Thousands flock to Mackinac Bridge for annual Labor Day walk

MACKINAW CITY, MI — Thousands shut down the Mackinac Bridge early Monday for its 65th annual bridge walk.

The walk has been a Michigan staple event since 1958, drawing crowds of between 20,000 and 30,000 people in recent years. A bright morning filled with sunshine and a light breeze brought out 35,000 participants this year for the Labor Day tradition, the largest crowd in several years. A total of 26,000 individuals participated in last year’s event.

“With roughly 35,000 people from across Michigan and beyond joining us for the bridge walk, this is the largest crowd we’ve seen since 2016 when 45,000 people walked the bridge,” said Mackinac Bridge Authority Bridge Director Kim Nowack. “It was a beautiful day, and a perfect opportunity to enjoy the unparalleled views of the Straits.”

The bridge, which closed at 6:30 a.m. to all vehicle traffic for the walk, reopened promptly at noon.

Leading the event was Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who in a statement praised the event as “another spectacular bridge walk across the Mighty Mac to celebrate Labor Day.”

“Today, we recognize the work of generations of working people who fought for higher pay, better benefits, and workplace safety and the labor unions who had their back,” she said. “We celebrate the progress we’ve made to shore up worker’s rights, create tens of thousands of good-paying union jobs, and bring manufacturing back home to Michigan. And we recommit ourselves to delivering for working families, lowering costs, and growing our economy. Let’s keep getting it done.”

The event was not without some backlash, however, with roughly 100 people convening around 6 a.m. Monday in St. Ignace to protest the continued operation of the Line 5 pipelines within the Straits of Mackinac.

The Mackinac Bridge is the fifth-largest suspension bridge in the world at nearly five miles long. Though the walk has been in operation for more than six decades now, it temporarily halted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is its second consecutive year back in operation.

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