Hotel Programs Entertain Kids on a Grand Scale
By Karen Gould

Rock painting and stone skipping were enjoyed at Grand Hotel’s children’s program Saturday, July 9. Standing on the rocky shore, three serious stone skippers take aim at the water’s surface with carefully chosen stones. From left are Shelby Anton of Kalamazoo, Annie Frego of Ann Arbor, and Gracie Kirschbaum of Los Angeles, California.

At Grand Hotel, children never have to do the same activity twice, said Cara Tarantino, who has been with Grand Hotel for three years and now directs the children’s program. Daily scheduled activities include visiting Fort Mackinac and a butterfly house, going on hikes, and bowling.

In deep concentration, while adding bright red paint to her stone, is Kaylie Caraway of Tampa, Florida.

“We interact with the kids,” she said. “We’re not babysitters; we’re running a children’s program.”

Ms. Tarantino and her staff of three have had children from throughout the country participate in the program, as well as from Switzerland, England, and Scotland. They average about 20 children each day, except for the Fourth of July weekend, when the staff is increased to 19 to accommodate more than 100 children.

The hotel offers an afternoon and an evening children’s program every day of the week, from Memorial Day through Labor Day, free to overnight guests. Children 11 and under also stay and eat free at the hotel.

Alexis Cantz of Brookfield, Wisconsin, selects her next color.

The program is a great place for kids and is part of the hotel’s philosophy to offer family amenities to make the guests’ stay more comfortable and to attract more families to the hotel, said Ken Hayward, vice-president of sales and marketing. Grand Hotel, he added, is a generational vacation spot that attracts adults, who have visited the hotel as children, and then return years later with their own children.

At right:Quinn Fricke of Ashland, Nebraska, pauses in stone painting to contemplate her design.