04/27/2007

Mackinac Parks Open for 2007 Season

Mackinac Island, Mich. — Mackinac State Historic Parks (MSHP) kicks off the 2007 tourist season at 9 a.m. on May 7 with cannon salutes fired at its two forts. These will be the first of thousands of demonstrations to be performed at the Mackinac parks, all day long, seven days a week over a five-month season lasting from May to early October.

Over 65,000 Michigan students, their teachers, and chaperones will visit Colonial Michilimackinac, Fort Mackinac, Historic Mill Creek, and Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse by the first week of June. By October, over 350,000 guests will have watched a water-powered sawmill operate, interacted with soldiers from the 1770s and the 1880s, sampled open-hearth cooking, hiked miles of nature trails, and taken in the panoramic view of the Mackinac Bridge from the lighthouse tower.

Colonial Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City and Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island are set to open Monday, May 7. Historic Mill Creek in Mackinaw City will open Tuesday, May 8 and Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, also in the city, will open Monday, May 14. MSHP’s Historic Downtown Mackinac Island buildings open Saturday, June 9.

All MSHP sites feature live programs with historic interpreters in authentic period costumes as well as exhibits, displays, and videos in settings of original or reconstructed historic structures.

New programs at the Mackinaw City parks include the following:

--Baggatiway—a lacrosse-like game originated by Native Americans—to be played daily June-August outside Colonial Michilimackinac (the public is invited to join in the fun)

--Twilight Hike, an evening discovery tour of north woods plants and animals, to be held at Historic Mill Creek on August 18

--And the installation of new exhibits and period landscaping at Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse as well as restoration of the lighthouse barn.

Back by popular demand on Mackinac Island are evening hours and dinner service at Fort Mackinac from June 22 to August 25, a vintage baseball game on July 21, and a candlelight tour of historic downtown buildings on July 31.

Mackinac State Historic Parks is a family of living history museums and nature parks in northern Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac and is an agency within the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries. Its sites—which are accredited by the American Association of Museums—include Fort Mackinac, Mackinac Island State Park, and Historic Downtown on Mackinac Island, and Colonial Michilimackinac, Historic Mill Creek, and Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse in Mackinaw City. Visitor information is available at 231-436-4100 or on the web at www.MackinacParks.com.