More to city than the Ghost Ship

MANISTEE -- Thousands of visitors descend upon this Victorian City each October to get scared out of their wits at the "Ghost Ship" housed inside the historic Lake Michigan car ferry S.S. City of Milwaukee.

Many of them don't know or care about the area's agricultural history, its once-thriving lumbering industry, the streets lined with historic homes or the manufacturing plants that once dotted the community.

This year, a grass-roots collection of community volunteers is working to change that. They hope to build on the popular Ghost Ship attraction with a monthlong, countywide tour dubbed Macabre Manistee County, a concept that weaves a series of 16 community events with a seasonal theme and ties to the area's cultural and historic roots.

"People like to hear about that (historical) stuff ... it brings back memories of when they were children," said Gary Makinen of Manistee, a grandson of Finnish immigrant John Makinen, who built the Bottle House Museum in the village of Kaleva in northeast Manistee County more than 65 years ago.

The house is made of glass bottles and is part of the tour. It also serves as the Finnish community's historical museum. It's a monument to the Northwest Bottling Works soda pop plant that operated decades ago less than a block away, where Makinen once worked for his grandfather. Now he's a volunteer at the museum for a few weekends each year.

"I think people like the uniqueness of it," Makinen said. "It's one of the more unusual things to see in Michigan."

Kaleva's historic railroad depot also is part of the tour, as is historic Ramsdell Theatre in downtown Manistee. The city's civic players will present a murder mystery later this month.

And the county's agriculture heritage will be celebrated at the Marilla Museum east of Copemish on Oct. 13., among several fall festivals going on in villages around the county.

"We decided since there are so many events that have been around for some time, it would be a good idea to market all of them as one," said Vince Hancock, a S.S. City of Milwaukee staff member.

Organizers there came up with the cross-promotion idea several months ago as a way of expanding its drawing power for the Ghost Ship, while pointing thousands of visitors who come there each fall to other local events and attractions.

"When we started looking around, we saw so many other things going on around the county," said Linda Spencer, general manager of the historic car ferry that's moored on the north side of Manistee Lake.

Spencer said organizers wanted to expand the audience for the Ghost Ship tours, now in their seventh year with more than 3,200 visitors annually, into more of a regional attraction. One way to do that was to cross-promote other autumn events going on in and around Manistee.

The approach seems to be working, Spencer said, as the car ferry already is receiving inquiries about Macabre Manistee County from residents in communities like Cadillac and Gaylord.

"We've really put more preparation into this year than we ever have before," Spencer said. "I think this year is really going to out-do anything we've done before."

Visitors consider the Manistee area's history a significant part of its allure as the community segues from a working-class, blue-collar town to more of a tourism and resort community.

"We were just saying how much we like the town -- the architecture is really cool," said Judy Sturley, a teacher from Grand Ledge who made her first trip to the city with several friends last weekend. "Most of the original buildings are being used, and kept up."

Downtown merchants also said they've experienced an uptick in business this year, thanks in part to the community's growing reputation as a tourist destination.

"The majority of business owners I've talked to have said they're up this year," said Shelley Doyen, owner of The Ideal Kitchen shop on River Street downtown. The highlight of her summer was overhearing a visitor talk on his cell phone outside her shop and extolling the city's attractions.

"He was calling someone saying, 'You've got to come to Manistee.' It was so cool," she said.

A complete schedule of events and attractions from Macabre Manistee County is available at www.visitmanistee.com

Photos

Staff members Vince Hancock and Linda Spencer of the historic car ferry S.S. City of Milwaukee work on a display for Macabre Manistee County, a monthlong series of events and displays mixing seasonal themes for fall and Halloween with some of the county's historic and cultural attractions.