The Super Bowl is the most popular sporting event in the country. Yet, the unofficial national holiday tends to pass quietly in the middle of winter on Mackinac Island.
For one, outside of snowmobiles whizzing this way and that, there’s not a lot of winter traffic here. Plus, there are no football teams on Mackinac Island – not even at the high school.
But just like football teams, Mackinac Island does have a mascot. And she inspired a completely different kind of “super bowl.”
Remembering Sadie the Scottish Terrier from Mackinac Island
Go back in time to February 2010 (a week after the New Orleans Saints defeated Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts to win their first NFL Super Bowl). The winner of the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show that year was none other than Sadie, a four-year-old Scottish terrier from Mackinac Island!
Sadie was owned by Amelia Musser and her husband, Dan, who at the time was chairman of Mackinac Island’s Grand Hotel. The dog, whose full name was Roundtown Mercedes of Maryscot, had won the National Dog Show and the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship just a couple months earlier. Then she became the dog world’s first Triple Crown winner when she was named “Best in Show” at Westminster.
After winning the Westminster show, Sadie went on a media tour that included ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange and meeting Donald Trump.
Sadie’s Legacy on Mackinac Island
A few years later, in 2013, the Mussers added Sadie’s Ice Cream Parlor to the grounds of Grand Hotel, which (true to its name) is one of America’s grandest hotels. Not only does the parlor offer a variety of flavors from Michigan’s famous Guernsey Farms Dairy ice cream as well as Grand Hotel’s renowned Grand Pecan Balls, but it also features a very special treat in honor of Sadie: a Grand Sundae served in a dog bone-shaped bowl.
The dish comes with eight scoops of ice cream! You can pick your ice cream flavors and toppings, including little Sadie-shaped Scottish terriers!
Back in 2010, the judge at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show called Sadie “pleasing to the eye at every angle.” The same could be said about Mackinac Island’s “super bowl.”
When to Try Mackinac Island’s Grand Sundae
After winning the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, Sadie later took a victory lap on the Grand Hotel porch before retiring to California, where she lived with her handler until she passed away in August 2014 at age nine. To this day, Sadie’s spirit remains through her likeness that can be seen on ice cream cups all over Mackinac Island!
Sadie’s Ice Cream Parlor isn’t open for the Super Bowl. But you can visit all season long from May through October and order up Sadie’s Grand Sundae, a “super bowl” full of ice cream. Getting a treat at Sadie’s is another unique aspect of the authentic Mackinac Island experience.
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