Winter on Mackinac Island: Meet the cookie shop owner showing off winter on the Great Lakes

Exploring ice on the Great Lakes | Brother Nature

The freezing temperatures of this winter have ushered in a blanket of ice across the Great Lakes. While we're a little ahead of schedule, this normal process in the region invites quite the wonderland of winter. That includes an international ice bridge to Canada and life on Mackinac Island. 

(FOX 2) - When Kate Conlon was little, she told her grandmother she was going to teach third grade and live on Mackinac Island. 

She has since found residence on Michigan's most iconic island, but instead of teaching, she runs a cookie shop. Armed with her mother's recipes, the help of her sister, and an eye for the best sights and sounds of Mackinac, Conlon has been sharing snippets of her life from a fast-growing presence on Instagram.

"It feels like it's out of a Disney movie," she said. "I had some people come into the store this summer and this fall, and they're like, 'this is like a Hallmark movie. You have a cookie store on Mackinac Island."

The store is called Mackinac Island Cookie Co., located on the Arnold Transit Dock. 

While the account showcases all the offerings and treats available at the store, Conlon has also spent time showing off the island in the throes of one of Michigan's coldest and snowiest winters in recent memory.

Kate Conlon uses a snowmobile to navigate Mackinac Island in the winter. Photo courtesy: MackinacIslandCookieCo.

Big picture view:

Conlon had been off the island with her family over the holidays when she told her sister she would be showing fans what life is like in the winter. 

It didn't take long for the posts to catch fire.

"Every time I wake up, you know, we have hundreds of thousands more followers," she said. "It's so fun to share."

Many of the posts include an introduction by Conlon and where she lives, before transitioning to a collage of different photos and videos from her day around the island.

It could be going to the grocery store, taking her kids to Mackinac Island's only school, as well as the pleasing sights of traveling on the snow mobile trails. One of the most common responses she gets from viewers is the shock that people live on the island all year round.

What you can do:

For more information on the Mackinac Island Cookie Co., the page on Instagram can be found here.