MANITOU BEACH — People browsing the stores in downtown Manitou Beach can now add to their experience by sampling Michigan-made wines while they shop.

Or maybe it’s the way around, and people heading out for an afternoon or evening of wine tasting can shop at the same time.

It all depends on how you look at it.

Four Manitou Beach businesses have partnered with four Michigan wineries to offer tasting rooms inside their shops. The goal is to aid in the village’s ongoing revitalization by giving people more to do while they’re enjoying time at the lakes.

The project is the brainchild of David Gajda and Jose Malagon, a local couple who have been buying, renovating and selling properties in Manitou Beach for about 20 years.

Gajda grew up in Garden City and spent summers at the lake starting when he was 10 years old. He left the area after college and his technology career took him all over, including to Los Angeles, which is where he and Malagon first met.

When Gajda first brought Malagon back to Michigan, it was a bit of a culture shock to find that most days consisted of going out on the lake, then heading to the bar for dinner, then doing the same thing the next day.

“He grew up here on the water, loves the water,” Malagon said. “I’m a city boy from L.A.”

When they started buying distressed properties to rehabilitate them, the project gave Malagon — who had worked in scenic and costume design for theaters — something to do as he worked to give each building its own unique character. But of course the main purpose was to help bring Manitou Beach back to being a vibrant community center.

Over the years, they’ve purchased and rehabilitated about 60 properties, sometimes renovating the buildings and sometimes tearing them down and building fresh. Their model has been to ask people what kind of businesses they want to see in the area, then find a tenant who’s interested in filling that need — and, hopefully, to sell the building to that tenant when the time is right.

One of the businesses they recruited was a salon, because women in the area said they were tired of needing to go to Adrian for hair appointments. Another was a dog groomer. 

To serve visitors to the area, they created Devils Lake Inn I, a guest house with three themed suites — the Auto Suite, the Celebrity Suite, and the Pantry Suite, where the decorations revolve around Michigan-made food. That project was followed by Devils Lake Inn Too, where all the suites are water-themed. Both of those businesses have now been sold.

Of the roughly 60 properties they purchased and rehabilitated, they’ve now sold about half.

The satellite tasting rooms represent another way to help bring new life to Manitou Beach. Faust House Scrap ’n’ Craft hosts Cherry Creek Cellars, the Manitou Beach Boathouse Art Gallery hosts Amoritas Vineyards, Ang & Co. hosts Chateau Fontaine, and Devils Lake View Living hosts Brengman Family Wines. Each of the businesses manages its own relationship with the winery it has paired with, while Gajda and Malagon have been helping things happen behind the scenes and working to promote the venture.

Cherry Creek Cellars is located near Brooklyn; the other three are from the Leelanau area. “We wanted to get a blend of local and northern wineries,” Gajda said.

Angie Hanawalt is the owner of Ang & Co., a gift shop at 141 N. Lakeview Blvd. She said she’s had people come to shop and stay for a glass of wine, and others come for the wine and stay to shop.

“It’s worked both ways. One has fed off of the other,” she said.

The plan is for the tasting rooms to remain open year round.