Pence motorcade disturbs the quiet on car-less Michigan island

It’s not hard to see why Michigan’s Mackinac Island is called the jewel of the Great Lakes. Vacationers love it for the natural beauty and the quaint atmosphere, preserved from a simpler time.

It’s not hard to hear why they love it, either: Other than emergency and construction vehicles, there are no cars or trucks on the island to disturb the quiet. They’ve been banned for more than a century.

Except, that is, for Saturday, when Vice President Mike Pence paid a motorized visit that has some Mackinac lovers up in arms.

The island, all of which is listed as a national historic site, was hurtled into the 21st century when Pence arrived at the island’s airport by helicopter and then made his way down Cadotte Avenue, one of the island’s main roads, in a motorcade of eight SUVs, flanked by state police on bicycles. He was on his way to a Republican Party conference at the Grand Hotel, less than a mile from the airport as the crow flies. The eight SUVs had been brought to the island by ferry for the purpose.

Some residents and regular visitors and a few Democratic state politicians were aghast. Mark Brewer, former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, called the motorcade “ridiculous,” “unnecessary” and “disrespectful.” Lobbyist and former journalist Ron Fournier called it “sacrilege.”

Pence, the first sitting vice president to visit Mackinac Island, is apparently also the first government official to break with the island’s car-less tradition. Previous VIPs have gotten around the 3.8-square-mile island by horse-drawn carriage, including former presidents and the only sitting president to visit, Gerald Ford, in 1975 — although his Secret Service detail did have a backup vehicle on the island in case of emergency.

At the dawn of the automobile era, many small communities were concerned...