Lounge & Pool, Curated Events and Giving Back

Community

We partner with local non-profits and community organizers to create inclusive spaces that connect our neighbors, foster creativity, and address needs around Bear Lake and Manistee County.

We've hosted various events including wellness classes, fundraisers, art workshops, and farm-to-table meals.

Our pool is open weekly for public swims, and we've built giving back directly into our business's operations and financial model.

Community Lounge

Our renovated 70s-era community lounge serves as a gathering place for locals, hosting various events including wellness classes, non-profit fundraisers, art workshops, and farm-to-table meals.

We host nonprofit and community group events at no cost and offer a variety of room layouts, furniture, and technology to support your event needs.

Organizations we’ve partnered with include Up North Pride, Triginta Women’s Club, Bear Lake Promoters, Armory Youth Project, Bear Lake Girl’s Sports Program, and more!

Contact us if you’re interested in using our community lounge: info@motelbearlake.com.

Community Pool & Patio

Pool closed until Memorial Day 2025

We kicked off our 2024 pool opening with a party for the LGBTQ community and one for First Responders and Military Families.

COMMUNITY POOL DAYS - 11am-7pm

$5/Person + Bring your towel

  • Sunday - Family

  • Tuesday - 21 & Up

  • Wednesday - Senior Day

Soon, we’ll offer CPR certification and water safety classes. Reserve our pool or patio for your community event: info@motelbearlake.com.

Community Events

We love bringing people together!

Here’s a peek of our recent events:

Join our Community Event Mailing list to stay up-to-date on our monthly events or let us know what events you would like to see.

Check our Facebook and Instagram for what’s coming soon!

Sustainability + Community

We work to incorporate sustainability and community care into every part of our business.

Ongoing Initiatives

  • Donating unusable linens to our Homeward Bound Animal Shelter in Manistee

  • Collecting our guests’ returnable cans for Pleasant Valley Community Center (PVCC)

  • Stocking the Bear Lake Cares Box with period-care items every month

  • Recycling all unusable metal items through Vets for Scrap. Contact David for local pick-up: 231-510-5177

  • Donating 1% of our profits to initiatives that support women and LGBTQ+ people living in and around Bear Lake.

If you have an idea on how we can support a community need or fundraiser, let us know! info@motelbearlake.com.

Community Partners

PFLAG Manistee

Up North Pride

Triginta Women’s Club,

Bear Lake Promoters

Armory Youth Project

Contact us if you’re interested in using our community lounge: info@motelbearlake.com.

Industry Partners

Our industry partners have endlessly supported us and we are grateful to build the next chapter in Northern Michigan hospitality, tourism and business ownership.

Manistee County Tourism Authority - we’re on the board!

West Michigan Tourist Association

View fullsize Can I share another great human story? This is Connie. (And me with a photo of the original motel owners ) She and her late husband, Tom, owned the motel from 1996 to 2004. She popped by the motel yesterday. We exchanged stories, toured the prope
View fullsize We have a great list of community events for this month! Bear Lake Triginta Club Monthly Meeting - Wednesday, September 7th, 7pm - Contact them directly for details 2nd Community Paint Night with @sipandstrokepaintparties4you - Monday, September 1
View fullsize August Pillow Talk Woof it was a month. 🙃🫠😵‍💫 started with room upgrade chaos > a week that felt like a manageable new normal > ended with what the service industry around here calls “Angry August” but we made it! 👏 our.
View fullsize Can I share a story that brings me to tears and will forever be a treasure? This is Larry and Timothy (and Ginger.) In 2004 they first stayed at the motel. In 2015 they took their marriage equality case all the way to the Supreme Court - and won!
View fullsize 100% living our brat summer poolside 100% loving our Demure guests #motel #retromotel #verydemure #verymindful #brat #bratsummer
View fullsize The library is officially open… the Kaftan Library, that it is. Our newest Guest Amenity (my personal fav!) features a collection of vintage, size-inclusive kaftans and costume jewelry for you to be your most fabulous self - poolside, lakesid
View fullsize We’ve upgraded all our full beds to queens beds and used the money generated from the ones we sold to buy feminine care products for the BEAR LAKE CARES box. If you’re a menstruating body in need, pop by the community box to grab some.
View fullsize July Pillow Talk I can’t believe it’s already August. July was a blur. Before I dig into specifics - the main takeaways: ✨ We have an AMAZING team. They show up everyday with positive attitudes ready to do whatever needs to be done to cre
View fullsize Yay! We’ve got some cool upcoming events: COMMUNITY WELLNESS CLASSES Summer Saturdays - 9:30AM - 10:30AM Yoga - Zumba - Aqua Fitness Equipment provided | $5/person COMMUNITY POOL DAYS This feels like such a long time coming, but we are finall
View fullsize It’s not angry August yet, but we know all of our service industry friends deserve a night away and some pool time. Come chill with us Summer Sunday & Monday nights - King beds ~ $100/night - 2 Queens ~ $120/night - Dogs ~ $40/reservatio
View fullsize We love Bear Lake Days! Most importantly - thank you to the amazing organizers and volunteers. They made our sweet village come alive! We started the day with Zumba poolside led by @lp_lightandpower Behind the motel the @bearlakepromoters hosted
View fullsize Birthday Reflections on Motel Life I'm really grateful to be in this chapter of life, doing motel things, surrounded by a great team, supported by my local community and so many motel owners around the world who are facing the same challenges. I'm
View fullsize Can we take a minute for the pool? She's so dreamy... now :)
View fullsize June Pillow Talk Summer came hard and fast as we hustled to finish all of our pre-season projects while navigating more guests on property. So proud of our team pushing through! June wins, misses and lessons learned. 🏊‍♂️Pool: Kendall’
View fullsize Tomorrow, Saturday, June 29 at 9:30am - Community Yoga led my @livingbeyondyoga at the motel Yay! It's been so great hosting yoga at the motel for the last 2 weeks. It's free for motel guests / $5 for our community. We love these shots from @viki