Uncle Ducky’s takeover
MUNISING– What started out as just kayaking guided tour along Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore has now grown into multiple boat tours, a restaurant and beer garden, and what some might call a “glamping site.”
Last season Uncle Ducky’s took nearly 20,000 people out on kayaking tours. By the third week in June all of the housing was completely booked. This season the paddle crew has a couple expansions in motion.
“We are a very popular attraction in Munising and the feedback is very positive,” general manager Greg Scott said. “When you take that many people kayaking it’s hard to get the feedback from everybody but everybody that comes and talks to us has defiantly loved their time here. They especially love the kayaking, Pictured Rocks is an amazing place the cliff lines are beautiful and then the camping and the stay is pretty unique too.”
The housing offered is called Paddlers Village, located with a lakeside view of Grand Island, boarding National land. Additional tents and yurts are currently being built to total 40 units by the end of June. All housing has running electricity and some can accommodate up to eight campers. The restaurant and beer garden, The Duck Pond located nearby will be adding an outdoor grill as well.
“We decided to expand because we do have people calling and asking for reservations when we’re fully booked,” Scott said. “So we need to have space for those people too and the yurts have been so popular that that’s what everybody wants to stay in.”
Overall Uncle Ducky’s employs nearly 100 workers. Paddling Michigan has over 280,000 likes on Facebook and rated 4.5 out of 5 stars. Trip Advisor users have rated Uncle Ducky’s a 3 point 5 with a slew of excellent comments. In recent years the company has received negative backlash from locals- one specific Facebook post reaching up to over 2,000 shares.
According to Scott the tourism company wants to focus on the positive.
“Well I don’t think we distance our self from the lakeshore, I think we are a partnership with Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore being a business that operates inside the national park we do partner with them,” Scott said. “We try to work with them as best as we can, you know we work hand and hand to make sure that everybody is happy.”
For more information on Uncle Ducky’s click on the link.