Omer: one of Michigan's smallest cities, and its spring sucker run

Omer is famous for being one of the smallest cities in Michigan — a few hundred people, the old county courthouse, and the Rifle River running right through the middle of town. (It started life as “Rifle River Mills”; the name “Omer” came later, by way of a founder who had hoped to call it “Homer.”)

Once a year, tiny Omer fills up. Every spring, thousands of suckers swim up the Rifle River from Lake Huron to spawn, and the town throws Suckerfest — a multi-day fishing tournament where anglers line the river with long-handled nets, scooping fish near the US-23 bridge while local businesses put up prize money for the biggest catch. It goes back to the Great Depression, when families relied on the easy-to-catch fish for cheap food, and it’s still a beloved local tradition today.

The rest of the year, the Rifle River is for canoeing, kayaking, and tubing — Omer has canoe liveries right in town. For a buyer, Omer is about as small-town as Michigan gets, with the river as the main attraction. Omer’s city website posts each year’s Suckerfest dates.