Park Bans Stickers, Hopes City Will, Too

Operations in Mackinaw City get most of the credit for an overall increase in tourist attendance at Mackinac State Historic Parks this year, with the number of visitors there increasing between 3% and 6%, even as attendance fell 3.53% at Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island, park commissioners learned during their meeting in Lansing Wednesday, December 16. Overall, the agency saw an increase of 0.14% in visitors and 5.96% in attendance income.

Attendance increased the most at Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse at 6.07%. At Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park, attendance was up 6.07%, and at Colonial Michilimackinac it rose 3.58%. Fort Mackinac was the only site to lose attendance.

Stickers and adhesive-backed decals have been banned from use by businesses operating in Mackinac Island State Park, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission decided, and now it is hoping the City of Mackinac Island will follow suit. Cleaning up litter from the advertising stickers is costing the park money.

"The use of the adhesivebacked stickers on Mackinac Island is proliferating and it's becoming a problem," said Phil Porter, director of the parks. "They fall off people's shirts and coats and whatever they put them on and they end up on our streets, our roads, our fences, our historic buildings. When that happens, we have to clean them up. It's a mess and it defaces our property."

No businesses licensed to do business in the park use stickers, although the could have before the new rule. Commission action to ban their use, therefore, is as much an example for the city, which has also complained that stickers litter the sidewalks downtown.

Concessions, Permits

Grand Hotel's permit to operate the Fort Mackinac Tea Room concession was renewed for a year at the same 7% fee, although commissioners had hoped to increase that fee back to 10% of gross sales, where it had been before last year. Commissioners agreed to the hotel's request and hold their fee at 7% because the number of visitors to the fort is declining and the concession provides a service to fort visitors.

Park revenue from this source has fallen about 50% from a three-year average from 2006, 2007, and 2008.

In 2009, the concession's gross sales were $345,342, generating $24,174 in concession revenue for the park at 7%. The previous three years averaged $480,607 in gross sales, generating an average annual concession revenue of $48,060 at 10%.

The commission renewed a lease with Michigan Cable Partners of Springfield, Illinois, for land for its satellite dishes, building, and antenna tower. The five-year lease is $150 a year.

A two-year use permit was approved for Grand Hotel for a fee of $100. Both the hotel and park claim land the hotel uses for a flower garden, drive, and walkway off Cadotte Avenue. The two-year permit identifies and regulates small trespasses on park property.

Carriage Fees

Commercial horse operators on the Island made no request for a fare increase for the coming season. The commission sets the price of a maximum fare the businesses are allowed to charge.

Adults taking a sightseeing tour will pay $23.50 and a ticket for children ages five through 12 remains at $9. Livery prices are based on the number of persons in a carriage with a four-person fee up to $100 per hour. Taxi fares are based on seven zones established on the Island and fees range from $4.75 a person from downtown to any hotel and up to $7.25 per person between downtown and British Landing and other areas of similar distance.

Drive-yourself carriage rentals are based on the number of passengers with a two-passenger carriage costing $60 per hour. Saddle horses will be $38 per hour.

Park Operations

Twenty weddings were held at park venues and 13 wedding reservations have been made for 2010.

The park received $33,939 in voluntary bicycle fees from the three ferry companies that serve the Island, a 7% increase over 2008.

The campaign to raise funds for kitchen renovations at the Scout Barracks continues with $22,314 reached toward the $100,000 goal.

Under a state reorganization this year, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, which oversees Mackinac State Historic Parks, was moved from the Department of History, Arts, and Libraries back to the Department of Natural Resources, where it resided until 2001. Now, the Department of Environmental Quality has also been reattached to the DNR and the name of the department will be changed January 17 to Department of Natural Resources and Environment. The splits were ordered by Republican Governor John Engler in 2001 to save money, and the reconstitution has been ordered by Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm this year for the same reason.