Attendance, Income, Sales Up at Mackinac State Historic Parks
By Karen Gould

Members of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission pose at Fort Mackinac with a sweeping view of the harbor below. They are (from left) Laurie Stupak, Richard Manoogian, Frank Kelley, Joan Porteous, Audrey Jaggi, Vice-chairman Karen Karam, Chairman Dennis Cawthorne, and Director Phil Porter.

“Year to date, our attendance is up, our attendance income is up, and our museum store sales are up,” said Phil Porter, director of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission during the commission’s Friday, May 29 meeting. “Of course, it’s early in the year and two bad days in July could wipe this all out, but I am hoping this is an encouraging trend. Attendance is up 3.3 percent, attendance revenue is up 5.0 percent, and store sales are up 6.5 percent,” he said.

Chairman Dennis Cawthorne congratulated Richard Manoogian, who was reappointed to the Commission by Governor Jennifer Granholm. Mr. Manoogian now has been appointed by two successive governors. Also during the Commission’s Friday, May 29 meeting, Mr. Cawthorne welcomed newly appointed Commission member Laurie Stupak. With her appointment, women now hold the majority on the board for the first time in the history of the Commission, said Mr. Cawthorne. She joins Joan Porteus, Karen Karam, and Audrey Jaggi on the seven-member panel. Mr. Cawthorne noted that Margaret Price, the first female commissioner, was appointed by Governor G. Mennen Williams in 1949.

In addition to Mr. Cawthorne and Mr. Manoogian, former Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley serves on the Commission in the gender minority.

Representative Gary McDowell (D-Rudyard) attended the meeting and addressed commissioners concerning the proposed elimination of the Commission’s fiscal year 2006 $1.5 million general fund appropriation by the governor’s office.

“I’m very confident that funding will be restored,” he said. “I know the governor and she’s put in an awful position. She had to propose a balanced budget. I think everyone understands that.”

Mr. Porter advised the board that on April 28, the Michigan Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Department of History, Arts and Libraries voted to restore the $1.5 million appropriation to the Commission’s budget. The funding still must face full Senate approval and pass the budget process in the House, before being given final approval by Governor Jennifer Granholm.

The subcommittee, said Mr. Porter, sent a positive signal by recommending the Commission’s general fund appropriation remain at current levels, rather than reducing the funding by $200,000, which is what commissioners had thought it could raise by raising existing fees and adding new fees.

More than 6,000 pages of Fort Mackinac’s quartermaster records have been uncovered, said Mr. Porter, and will provide valuable details about the purchase, cost, and use of supplies and materials between 1825 and 1850 at Fort Mackinac. The records are in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and the Commission will use a $5,200 grant from the Tawani Foundation to identify and copy the records. An independent researcher is working on the project.

“This is huge,” said Mr. Porter, “and we’re extremely excited about it because we will look at documents that are 175 years old that have not been looked at by human eyes since that period. They were filled out by officers at Fort Mackinac, sent to Washington, filed away, and unearthed almost like an archeological treasure now in 2005.”

The papers, he said, “will open our eyes as to what Fort Mackinac looked like. The information contained in the documents will be used for accurate restorations, interpretative programs, and publications.”

In his Director’s report to the Commission, Mr. Porter said the park operations crew has completed the restoration work on Mission Church. The fence, front steps, and belfry have been repaired. Both interior and exterior painting has been done and renovations are finished in one room of the basement. At 176 years old, Mission Church is Michigan’s oldest standing church building. The repairs were funded by West Bluff cottagers John and Penny Barr.

Other repairs around the park have been completed, including construction of a platform on the Fort Mackinac Tea Room veranda, which will be used for equipment to accommodate evening dinners. Mr. Porter said the mainland crew prepared for the installation of exhibits at the Millwright’s House at Historic Mill Creek in Mackinaw City, which opened May 4.

The Mackinac Island airport will be closed Tuesday, June 7, through Thursday, June 9, while the Michigan Department of Transportation, Bureau of Aeronautics will make repairs to small cracks on the runway surface. These dates offer the least amount of disruption to Island activities, said Mr. Porter.

Mackinac Associates, a friends group for Mackinac State Historic Parks that has raised money for many park programs, especially educational outreach programs at schools around the state, has decided to use its spring appeal fundraiser to support three new interpretive positions, Mr. Porter said. The staff will include a musician and a tour guide at Colonial Michilimackinac, as well as a Fort Mackinac interpreter for evening programs.

Other projects funded by Mackinac Associates include a baptismal font for Ste. Anne’s Church at Fort Michilimackinac designed by David Kronberg, an exhibit designer. He also oversaw production of a video about the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse tower for visitors who are not able to climb the tower steps.

A new book based on more than 4,000 glass plate negatives of photographs taken by William Gardiner around the turn of the 20th century is being completed by Chief Curator Steve Brisson and will be available this fall, said Mr. Porter.

During the meeting, Mr. Brisson displayed the latest museum collection acquisitions, including postcards, glassware, and souvenir items.

Michigan Assistant Attorney General James Riley was not in attendance but submitted an opinion based on initial research indicating the Commission does not have the authority to lease state park land to a commercial business. The research was spurred by a request at the Commission’s March meeting from Autore Oil and Propane Company of Cedarville for the Commission to provide state park land for a large propane service tank near the British Landing dock. Mr. Porter said later that the Commission will remain open to new proposals the city’s search for safer delivery of propane on the Island.

A concern about safety while transporting small tanks of propane was brought to the Commission in March, with the suggestion that the Commission lease park land that would hold a large service tank near the British Landing dock, which is owned by the state.

The commission approved contracting with Anderson, Tackman and Company, PLC of Kincheloe to serve as auditors for the Historic Projects Division, Revenue Bond beginning this year and up to the next five years. Three firms submitted bids, with Anderson, Tackman being the lowest at $67,500.

The next Mackinac State Parks commission meeting will be Friday, July 22, at 1:30 p.m. on Mackinac Island. The location of the next meeting is not yet determined.