Kwik Trip Senior Scramble draws nearly 100 to Crystal View Golf Course

Nearly 100 golfers from the Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin turned out at Crystal View Golf Course for the first Kwik Trip Senior Scramble, turning a June golf outing into an early measure of the excitement building around Kwik Trip’s planned Crystal Falls entry in 2027. The turnout gave the city a well-attended sports event and a reminder that one future store can already ripple into recreation, tourism and local identity.

The tournament was billed on the flyer as the 1st Annual Crystal View Golf Course Two Man Scramble, with a 10:00 a.m. shotgun start on Tuesday, June 9. Players were scheduled for a 45-60 minute barbecue lunch after nine holes, and the field was split into five flights at lunch. The flyer limited entry to the first 32 teams, listed Jim Emmers as the contact for entry and set the tee colors by age and nine-hole side: white tees for the first nine, gold tees for the second nine and red tees for golfers age 75 and older. Crystal View sits at 602 Wagner St., about a half-mile east of downtown Crystal Falls off M-69.

The scoring was tight in the first two flights. Pouliot and Spindler won the first flight with a 62, followed by Emmers and Bociek at 64 and Brattonia and Peterson at 65. In the second flight, Douglas and McCall took top honors with a 66, while Plestka and Borseth shot 69 and LaChapelle and Mettlach finished at 71.

The back half of the leaderboard stayed competitive as well. Kleiman and Douglas won the third flight with a 67, ahead of Richards and Specker at 70 and Child and Esquela at 72. Peters and Beck led the fourth flight with a 74, with Syrjanen and Melin and St. Onge and Petroff each at 75. In the fifth flight, Welnitz and Busch won with a 77, and Bender and Colberg, along with Niemi and Nelson, finished at 79.

The scramble also fit into a larger business story already taking shape in Crystal Falls. In August 2025, the Crystal Falls City Council approved a purchase agreement for city-owned land for a Kwik Trip gas station and convenience store near U.S. Hwy 2 and 141, across from Crystal Fresh Market. City clerk and treasurer Tara Peltoma said, “This opens up opportunities for many jobs in our community.” The city followed with a property bid approval in January 2026 and a zoning update in February 2026 to allow for a possible car wash at the site. City Manager Gerard Valesano said, “At this time Kwik Trip is not certain whether they’re going to have a car wash in Crystal Falls, but I feel it is probably in the best interest of the city to add this in there - so we’re prepared for that.” With more than 800 stores in the Midwest, Kwik Trip’s arrival would be a major addition, and the scramble suggested Crystal Falls is already treating that arrival as a community event as much as a commercial one.