New Amusement Park Coming to Grayling?

Thanks to my friend Amanda for this heads up:

Anyone been up to Grayling in awhile? No, not Gaylord where “Call of the Wild” museum is, but south of there. Well, in the past year the township council unanimously approved the concept plans of a $161-million, four-season, 1,800-acre amusement park (Cedar Point is only 364 acres)!

MainStreet America, Inc. is a newer company consisting of Rochester-based Axiom Entertainment, a private, entertainment-based marketing company that specializes in socially responsible television programming for families. It’s rumored that Disney and Universal Studio are working along with Axiom to bring the park to fruition. The new park may be called, “Four Seasons” others are reporting that it might be called MainStreet America. [1]

Mybaycity.com reports that the Ilitches are involved with Axiom Entertainment, “Mike Ilitch Jr., 48, associated with Axiom Entertainment, is one of seven children of Mike and Marian Ilitch, founders of the Little Caesar's pizza chain in 1959. They own the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings and have a large interest in the Motor City Casino [2]. The couple has seven children: son Christopher Ilitch (born June 1965) is CEO and President of Ilitch Holdings, Inc.; daughter Denise Ilitch (born November 1955) is an attorney. Other children are Ron Ilitch (born June 1957), Michael Ilitch, Jr.; Lisa Ilitch Murray; Atanas Ilitch; and Carole Ilitch Trepeck.” [3]

According to residents of the depressed area, “it’s something that’s desperately needed.” 2000 new jobs will be created—700 full-time and the rest depending on the season. According to spokesman Patrick Crosson, 95% of the employees will be from a 75-mile radius of the park. Minimum wage would be $8 per hour, with many of the jobs, like theme-park ride operator requiring a college degree and paying approximately $36,000 a year.

The Gaylord Herald Times reported, “Another feature of the park included Crosson’s suggestions that the park would use several alternative energy sources including solar, wind and battery mixed with traditional sources like gas.” [4] Another report says as many as 200 windmills will be used to help power the park.

MainStreet America/Four Seasons would be built just north of the junction of I-75 and US-127. Included in the plans are three roller coasters (one open year round); a race car track doubling as a snowmobile track; a working farm with horses; indoor and outdoor water parks; rock climbing; indoor surfing; industrial, timber and military exhibits; hotels and campgrounds; and more.

Most local residents are in favor of the park to help bring money to the high-unemployment, low-income county. Seasonal or weekend residents with vacation/retirement homes (called flatlanders or downstaters by locals), have quite a different opinion. They’re worried that it will bring crowds and traffic to the quiet town. Another worry by some locals has to do with the environment. What will happen to the ground water with the new proposed park? Residents depend on wells for water and would be very upset if the wells dry up.

According to a story in the Detroit Free Press, “Other locals bristle at the criticism, especially from out-of-towners.

“We’d like to think we’re smart enough to do this on our own, rather than having people from downstate telling us how we should live,” Grayling Township Supervisor Terry Wright said. “Every time we try to do anything positive for the people up here, we get bombarded with criticism from the people who don’t live here.” [5]

What ever the case may be, in my opinion the only way this is going to succeed is if the planners have something that no one else has…be it a spectacular, ground-breaking new roller coaster or a huge indoor wave/surf pool. Something has to bring in the people. Being a year-round park just won’t cut it. Grayling is approximately 200 miles north of Detroit and over a three-hour drive, where as Cedar Point is approximately 140 miles and two to two and a half hours away with 69 rides, 17 roller coasters and a gigantic waterpark. I’m optimistic and I’ll get a group of friends to visit MainStreet America/Four Seasons when it opens in 2010. Anyone remember AutoWorld in Flint? [6] Hey, I can’t be the only one that visited it!

Interesting article: How to snare a job at Main Street America

9&10 News (Northern Michigan News) has a short video: www.9and10news.com/category/story/?id=117305

Notes & References:

[1] www.mlui.org/landwater/fullarticle.asp?fileid=17169

[2] Wikipedia: Marian Ilitch, one of the founders of the MotorCity Casino, purchased controlling interest from various minor stockholders and Mandalay Resort Group (Circus Circus Michigan)/MGM Mirage Resorts in 2005. Michigan gaming laws prohibit one company from owning more than one casino property in a market, so to affect the Mandalay Resort/MGM Mirage merger the publicly traded companies had to divest MotorCity Casino, choosing to keep MGM Grand Detroit. Mrs. Ilitch paid $525 million for Mandalay Resort Group's 53.5 percent interest in the MotorCity Casino enterprise.

With Mrs. Ilitch as sole owner, MotorCity Casino Hotel is reportedly one of the largest independently owned casinos in the U.S. and likely the largest and only 100 percent female-owned casino enterprise in the United States.

[3] www.mybaycity.com/scripts/Article_View.cfm?ArticleID=1628&NewspaperID=366

[4] www.gaylordheraldtimes.com/articles/2007/06/01/breaking_news/doc465d7a444fa83535338911.txt

[5] www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070902/NEWS06/709020636

[6] www.flinthistory.com/places/autoworld.shtml