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It's time for the Winter Festival on Mackinac Island

Get ready for a weekend full of pictures and video from Mackinac Island. I've only visited the island once before during the winter (New Year's 1999), so I'm looking forward to this visit quite a bit! When I first decided to make the trip, I mentioned it to friend and blog member Brenda Horton who soon decided that she and her friend Dawn, also from Georgia, would hop a ride in the rental car with me from Flint to St. Ignace. When Jill from the Island Bookstore heard of our doings, she joined in as well.

So now three of us will fly from Atlanta to Flint this morning, meet Jill in Flint and load up the rental SUV with all the bags and head north on I-75. Weather permitting, we'll make a couple of quick stops on the way before crossing the Mackinac Bridge and arriving at the airport in St. Ignace for the short flight to the island.

My focus during the stay will be shooting HD video and still images of island. Blog member Greg Main, a year-round resident wrote last evening that snow cover is light and wide stretches of open water exist between the island and St. Ignace, making the chances of an ice bridge forming this winter increasingly improbable. Disappointing news for me, but I'm happy for the opportunity to visit during 'the hidden season.'

We'll be on the island through Monday morning when we depart the Cottage Inn and begin the long journey back home, which takes nearly 12 hours start to finish. A long trip, but one that I am happy to make any month of the year!

Watch for pictures here and on the Twitter feed and Facebook MIB Fan Page. I'll post videos to the MIB YouTube page. Brenda Horton will be updating her blog throughout the visit, so be sure to check it as well. It's http://bree1972.wordpress.com and well worth the visit.

If you plan on being on the island this weekend, please let us know. It would be great to say hello. If you can't make it, we'll do our best to share the island experience with you.

Tags: Mackinac, festival, island, winter

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Comment by Mike Forrester on February 10, 2010 at 12:48pm: The families are asking that in lieu of flowers, that those concerned make a donation to the charity of their choice.

I chose to make a donation to the Mackinac Island Community Foundation in memory of Karen Schwarck and Edith Bonno.

Comment by Mike Forrester on February 10, 2010 at 12:21pm: Carol, it was very tragic. We met the ladies on Saturday (Brenda is a friend with Karen's husband through her husband Ted) then again on Sunday. I was even bidding against Karen for a hayride during the silent auction and lost to her by $1!

Brenda tells her story today in her blog (http://bree1972.wordpress.com). What she doesn't include is the fact that for a time on Monday morning, people DID think it was her and Dawn who lost their lives. On Sunday night when Brenda first learned that Karen and Edith were missing, Jill and I went to check the downtown bars just to make sure that they weren't in one of them. Of course, they weren't there.

But in our asking if anyone had seen our friends, it was mistakenly assumed that we were looking for Brenda and Dawn, not Karen and Edith. The next day when news came that two ladies had perished in the accident, someone from downtown thought that it was Brenda and Dawn. Some phone calls were made and a mutual friend was told they had died. Needless to say, she was very relieved to hear Brenda's voice when they later spoke.

The accident was tragic, but I was heartened to see how the islanders pulled together to find Karen and Edith, then do their best to comfort Don afterwards.

Comment by Carol McCarthy on February 10, 2010 at 11:57am: Mike, so sorry to hear about the ladies who lost their lives on the island. So sad. They were doing what they loved. I did not know at first, if it was perhaps one of the ladies you were with. So glad to hear it was not. Did you know either?

Comment by Mike Forrester on February 9, 2010 at 10:27pm: Just uploaded more photos to complete the Facebook Fan Page album entitled 'February, 2010 Island Visit' which now contains 55 photos with captions from the trip.

Comment by Mike Forrester on February 8, 2010 at 4:51pm: We all reluctantly left the island this morning. The taxi picked us up at 9:15 and dropped us off at the airport in plenty of time for the 10AM flight to St. Ignace. We're currently in Flint waiting on the 5:20 flight to Atlanta. I described this trip to Brenda, Dawn and Jill as one of my favorites, and one of the worst. I'll stay positive and share all the wonderful things we did once I return home, but know we all mourn the loss of someone who shared the love of Mackinac Island.

Comment by Mike Forrester on February 7, 2010 at 11:39pm: It was a great weekend and it was difficult picking just 12 pictures for the calendar. Each person gets to vote for 3 pictures for each season. There were probably about 300 photos to choose from, all divided into seasons.

Linda - hope you can make it next year. Sunday at the school has a great silent auction, raffles, food and fun. I know I'll be back again!

Comment by Linda Borton Sorensen on February 7, 2010 at 5:26pm: Hope you are having a great time at the Winter Festival. I so wanted to go for the first time this year, especially since I entered some photos into the contest, but hubby's retirement party was Friday and we had family in town for that over the weekend. Visiting the Island in the winter is still something I dream about! Maybe next year!

Comment by Mike Forrester on February 6, 2010 at 10:39pm: Pat, it was a good, quick ride. I don't mind small planes, but I know some people do. Other than some ice around the dock in St. Ignace, there's no reason boats couldn't be coming to the island right now, which islanders are really missing.

Tomorrow is the day the pictures for the 2012 'Seasons of Mackinac' photos are chosen. Can't wait to see all the pictures and pick my favorite dozen!

Comment by Pat Steele on February 6, 2010 at 7:57pm: Great videos! The plane ride doesn't look as scary as it sounds!

Comment by Mike Forrester on February 4, 2010 at 10:48pm: Thanks Carol. There's more snow on the island than I was thinking there would be, especially away from town where there's less 'traffic.' We're looking forward to the good weather, even though it means little chance of snow and the locals are pretty much all in agreement that the chances of the ice bridge forming this year decrease every day. There's lots of open water in the straits right now. Beautiful to see, though