July 24, 2008

Mackinac Island, Mich. - The Mackinac Island State Park Commission will hold its fourth meeting of the year at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, July 25 on Mackinac Island. The meeting will take place in the board room of the Post Hospital Administration Building, located next to Fort Mackinac.

The grand reopening of the Mackinac Island Airport terminal precedes the meeting. The 10:30 a.m. event will include a welcome and acknowledgements by Phil Porter, Mackinac State Historic Parks director, remarks and a history of the airport by commission leaders, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Since 1964 the Mackinac Island State Park Commission has made airport improvement a priority. The commission, in partnership with the Michigan Department of Transportation, Bureau of Aeronautics, has pursued an ambitious program of improving safety and upgrading the facilities of the airport while not expanding the runway. These improvements have included repaving the runway; constructing the parallel taxiway and expanding the parking ramp; adding runway lights and a pilot-controlled lighting system to facilitate nighttime operations; installing the local Automated Weather Observation System and the Web site-connected national weather information system; constructing the heated garage; purchasing the plow trucks and other support equipment; and constructing the airport terminal, which will be dedicated at the reopening ceremony.

"This is one in the line of many projects that the commission is doing to make improvements to the Mackinac Island airport," Porter said, "especially when concerning safety and service provided to the visitor."

With the terminal building renovation phase of the Mackinac Island airport improvement program now completed, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission looks forward to the next stage of development in this multi-year project that aims to better serve the community and general public. This summer the fence around the terminal will be repaired, enhancing the island airport even more for residents and visitors.

Plans are also in the works for another major phase of the airport improvement program. Rehabilitation of the airport runway has been part of the long-range strategic plan for a number of years. The runway is scheduled to be reconstructed during a six- to eight-week period during the spring of 2009.

Mackinac State Historic Parks, a family of living history museums and parks in northern Michigan's Straits of Mackinac, is an agency within the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries. Its sites ? which are accredited by the American Association of Museums ? include Fort Mackinac, Mackinac Island State Park and Historic Downtown on Mackinac Island, and Colonial Michilimackinac, Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse and Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park in Mackinaw City. Mackinac State Historic Parks is governed by the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, established in 1895 to protect, preserve and present the parks' rich historic and natural resources for the education and recreation of future generations. Visitor information is available at (231) 436-4100 or on the Web at www.MackinacParks.com.

Read more press releases from the Department of History, Arts and Libraries (HAL).