Celebration 2000/1 Committee

1999-2000 Annual Report

The Celebration 2000/1 Committee was formed as an ad hoc committee with two main events to plan. The first was an Island-wide New Year’s Eve party to welcome in the year 2000. This was accomplished on Dec. 31, 1999. Hanger Two was donated as a site by Island resident Ron Palmer, owner of Business Air. Fortunately, the hanger is heated. All the publicity centered around the party being community-wide, alcohol-free, inter-generational, and family oriented. After attending Birmingham-Bloomfield’s First Night in 1998, chair Pam Frucci brought ideas to the Celebration 2000/1 Committee. Birmingham sold buttons for $7 which helped pay the expenses. Party goers wore the buttons as their admission to the party. Thanks to John Wanat, a member of the Festival Commission who owns a company which sells buttons, it was decided to order 500 buttons to raise money for the Millennium Celebration. The Festival Commission set the price at $5 which could raise approximately $1,500. John donated his commission. They were designed with a replica of the lighthouse which flashed red and the wording “Millennium Celebration, Grosse Ile, MI 2000.” All the buttons were sold and we are hoping to order more for the 65 people who came to the party, paid their $5 but didn’t get a button. Our expenses included $500 for a DJ to play music from the 40’s to 90’s, light refreshments, helium balloons, red plastic tablecloths to decorate the tables, and miscellaneous supplies. The local Kroger store donated the pop for the occasion and Marsh Greenhouses donated 200 red and white poinsettias which were given away after the party. To connect with the worldwide celebration of the year 2000, GI-TV wired to cable three TV’s loaned by the Grosse Ile Township Schools. At midnight, the crowd watched the ball dropping at Times Square. Entertainment also included a middle school band called Korner Pocket which brought in a large contigency of middle school fans, parents and their friends. The Celebration 2000/1 Committee was pleased at the turnout of approximately 300 partygoers of all ages. On evaluations turned in after the party, it was highly recommended to repeat the party next year. Suggestions were to start earlier (our party lasted from 10 p.m. to midnight) and include more entertainment. Working with the Festival Commission, it is hoped to repeat the same kind of party in 2000.

The second main event being planned by the Celebration 2000/1 Committee focuses on July, 2001. That’s the 300th anniversary of the year Cadillac landed briefly on Grosse Ile before heading up the river and founding Fort Ponchartrain, now Detroit. In exploring the Island, Cadillac’s scouts found with its water boundaries, they might soon run out of wood for building the fort. Chair Pam Frucci has been attending meetings with the Detroit 300 Committee and the French-American Committee for the Tricentennial. In the planning stages is a waterfront pageant in July, 2001, the 225th anniversary of the deeding of Grosse Ile to the Macomb brothers from the Potowatomi Indians. Vignettes of Grosse Ile’s history will make up the pageant as well as an appearance of the Madame Cadillac Dancers, who do period dances, and a costumed Cadillac who we hope will be able to land by canoe at the waterfront.

Plans to honor our Naval past at the new Township Hall in Hangar I by erecting a statue in the likeness of President George Bush have met with some opposition. President Bush served briefly at the G.I. Naval Air Station and was the youngest pilot in Naval history. The committee plans to work with the NAS Memorial Committee which would like to erect a monument honoring all men and women who served in the military at the former Naval Air Station. Perhaps President Bush could be honored with a bust or a photograph. Submitted by Pamela A. Frucci, Chairperson

1999-2000 Annual Report

1999-2000 Annual Report

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