The Tawas twin cities: a Lake Huron resort town

Tawas City and East Tawas are two separate cities, but they share one bay and most people just call the whole thing “Tawas.” Together they’re the resort and shopping hub of Iosco County’s Sunrise Side — a classic Lake Huron beach town with an old-fashioned, walkable feel.

East Tawas has the downtown along Newman Street, the state harbor and marina, and a city park beach; Tawas City has the longer stretch of bay-front and its shoreline parks. Between them you get sandy, shallow Tawas Bay for swimming and boating, restaurants and shops, and a steady stream of summer visitors. The area even throws a beloved winter festival, Perchville USA — an ice-fishing celebration on the bay that’s been running since the mid-1900s and draws a big crowd every February.

For buyers, the Tawas cities offer something a lot of small northern towns don’t: a real waterfront downtown with year-round services, beaches and a harbor out the door, and easy access up and down the coast on US-23. The chamber’s site (tawas.com) keeps the events calendar.