What's happening: The mobile sauna industry has officially come to the Upper Peninsula with Sauna on Kuuma. Named after the Finnish phrase “the sauna is hot.” Sauna on Kuuma is a six-person wood-fired, stone-steam sauna built onto a trailer. Mobile saunas are popular in Minnesota and western Wisconsin but have not been as visible in Michigan.
How did this start: The idea came from two former U.P. residents working downstate -- Brandon Frisk and Shawnee Rajala, who grew up in Marquette County and the Copper Country, respectively. Both grew up with saunas being a focal part of family dynamics but have often lacked the ability to enjoy a sauna after doing cold plunges into Lake Michigan, near their jobs. Working remotely during and after the pandemic, the pair used that time to design a mobile sauna to meet all Michigan Department of Transportation specifics. They can bring the sauna to various areas along the Lake Superior shoreline.
Starting in Grand Marais: The tiny Alger County community of less than 200 year-round residents was on the list of communities to target once the sauna was up and running. Burt Township, the municipality surrounding Grand Marais, had a process established to deal with transient vendors, making it easy to work with the local government to find the right location. Frisk and Rajala had hoped to get started in the much larger city of Marquette but that municipality did not have a transient vendors process in place. Rajala said Marquette is now going through the process to establish a similar ordinance and working with the pair.
What they're saying: "Once people understand what we're trying to do, the light bulbs go off and they start getting excited. We want to bring business to these underutilized areas and showcase the beauty of the area a little bit while enjoying a sauna," Frisk said. “We're looking at other harbor towns on Lake Superior and if it takes off, maybe working with state parks and campgrounds. Our main mission right now is to see if people want it."
What's next: Sauna on Kuuma planned on staying in Grand Marais through the end of the month before rotating to another new town. Focusing on harbor towns on Lake Superior, the mobile sauna company said that if business continues to grow, they would build three to five saunas for the various locations.
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