On Oct. 4, hundreds of plaid-clad Yoopers gathered on the field of Houghton High School [HHS] to celebrate Plaidurday, a Michigan-born holiday that celebrates the tartan, plaid, and flannel garments that are a staple of autumn dress. With an attendance tally of 925, the event did not succeed its record of 1,745 people but beat out concurrent gatherings in Ironwood and Marquette.
Founded by UP culture polymath Bugsy Sailor in 2011, Plaidurday has since been celebrated by tartan-wearing Midwesterners across the country. In 2023, the tourism organization Visit Keweenaw (VK) decided to up the ante by hosting a celebratory gathering, drawing a record-setting crowd of nearly 2,000 people in plaid and beating out the previous record set by Canada of 1,359 people.
With the record remaining unbeaten but not yet verified by the Guinness Book of World Records due to cost, VK shifted its focus this year from making history to simply building community and celebrating the shift in seasons.
Jesse Wiederhold, the Public Relations and Event Coordinator for Visit Keweenaw, explains “It really is a bit cost-prohibitive. On average, that first year was $16,000, and the weather was kind of weird. We were just trying to avoid that charge because we didn’t know how it was going to go. This year, Guinness raised their price to about $23,000 to certify the event, so it really did become cost-prohibitive.”
A formidable 925 people, including workers, elderly residents, and students from both HHS and MTU. At 12:30 p.m., just before attendees were let onto the football field to prepare for the photo, the line stretched for yards across the parking lot, winding between cars from the gate and well past the school’s front entrance.
“It’s a great accomplishment for the community and just for the general ambiance of having fun in the Keweenaw – even if two people showed up, it still would have been fun,” said VK Content Manager Amanda Makela.
With local pride running high and rivals in other UP towns outdone, this year’s event was received as a resounding success. In its second year, the annual Houghton Plaidurday gathering has cemented itself as a tradition that is likely to endure for many more.
