Labor Day bridge walkers continue to afterparty at Glen Lake Manor
Iconic business under contract with new owners
Photo of 2006 Glen Lake Narrows Bridge Walk by Joanne Rettke
From staff reports
Those who remain up north and walk across the Glen Lake Narrows Bridge at noon on Labor Day Monday will get an extra treat this year. Glen Lake Manor owners Sue and Robert Rife will host an afterparty from 12:30-2 pm at the 120-year-old estate on M-22 (7345 Glenmere Rd.)—0.4 miles west of the bridge.
Attendees will enjoy food, fun and games. Those who make a $5 donation to the Empire Area Community Center (EACC), which sponsors the Bridge Walk, will receive a hot dog, beverage and chips. Ice cream is provided for all. The event might double as a goodbye party of sorts for the Rifes, since the Manor is under contract to sell. The future owners will determine its fate.
Built out of hand-hewn lumber, the structure opened as a hotel in 1906, and Sue Rife’s grandparents acquired it in 1954. Sue’s sister Nancy Wright ran the restaurant overlooking Little Glen Lake from 2004 until she passed away in 2020. Sue and Robert took over the operation in 2022.
The Bridge Walk, a locals’ tradition since 1995 to mark the end of the summer tourism season, takes place this year on Sept. 7. Bridge Walk 2026 t-shirts will be available for sale at the Narrows Bridge.
Inspired by the enthusiasm of longtime organizers Bill and Dotti Thompson, JoAnne Beare of the EACC has committed to carry on the tradition.
“Because they had one in Mackinaw, we thought we should, too,” said Bill Thompson, who for years ran the Dune Dogs’ Chicago-style hotdog wagon next to the Sportsman’s Shop in Glen Arbor, as well as the White Gull Inn together with Dotti.
The event is uncomplicated and attracts dozens of participants every year. It works like this: 1.) Walkers show up at the Glen Lake Narrows at noon. 2.) Walkers walk from the north side of the bridge to the south side. 3.) Walkers high five or whoop or bathe in the silent satisfaction in having completed the 0.3-mile walk.
Michigan’s late lieutenant governor, and Glen Arbor local, Connie Binsfeld led the procession during the bridge walk’s first decade, either on foot or riding in a golf cart or a sheriff’s squad car.
“For us the bridge walk is nostalgic,” Binsfeld told the Sun. “For over 50 years we’ve crossed that bridge, since the days when we lived on Little Glen Lake. Longtime residents and newcomers alike both enjoy the walk.”
Binsfeld’s favorite bridge walk memory was in 2000, when a ceremony to celebrate the millennium unfolded and flowers were thrown into the lake as a tribute “to those who came before us.”
