Come July, cherries are everywhere here. Sweet. Sour. Deep maroon, golden yellow and even blush pink. Michigan is the second largest grower of cherries in the nation and we're home to the National Cherry Festival. But why?

In this episode we tell you the story of our favorite little stone fruit, the cherry. How did it get here? And how did Michigan become synonymous with cherries?

GUESTS:

Chris Reiser, president for the Peter Dougherty Society.
Nikki Rothwell, 2025 Cherry Industry Person of the year and Michigan State University's extension specialist in tree fruit integrated pest management.
Jim Eckerle, farmer and owner of Eckerle Farms in Leelanau County & Suttons Bay.
Zach Eckerle, grandson of Jim Eckerle and future owner of Eckerle Farms.

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Several of you reached out to argue for adding Lake St. Clair as a 6th Great Lake (or 5th if you count Huron and Michigan as one). On this episode, we hear about one man's love for this "heart-shaped" lake — and the song it inspired him to make. Plus, a story about life in the straits of Mackinac.

LYRICS:

Lake St Clair (Make Her Great)

By Guy Sferlazza

 

In a world that rewards hate

She has always been great

And worth more than a billion billion billion billionaires

 

She surrounds us with her love

How many years

and still she’s young

Mother Earth produced the jewel of Lake St Clair

 

We didn’t have to make her great

She’s the heart of all these lakes

See it for yourself if you dare

 

When the sun is coming up

There’s an ocean full of love

From sea to shining sea,

And she is there

 

All the service to this land

all generations

the grand lake

Of the sweet fresh water sea

Bathed in beauty

 

We, the people shall decide

Make it plain in broad daylight

That’s a great lake

that you may have never seen

 

We proclaimed her a great lake

on this very day

come out and see her here

There’s no compare

 

In this crazy mixed up world.

Take a break from the absurd

find out what she’s worth

Great Lake St Clair.

 

GUESTS ON THIS EPISODE:

• Guy Sferlazza, Shelby Township resident and musician

• Candace Smith, owner of Tours Around Michigan

Cover image credit: Adam Yahya Rayes

Want to submit a question to On Hand? Do it here:

• Online Submission Form
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• Email us: [email protected]

 

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Are Michigan and Huron separate lakes – or have we been counting the Great Lakes wrong?

There may actually be four Great Lakes: “Lake” Huron and “Lake” Michigan could actually be considered “lobes” of one big lake — big enough to unseat Lake Superior as the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area.

We hear two takes: one from a scientific perspective, and one from a cultural perspective. 

GUESTS:

Eric Anderson, director of hydrologic science and engineering at the Colorado School of Mines.

Eric Hemenway, humanities program manager for the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability.

Cover image credit: 
Aaron - stock.adobe.com/302750092

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MANY of you wrote in to say that the reason the roads are seemingly always in terrible shape in Michigan is because of truck weights - and the fact that Michigan often doubles truck weight limits from those of federal guidelines. Today we're hearing and feeling your anger, and talking to an engineer about what heavy trucks do to roads, and why it's only one part of the equation for road conditions.

GUEST ON TODAY'S EPISODE:

Craig Atwood, managing director of Allegan County Road Commission

 

Want to submit a question to On Hand? Do it here:

• Online Submission Form
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• Email us: [email protected]

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work: michiganpublic.org/podfund

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Are Michigan's roads really so bad that we need to be repairing them all the time? What's really going on with our orange-barrel forests? For this episode of On Hand, we tackle a listener's question about road repairs by talking to two actual road engineers. We'll also get externally-verified facts about road quality, and hear some real talk about road politics in Lansing. We even bump into someone who started her own guerilla road crew. 

Guests:

• Hamtramck resident Maritza Garibay

• Brent Schlack, Director of Engineering, Washtenaw Road Commission

• Adam Lape, Director of Operations, Washtenaw Road Commission

• Lauren Gibbons, Bridge Michigan reporter
• Adrian Hemond, CEO, Grassroots Midwest

 

Want to submit a question to On Hand? Do it here:

• Online Submission Form
• Call us: 734-764-7840
• Email us: [email protected]

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work: michiganpublic.org/podfund

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For many Michiganders, Up North begins at the north end of the Mackinac Bridge. One listener defends the Upper Peninsula as true north. And another listener says the southern border of the mitten is also Up North for many people.

GUESTS ON THIS EPISODE:

Ken Raisanen, retired teacher and lifelong Upper Peninsula Michigander

Keith Baker, City Manger of Coldwater

Want to submit your own story or question to On Hand? Do it here!

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It's a great Michigan debate; what is the line or the place that marks the end of the southern part of the state and the beginning of that mystical land we call Up North?

The answers vary from emotional to philosophical. But there's also an ecological answer that helps us better understand why we feel different when we go Up North. 

Check out the Michigan Natural Features Inventory website for a ton of cool stuff about our natural world.

GUESTS ON TODAY'S EPISODE:

• Gretchen Whitmer, Governor of Michigan
• Joshua Cohen, lead ecologist with the Michigan Natural Features Inventory at MSU Extension

Got a question you'd like to have answered on On Hand? Submit your questions about Michigan here.

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Many of us have a road that's more than a line on a map—it's a memory. Maybe it’s the street you grew up on or the dirt road that leads you to a cottage Up North. 

For listener Tom Topolski, it’s Lake Michigan Drive.

GUEST: 

• Thomas Topolski, Hudsonville resident

Want to submit a question to On Hand? Do it here:

• Online Submission Form

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If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work: michiganpublic.org/podfund

PHOTO CREDIT: City of Grand Rapids Archives and Records Center

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If you’ve ever gotten directions from a metro-Detroiter, you have probably heard a ‘9 Mile’ or a ‘10 Mile Road’ mentioned. Or maybe even the most famous of them all: 8 Mile. But where did all these boring road names come from? And how did they become a kind of cultural shorthand in the region? 

GUESTS: 

Paul Sewick, amateur Detroit historian and part-time Lyft driver. Check out his blog Detroit Urbanism here.

Jeff Horner, professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at Wayne State University

Jamon Jordan, Detroit historian and lecturer in history at the University of Michigan Residential College. 

Cover photo courtesy of the Archives of Michigan 

Want to submit a question to On Hand? Do it here:

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If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work: michiganpublic.org/podfund

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We recently weighed the costs and benefits of Michigan's bottle bill. Today, a listener shares just how much the 10-cent bottle deposit meant to Central Michigan University students in the 70s.

GUESTS:

• Andrea Haupt, listener

• Michael Lehnert, listener

Want to submit a question to On Hand? Do it here:

• Online Submission Form
• Call us: 734-764-7840
• Email us: [email protected]

If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work: michiganpublic.org/podfund

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.