08/25/2026
**One of the hardest realities of running a family business? You simply can’t make everyone happy.**
During our busy season, Friske’s is full of activity 🤗shopping, eating, visiting, making memories - enjoying the best of life’s simple pleasures!
And while we of course LOVE seeing kids have FUN, our indoor Playland can quickly make an already busy market atmosphere unpleasantly loud and rambunctious - often accompanied by breaking of posted rules (like throwing the fruit down the slide, dangerous feats such as climbing on top of the monkey bars, and extensive messes such as what you see in this video). 😱
So along with the opening of our newly renovated & expanded outdoor Farm Funland this summer, many of you know that we made a specific busy-season rule for May-October:
🍎 Our indoor Playland is reserved for children UNDER 3.
WHY under 3? Because it keeps things consistent with our overall Playland admission rules. Children under 3 ALWAYS PLAY FREE, which means our indoor Playland can remain a simple, wristband-free space for our littlest guests.
YES, we know there are aspects of the indoor play structure that are not friendly for such little ones. But November-April, the area will be open for the normal ages of 8 & under, and all of those areas will get age appropriate use once again!
Raising the age to 4, 5 or 6 wouldn’t just increase the noise and activity—it would also add another layer of complication. Do we charge separately for indoor play? Does that include outdoor admission? Who needs what wristband? We’d rather keep it simple.
We also want to encourages kids of ALL AGES to experience the beautiful Northern Michigan summer and fall seasons OUTSIDE on our beautiful Farm Funland, saving the indoor for off-season cold weather months (*Note: exceptions for inclement weather days have been made this summer).
Does everyone love the rule or think it makes sense? Most certainly not.
But that’s the reality of running a business. Sometimes you cannot please everyone and make the decision that creates the best experience for EVERYONE. But again, we always try.
Much Love to all of our Friske fans! 🍎🫶🏼
