The week leading up to the May 9 commencement will be a rush of appointments and reservations made by excited seniors and their parents at hotels and restaurants in and around the Mount Pleasant area.

But Warren senior Timmy Foster isn't too worried.

Foster's parents booked their hotel reservations in March to delay any unnecessary stress.

"Instead (of eating out), some of my best friends and I are doing an open house at our apartment," Foster said. "My parents and I will just go to the open house. It will be a nice way to end our time together."

For the rest of the senior class, there still is time left to claim spots, to eat out and to sleep in.

Dinner

The Brass Cafe and Saloon, on the corner of Main & Michigan Streets in downtown Mount Pleasant, is pretty booked up for graduation, especially with large parties, said Jamie Pyecoft, the bar manager.

"We've got just a few openings left later in the evening; we've been booked up about two weeks ago. People have been calling for months now," he said.

The menu prices change seasonally and they typically decide the same week what they plan to put on the menu.

The Italian Oven, 2336 S. Mission St., still has openings as of Monday for graduation day. There are no reservations at the restaurant, but preferred seating.

Manager Carly Bauknecht said with preferred seating it is not a guarantee that there will still be a seat available for the customers.

"We are letting people call ahead now on graduation," Bauknecht said. "We just don't want to say we are taking reservations, but I would recommend preferred seating to larger groups."

Bennigans, located at 2424 S. Mission St., is a neighborhood tavern that usually fills up with reservations anywhere between two to three weeks before graduation.

Morgan Saxton one of managers said students usually start booking at least a month or two months in advance.

"They're trying to get their spots, with people coming in before and after graduation. If we have anybody that is still calling, we see if they can adjust their time and see if they can come in later or earlier," Saxton said.

The prices vary and depend on what people are ordering, she said.

Hotels

Comfort Inn, 2424 S. Mission St., has bookings made usually around spring break. There are 138 rooms total. On May 8th, there are 10 rooms left for Friday night, and 10 rooms left Saturday as of Tuesday.

Danielle Reynolds, front desk associate, said people should book rooms as soon as they can.

"I don't think that people feel that many people are coming to stay in Mount Pleasant, so they wait to last minute. If they book (early), they can get what they want instead of something they don't want," she said.

Fairfield Inn & Suites, 2525 S. University Park Dr. still has room availability the weekend of communication. There are 10 rooms left to reserve on May 8 and on May 9 there are 10 rooms left and they range from suites to rooms with one bed to Jacuzzi rooms. There are 74 rooms total.

Nicole Bouman works at Fairfield and said they have been sold out for a while, but because of group cancellations, they have referred them to other locations.

"We've been getting a lot of calls and referring them to other hotels in town, we usually get calls first or second since we are right by campus. We do have stragglers and people walking in the day of, and it is kind of surprising," the Big Rapids senior said.

Super 8, 2323 South Mission, also has rooms left. There are 140 rooms total, and 25 available on May 8, and 45 on May 9, as of Tuesday.

Nicole Leatz, housekeeping manager, said every year, the facility is completely booked.

"Every year at graduation we are sold out," Leatz said. "We are right across from Central Michigan University and it is very convenient for parents to stay here."

"People always place hunt but what many people don't know is that each hotel calls each other, sometimes three times a day, and all the hotel's may raise their rates depending on availability and prices of other hotel's rooms," Leatz said.

Davisburg senior Abby Bauer has not looked into a place for dining with her family, who do not have plans to stay in town.

"Thankfully, I don't have to worry about a hotel. I should probably try to make reservations for dinner, but I might just end up having to wait in a long line." Bauer said.

"This doesn't stress me out, for me it's just my family eating out and it doesn't really matter where I eat dinner with them at."

lifeline@cm-life.com