ROADSIDE MICHIGAN: Visit Betty, the Stuffed Sleigh Dog!

Here’s a Michigan oddity to add to your Michigan roadtrip itinerary:
Betty the Stuffed Sleigh Dog.

Betty was a pet dog that passed away in Chicago during an extremely rough winter back in 1937.

Betty was only seven years old and her owner was a childless lady; the lady was so distraught in losing her best friend that she had Betty stuffed. Upon the woman’s death, she had willed Betty to her niece Kate. Kate was an employee of Crane’s Pie Pantry in Fennville, Michigan; the restaurant was already filled with paraphernalia (some called it junk) like old farm equipment and dummies. In 1987, when Kate reached a point where she got weary of consistently having to vacuum the stuffed dog, she asked the owners of Crane’s if they would like to have her. They did, and “stuffed-dog-Betty” fit right in with all the other odd items on display…and she’s there to this day.

Courtesy of Google Maps

Drive over to Fennville (in western Michigan) and pay a visit to Crane’s and get a photo op with Betty….she is now the official mascot of Crane’s Pie Pantry and sits in a sleigh on Crane’s porch. Around her neck is a short bio………….and she regularly gets vacuumed.

THE ADDRESS:
6054 124th Avenue,
Fennville, Michigan.

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