The Sunrise Coast wakes up Memorial Day weekend. The cottages that closed up in October open back up. The casino's first big weekend lands. Tawas Point's beach gets its first real footprints since spring. The walleye are running.
If you're driving up from Detroit, Flint, or Grand Rapids on Friday afternoon May 22, you're following the US-23 Sunrise Coast Heritage Route. I-75 north to Exit 190 in Standish, then US-23 east along Lake Huron through Au Gres, East Tawas, Oscoda, and on toward the AuSable. About two hours from the Detroit suburbs to Standish, closer to three if you're going past Au Gres to East Tawas or Oscoda. An hour from Flint to Standish, about two to East Tawas. Long enough to think about what you forgot to pack.
This is what's running Memorial Day weekend on the Sunrise Coast, and what we usually hear at the counter from people stopping in.
The weekend at a glance.
- Friday May 22, 4 PMCottage rush starts. I-75 northbound traffic peaks 4 to 7 PM through Standish. Plan accordingly.
- Friday May 22, 9:03 PMSunset at Tawas Point.1
- Saturday May 23, all daySaginaw Bay walleye in peak season. Daily limit 8 per day, 13-inch minimum size.2
- Saturday May 23, noon to 5 PMTawas Point Lighthouse open. Last tour 4 PM. Closed Tuesdays.3
- Saturday May 23 + Sunday May 24Memorial Day Arts and Crafts Show on the Tawas Point Lighthouse grounds.3
- Sunday May 24, all daySaganing Eagles Landing Casino's first major weekend of the season. About 1,200 slots, 148 hotel rooms, 10 miles from our Standish store via I-75 Exit 188 and M-13 south.4
- Monday May 25, all dayMemorial Day. Federal holiday. Most state and federal services closed. Highway Dispos open 9 AM to 9 PM both stores.
Where to stop on the way up.
Two stores, both right off the highway, both on the way to the cottage or the casino or the dock. Pick whichever one is on your route.
M-61 · Exit 190
Highway Dispos Standish.
Less than a mile west of I-75. Drive-through pickup window for orders placed ahead on the Dutchie menu, walk-in welcome.
What's nearby
- Saganing Eagles Landing Casino, 10 miles (I-75 Exit 188, then M-13 south)
- Pinconning Cheese Shop, 12 miles south at I-75 Exit 181
- Wigwam Bay State Wildlife Area, 18 miles east on Pine River Road
- Saginaw Bay public launches, within 25 minutes
- Standish Historical Depot Welcome Center on Main Street (farmers market opens June 5)
Open this weekend
9 AM to 9 PM Friday through Monday. Same hours, every day.
US-23 · Sunrise Coast
Highway Dispos Au Gres.
One mile from US-23, on East Huron Road on the way into town. The Sunrise Coast Byway designation begins at Standish and runs the length of the lake.
What's nearby
- Au Gres River, 1 mile
- Tawas City and Tawas Bay shoreline, 21 miles north up US-23
- East Tawas Newman Street shops and restaurants, 23 miles north
- Tawas Point Lighthouse, 27 miles north (US-23 to Tawas Beach Road)
- Lumberman's Monument and the AuSable River Road Scenic Byway, 35 miles north
Open this weekend
9 AM to 9 PM Friday through Monday. Same hours, every day.
What goes in the cottage cooler.
The cottage-opening cooler doesn't need a roadmap. Most people we see at the counter on a Memorial Day Friday are picking the same five things, in roughly this order.
Pre-rolls. Multipacks of 5 or 10. One per cottage day if cottage math is right. Cottage math is rarely right.
Low-dose gummies. 2.5mg or 5mg per piece. One about 90 minutes before sunset. Won't get in the way of dinner or the drive home Sunday.
Low-dose tinctures. If you're new to cannabis, returning after twenty years away, or want a gentler version of what's on the menu, 2.5mg is the consensus starting dose. We have a written guide to 2.5mg that goes deeper on dosing math. Worth reading before you buy if this is a first time.
Disposable vapes. No smell on the lake breeze. The pier-after-dinner option. Indica blends for evening, sativa for the boat ride, hybrid if you can't decide.
Sunrise Coast Relief topicals. For the kid who carried in the cooler too fast. CBD-led. Doesn't get you high. Doesn't replace your doctor.
What we wouldn't recommend for cottage weekends: high-THC concentrates if you're not a regular user, smokeable flower if you're staying with people who don't, and edibles above 10mg if you haven't built tolerance. None of those will be a fun first night.
Categorical, not specific. Walk in and ask. Our budtenders know what's on the shelf today.
The legal stuff.
Cannabis is adult-use legal in Michigan for anyone 21 or older with a valid government-issued ID. Out-of-state IDs are accepted at both stores. Cash, debit, and Dutchie Pay work at the register. You can't consume cannabis in your vehicle on the drive home, and you can't consume in public, including on lake beaches and at the casino.5 Most cottage owners have a "what we do here" rule that we won't pretend to know better than. Talk to your doctor before mixing cannabis with prescription medications.
The Sunrise Coast Relief shelf at our Standish store is built around low-dose products for adults who want the calm, not the cloud. If you want the longer conversation about dosing, walk in and ask for someone on the Sunrise Coast Relief team.
A quick note on the family farm.
Highway Dispos is the retail end of Green Mitten Pharms, the cultivation farm Josh and Chase started in 2008, before adult-use was legal in Michigan. Eighteen years of growing under one family. The flower in the case at the Standish store was in the ground at our farm two months ago. Our cultivation calendar is its own kind of Sunrise Coast almanac. You can taste a Michigan growing season in the late-summer harvest the way you can taste it in walleye season or asparagus season. We'll write more about that in June.
See you on the Sunrise Coast.
If you're heading up Memorial Day weekend, both stores are open 9 AM to 9 PM Friday May 22 through Monday May 25. Last stop before the cottage. Last stop before the casino. Last stop before the dock. We'll be at the counter.