Pinconning, MI

Pinconning is a Bay County city on the Pinconning River, about five miles west of Saginaw Bay. The 2020 census counted 1,204 residents. George VanEtten and Henry Kaiser started a lumber settlement here in 1872, and the river and railroad moved logs before paved roads reached the area. The name comes from an Ojibwe word associated with wild potatoes. When lumbering faded, dairy farming and cheese making gave the city a new economic signature: in 1915, Dan Horn developed the Colby-style cheese that became known as Pinconning cheese.

The city still calls itself Michigan’s Cheese Capital, with family cheese shops, the giant mouse outside Wilson’s, and the annual CheeseTown Festival keeping that history in view. The festival brings a parade, fireworks, races, and a macaroni-and-cheese contest. Pinconning Park stretches toward Saginaw Bay with boardwalks, trails, a beach, observation towers, and bird-watching areas. Pinconning is a small sunrise-side Michigan city where a lumber river town became a dairy landmark and a stop for travelers heading north.