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ONEKAMA OneFifty

2021 marked the 150th anniversary of the opening of the channel between Portage Lake and Lake Michigan and also the naming of the Village of Onekama.
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ONEKAMA, MICHIGAN’S

“OneKama OneFifty” CELEBRATION

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150 years ago, Onekama, Michigan had its start. The wildly fascinating story of “The Cut” is the iconic and life-altering event that shaped Onekama. The local homesteaders, tired of their conflict with the Porter Lumber Milling Company whose dam at Portage Creek flooded their farmland, took matters literally into their own hands. Illegally hand digging a small trench from Lake Michigan to Portage Lake to lower the lake to its original depth, the

homesteaders created a fantastic spectacle! On the night of May 14, 1871 when the trench was completed, the water rushed out taking with it woods and sand and creating a channel 500 feet wide and 12 feet deep. This channel brought great opportunity for the homesteaders and the mill and remains to this day an integral part of the

Onekama community.

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Coincidently, just a week before, the Postmaster General appointed a postmaster to an office at the newly named village of “Onekama”. The year of 2021 was the sesquicentennial anniversary of these two events. Through a series

of activities and events based on the 150 year anniversary, “OneKama OneFifty”  celebrated the Portage Lake Channel and the village of Onekama. Activities featured boat races and water recreation events, historical tours

and programs, arts and literary tie-ins, a gala dinner, and a formal dedication of the Portage Lake channel to

Lake Michigan.

Art students from Onekama’s school were asked to demonstrate these concepts in a logo.

Below are the finalists in the logo contest.

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Karmen W. Sesqui. H (2).jpg
Dannika Sesqui. E (1).jpg

Logo Winner - Karmen W.

Logo Contest Runners-Up - Dannika & Zoe

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