MML Review Magazine Fall 2026

SPARK TO PARK

At the entrance to the park is a small pavilion and a bike tune up station. “Our engineer came up with that,” says Mason. “I had never heard of such a thing, but it makes sense. I think it’s going to be active in the summer when we get people with bikes coming.” Planned developments include bathrooms, more trashcans and dog waste stations, an electrified gate to allow plows and emergency vehicles, and perhaps a second, larger pavilion towards the rear of the park. The City also has an easement on the north side of the park and hopes to eventually construct a nonmotorized path straight to downtown. “We’d like to be able to tie in so that you’d be able to walk around the city and then walk all the way to the park,” says Mason. After all the planning and construction, the Standish Nature Trail and Park had its ribbon-cutting ceremony in the waning days of August. The park is a quiet, peaceful place, surrounded by tall goldenrod, quaking aspen, and American burnweed. On a nice day, there will be plenty of residents walking their dogs, jogging, biking, or just sitting on the benches or leaning on the bridges, taking nature in. “It’s funny—for three years, I’ve been talking about this thing everywhere you go, talking about this park,” says Mason. “The plan was for it to be a mile loop. Every time I gave that speech, I would say, ‘This is our starting point. It’s just a mile.’ It just seemed like we were building this little, tiny park. “And then this spring once the asphalt started getting done and I got to walk back there . . . I was stunned. I had convinced myself that this thing was small. And then I saw how big it really was.” Mason hopes seasonal travelers passing through Standish, heading to the beach or ski hill, will notice it too. “I can see people stopping, walking the dog, getting out of the car for a little bit on the way up to Oscoda or whatever,” he says. In the meantime, the Standish Nature Trail and Park is already a huge hit with residents. “Every time I drive by, there’s two or three cars there,” says Mason. “It’s really neat doing something that made an impact for people—they’re happy about something that [the City] did. “Standish is a small town. There’s not a ton of things to do. So just something like that—a little something nice in our community—it goes a long way with our folks.”

Emily Pinsuwan is a content writer for the League. You may contact Emily at 734-669-6320 or epinsuwan@mml.org.

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