MACKINAC FUDGE
M
ackinac Island is well known for its world famous
hand made fudge. Skilled candy makers have been
making fudge on Mackinac for millions of custom-
ers for well over 130 years, and still do to this day.
You can buy a box of the famous fudge and save it as a
souvenir, ship some home to friends, co-workers, and fam-
ily or enjoy the delicious treat and eat it right out of the
box as soon as you hit the street. Other fine candies and
chocolates are made fresh at all locations as well. There are
several very reputable candy makers running numerous
locations on the Island, all making the best chocolate and
fudge in the world.
A LITTLE HISTORY OF FUDGE
It all began back in 1887, the year Grand Hotel was built.
A canvas sail maker named Henry Murdick, was hired by
Grand Hotel to make canvas awnings. Murdick arrived with
his wife and two sons. Their eldest son, Jerome Murdick,
opened a shop downtown and began making and selling
candy and fudge using his mother’s recipes. Some years
later, Jerome’s son Gould Murdick would later take over
the family candy business. In 1940, Gould Murdick sold the
candy business to his chief candy maker, Harold May. Some
30 years later, Murdick’s reopened and once again began
selling famous fudge and candy still to this day.
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Inside Mackinac
/ 2020
FAMOUS
FUDGE
Hired by Gould Murdick, Harold May came to the Island with
years of candy making experience. He took over Murdick’s
business, changed the name to May’s Candies in 1940, and
the family has owned and operated their Island location for
five generations.
Murdick’s was the original fudge shop, but May’s Fudge is
the longest, continuously run fudge shop on Mackinac.
In 1960, Detroit entrepreneur Harry Ryba brought his fudge
business to the Island and changed everything. Instead of
making fudge in the back room, he brought the marble
fudge cooling slabs up front in plain view through large