Nautical Festival preview

If there were any doubts about the status of the 2009 Nautical City Festival in Rogers City, after its reorganization last fall, they were erased with the schedule?s publication in June. Packed with new events, and old favorites, what really stands out is the great amount of community support behind this year?s revitalized event. An impressive list of more than 110 sponsors and advertisers answered the call when the reorganized Nautical City Festival Committee asked for help, one of the first signs that this years? festival would be successful.

The festival began Tuesday with the moving Sailors? Memorial ceremony, highlighted by participation from the U.S. Coast Guard, and runs through Sunday in Rogers City. The grand parade, featuring grand marshal Mike Eustice and new Miss Rogers City Julie LaBar and her court, is 12:30 p.m. Sunday, running north on Third Street beginning at Gilpin Field. A grand fireworks display at 10 p.m. Sunday puts a ribbon around this year?s festival.

ONE HIGHLIGHT from this year?s festival is a visit from the armed sloop Welcome, set to give tours and cruises at this year?s festival from the small boat harbor. The replica of a 1700s sloop, built some 30 years ago at Fort Michilimackinac, seems a perfect fit with the nautical theme.

It also goes well with the ?Rendezvous? event on the grounds of the Presque Isle County Historical Museum. History reenactors, dressed up in the clothing from the late 1700s, will demonstrate what life was like back in the day when the original Welcome was built. Other highlights of the 2009 festival include many activities planned for the big tent in Lakeside Park, near the boat harbor, in Rogers City. Live bands perform each night of the festival and plenty of free events for families and children are on the schedule each day.

THE FIRST STEP in the reorganization process for the festival came when presidents from the six member organizations (the Rogers City Lions Club, the Rogers City Optimist Club, the Rogers City Kiwanis Club, the Rogers City Servicemen?s Club, the Knights of Columbus Council 1705, and the Rogers City Area Chamber of Commerce) met last October revive the festival, which had come under scrutiny. In January, the festival made public their intentions to right the festival ship in an open letter to the public.

?These changes were necessary as a result of the fiscal mismanagement of funds over the last three years. The situation is in an ongoing process of being sorted out to determine how this occurred and to what extent the damage may be,? the letter said. While 10 members of the committee focused on the 2009 festival, two members were assigned to look back into finances. An ongoing investigation

has involved law enforcement. Stricter checks and balances brought back this year will make the festival accountable to its member organizations and the community for its finances in 2009. Festival chairman is Dennis Downie and other members include Jim Fleis, Becky Hanson, Ken Cain, Richard Bennett, Mike Myers, Paul Dubbs, Mark Potter, Tab Coseo, Bob Starnes, Mike Peltz and Gary Nowak.

Brochures are available at many locations throughout town, including the Rogers City Chamber of Commerce. A full-page advertisement in this edition gives a summary of the events scheduled for the Nautical City Festival.

For more information on the Nautical City Festival, call the festival office at (989) 734-4656, e-mail to ncf@i2k.com or call the Rogers City Chamber of Commerce at (989) 734-2535 or e-mail the chamber at rccchamber@lhi.net. The Presque Isle County Historical Museum can be reached at (989) 734-4121 or at e-mail address bradleymuseum@yahoo.com. Web sites to visit to find out more about the festival, the museum and Rogers City include: nauticalcityfestival.com, the bradleyhouse.org, rogerscity.com and PIAdvance.com

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