We wrapped up “Michigan” (or “Best of Michigan” depending on where you see it) by White Mountain Puzzles last night after about three total hours of work.
As we noted on social media, we started this one and then a quick spring storm blew through our area and we had to pack it up and go hide in our basement for a little bit. We may have wanted to take advantage of our puzzle board just a little bit there, as we would have been fine staying upstairs. It’s nice being able to move our in-progress puzzles around instead of being tied to our dining room (though we do still prefer working in the dining room).
We got most of the border done pretty quickly but missed a couple edge pieces in our initial sort so we moved on to the inside of the design before completely wrapping up the edges.
Jenny started with the “Michigan” text and banner and, after some indecision, I ended up moving on to the map. I love maps so I suppose that shouldn’t be much of a surprise but I was briefly torn on what section to work in.
Both of those sections came together quickly. Jenny moved on to the deer and the bear while I focused on the race cars and the Mustang. From there, everything just started to come together. We had a ton of completed sections we could work off of and soon we were filling the final gaps and wrapping it up.
We love puzzles that we have a personal tie to and this was no different. I went to Pleasure Island and Impression 5 and Potter Park Zoo as a kid. We were just at the Henry Ford Museum a few months ago and we were in Mackinaw City last summer. It’s just cool seeing those things represented in puzzle form.
That said…
I mentioned in the Next Up post that something in the art was bothering me but that I knew most people would think nothing of it. Looking into that led to a whole rabbit hole about the history of this puzzle, which is kind of fascinating.
A section in the lower right-hand corner features the Detroit Red Wings winning the 1997 Stanley Cup Championship. Part of that shows a plain white banner with red text celebrating the accomplishment, in the style the Red Wings used for their Stanley Cup Championships from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. But following the 1997 championship, the team designed new banners, so the plain white style was never used for the 1997 championship. I’m a geek about championship banners and logos and uniforms and I’m a big Red Wings fan so that stuck out to me.
As we put together more of the puzzle, we found references to the Detroit Tigers playing at Tiger Stadium (which closed in 1999) and the Detroit Lions playing in Pontiac (they moved back to Detroit in 2001) and the Detroit Pistons playing at the Palace of Auburn Hills (they moved downtown in 2017). This, combined with multiple references to Pleasure Island in Muskegon (which closed in 1997) made us wonder if the design was older than the copyright date on the box (which is 2023 in one spot and 2024 in another, further adding to the confusion).
And then we realized it wasn’t just Pleasure Island. Stagecoach Stop closed in 2008 (with many attempts to re-open following). The Yankee Air Museum changed its name in 2014 (and again in 2024).
It turns out, despite the 2020s copyright date (whichever one you want to pick), this was originally produced in 1997. Specifically, the artwork must have been finalized sometime after June 7, when the Red Wings clinched their championship, but before the banner was raised on October 8, revealing the new design. Pleasure Island’s closing was also announced in October, after the end of its summer season.
On one hand, I’m kind of annoyed to see something that is so out of date – and factually incorrect, now – still in production. On the other hand, I love that this serves as a time capsule for a single four-month period over one summer in the mid-1990s.
