Chapter One: A Special Place CHYRON: “I have kind of fallen in love with Saugatuck. It’s a really special place.” (Elizabeth Chados) Mike Peel 28:33 Saugatuck means, I think it means mouth of the river in Pottawotami, I think. Judy Oberholtzer 24:04 … it’s probably an Indian word… Vicki & Scott Phelps 10:32:25 Vicky: It’s an Indian word, I heard these little villages by the mouth of the river Scott: That’s what I’ve heard. Maryjo Lemanski 23:00 …I’ve no idea, it’s gotta mean something. I’m sure it’s a native American name Judy Anthrop 26:18 I think it means ice cream (laughs).. Captain, Star of Saugatuck 14:43:40 I’d like to welcome everybody on board the Star of Saugatuck. Saugatuck is an Indian name and one of the translations for that name is lake by the water, which basically means the mouth of the river. David Swan 07:00:00 Kalamazoo River is the 7th largest river emptying into Lake Michigan. It’s one of the last remaining undeveloped mouths in Michigan. Captain SS 14:42:38 It originally started out it was called Kalamazoo… for a while it was referred to as The Flats, or referred to as Newark for a while then they decided on the name of Belle Haven. The necessary paperwork was filled out and right before it was sent off someone added a piece of paper with the word Saugatuck on it and they pasted over the name of Belle Haven and that’s how we got the name Saugatuck. (On the Geography of Saugatuck/Douglas Area) D .Swan 06:48:55 I’m standing in the Saugatuck Dunes at the very north end of Oval Beach and Oval Beach is surrounded by some pretty remarkable places… D. Swan 06:49:33 … behind us is Mt. Baldhead, which is I wanna say 120 acre park and with rolling forested back dunes leading down to Ox Bow School of Art… D. Swan 06:50:08 …and wrapping its arm around Ox-Bow is Tallmadge Woods… D. Swan 06:50:28 And then we have the Ox-Bow lagoon which is actually where the Kalamazoo river mouth entered into Lake Michigan until 1906… D. Swan 06:51:03 …continuing north we have 177 acre Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area. Beautiful inter-dunal wetlands… then on the other side of the Kalamazoo River is the former Dennison property… D. Swan 06:51:52 …and north of the former Denison is the Saugatuck Dunes State Park, 1000 acre park which was established in the early 80s. (On Singapore and early Saugatuck D. Swan 07:04:30 On the other side of the river is the site of Singapore, the very ghost town of Singapore, which was one of the first establishments on the west side, on the west side of Lake Michigan. Jeff Wilcox 55:55 Basically Singapore was an entrepreneurial event. Captain SS 15:05:36 …it was started back in 1838 by a group of investors from the east coast. They had visions of building a town here that rivaled Chicago. J. Wilcox 56:20 …people from the east coast came here and started timbering, so the principle structure out there was a saw mill… Captain SS 15:05:45 … one of the bigger mills this side of lake Michigan at the time and they built a few other buildings as well, like a bank, a general store, a hotel and a few other buildings… Jim Schmiechen 10:50:04 White pine lumber was in great demand for building houses all over the Midwest. Captain SS 15:06:31 Everything went pretty good here in Singapore until October of 1871 just a couple of days after the big Chicago fire, had the biggest forest fire this side of the state. Matter of fact that fire was so big it burnt this whole side of the state right to the ground… Singapore though survived the fire…. But after the fire it became too expensive to bring the logs down the river this far so the town of Singapore went bankrupt. Took the (sawmill and they sold it… took the other) buildings and moved those up to the Flats, which is know as Saugatuck today. The rest of the town of Singapore though eventually was covered up by the shifting sand dunes. J. Wilcox 56:52 During that time timber and leather and that sort of thing had to be transshipped on small vessels out to the lake. So there was the building of those vessels and the tanneries, there were 2 tanneries in town… J. Schmiechen 10:51:40 … The stockyards in Chicago had a lot of skin and they would send it over here-raw skin from the butchering… JS 10:52:12 … then it was tanned into leather, dried and sent back to Chicago. Captain SS 14:50:31 Between 1870 and 1910 Saugatuck was considered one of the busier ship building port lakes at that time. Built a lot of tug boats and sailing vessels there and they built barges as well. J. Schmiechen 11:29:28 … It was a big ship building port. There were 190 ships up until the 1930s, some were huge schooners and a lot of them were tug boats. Narration: As the lumber industry declined the area’s commerce began to reinvent itself. Douglas turned its biggest lumber mill into a basket factory and Saugatuck filled those baskets with local peaches and apples. J. Wilcox 57:30 … when most of the land was cleared after the Civil War the timber business petered out… that’s when fruit farming began. So, we were still building boats for fruit farming, outlighters they were called to get them out to the larger ships. Narration: For a number of years Chicago had an insatiable appetite both for the fresh produce and for the freshly tanned hides from Michigan. J. Schmiechen 11:30:00 Saugatuck was the second largest industrial port in Michigan in terms of exports. In one month in the 1860s I recall 60,000 pounds of leather were shipped out of here back to Chicago for making shoes. Narration: By the 1960s Saugatuck’s once thriving commercial fishing business was also in decline the victim of both environmental changes and government regulation. M. Peel 06:04 … when we opened the Wellend Canal up which opened the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes sea lampreys came in and devastated the commercial fishery… M Peel 09:19 … in the end interference and regulation took place. They banned gill netting about in the 60s. Narration: But as each local industry declined Saugatuck and Douglas began to fall back on that most abundant of resources, the lake and its environs (Impressions of Saugatuck) Elizabeth Chados 14:26:06 When I first arrived to Saugatuck the thing that really struck me was the natural beauty around here. When you come here for the first time you see how special this particular spot in West Michigan truly is Kristin Armstrong 09:10:51 We have this beautiful environment, we have dunes, we have forests, we got great places for hiking, swimming, beaching all of that. We are also located 35 minutes from a major urban city center-our proximity to Grand Rapids is enormous. Vicki & Scott Phelps 10:20:40 … we’re close enough to Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago and all of that, it can be a daily getaway, a weekend getaway, and there is so much to do in the area, it’s always had that appeal for people. M. Lemnski 16:30 … so there’s a lot of opportunities for people, tourists, anyone that visits the area … (History of Saugatuck as a Tourist Destination) Narration: There can be little doubt today that the economic engine that drives the towns of Saugatuck and Douglas is tourism. J. Wilcox 58:20 … the social collorary to the Arts and Crafts Movement was back to nature and that’s when and people started to have more money and they could get out of the city for the season but people came up here for fun in the 1890s and that’s what kicked off the tourist phenomenon… J. Schmiechen 10:54;30 Chicago is the fastest growing city in the world by 1890. It also has slums and a lot of poverty. It has a lot of filth and so on… One of the ways to deal with the city in the days without air conditioning is getting on the boat… and there is free air conditioning over here. And so by the 1890s people are discovering Saugatuck that has some nice hotels, nice beaches….. That really explodes around 1900. Narration: Situated on Lakeshore Drive in Douglas is one of the oldest continuously operating boarding houses in the area, the Rosemont Inn… Pat & Pieter Lyon 3:11:35 It was built in 1901 and opened up as a boarding house for lodgers who were logging the old version of forest in this area. … Around 1911 or so that was the first pictures that we have of tourists actually on the porch looking at the lake. (The Big Pavilion) Narration: As more tourists began to come to Saugatuck Douglas there arose in town an enormous rival to the lure of peace and quiet and “back to nature”… On July 4th 1909 the Big Pavilion opened its doors for the first time. Jane Van Dis This is the Big Pavilion where I danced and danced my life away. J. Schmiechen 10:55:37 1909 in some ways was the turning point with the Big Pavilion. The largest dance hall in America east of California. It cost $2.25 for a round trip on a steam ship from Chicago. The town becomes packed with people. Peggy Boyce 20:00:10 ( CUT??… in the 40s it was very popular.) We didn’t have the marinas so the boats that came in would raft out from the Pavilion docks. And with all these boats in town and the dancing upstairs and a different movie every night. Jane Van Dis People came from all over. They came with the interurban in front of the Il Forno. They would come on that little train from Holland and then take it back again. A gorgeous place with the lights and so forth. I was in love with that place. Narration: For 50 years the Big Pavilion played its part in luring vistors to Saugatuck Douglas but around noon on Friday May 6th 1960 the enormous wooden structure caught fire and was swiftly consumed. L. Kinnaman 20:02:25 I watched the Pavilion burn to the ground from my kindergarten window. Although my grandmother and my great aunt shared beautiful stories about the pavilion with me, they both met their husbands there, dancing, and they loved the pavilion and had many lovely evenings there. My personal memory is a little crazier, dramatic, it was very frightening… Narration: There is no question that the Big Pavilion played a significant role in the history of tourism here in Saugatuck, but of course it was by no means the only draw J. Schmiechen 11:10:10 By the 1920s and 1930s the city fathers were marketing this as an art center and a resort center… J. Schmiechen 11:03:58 and then you can add the Oval Beach, which opened up in 1930-very big deal in West Michigan… J. Schmiechen 10:56:04 …there is a boom in hotels, guesthouse, beaches and that really begins a different kind of culture here Pat & Pieter Lyon 3:34: … I was told by one of the prior owners of this inn that it was the first bed and breakfast in Michigan in the early 1950s, first time that term was used to describe a lodging establishment. (On More International Visitors) M. Peel 03:54 We have always been a playground for Chicago but there’s more people in town with higher incomes and now we have a lot of people who do day trips from Grand Rapids and Lansing and other areas. L. Kinnaman 19:55:30 We have actually always had a lot of international visitors here in Saugatuck. Phillipe Quentel 02:11:35 I do have some French people who are a little bit surprised but they can recognize very quickly that this town is great, cosmopolitan, very diversity and it’s fantastic. Pat & Pieter Lyon 3:17:00 … last year I think we had people from China, Australia, South Africa, from Germany, from Italy, from Switzerland, from England… Vicki & Scott Phelps 10:17:22 The Everly Brothers were here in the 60s…Chelios from the Red Wings, Muhammad Ali was here…George Steinbrener…Ernie Harwell, Magic Johnson… Scott Phelps …what’s the guy’s name who played Batman? Chris O’Donnell. C. Wise 2:54:56 Its interesting how this town draws people to it because I married and moved here, my brother stayed here, my parents retired here, my husband’s parents came and retired here, my husband’s sister bought a home here, now her children are back here. I’m still waiting on my son – hey it could happen! Mike Peel 26:35 It’s a small town that has a lot to do and we just have a lot to offer. There’s all kinds of opportunities for people who like to hunt or fish or just enjoy nature… a lot of things to draw people in from the city, our theatre, our arts, how many small towns can you go to and have so many wonderful restaurants? Kurt Stamm 3:17:29 I didn’t know anything about it. And what was so amazing about it was to discover this unbelievable haven in the mid-west that I still think is one of the best kept secrets on the planet because if all of the New Yorkers that I know knew about Saugatuck this place would be overrun. C. Wise 2:46:05 I suppose it’s the fact that it’s not so rural, it’s a very cosmopolitan little town. You know that I’ve said you can’t buy socks and underwear in Saugatuck but if you’re looking for a $10,000 painting we’re your town. David Page 00:29:31 It’s a great area to live. I’ve lived here since 2002. Great place for a family, plenty to do… 00:30:05 The Mt Baldhead steps is a unique area to run on you have all the steps then you have the beauty. You get all the way to the top you can see some sand dunes, you can see the lake… It’s a unique place to live and I’m lucky to be able to live here. Libby York 06:06:08 I’ve had the privilege of singing in Paris at Café Luron, a beautiful place… and in New York at the Metropolitan Room…I played in Den Haug in the Netherlands… in Chicago at the Green Mill… in Hong Kong. L. York 06:10:42 ..its lovely singing outside and the summer evenings are so long that we have daylight past 9 o’clock, practically 10 o’clock. Its just great to be out in the fresh air… Narration: In the past Saugatuck Douglas was known as a summer playground that closed its doors in the wintertime. Jeff Wilcox 30:06 … it opened on Memorial Day, not a day sooner, closed on Labor Day, not a day later and then dead for the rest of the year, so it was a real summer town … JW 30:17 …in the 80s people started buying these big houses and turning them into B&Bs and that brought people here in the off season (The Hiking Group) Richard Donovan 00:19:20 People think of Saugatuck as a summer destination, but it’s amazing to see the change of seasons as you go through fall into winter… R. Donovan 00:19:22 … Last Fall I was introduced to the hiking group by some friends and I have really come to love it. It’s been great for us newcomers because I’ve gotten in with a great group of people who teach me all about the local places and history. Ed Kelly 00:14:41 We hike for about an hour and a half… We go to the lake and every time we come up over the hill to look at the lake somebody marvels about how beautiful it is because it’s beautiful and different every day. Vic Bella 00:18:50 If it’s winter, spring or summer, every day you get to the lake it’s different lighting, different, the waves are different, the ice is different. So, it’s basically a new experience every day. Elliot Sturm 00:16:59 When we are out on the trails it’s almost a kind of a Zen experience. If you stop for a moment and sometimes we do to catch our breath and nobody says anything it’s dead silence except for the birds and the occasional branch falling from the trees. Its very, very close to nature. (On the CVB) Narration: In recent years the Saugatuck Douglas Convention and Visitors Bureau has promoted the area as a year-round destination. Felicia Fairchild 07:28:36 I’ve been involved with this bureau for 24 years. We started it back around 1990. Built it from scratch. F. Fairchild 07:29:25 When we started the bureau I believe we had 6 or 7 bed and breakfasts and a handful of motels. That was it. It was pretty much a sleepy town. F. Fairchild 07:31:40 Saugatuck/Douglas area has received a lot of accolades over the years beginning in 1988. That’s when it all started when Conde Nast named Oval Beach one of the top 25 beaches in the world. Right on top of that National Geographic named it one of the top 2 freshwater beaches in the United States and MTV named it one of the top 5 beaches in the US for young people. F. Fairchild 07:33:40 …we’ve seen a lot of recognition of Oval Beach and us as a fabulous vacation spot. (From the Water Street Opening:) Hal Koenig 22:11:11 When I come to Oval Beach I think about what the east coast must look like. I have not been, but I always think of this and I call it the third coast. M. Lemanski 22:17:51 They think it looks like the Cape Cod of the Midwest. There is that sweet hometown feel to it. Bowen Kline 22:24:42 I love it, I love this whole Nantucket feel, this boating town is beautiful. ADD BEAUTY SHOTS MONTAGE HERE Save for wrap up??? Linda Kinnaman 20:09:50 Saugatuck is a beautiful place to live and it really is a wonderful place to raise your children. It is idyllic. We live in Paradise, Saugatuck is Paradise. Cape Cod compares to here but other than that nothing compares to here. E. Chados 14:26:06 It’s known as the Art Coast. There’s always something interesting going on in town. I have kind of fallen in love with Saugatuck. It’s a really special place.

Chapter Two - Community CHYRON “Once you are invested here you have a real sense of commitment to the community. Its remarkable.” (Jeff Wilcox) Elizabeth Chados 14:26:12 …the thing that’s really special is the community of people who live here and deeply care about the city of Saugatuck Douglas area. Pat &Pieter Lyon 3:27:40 (Pat) People in this community care about people in the community and they take care of each other and are very concerned and that comes from being a small community of people who are interactive with each other. Maryjo Lemanski 22:10 … there’s this sense of involvement and community … there’s one thing we are not short of here and that is passion and it’s fun to live in that kind of environment. Jim Schmiechen 11:37:07 People have very much an affection for this place. It is part of the soul of this place… And it’s had a very positive impact on preservation, particularly in Douglas. Narration: In 1870 Saugatuck’s neighboring city was officially named after the capitol of the British Isle of Mann… Matt Balmer 00:50:10…(CUT??? William Dutcher who was another one of the founders he was from the Isle of Man and) there was a place called Douglas on the Isle of Man and they brought that name over… MB 00:49:20 … Douglas was actually called Dudleyville at one time. Actually there were two different communities separated by Center Street… but Dudleyville became Douglas. M. Lemanski 18:19 … for the longest time I think that Douglas has felt like the little sister to Saugatuck… M. Balmer 00:35:13 I think there is a lot of differences between the two communities. It’s interesting you have the overall area, which encompasses the township and the two cities-Saugatuck Township and the City of Saugatuck and the city of Douglas … and I think the beautiful thing is that we have our own unique differences and that we have our own identity so to speak. M. Lemanski 18:39 I think there is a great but very different energy in both communities and even crossing over that bridge you do feel the different type of energy the different dynamics there. MjL 02:45 … when I first started coming here in the late ‘80s the town had a different kind of quieter/quainter energy. M. Balmer 00:35:44 I don’t want to say more laid back. It’s just a little more casual, a little more quiet… We have our own stores and galleries and restaurants, our downtown is significantly smaller than Saugatuck. Jeff Wilcox 33:17 There were 2 restaurants in town across the street from each other, both serving breakfast and lunch, the Dinette and the Auction House … JW 33:39 … then in the early 90s Ed Sisk and Ed Strange bought a couple of buildings and rehabbed them and that seemed to kick something off … it got very dynamic in Douglas then. M. Balmer 00:31:46 1998 is when I formed the partnership with my mother and we went from being the Douglas Dinette to the Everyday People Café… MB00:32:05 … I wanted to let people know that we are going to give you the finest possible food we can create with the best ingredients in this atmosphere but we were welcoming to all… Narration: An on-going deep sense of belonging and an interest in the history of the area has inspired the Saugatuck Douglas community to actively participate both in the preservation of that history, and in the preservation of the area’s natural resources. J. Wilcox 35:45 … we recognize in one way or another intuitively the wonderful nature of this community and so we have chosen to be here and then we got into all this preservation work… J. Schmiechen 11:36:43 Many of the people that live here are interested in local history… the support for history and the Historical Society, the museum is pretty unbelievable. We have way over 700 members in the Historical Society. J. Wilcox 26:18 We have had people come from Birmingham to serve on planning commissions and Chicago to serve on boards, zoning boards… once you are invested here you have a real sense of commitment to the community. Its remarkable. D. Swan 07:10:53 … we became interested in the land use and also zoning, realizing that it’s really zoning that determines where we build, where we don’t build, because it’s a long term economic plan in deciding where we will build where we will shop where we will recreate and where we will earn livings. Peg Sanford 20:23:50 The leaders of this community have worked for ages to protect what we have here, to protect our community. People who come here like what they have and they really want to keep it, they want to preserve it. J. Schmiechen 11:40:16 Preservation means profits. People come here because they want to see, they want to look at an old village. They want to experience the past. That is something that we must always keep in mind. J. Wilcox 34:25 … most of these lumber towns around the great lakes burned down at least once and it never happened here… … in the 1870s there was a huge fire in Holland, and Fennville burned to the ground and Saugatuck was untouched… JW 42:46 … I think that’s what everybody responds to when they come here whether they know it or not… the style of our, er 19th century buildings that never burned down JW 43:00 … if it were to become homogenized then it would loose it’s appeal. P. Sanford 20:25:50 When I was on the city council in ’86/87 McDonalds came to town and they came to a council meeting “like soldiers for war”. They came in and literally shook us up. There would be no talking, no discussion, a new building would happen. They wanted to make a drive-in with 9 seats in downtown Saugatuck… We didn’t want to change our downtown look… so 100s of people were picketing them. In the end we had the zoning and they got tired of us by the end. They decided it was done. PEG SANFORD HOLDING UP NEWSPAPER OF MCDONALDS’ BID (20:51:20) CU at 20:58:15. Felicia Fairchild 07:37:00 In 2004 we received the Preserve America Award by the White House… FF 07:36:00 We are also named in 2009 one of the dozen distinctive destinations in the US by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, that’s both Saugatuck and Douglas. Narration: One of the oldest, continuously used buildings in the City of Saugatuck is also one of the town’s most popular restaurants, known to the locals simply as “the Butler”. Vicki & Scott Phelps 10:10:49 Well we are sitting in the Butler restaurant formally know as the Butler Hotel… V&S Phelps 10:11:15 ..it originally was built in 1892 as a Grist Mill, and in 1901 a Captain who sailed Schnooers bought it and turned it into the hotel Butler, which was named after William Butler who founded the town. Narration: In 1992 the Historical Society took on a lease on a derelict, riverside building, the former Pump House of the village of Saugatuck, and founded the Saugatuck Douglas Historical Museum. The Museum draws some 10,00 visitors each year. Four times that number visit the museum’s riverside patio and gardens… J. Schmiechen 11:27:48 … right now we are in front of the Saugatuck Douglas History Museum at Mt. Baldhead JS 11:28:14 This patio and the walkways to this patio and the entrance pavilion to this were all built by the historical society, who then changed the interior to two very large galleries. Narration: Open from Memorial Day through October the museum’s team of professional writers and designers have mounted exhibitions on a diverse range of subjects from Lake Michigan shipwrecks to the ever-evolving relationship between man and the surrounding dunelands. Narration: In 2007 the community’s Historical Society embarked on an ambitious 1.3 million dollar restoration of the town’s Civil War era Union School House. J. Wilcox 47:16 … there were a lot of doubters we could succeed in purchasing, developing the Old School House JW 48:30 … there were lots of people sitting around saying it’ll never happen, it’ll never happen, so I’m pleased to have proved them wrong! Narration: The Douglas Union School was built in 1866. It remained in operation until 1957 when it was purchased by Ernest and Elizabeth Johnson and subsequently inherited by the couple’s daughter Nancy Bud. JW 47:01 …I knew Nancy Bud and she offered it to us for $450K… JW 47:20 … and so I piped up and said what if we put $20K down , she gives us a period of time to raise the money and if we fail she keeps the money and her attorney said ‘well that’s good’ and I popped off and risked $20K of the Society’s money (laughs) N: This newly created “History Center” offers an art gallery, public meeting rooms, a life boat exhibition, a “back in time garden” and makes available to the public the extensive archives of the Historical Society. JW 49:42 … I just think it’s a triumph, the Museum is a triumph and the School House is a triumph. Narration: In order to encourage on-going preservation efforts, the community’s Historical Society has in the past bestowed Preservation Awards on area homeowners and builders who have restored old buildings, or created new ones, that remain true to the historical character of the town. J. Wilcox 40:30 … our determination was at the outset projects that enhanced the community by either maintaining older structures properly or making them look old so to speak… JW 42:13 … you know in appraisal books it says there’s value to an historic structure they just can’t put a number on it… but our principals were scale, materials, then style, so those are the fundamental principals… J. Wilcox 46:08 … there are significant buildings like the Dutcher Lodge, not a terribly attractive building but it’s a significant building, and the village hall was originally a fire barn … but they redesigned the front of it and made it beautiful. J. Schiechen11:13:36 Carl Hoerman immigrant, redesigned the Village Hall in Saugatuck from an old fire station to a beautiful colonial revival building that stands as kind of a testimony to the new Saugatuck of the 1930s. Narration: In the past, if building preservation occurred at all it was likely driven by a practical and economic motivation… J. Wilcox 43:49 …back then if you built a building and you didn’t want to consider starting all over again and they were actually moved on the frozen river pulled by teams of horses rolling them on logs … JW 44:15 … the Singapore Bank building was moved into town and it was a bank and now it’s the Singapore Bank Book Store. Narration: Today the practice of moving buildings is more often grounded in a desire to hold onto a piece of our history… J. Schmiechen 11:40:45 That’s actually one of our great success stories in recent years. Several older homes that have become derelict and have been independently purchased by private individuals and then moved in two cases, two astounding cases to Douglas. Narration: And it is not just buildings that the Saugatuck Douglas community has sought fit to preserve… Austin Phillips P 01:56:36 Before the chain ferry there was actually a draw bridge that was here and since it was a logging town logs would crash into the side of it and kind of mess up the bridge a little bit… J. Schmiechen 10:40:28 … 2 women in a carriage were on the drawbridge and it collapsed. The story goes that they went floating down the river quite safe in their carriage. But after that then the ferry was instituted. Tanner Nutting 01:55:59 The chain ferry was established here in 1838 and it’s been running since but it hasn’t been the same vessel the whole time… There have been 3 boats and to my knowledge this boat was put in in 1962. T. Nutting 01:55:40 This is the last operating hand-cranked chain ferry left in North America. There’s only 3 in the world to my knowledge… I think one’s in England and then another one’s in Scotland. N: The Saugatuck Douglas’s community commitment to preservation also extends beyond its man-made structures. J. Schmiechen 10:36:45 … the environment that we live in is really endangered. So to protect the land as well as the structures, we have to have some emphasis on preservation. D. Swan 07:11:51 We decided that the best thing for our community is to protect the lakeshore and the river mouth from inappropriate development. J. Schmiechen 10:35:10 These dunes are part of the largest freshwater dune formation in the world. And so we are really kind of pushing that and pushing preservation D. Swan 06:54:25 … the Sagatuck Dunes holds 6 vital great lakes resources: cultural, historic, ecological, recreational, spiritual and educational. And they act as the pistons in our regional economic engine, which is all tourist based thanks in large part to Oval Beach which is the number 1 tourist destination of the Saugatuck area…. It’s a $260 million tourist-based economy in Saugatuck alone and those are direct dollars based on tourism… F. Fairchild 07:36:00 … in 2014 Saugatuck Harbor natural area was nominated by virtual tourists as a contender for the 8th wonder of the world because the natural trust for preservation named that area one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world. D. Swan 07:12:39 A group of us got together to form the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance to advocate for our master plan, to advocate for sensible zoning which we have now stretching from Shorewood Association all the way up through Saugatuck Dunes State Park, and conservation easements and to educate people about the fact that these are economic decisions to protect our dune land, our beaches, our conservation areas…

Diversity CHYRON “There is a great acceptance here of people and I find it to be really refreshing.” (Judy Anthrop) Pat & Pieter Lyon 3:19:20 The diversity … you can define that how you wish but the fact is we’re a very diverse community Dunes Mike Jones 02:58:07 I think that it all obviously started with Ox-Bow that created an artsy community and with that became an accepting community. Jim Schmiechen 11:17:43 From what I know about gay history… is that this was a place that allowed a great deal of freedom…. In fact 1 person said to me “coming to Saugatuck was like going to freedom except you didn’t tell anyone where you’re going”. Dunes M. Jones 02:55:58 Everyone is super gay friendly. There are so few businesses in town that aren’t. Dunes Greg Trzybinski 02:5820 It’s a little haven in the middle of a very conservative Christian reformed Dutch part of the country. Peggy Boyce 19:53:08 Everyone is welcoming, you are judged by your talents, not what your background may have been. K. Armstrong 09:16:30 Probably in Saugatuck someone might say they are far more interested in what they do as a hobby, or what they do for a living and the fact that they fall into the LGBT category would seem a secondary thing, which is the way it ought to be. Its great to be part of a community where it is not a differentiator. Dunes M. Jones 03:01:57 I think any community that’s as diversified as S/D it has a school system, families and a lot of gay guys and gay women that really add something to the mix. Whether it’s renovated homes and renovated businesses and buying new businesses, they just bring a very different attitude towards a town that really is in the middle of conservative west Michigan. K. Armstrong And that idea that Saugatuck is it’s own funky little melting pot has created a little vibrant mini cosmopolitan blip. That might sound a little grandiose. Homogeneous we are not for sure! Judy Anthrop 05:32 …there is a great acceptance here of people and I find it to be really refreshing. Mayjo Lemanski 21:38 ..there’s this level of I can be who I am and not worry about it kind of feeling and I think a lot of people really blossom in that kind of world PARADE MONTAGE Narration: One of the biggest gatherings of the community is the annual, adults- only Halloween Parade held in downtown Douglas. Erin Wilkinson Bites Ricki Levine Bites. Mike Peel 32:55 I have been in the Halloween Parade a couple of times and its definitely interesting people from all over and just having a wonderful time that’s one thing about the area it’s such a mix of people that when they come here they have a tendency to all get along so wonderfully you know, and that’s always been a little bit of magic we have here. Narration: The welcoming nature of the community has attracted another popular annual celebration complete with its own parade. Linda Campbell 11:26:45 Well Rainbow Families Great Lakes is about 18 years old. It is an organization that promotes togetherness for gay and lesbian families. We come to S/D once a year, spend the week. We have programming for little kids for teens, but the focus is families. And bringing families together who have same sex parents. Luis Amorim 11:38:07 We believe that people should be treated equally and that being a parent has nothing to do with your sexual orientation, it has to do with being a human and that’s what we are so that’s why it’s important. L. Campbell 11:28:52 … Saugatuck and Douglas have sent fire engines to join us and police cars and I think the community looks forward to it…. L. Campbell 11:29:41 They are incredibly welcoming, very friendly, very supportive of gay and lesbian couples and we love it here L. Campbell 11:27:20 …It’s probably a boon to the economy for the week and they and they come from all over the place, from Chicago, California…this year we have a couple of dads who come from Belgium L. Amorim 11:32:40 We live in Belgium, in Europe, in Brussels the capital city but Tearl is originally from Sweden, I’m originally from Angola, but I grew up in Portugal and our daughter Georgina is originally from Chicago… L. Campbell 11:30:32 …there’s a sense of community and a sense of children being able to see other families that mirror their own L. Amorim 11:35:50 … what does the sign mean to you and what does it say. Georgina: Oh it’s very important of having my 2 caring dads, 2 caring, boring dads, 2 caring, lovely, boring dads. Dunes C. Jennings 01:59:06 The Dunes in this area is pretty unique just everything about it with the location being in the S/D area with Lake Michigan and the marvelous beach we have. No one would expect that size of a facility in a small area like this. It’s a shocker to city people especially… Dunes C. Jennings 01:41:22 … I used to come over here to bartend on weekends at a bar known as the Blue Tempo, or “Toad’s”. It was owned by a couple Toad and his wife Nancy and that’s how I became acquainted with Saugatuck… Dunes Carl 01:43:24 The Blue Tempo closed, well it actually burned down in the early 70s. J. Schmiechen 11:20:55 … It was a bit of a dive bar and fairly well known for it’s music, a jazz bar. Somewhat wild and it was the first gay bar in West Michigan in the 1960s. JS 11:21:49 …Saugatuck was the only place where the tavern owners and the barkeepers did not obey the law. The liquor license in Michigan stipulated that you would loose your liquor license if you served a homosexual…. Dunes Danny Esterline 03:00:20 The Dunes has been a draw for the gay community in the Midwest since Carl and Larry invented it 31 years ago. Dunes Lawrence Gammons 01:43:00 …our primary purpose was to open a gay resort in the Midwest and the S/D area was ideal because it has always been gay friendly… Dunes Carl 01:42:36 Well we knew that we would have and desired a large gay cliental however, we would be catering to everyone. We were not going to restrict it in any fashion to just men or just women or whatever. We wanted to have a nice place that anyone could attend and enjoy themselves. Dunes M. Jones 02:48:50 …we do see a lot more younger kids coming with their straight friends. They come because the music is good, the pool’s fun, because the beach is a good time. They can go anywhere in this town and be comfortable. Dunes C. Jennings 01:52:33 We owned it for 18 years and then sold it to the present owners and they’re doing just a great job. Dunes C. Jennings 01:54:20 When we purchased the Dunes there were 22 rooms and now when we sold it there were 68 and now they are up to 80 in lodging rooms. Narration: The Dunes Resort is well known for its Sunday afternoon dance parties, or “Tea Dances”… Dunes G. Trzybinski 02:50:42 It’s an afternoon outdoor dance party generally older music and it’s out on the deck that we have remodeled. Dunes M. Jones 02:52:58 We have a DJ outside that’s spinning fun happy music and you and your friends come out and pretend it’s nighttime, except it’s not nighttime it’s a day venue so it’s very social. You get to talk, chat be outside, it’s warm and you’re dancing and drinking and having fun but it ends at 9 o’clock so you can go home and make it to work the next morning. Dunes G. Trzybinski 02:50:02 continued … In the summer on a normal Sunday afternoon it can have 200, 300 people. Holidays are much bigger of course, the 4th of July and Labor Day are huge for us. Dunes L. Gammons 02:08:40 When we first came here we did have threats, we had problems with the kids and all that because they didn’t know gay people. It’s interesting that 18 years later the community is very gay friendly and we had hardly any problems with young people. It’s because you are born into a community where your neighbor may be gay, there’s gay bars, gay businesses and it’s an educational process of young people learning that it’s OK. Peg Sanford 20:43:26 What we did, we brought the gay community out into the open where they felt valued. J. Schmiechen 11:24:35 …one of the things that is different between being gay in the city and being gay here is that in the city gay people tend to be congregated into gay social circles. Here it is mixed. Dunes C. Jennings 02:06:58 I think the Dunes changed the community by integrating gay people and straight people together with each gaining more respect for each other. I have no question that that has taken place…. … I think the straight community realized that we are ordinary people with not a lot of difference. I think it has made a huge impression on both elements. J. Schmiechen 11:25:06 In Saugatuck and Douglas, in most cases, people don’t care and don’t even know. It doesn’t make any difference. It’s all about being friends. It’s all about having fun. It’s all about community affairs and working together for community affairs and working to make the towns better. Matt Balmer 00:41:21 I think the rest of the country and world could learn a lot from this little area (in that regard). When you stop trying to put labels on people for what you think they should be or who they should be, the whole world can open up to you. And I think we discovered that here a long time ago.

The Arts CHYRON: ”I think art is in the air and in the water” Christa Wise K. Stamm 03:18:04 Clearly one of the things this community supports in spades is the arts. Just looking at the number of galleries that are around town, the fact that we have Ox-Bow here, there’s a Chamber Music Festival and when you think about the fact that the year round population is only about 2000 people that says a lot about the community that’s here and what they want. J. Oberholtzer 23:00 …just last night I thought oh my goodness there was a performance at the SCA there was a performance at the Red Barn plus a reception that we were at I mean you just can’t keep up with everything. M. Lemanski 11:08 …we’re considered an art destination and we have a lot of galleries for the size of the cities that we have… (11:31) ...we have studio galleries, we have an African art gallery, we have co-op galleries so there is a lot of different varieties of galleries… MjL 13:55 The reason the artists are here is because of the landscape and the natural surroundings… J. Brandess 9:47:00 …there is a history here in Saugatuck of there being artists in the area painting in the community and that is something I think is unique to this town. J. Anthrop 14:40 The plein air movement was born in France… before it was only acceptable to paint in a studio … so the plein air movement made things freer and it was very radical for them to be going outside, especially women going outside to paint, and that’s what Ox-Bow was all about… they wanted to paint outside in the landscape, in nature. Hal Koenig 22:08:45 I guess my first inspiration walking the streets of Saugatuck were Jim Brandess’s work, the thickly painted landscapes that he does. And it just swept me off my feet. And I have been interested in painting ever since. Jim Brandess 9:45:17 I am an oil painter, I paint primarily in oils and I work from observation and so the immediate draw for me when I moved here to Saugatuck when I first came to Saugatuck is the landscape…. J. Brandess 9:57:30 …Saugatuck is unique… where would one have studios and gallery here you know where you can walk around and be able to visit different galleries and have a good dinner and have ice cream, walk along the river, and go to the beach, and come to my studio. So there’s no place like Saugatuck that I have found yet C. Wise 2:29:30 I … think art is in the water and in the air. Narration: With towns that understand the value of a thriving art scene, the Saugatuck Douglas Public School system has placed an equal emphasis on art in the development of its curriculum. C. Wise 3:05:00 we need sports I understand we need computers but we also need to cross train our brains and we need the art departments to, or the arts to be as important as any other subject in school… C. Wise 2:57:30 I’m not sure if people of the community support our students because the students are good or the students are good because they are supported by the community. And it’s not every community that will come to you and say design a sign for the beach. It’s not every community that will come to you and say we need posters designed for the Taste of Saugatuck or the Chamber Music Festival, or the Aware Benefit or the Mount Baldhead Run and we trust your students to do something we can use. C. Wise 3:08:28 I think it’s obvious to kids here that you can learn a living as an artist you know Ox-Bow section: Narration: For over 100 years the Ox-Bow School of art has also been a training ground for young artists. J. Anthrop 08:40 By 1910 a particular group of people came including Frederick Fursman, who is the founder of Ox-Bow and his buddy Walter Marshall Clute J. Schmiechen 11:00:53 … they found the old harbor that had been closed up… and in 1910 they established a school called the Ox-Bow. J. Anthrop 09:45 At that time the Fishtown and the Ox-Bow and the Riverside Hotel out there all could access Lake Michigan, but then that silted up in, in 1906, which made the hotel out there of no value to the folks, the Shrivers. So, in 1915 Ox-Bow basically moved out to Shriver’s Bend, also known as the Ox-Bow Bend or the Ox-Bow lagoon and took over renting the Riverside Hotel. Elizabeth Chados 14:14:35 Ox-Bow is a school of art and artist residency on 115 acres of pristine natural forest on a private lagoon. We offer classes in painting, drawing, glass, ceramics, print- making and metals. We also offer performance art, video, photo, and we are affiliated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. J. Anthrop 16:23 …they have never gone a moment without being affiliated with the school and that made it, makes it, unique amongst art colonies and art schools. J. Schmiechen 11:01:24 …it brought thousands and thousands of artists here. Artists are looking for places to be free and independent and all that kind of thing… a lot of people who came to Ox-Bow came back and built cottages. E. Chados 14:19:06 Slowly but surely we built up the campus and over the course of 100 years different founders and different people along the way purchased parts of it and built up different buildings. Now you have what we see here over 6 studios and 25 cabins. J. Anthrop10:15 Tallmadge came in 1915… he came up in 1915 and hung around with the folks that were here and loved the place and felt there should be an aggressive movement towards buying the old hotel… E. Chados 14:22:26 Thomas Eddy Tallmadge… was one of the first people to be a director here. He was very instrumental in Ox-Bow’s history. He purchased a majority of the land that’s here… He was an architect in Chicago studied under Burnham and had a very well respected architectural firm. J.S 11:05:16 Tallmadge lives here in the summertime. He was also hired by the Rockefellers to help redesign a little village out in Virginia, which becomes know as Colonial Williamsburg. E. Chados 14:23:33 …when he was here he built a cabin, the Tallmadge Cabin. It’s one of the more beautiful cabins on the campus… it also has really beautiful paintings in the rafters. It’s one of the more special architectural pieces on campus. E. Chados 14:14:37 …the thing about Ox-Bow is the experience, about being out in nature being amongst the historic buildings being around other artists making work together. The fellowship that develops is what’s really special and important about Ox-Bow. J. Anthrop 29:08 Ox-Bow time for me is the most special time of my life I look forward to it every year … I love going down to the fire-pit at about 11 o’clock at night when all the young people come to drink beer and start a fire and talk all night long. Brianna Barrens 06:37:08 I love Ox-Bow. It’s kind of like being in a different world. Everyone here is an artist and everyone is feeding off each other. It’s not really like anywhere I’ve ever been before. J. Anthrop 30:02 I think that Ox-Bow is like totally a nurturing situation… (30:32) It’s a time to be quiet and it’s a time to be with other very, very creative people.. B. Barrens 06:35:37 We’re all artists and we’re all together even though we’re isolated in our separate areas we still have cross pollination. Just that interaction between younger artists and older established artists so it’s very much a beautiful community. Many artists work by themselves so having this interactive relationship with people is very beneficial because you get feedback. (Student) Ni 05:36:31 You can work, just almost work one to one with your teacher, and, er, just no distractions. J. Anthrop 18:50 I would encourage people to stay there because it’s a total immersion getting lost in your creativity and having no one bothering you… it’s a very special place to stay because it is so remote… E. Chados 14:21:16 We have had a lot of amazing artists come through Ox-Bow… famously Claus Oldenburg spent an entire summer here the summer before he moved to New York. J. Anthrop 22:05 Albert Kreihbel to me was the most accomplished artist. J. Anthrop 23:00 Francis Chapin was very important to Ox-Bow, he was a director in the 40s He was a lithographer and very famous… J. Anthrop 24:20 I think William Olendorf was important to Ox-Bow… J. Anthrop 24:40 Joan Mitchell spent quite a bit of time… Leroy Nieman…he considered Ox-Bow a very special place… along with Burr Tilstrom of “Kuckla, (sp?) Fran and Ollie” and also Jim Henson of “The Muppets” and they say that Kermit the Frog was born at Ox-Bow out there on the lagoon one night when they were having a puppet party. SCA/Mason Street section C. Wise 2:53:00 and now we have the SCA which is a huge presence. It’s probably the only W. Michigan arts organization that can offer theatre, music and classes and display and outdoor market and I’m sure I’m forgetting other stuff. J. Oberholtzer 07:21 the expansion has been so amazing with the SCA, Mason Street Theatre, Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck and the many galleries and shops we have, so it’s really an art community, it’s a destination for people who love the arts. K. Armstrong 09:05:50 In this great little boutique 400 seat theatre we have been able to bring people like Lindsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac, Judy Collins, Manhattan Transfer, Cabmo, Capitol Steps and the list goes on and on… K. Stamm 03:24:11 …we just had BJ Thomas here,… Michael Fienstein, B. Arthur was here our second season… Sutton Foster has been here, so we’ve just been fortunate in terms of reputation, what we’re getting is a boutique arts center in the Midwest. K. Armstrong 09:07:58 One of the things we are very fortunate to have the past 12 years is Mason Street Warehouse, which is a professional theatre organization founded concurrently with the SCA and now we have merged and are one organization. K. Stamm 03:16:27 …by 2003 we mounted our first season in what was at that time an abandoned building with no running water, and when we first came into it, very little electricity K. Armstrong 09:19:04 This was Lloyd J. Harrold Pie factory built after WWII. It was a significant employer in the community and we think that some of the nation’s first frozen food technology was pioneered right here… K. Armstrong 09:20:36 Originally the space we are now sitting in was the freezer for the pie factory… K. Armstrong 09:21:15 The lobby as you know looks very much like what it was and is, which was the loading dock. We kept the garage doors and part of our desire was to keep this factory feel because it has been a huge part of our economy for years and years. K. Stamm 03:32:00 A lot of the Equity professionals that we hire come from New York and Chicago K. Stamm 03:27:01 90% have Broadway credits. Tim Shue who was in “Evita” and “Trailer Park the Musical” has done probably 12 Broadway shows…. It’s amazing the talent that we get to come here. K. Stamm 03:30:48 I think seeing a show in Saugatuck is unique in that I don’t think the audience expects to get the kind of quality that we get here.