State's fall rite creates memories Thousands go to more than 150 mills to sip cider, eat hot doughnuts, savor tradition. He recalls sitting by the Franklin River, with the cider mill's water wheel churning. To thousands of Michiganians, the cider mill pilgrimage is an autumn rite of passage. The mills are to fall what ballparks and vintage car shows are to summer. Hundreds of thousands visit the state's 150 cider mills each fall.
Visitors explain the experience embodies wholesomeness, tradition, family time.
On bright fall weekends, the lines at these mills stretch into the parking lots. As he scans the landscape, Wallace recounts the scene at the same spot half a century ago. Back then, Franklin Road at 14 Mile was in the country. My friends and I used to ride our bikes over here. While Wallace didn't let them traverse the traffic on their bikes, he did make sure his children took in the tradition.