×

A mix of nostalgia and botany

Drive-in theater event to benefit BotEco Center

A showing of “Jaws” will take place on July 30 at the Highway 2 Community Drive-in Theater in Manistique. The event will benefit the Friends of the Ore Dock BotEco Center. (Graphic courtesy of Friends of the Ore Dock)

MARQUETTE — You can get in a little nostalgia while supporting a local cause by seeing a show this summer at the Highway Community Drive-In Theater in Manistique, the Upper Peninsula’s only such theater.

The U.P. Film Union will show the classic summer blockbuster film, “Jaws,” on the big outdoor screen beginning at dusk on July 30, with all proceeds from concession sales going to the Ore Dock BotEco Center.

The goal of the nonprofit Friends of the Ore Dock BotEco Center is to create a place on Marquette’s waterfront at the Lower Harbor ore dock that has ecological education facilities, year-round indoor botanical gardens, historical preservation and education, and community spaces.

The July 30 event will be free, but the group will run the concession stand and keep the net proceeds, said Friends Board President Gisele Duehring. People also can make a donation.

“We put Ore Dock BotEco’s name in to be added to the waiting list and made it to the top few this year,” Duehring said in an email.

She noted that the group will sell rubber bracelets with sharks and other sea creatures that say “JAWSOME.” Food will be served before and during the move as well as the intermission between the showing of “Jaws” and the following movie. There also will be a 50/50 raffle.

The sponsor will be the Great Lakes Recovery Centers.

Duehring invites people to come for the nostalgia aspect as well.

“You can bring your dog,” she said. “Your kids can run around and burn up some energy. You can get comfortable in your car (lean the seat back), the back of your pickup, in your camp chairs — and no sticky floors.”

A pizza is only $8, along with other “reasonably priced concessions,” Duehring said.

Food sales proceeds will go toward the administrative costs of bringing ore dock history tours aboard a six-person, solar-powered, made-in-Michigan boat to Marquette’s Lower Harbor, she said. The boat rides will raise funds to design the promenade around the dock that will be open to the public, helping to make it the “people’s dock.”

The latest on the BotEco project, Duehring said, is that the group has updated its Phase 1 design estimates to reflect the current economy and is working to raise funds via private grants, government grants and other government funding, and eventually history tour boat rides for the Phase 1 design.

The design would include:

≤ a bottomlands conveyance survey to show that a promenade would not impede boat traffic;

≤ an architectural consultation and an archeological consultation, with the resulting report being submitted to the State Historic Preservation Office;

≥ a safety analysis resulting in a scheduled maintenance and inspection plan, such as under what weather conditions would require locking off the promenade or portions of the promenade and other factors; and

≤ a feasibility study tailored to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy’s requests for information. The group is waiting on specifics.

For more information on the Highway 2 Drive-in, visit upfilmunion.org. The website has a section for donations, its history and other information.

For more information on the Ore Dock BotEco Center, visit oredockboteco.org or facebook.com/OreDockBotEcoCenter.

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today