Cutter Mackinaw Museum Board Offers Deck Tours
By Karen Gould

The bow of the icebreaker Mackinaw points toward Mackinac Island on her last voyage earlier this summer.

Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum organizers will meet Friday, August 11, to discuss the possibility of deck tours on the retired 62-year-old ice breaker Mackinaw. The cutter, which was decommissioned in June, is moored to the end of the old Railroad Dock in Mackinaw City.

Bill Shepler, who owns the dock and sits on the museum board, said deck tours now are given sporadically and, last week, 300 people stopped to see the vessel. He said the ship's visibility from the Mackinac Bridge and from the street have drawn people to her.

"She is so graceful," he said. "She says, 'Just come and see me.'"

Marilyn McFarland, executive director of the Mackinaw Area Visitors Bureau and another museum board member, said group tour companies already are calling her office to arrange tours of the ship next spring. Most of the interest right now is with student groups, especially fourth grade classes. Fourth grade studies focus on Michigan history and interest in a Great Lakes icebreaker fits into that program, she said.

The board will be working on a strategic plan for group tours, and discussions will include tour cost and the number of people each tour can accommodate, said Ms. McFarland.

For now, Mr. Shelper said the primary concern is to protect all of the ship's artifacts. He explained the ship is in perfect condition and could go out and cut ice now, and the protection of the artifacts and how they will be displayed is the focus of the group. They now are talking with experts and other museums on how to accomplish this goal, he said.

Originally, the museum group had planned to open the ship for tours this month, but have postponed a grand opening until June 2007.

Visitors on this summer's deck tours can look through the ship's windows and are given information on what they are seeing, said Mr. Shepler.

Until the group firms up a deck tour schedule, Mr. Shelper said if someone is available to monitor the tours, visitors can come aboard between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 5 through 12.

Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum, the group that saved her from the scrap yards of Baltimore, Maryland, now must raise funds to keep her.

Ms. McFarland said taxdeductible donations to the museum can be made through the Mackinaw City Web site, www.mackinawcity.com, on the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum page.