Full House
Lodgings Booked for Busy Weekend
By Ryan Schlehuber

Vacancy at hotels, motels, and campgrounds in the Straits area this week is scarce, which reflects the popular draw of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Mackinac Bridge this weekend. Many places have been booked well in advance.

"We can always tell when there is a big event coming up," said Michelle Bouschor, representative of the Kewadin Casino and Hotel in St. Ignace. "We've definitely had many calls about the bridge anniversary weekend."

She said the hotel's 81 rooms have been booked for two weeks. The hotel, owned by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, has a waiting list.

Tim Harrington, who manages the Best Western Harbor Pointe in St. Ignace, the host hotel for state officials attending the celebration, said his 150-room motel has been booked for more than a month in advance.

"This is definitely a big weekend," he said.

The Budget Host in St. Ignace has also been booked well in advance.

"We've been turning away people for quite some time now," said the hotel's manager, Lynann Spencely.

The 58-room hotel has been booked since May.

Colonial House Inn in St. Ignace expects to be filled by week's end, however, as of Monday, July 23, the bed and breakfast had two rooms available, said the assistant manager, Melanie Goodrich.

All 45 full-service sites at the KOA campground in St. Ignace are full, as reservations have been pouring in, said Fred Dandona, operator of the US-2 business.

"We've been very busy," he said. "We've had a lot of reservations calls. We're anticipating to be quite busy throughout the weekend."

KOA in St. Ignace also has 140 sites with utilities and 60 tent sites on the premises.

The lodging business in Mackinaw City is just as busy.

All three of the village's campgrounds and about 85% of the town's hotels and motels are booked, according to the Mackinaw Area Visitors Bureau Monday, July 23.

"It's like our Fourth of July weekend all over again," said Diane Klose, the bureau's administrative assistant. "A lot of our hotels that aren't full yet have only one or two rooms available" as of Monday.

Mackinac Island, one of the state's biggest tourist attractions, is usually busy during this time of the year, said Chris West of the Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau, however, this particular weekend, even Island businesses are feeling the surge of interest in the bridge anniversary from visitors.

"Things have been going great for all our hotels all summer, but we're definitely hearing a lot of interest from our customers about the bridge anniversary," he said. "Almost all of our hotels are full for the weekend."

Although there is still some availability at Mission Point Resort, front desk supervisor Chris Howe said the window of opportunity for an available room is closing quickly.

"Last night, we had 65 rooms available," he said Monday. "When I came in today, it was half that. They are really going fast."

Grand Hotel is expected to have a full house this weekend, said Bob Tagatz, the hotel's concierge.

Although the 385-room hotel is busy with several group conferences this weekend, Mr. Tagatz said the hotel has received many inquiries about the Mackinac Bridge celebration from its guests and callers.