What UP town is most representative of what the UP has to offer. Must have a pasty shop, people that have the unique UP accent, saunas galore, lotsa snowfall, cool geology, lumber yards, a copper mine close by, and ... My vote goes to ... well, I'll wait. What town do you vote for and WHY ??

My vote is Calumet, MI

"Best Town" I would select Hancock. It still has a high population of Finns,a pasty shop, Quincy Mine next door,mining tours, Finlandia, Finn street signs and some businesses have A Finnish name listed with the English name. Many people do have saunas in their homes. It also is the origin of terminology, "Hancock Irish" (which by the way means Finns)

I left my heart in Copper Harbor with plans to relocate there.

another plus would be a local sauna house where you go to take one for a fee, Marquette used to have one down a couple blocks east of 3rd street at the bottom of the hill... also, having Finlandia is definitely a plus for Hancock... originally I was going to say Calumet though. The tie breaker for me will be the "sauna" for hire - which town has one?

"Town" I am afraid fining a public sauna may a bit difficult because Michigan regulations for a public sauna are rather strict and hard to meet. That is the reason many public saunas closed down, including Maki's Sauna in Hancock and the last one in the area that was on Lake Linden Ave. in Laurium. The saunas in motels are not considered public saunas because use is limited to people staying at the motel.

as of 2003, the only public sauna left (according to this article) is the 2nd street sauna I mentioned above. http://carriegaska.com/work31.htm

as of 2003, the only public sauna left (according to this article) is the 2nd street sauna I mentioned above. http://carriegaska.com/work31.htm

Marquette had two public sauna's in the 1970's. The Second St. one and Lytikainen's. Can't remember the street it was on, but it was on the way out of town heading to Harvey. Anyone remember it? The owner was a pipefitter and his son was a goalie for the Iron Rangers.

Laurium had Jukuri's and Hancock had Maki's. I have been to all of the above. There must have been many more years ago, can't recall any though.

Marquette's 2nd street sauna was going strong through the 80's and into the 90's I"m pretty sure.

I vote for Mass City! Woo hoo! (Well, actually, East Branch, which isn't a town but the name of the area just south of Mass City, named for the road we all lived on.) We had (have) our own sauna and the neighbors or relatives used to come over for a sauna whenever ours was lit. Usually Wednesday or Saturday.

When I was a kid I remember my uncle putting a sauna in his basement. I also remember he was suppose to have a building permit which he never got. Then I remember the city came to check something in the basement and he told them that was an area for storage. He had put a bunch of stuff in there as if it was for storage.

Oh Yeah, best U.P. town is Lake Linden. ;O)