The only authentic Dutch windmill in America, then a Bavarian village
Two transplanted European towns connected by a short flight across the lower peninsula. KBIV West Michigan Regional is closest to De Zwaan in Holland, the only authentic Dutch windmill operating in the United States: built in the Netherlands in 1761, it was shipped here in 1964 as the last windmill the Dutch government ever licensed for export, and it still grinds wheat into flour on Windmill Island. Across the state to KFNT Bishop International for Frankenmuth, founded in 1845 by fifteen Lutheran missionaries from Franconia in Bavaria. Zehnder's and the Bavarian Inn face each other on Main Street, two of the largest restaurants in America, both built on all-you-can-eat family-style chicken dinners; Bronner's, the world's largest Christmas store, runs year-round. The taildragger crowd lands even closer: Frankenmuth keeps its own grass strip, William 'Tiny' Zehnder Field (66G), named for the restaurant family. Two communities, two homelands, one weekend.