When life gives you blueberries, make a pie or a cake or a crumble. That’s the philosophy in Paradise, Michigan where residents celebrate its bounty of berries each year in August.

Known today for acres of bushes laden with wild blueberries, the town of Paradise was built on logging. Forests of huge, white pine covered the region, but as the area was logged, cut-over land lay like a tinderbox and fires swept the once-wooded hills and knolls creating a natural environment where wild blueberries flourish, giving way to a new industry.

Laborers clamored into the area around Paradise during the summers of the 1920s and 1930s; the harvest was shipped by steamer to Detroit, Chicago and Buffalo. Wild blueberries still thrive in the area and some commercial picking continues south and west of Paradise.

And  every August, Paradise celebrates its heritage with the Paradise Wild Blueberry Festival. This year’s festival is set for Aug. 16–18 with a roster of events that includes blueberry brunch, blueberry bake sale, arts & crafts fair, storytelling, musical entertainment, magic shows, pie-eating contest, wagon rides and more.

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