A Michigan hot dog, a Michigan red hot or, simply, a “Michigan — whatever you call it, it’s a snack that Plattsburgh town residents have enjoyed for nearly a century. Many say the town is home to the Michigan.

“People will wait hours for their Michigan,” said Michael Cashman, town supervisor. “It truly is something to identify with the culture here in Plattsburgh.”

As part of the town’s inaugural ‘Michigan Month’, Cashman has launched an incentive, giving you a reason to visit four restaurants that specialize in the delicacy.

To take part in the program, all you need is your passport and of course, an empty stomach to enjoy some dogs. Passports can be picked up at the town hall or at Clare & Carls, Gus’s, McSweeneys, and Ronnie’s.

“I’m participating in this Michigan because it’s about the only place you can get these,” one resident said. “I talk to people from other states and they have no idea what a Michigan is.”

Everyone who turns in a completed passport at town hall will get a bumper sticker. The first 25 people to do it will get a free t-shirt. People were already getting their passports stamped at Ronnie’s on Wednesday.

“It’s tomato sauce on a hotdog,” said Monique Worley, manager of Ronnie’s. “The recipes are all just a bit different; it depends on where you grew up. Ours aren’t spicy — there’s others that are.”

Ronnie’s still serves up the same recipe they purchased 61 years ago, but the origin of the Michigan remains a mystery.

“Why they call it a Michigan is beyond me, Worley said. “People come in and ask why they call it a Michigan and I say I have no idea.”