness—or half the franchises in the NBA or the WNBA Atlanta Dream or Las Vegas Aces teams play, trust us, you’ve seen Connor Sports floors in … er, at least under the action.

The company began in 1872, first as a furniture maker, then a toy manufacturer before constructing its first basketball court in 1914. Today, Connor Sports’ athletic and dance floors are renowned the world over. (See: International Basketball Federation’s annual World Cup; 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo summer Olympic games.)

Credit for Connor Sports’ champion hardwood stems from the company’s Yooper roots, with hardwood sourced from maple trees grown above the 38th Parallel. The short growing season makes for tight spaces between each tree’s annual growth rings, which means denser, more durable hardwood—a lot like the old-growth forests of yore—and a resulting flooring with exceptional force reduction, shock absorption, vertical deflection and rebound.

Connor Sports churns through 7 million board feet of lumber each year, and its wood is Forest Stewardship Council-certified (i.e. comes from responsibly managed forests); the company goes one better by recycling 100 percent of its waste. Also encouraging: Maple is planted at six times the rate it’s harvested in the U.S.

We’ll hold out hope that U of M or MSU make it to this year’s Final Four—scheduled April 1 and 3 in Houston’s NRG Stadium—and send a shout-out to the 151-year-old U.P. company making their moments on the fab-four dance floor possible. Because if Michigan players make it that far, we fully expect them to win. Home court advantage, eh? - L.T.W.