Every town that gets called "peaceful" eventually gets asked the same question: peaceful compared to what. For Ira Township, a place built around Anchor Bay where farmland still runs up against a nine-hole disc golf course, the honest answer used to be simple. Peaceful because not much happens here. That answer stopped being true sometime this year, and the proof isn't a subdivision or a strip mall. It's a barbecue crew, a wooded parcel nobody touched for decades, and a fall calendar that keeps adding events instead of trimming them.
None of these things individually would make a headline. Together they tell you something about how this township is spending its attention right now, and it's worth understanding before the leaves change.
The pitmasters who ran out of other options
In March, the team behind Smoked Lotus BBQ, a barbecue operation that had built a following out of Hazel Park's Eastern Palace Club, announced they were rebranding as Big Tex BBQ and relocating. What made the story specific to Ira Township wasn't the rebrand itself. It was the reason for the move. According to reporting from MI Foodie Adventures, the pitmasters had been searching for a new home in the same general area but couldn't find the right fit, and multiple cities weren't cooperative before they landed on a spot along M-29 near the water of Anchor Bay.
That detail matters more than it looks. A restaurant crew with an existing following doesn't relocate to the town that's easiest. It relocates to the town that says yes when others don't. Ira Township said yes, and the group was targeting a spring opening. Residents driving Dixie Highway or M-29 this season have a good shot at already spotting the storefront, or watching it finish up, among the township's existing lineup of bay-facing spots.
Ninety-nine acres that sat wooded for a reason
The bigger story this year isn't a restaurant. It's land the township has owned since 2022 and has finally decided what to do with.
Ira Township holds a 99.58-acre parcel bordered by Short Cut Road to the north and Dixie Highway to the south, with direct access to Swan Creek running through it. For most of that time it has done exactly nothing, which for a piece of property this size is itself unusual. In December 2025, the township confirmed it had been approved for a $150,000 Michigan DNR Recreation Passport Grant to begin developing the northern half of that parcel into an accessible treehouse and nature trail system, with the township matching the grant dollar for dollar.
Parks and Recreation Director Cindy Babisz put the reasoning plainly in comments reported by Blue Water Healthy Living:
"It has never had any development on the northern half of it. I've lived in the township all my life and it's always been wooded."
The plan calls for ADA-compliant kayak and canoe launches, a bike path, walking trails, and a wish list that includes a ropes course and an indoor and outdoor archery range. A botanical survey and flood hazard layer report have already been completed. This is not a township trying to look bigger than it is. It's a township finally putting resources behind the one asset that made it worth living in to begin with, which is the creek and the woods around it.
The park that already earns its keep
It helps to understand what the township was working with before this grant, because the existing Ira Township Municipal Park is doing more work than a 25-acre park usually does. It holds a nine-hole disc golf course established in 2012, upgraded to yellow MVP Portal baskets across all twelve target positions, a Butterfly Memorial Garden, cornhole and gaga ball setups, and a nature trail path that crosses Swan Creek over two footbridges. Residents describe the pickleball courts as a constant hub of activity, active enough that the township is now reviewing rental options after a resident request.
A few miles away, Waterworks Park added its own upgrade in recent memory: an ADA-compliant kayak launch, along with new parking and a paved approach path, funded through a combination of grants from the Ralph Wilson Legacy Foundation, St. Clair County Parks, the Community Foundation of St. Clair County Family Fund, and the St. Clair County Economic Development Alliance. That's four separate funding sources converging on one modest launch point, which tells you the demand for water access here outpaces what a single grant could cover.
None of this reads as flashy. It reads as a township quietly clearing the way for people to actually use the water and woods that surround them, rather than just look at them from a porch.
What's actually on the calendar this fall
For residents mapping out September and October, two dates are worth putting on the calendar now.
| Event | Date | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Dogtober Festival (4th Annual) | Saturday, October 3, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. | Ira Township Park. Sponsored by Dakota's D'Tailed Dog Grooming, with music and announcements from Top Dog Entertainment and a dog costume contest. |
| Trick and Treat in the Trails | Sunday, October 25, 2:00 p.m. | The park's trails are decorated for the occasion, with local businesses and organizations invited to set up treat stations. |
The Dogtober Festival being in its fourth year is a small but real signal. Festivals that don't draw people tend to quietly disappear after one or two runs. This one is still growing its sponsor list.
Where to eat while any of this is happening
The dining scene along Dixie Highway and the M-29 waterfront corridor gives residents more range than the township's size would suggest. Bobby Mac's Bayside Tavern & Grill sits directly on Anchor Bay with patio seating that puts pleasure craft in view while you eat. A short drive down Dixie Hwy, Off The Hook Sports Grill has built a following around its brisket and hand-cut fries in a space that looks like a plain bar from the outside and isn't. Zef's Lighthouse Tavern and Island Grill round out the water-adjacent options, while Buck's Diner in Fair Haven leans into a full 1950s and 60s theme, complete with the music to match, for anyone wanting a classic diner morning before heading to the trails.
For a quieter meal, The Anchor Point Bistro has become a regular stop for residents who return specifically for its bread. And for something newer, the M29 Diner on Dixie Hwy has been rolling out an updated menu, giving longtime regulars a reason to stop back in.
The through-line
Take these threads separately and they look like disconnected local updates. Put them next to each other and a pattern shows up. A barbecue crew with a built-in following chose Ira Township specifically because other towns weren't willing to work with them. The township took a piece of land that had sat untouched since 2022 and put six figures of state and matching funds toward keeping it wooded and walkable rather than developing it into something else. The park department is adding festivals, not cutting them, and building water access that four different funders were willing to help pay for.
That's not a town trying to become something bigger than it is. It's a town investing real money and real effort in staying exactly the kind of place people move here for in the first place, and doing it well enough that a barbecue crew from Hazel Park decided it was worth the drive.
If you're watching Ira Township because you already call it home, or because you're weighing whether Anchor Bay's mix of water access, trail development, and small-scale dining is the right fit for your next move, Kevin Paton knows this stretch of Macomb and St. Clair County block by block. Reach out for a free home valuation and a conversation grounded in what's actually happening here, not just what the listing photos show.
