Questions & Answers with community faces
In 2026, Betsie Riverside Resort is celebrating 85 years of welcoming guests to the banks of the Betsie River in Benzonia—well, at least 85 years, maybe more.
While the exact date of this location’s founding remains a bit of a mystery, there is an old guest book that dates back back to July of 1941, though the Benzie Area Historical Society and Museum has postmarked postcards of the resort from even earlier.
Originally known as Riverside Resort, with Rena Link as the proprietor, the property later became Howard’s Riverside Cabins, serving families, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts.
In 1975, Barb and John Hanmer purchased the aging resort, and they were determined to restore its charm and ensure its future with much-needed renovation and improvements. They set about repairing what they could, building new cabins, installing amenities, and raising their family on-site for the next 46 seasons. Hanmer’s Riverside Resort thrived and once again became a tradition for families and friends as they returned “Up North” annually for summer vacations, fall fishing, and winter activities.
Then in 2020 two ambitious Texans—Misti (55) and Chris (55) Rasure—made the decision to come north and continue the Benzie County tradition. Re-christened the Betsie Riverside Resort, the Rasures’ goal is to echo the past while providing the comforts of the present.
The Rasures first met on the school bus in junior high in the tiny town of Fruitvale, Texas, where they both grew up. After becoming engaged and then married right out of college, both Misti and Chris began their professional lives as educators—Misti went on to become a principal and campus director, while Chris later worked for the local university in science education outreach. By 2020 Chris was the executive director of the children’s science museum in Tyler, Texas, while Misti was working as vice president for an education-tech software company.
But the couple had always dreamed of trying something new and living in a different environment, other than the “work and spend” normal life that they found themselves in. So when the pandemic struck, they took its impact on their careers as a sign that the time for talk was over.
The Rasures knew that they wanted to live somewhere beautiful, so they began searching for RV parks and resort properties that were for sale in places like California, Colorado, and North Carolina, but listings for Northern Michigan would occasionally pop up, too—and one in particular caught their eye.
After a brief three-day visit to Benzonia, the couple quit their jobs, sold their Texas home, held a massive garage sale, and moved across the country in the midst of a world-wide pandemic.
Did they have friends and family in the area? No. Were they familiar with the area already? No. Did their loved ones think that they were perhaps crazy? A little. No matter; they had found what they were searching for.
Continuing with our interview series on impactful Benzie County characters, The Betsie Current caught up with the Rasures as they were planting flowers and finishing the resort’s spring clean-up, in anticipation for this year’s guests.
The Betsie Current: What does a typical day of work look like for you?
Misti Rasure: I’m often up earlier than Chris. I usually start the day by looking at our incoming guests, readying their check-in paperwork, and noting who our return guests are. I prep for cleaning the vacating cabins by using laundry baskets, assigned by cabin, that have everything needed to flip the cabin in one place—all the sheets, towels, papergoods, amenities together to reduce the trips to the cleaning cart, as well as back up to the office. Although we do contract with a commercial laundry company out of Traverse City for sheets and towels, a remarkable amount of laundry is still done “in house,” and I start that early in the day. All of this usually before 9 a.m. when our current guests start stirring around. Cleaning the cabins occurs between check-out at 11 a.m. and new guest check-in at 3 p.m. After that, I greet our incoming guests as they arrive, answering questions about the area, particularly about the fishing, which is pretty hilarious as I’ve never salmon fished in my life! Throughout the day, I also fit in the bookkeeping and financial planning tasks for the resort. We have games and family-friendly videos in the office for our guests to sign out, so we are around to interact with them during that, as well. Our office closes at 9 p.m., and I usually print out the next day’s incoming guest list, so that I have everything ready for the next day, when it all starts over.
Chris Rasure: I’d love to say that I’m up at 6 a.m., but I’m not a morning person, so usually up by 8 a.m. Over a quick breakfast, I check our email, online reservation system, and social media accounts for any immediate needs or questions. Then I usually do a quick walk around the property, partly to see if anything needs attention, but mainly to take in the morning views of the river and listen to the birds. Then it’s off to the pool house to get it ready to open for the day, and then back up to the house to prep with Misti for the morning’s cabin-cleaning schedule. After all of the cabins are cleaned, it’s usually on to the never-ending to-do list of maintenance, landscaping, and property improvements, interspersed with putting kayakers out on the river and interacting with current guests. Afternoons include checking in new guests, picking those same kayakers up when they reach their stopping point, and random business tasks. The day winds down when the front office closes at 9 p.m., and the final task of the day is closing the pool house at 10 p.m.
Current: How have you seen your work grow and change? How do you hope that it will continue to grow? What is next?
Misti: We have worked for our past five seasons to become more proactive to the needs of our guests, rather than as reactive as we were in our earlier years. Each season, we reflect on what worked in our processes and try to adjust to avoid any sticking points that we felt during the previous season. We’ve tweaked our policies each year to fit our personalities and understand that we can’t have rules that we can’t or won’t enforce evenly—we’ve learned that, if we break our “resort rules,” trying to make one guest happy usually means that we end up disappointing several other guests when we try to enforce the rules on them. So, consistency is key for our sanity and guest satisfaction. We’ve also learned that what guests who come Up North really crave is an experience, more than just another hotel stay. They want interaction with the owner-operators who plant the flowers before they show up and clean the toilets after they leave. We have farmed out certain labor-intensive activities, like weekly lawn care, so that we can keep ourselves from exhaustion and better serve our guests in the long run. We want to manage our resort for the long haul, so we’ve been particularly choosy with our time and energy, to increase our longevity in a business where we work 12 to 14 hours a day for seven days a week for seven months straight, without a day off.
Chris: We often compare our time as resort owners to our time previously as teachers. That first year, you are full of eager ignorance—unconscious incompetence, as Misti puts it. We did a massive percentage of all the work ourselves that first year here. Our only lifeline was Misti’s sister, Wendy, who came and stayed with us for the first two summers. Without her help, we would have been cooked. Even with it, we exhausted ourselves and soon realized that what we were doing was not a good long-term strategy. Just like in teaching, years two through five meant learning so much. It’s astounding the progress you make at becoming more efficient, making better decisions, and finally having the time and energy to think about growing your business, rather than just simply keeping it running. Now in year six, we finally feel like we have a handle on this resort thing, and I’m looking forward to tweaking our business practices and some of the higher-order things to improve guest satisfaction and our bottom line. I’m also looking forward to becoming more actively involved in the local Chamber of Commerce and other community organizations, now that we’re not just in survival mode.
Current: What do you think that you are doing differently than what others are providing?
Misti: As we look for efficiencies in our “work life,” we prioritize the interactions of our guests, even in the depths of the season, when our booties are dragging. We remind ourselves that our guests have been coming Up North for decades, or have been wanting to, and ask what we could do to make their stay as nostalgic as it is comfortable, with modern amenities. We keep our cabins, property, fish-cleaning station, and pool immaculately clean as part of that experience. We plant a ton of annuals each year to complement our native perennials, to make for a beautiful backdrop for their stay. We offer the games and DVDs, because that’s what we used to do with our own Gen Z son on camping vacations, and it’s still something that he talks about. I feel like we are doing something right when our returning guest percentage now nearly equals our new guests.
Chris: Although we’re not native Michiganders, once we made the move from Texas, we went all in. We love the Up North ethos and the rich tradition that Great Lakes folks have for cherishing summer and their time spent with families. A big part of that is returning time and again to a beloved family cottage, cabin resort, or other special place. We also feel a big part of being Up North is all of the locally owned and operated businesses, restaurants, stores, accommodations, etc. Benzie County used to have so many wonderful “mom and pop” motels, cottage resorts, and motor courts—they’re almost all gone now. We hope that what we offer is the feeling of a traditional Up North getaway, but with some of the updated amenities that guests expect in 2026. So, we want the parents to have all of the positive associations with their own childhood memories but their kids to have access to high-speed internet and an indoor heated pool! The resort is our home. We live here 365 days a year. We love our community, and we support it and want to uplift it. That means something. And I hope our guests feel that when they stay with us.
Current: What kinds of things do you do for fun, when you are not working? What other things are you involved with? How did you get involved with them, and why are you passionate about these causes?
Misti: We lead two lives, a little “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”-esque. During our season, which is typically from April to mid-October, we are so consumed with the resort that we rarely get to leave it to enjoy the glory of summer in Northern Michigan. Still, we sneak away to do our rock hunting at our favorite local spot, which we only disclose to our most favorite guests, ha. Whenever I can, I sew and quilt, write, paint—pretty much any creative endeavor that tickles my fancy at the moment. During the fall and winter, we explore our area and state. We travel to the Upper Peninsula each year to take in its fall colors, and we have fallen in love with all of the waterfalls, hikes, and coastline. I read a ton of books from the Benzonia Public Library and attend a local book club at St. Ambrose Cellars; currently I’m reading “Atmosphere” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Additionally, I am starting a new side business this year which dovetails my love of crafting with the resort: Sew Up North, handmade travel gear, souvenirs, and gifts that are inspired by the essence of the Up North experience, with coordinating/matching collections named after our favorite Northern Michigan sites, like Sleeping Bear Dunes, Crystal Lake Life, Betsie River Camp & Cabin. I will sell smaller items in our self-serve stand on the resort property, with more elaborate items on my Etsy shop online.
Chris: We both love to rock hunt. We were bitten by that bug almost as soon as we moved to Michigan, and now the obsession is even worse. Our basement now houses multiple rock tumblers and polishers, and I’m on the usual rock-hunting Facebook groups, liking other people’s photos of agates and Petoskey stones! I also love outdoor activities like kayaking, hiking, running, etc. The only downside to resort life is that, when the weather is the most divine, I’m usually too busy to get out and do everything I’d like to. I recently took up pickleball; I resisted it for a long time, but a friend got me to play, and now I go as often as I can to play at the Arcadia Community Center or other locales. As far as passions and causes, almost all of mine are related to science, education, and the environment. As a former science educator, I still geek out over things like the recent Artemis space mission by NASA to the moon. We’re ardent supporters of local things, such as the Friends of the Betsie Valley Trail and the Benzonia Public Library, and I try to support groups such as the Benzie Conservation District—for the past four years or so, the volunteers who perform the annual Betsie River clean-up have used our resort as one of their stopping points and our dumpster to dispose of the waste gathered; so much fishing line!
Current: How have you seen Benzie County change since you first came up here? What are your hopes for the area in the future?
Misti: When we bought the resort almost six years ago and made the total transition from Texans to Michiganders, we were the young’uns, welcomed by many other mom-and-pop hospitality owners here. However, we’ve seen a number of them sell or close since then. They have often been purchased as “investment” properties and are operated from afar, not by families or owner-operators. Something is lost when the owners do not directly interact with their guests and instead try to homogenize their experiences, like any other place in Michigan. I would really love to see more opportunities for other hospitality establishments to be bought by families, even if it meant they were subsidized through local tourism fees. Benzie County is a treasure, because it still offers an experience unlike any other place in the state and should be proactively protected, which happens best when owners are directly involved with guests’ experiences and daily operations.
Chris: We love Benzie and all of Northern Michigan. Plenty of our friends and family thought we were a little crazy making the massive life change and move that we did, but once they come up and visit, their response is always the same: “I get it now.” I do hate that, just in the few years we’ve lived here, that a number of small local businesses have faded away. There seems to be a lot of money and interest coming into the area from folks who don’t reside here, and that seems like such a double-edged sword. As transplants ourselves, we obviously see nothing wrong with others coming to Northern Michigan and contributing, but my hope is that they are coming to stay, coming to invest in a personal way, not just their money, but their time and effort into our communities, to strengthen them for the future. Misti and I often talk about the time when we were considering moving to Benzie, and never did we ask the question, “Will we get rich?” That’s not why we came.
Current: What are the biggest challenges and rewards of living/working in Benzie County and in Northern Michigan, in general? What is the best or most rewarding part of your job?
Misti: I still pinch myself that I get to live in Benzie County on the Betsie River in a community that embraces its environment and tries to protect it like our lives—or at least our livelihoods—depend on it. I love being 15 minutes away from a ski resort, a beach, and a national park. I love all of the quaint towns that look like they are on a sound stage somewhere for a movie. The self-serve stands of maple syrup, eggs, corn, honey, cherries, apples, etc. are amazing and unique to the area. Personally, the biggest challenge of living here is being so far from our 20-something son and extended family in Texas. While they love to come visit, that is just a time or two per year, and I miss them greatly. Not enough to move back to Texas, mind you! The most rewarding part of my job is creating a space where people choose to come back year after year; helping them to create lasting memories while they are able to put aside their daily lives for another chance to come Up North is very rewarding and keeps me going through the hospitality doldrums of August. If you know, you know!
Chris: Challenges are commonly known: the lack of affordable housing and year-round job opportunities, the lack of a more diversified economy that encourages local students to stay and young adults to move in, and as a result, a small tax base. For me, I’d also say that I wish Northern Michigan had a stronger cultural mix, as well. As a former Texan, I’m used to a wider variety of everything from food to festivals. That being said, the rewards far outweigh the fact that I miss Texas barbeque! Northern Michigan is so beautiful. I love the seasons and the influence of the Great Lakes. I love learning new things—culture, geography, history—so I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Michigan and the upper Midwest, in general. I feel like Great Lakes Midwesterners are just more my kind of people than I often felt in Texas. My favorite thing about my job is that we are continuing a tradition. I’m a sucker for old things: old houses, old objects, old cars, historic sites, anything with a “story.” So, I love that we are continuing a tradition that is now over 80-plus years old! I love that we are part of our guests’ Up North experience and that we get to live in a place that most people spend 51 weeks out of their year thinking about and planning to come to for just one week. We’re lucky.
Current: What could Benzie County do to attract more and/or retain talented people in this area? What else does Benzie County need?
Misti: I think the biggest challenge is finding and maintaining labor. Seasonal work is hard enough to sustain people in optimal conditions, where affordable housing and the cost of living is average. But, given our skyrocketing property values, scarcity of affordable housing, and tourist pricing, finding reliable labor is very difficult. In our five previous seasons, we tried four different labor solutions. Finally last season, we found help from an outside cleaning company—another owner-operator couple, who care deeply about their quality of work—one day per week that, honestly, we hold our breath that they can continue to do the work each week, let alone each year. An idea would be to have Benzie County and/or the State of Michigan offer low-interest loans or even grants for individual people to purchase some of the closing cabin/cottage resorts to specifically rent to seasonal help throughout the entire year. They could require all short-term rentals in the county, and not just the ones like us who have multiple units, to collect a “tourism tax” that would go directly into the community to improve resources for the area, like high-speed internet or childcare.
Chris: The million-dollar question. Our local economy is strongly tied to tourism and agriculture, and I think both of those are foundational and should be protected and enhanced. But I’d love to see a push for realistic opportunities that could attract and sustain folks in other industries. I think something like a push for remote workers is a reasonable option. If we did what was necessary to make fiber internet ubiquitous county-wide, and also allowed for the controlled development of multi-family housing and/or took steps to encourage the building of more affordable homes, we could open up the possibilities for workers of a variety of ages, who work in a variety of industries, to become permanent residents of Benzie via remote work. While that might not produce the tax base of a large factory, it avoids the negative environmental and aesthetic factors of such and is more sustainable for our small county.
Current: What are your favorite local events and activities? Any favorite dining, recreation, hiking spots?
Misti: I adore the farmers’ markets in the area. We regularly attend the Frankfort, Elberta, and Honor markets and have followed several local artisans and makers in the area. My favorite local business here is The Bread Lady in Lake Ann. I also absolutely love the FiberShed in Grow Benzie and am amazed at how well it runs, given its all-volunteer workforce. My favorite local hike is the Empire Bluff Trail in Empire, with the best view of Sleeping Bear Dunes. My favorite local destination is Charlevoix, with its proximity to great rockhounding beaches, adorable shops, and good restaurants.
Chris: The first time that Misti and I watched the Benzonia baseball field be flooded and made into a public ice rink during the winters—and you can rent skates for free from the public library—I mean, it’s like living in a Norman Rockwell painting! Things that make life here unique, like going to The Garden Theater in Frankfort on a cold snowy winter’s night to watch the classic “Fargo,” and then after the movie, running down the empty Main Street while shouting “Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium!” because man, if it doesn’t look like a movie set. [Editor’s Note: That was a reference to George Bailey in “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Both that and “Fargo” have played at The Betsie Current’s Monthly Movie Club, which you can read about online.] I love things like local farmers’ markets and the fact that you can do like 50 percent of your shopping via roadside stands. I love things like Maple Syrup Days at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. I love kayaking the Betsie, of course, and the Platte. And I’ve never been on a local hike that I didn’t love! My favorites probably include spring hikes to see the trilliums and other ephemerals at Pete’s Woods, winter hikes at Arcadia Dunes, and summer hikes at Empire Bluff. When family or friends come to town, we always take them to the Pierce Stocking Drive; rest in peace Scenic Overlook #9. And to eat at places like The Cherry Hut in Beulah, The Cabbage Shed in Elberta, and Joe’s Friendly Tavern in Empire. During the off-season, our goal is to hit pretty much every local restaurant that stays open year-round, as we rarely eat out during our busy season, and we like to spread that summer money around when there’s snow on the ground!
Current: What does your perfect summer day look like in Benzie County? How would you spend it?
Misti: Grab a coffee at Keep On Grinding in Benzonia, walk through the Frankfort Farmers’ Market for fresh veggies and baked goods, take a drive in my 2003 TJ Jeep down a seasonal road that ends at a secluded Lake Michigan beach, where I spend the afternoon searching for pretty rocks. Stop for ice cream at Mudgie’s in Honor on the way home. Finally, grill my dinner on the back deck, overlooking the Betsie River, while “golden hour” highlights the state land across the river. Paradise indeed!
Chris: So many guests ask us about things like, “Which is better, the Frankfort fireworks or the Beulah fireworks?” and “What’s the best movie you’ve seen at the Cherry Bowl Drive-In?” Sadly, many of the wonderful summer activities that our guests are here for, we have never been able to experience! Honestly a perfect summer day is all cabins full of happy guests and no toilets backed up, ha! One of these days, when we retire, we’ll experience the perfect Benzie summer day, but until then, I’d say for us it’s a day—in any season other than summer—that includes exploring Northern Michigan; seeking out a new Lake Michigan beach for rock hunting, taking the Jeep on a random “seasonal road,” stopping to eat at a little mom-and-pop diner we’ve never eaten at, simply enjoying the fact that, for us, Up North isn’t a vacation destination. It’s home.
Betsie Riverside Resort is located at 2251 Benzie Highway/US-31 in Benzonia. Learn more at “Betsie Riverside Resort” on Facebook, @Betsie_Riverside_Resort on Instagram, or BetsieRiversideResort.com online. You can also check out what is going on at the resort all year long by visiting “Betsie Riverside Resort” on Youtube.Call 231-882-7783 with any questions.
Want to learn more about Misti Rasure’s crafts? Check out Etsy.com/Shop/SewUpNorthCrafts online.
Featured Photo Caption: Chris (55) and Misti (55) Rasure are Texas teachers who took a big chance in moving to Northern Michigan during the COVID-19 pandemic to run the now-85-year-old Betsie Riverside Resort in Benzonia. Image courtesy of the Rasure family.
