Crowds up for events of the Nautical City Festival
by Richard Lamb, Advance Editor
If the buzz around this year?s festival is any indication about its success, the 2009 Nautical City Festival will go down in history as one of the best. With attendance up at virtually every event, the crowds had many entertainment choices over the big week of activities.
Festival chairman Dennis Downie said the festival tent filled to near capacity on Friday and Saturday, spurred by special events like a mechanical bull on Friday and a bikini contest on Saturday.
?From what everyone is telling us, it has been record crowds in the tent every night,? Downie said. ?The bikini contest was great, as far as bringing people in and the night before was the mechanical bull, which was a real hit, especially for the people who had no courage but wanted to watch.? Another change brought even more to the festival tent, which featured live bands each night.
?Probably the best decision we made was giving the softball players free admission to the tent Friday and Saturday night. I think we benefited and the whole town of Rogers City benefited,? Downie said.
?We had between 5,000-6,000 people in the tent on Friday and Saturday night. Not at one time, but that is about what passed through.? ACTIVITIES COORDINATED by Mark Thompson, curator of the Presque Isle County Historical Museum went off smoothly and brought many more people into the area for special activities. A big crowd gathered as many as 10 deep around a circle at the powwow at Lakeside Park. American Indian ceremonies honored the heritage of the Native Americans and fascinated the crowds who stayed to watch.
The arrival of the canoe group Saginaw Voyageurs during the powwow added to the event. The voyagers have been making canoe trips aboard their 600-poound replica canoe most every year since 1986, dressed in clothing made to look like that of the 1700s. They started this year?s tour from St. Helena Island near St. Ignace and finished at Rogers City.
Thompson said the activities at the museum were very well attended, and nearly 250 pounds of buffalo burgers were sold over a couple of days. Attendance at the opening of the Mark Smolinski display at the museum, honoring Rogers City?s only Super Bowl winner, added to the excitement of the day.
THE M– USEUM also coordinated the festival?s signature event, the visit by the tall ship Welcome from Traverse City. Captain Mark Thompson, no relation to Rogers City?s Mark Thompson, said the cruises and tours of the ship were well received. ?It has been great for us. There were a lot of people aboard and many interested. We had a lot of great sails with a full boat on every single cruise,? Thompson said. The light winds didn?t allow much sailing over the weekend, as the boat sailed into the harbor Thursday from the north under power and all the cruises came under the power of the twin Volvo engines.
The grand parade, with grand marshal Mike Eustice and Miss Rogers City Julie LaBar and her court, featured a fly-by by a Coast Guard helicopter. Meanwhile at Sports Park, a large crowd circled th
FESTIVAL COMMITTEE member Mike Myers coordinated the event with the Coast Guard, which included a landing at Lakeside Park, near the Sportsmen?s Club chicken barbecue. ?It was fantastic to finally be able to pull it off after eight months of planning. He hovered, circled and checked out the landing area and deemed it appropriate to land. It was my idea to let the kids touch the helicopter and sit in it and they did that,? Myers said.
A threat of thunderstorms late in the day fizzed out as skies cleared for a grand fireworks display to close the festival.