The bar that doesn't advertise. The Tuesday-night dinner you'd never find by Googling. The donut shop that sells out by ten.
The Junction has anchored the entrance to Walloon Lake Village since the 1870s — older than the hotel, older than most of the cottages up the shore. Open Thursday through Sunday only; the kitchen goes quiet Monday through Wednesday even at the height of summer, which the regulars know and the weekenders often don't. Burgers, nightly dinner features, and a bar that fills with the same faces every weekend.
Petoskey's downtown bar and restaurant has occupied this 1875 building since it was McCarty Hall's billiard parlor, and the back room is still called the Hemingway Room for the young writer who drank here before he was anyone. Prohibition tunnels and a house ghost are part of the pitch; steaks and whitefish are the reason to stay. Open daily 11:30 to 9, eight minutes north of the lake.
A Howard Street bakery-café that Petoskey votes best-of most years without much real competition — housemade soups, sandwiches built from local ingredients, and a dessert case that's the actual draw. Tuesday through Saturday, 8 to 3, closed Sunday and Monday. Seating for about thirty-five; arrive before eleven or plan to wait for a table.
Twenty rotating taps in a downtown Petoskey taproom, with vinyl to flip through and board games on the shelf, plus a basement lounge called the Root Cellar for when the main room's full. Closed Monday and Tuesday; open to 9 on weekends. Burgers and a fried pickle plate cover the food side. The pick for a rainy Wednesday when the wineries feel too far to bother with.
Downtown Petoskey shuts down part of Howard Street every Friday morning from late May through the start of October — local produce, bread, cheese, and flowers, 8:30 to 1. Recent construction has bounced the first few weeks of the season between the old News-Review lot and Howard Street itself; check the chamber's page before the season opens if the exact spot matters.
Boyne City's own market runs out of Veterans Memorial Park on the Lake Charlevoix waterfront, Wednesday and Saturday mornings from mid-May through mid-October, then Saturdays only through winter at the park pavilion. About fifteen minutes from Walloon Lake's south end. The Fourth of July week relocates to Old City Park — worth checking ahead if that's the week you're in town.