JR Afternoon with Chris Renwick
Visiting The Great Lakes Bay Region
Yeah and GoGreat.com is the place to it's the catch-all it's it's where you can find everything to do in the Great Lakes Bay region and and believe me there is just a ton to do. Caleb Hayank is the director of PR and leisure tourism here at GoGreat Lakes Bay and joins me here this afternoon. First of all thank you for having us. Likewise thanks for coming out. It's so great to be here and I was telling you earlier it's like for me I'm not that far from here I'm you know a little over an hour so for us to get out here it's really easy and really I mean anybody from Metro Detroit it's a it's not a far drop it's not a haul and when you consider where your bread is buttered and everything that you offer year round but certainly around this time of year I mean there is just it's endless of things to do around here. Well and that's why I loved you on air this afternoon because you've experienced it you've brought your family here to experience it and our best way to get the word out is through word of mouth and hearing somebody that's been here been through the process and the events like bring more people up here we want people to see what we're all about and like you said this time of year is truly magical to be in the Great Lakes you don't slow down it is full steam ahead. Now we have great partners that are so innovative and regardless whether you're indoors outdoors your sports your recreation shopping you can find it and have a memorable experience. Yeah you can find a Memorial Cup winner here around this area. Of course you can yeah yeah our winners just received their rings yesterday and you received your ring yesterday. I did. I did. It was pretty pretty remarkable. What do events like that mean to this area? It definitely means a huge amount of things economic impact. First of all I mean we have a lot of vendors a lot of business partners a lot of attraction partners that reap the benefits of individuals coming up and experiencing large events like that. Sure they're in the area for this large event but they've got to sleep somewhere they've got to eat somewhere they're looking to buy their time when they're not at a large event and that's where all of our other partners take place not to mention it takes so many different facets and puzzle pieces to make an event like that successful and we try to keep those as local as possible. Yeah and we have such a friendly resident base too that people make the experience and when you can walk away regardless if your team has won or lost and you can speak about the people and the welcoming you had we've done our job. Yeah no and and you feel that I mean you feel it in the air no matter where you are mission in this region mission accomplished. I'm really excited to see the ice rank in Zender Park. I know that that's now in place. It is. Which is very exciting because for us like our family traditions now are usually it's like the day after thanks giving we go get our tree right. We take the kids out we bundle them up and we go out and get the tree put it in the truck and get it home so it's gone out and then the next day we're coming up here and we're going to Tony's to eat seven pounds of bacon or whatever it is and we're going to to to Bronner's we go to do the chicken dinner or whatever and then and then of course for us it's a little different with the kids. I mean now the water parks with Bavarian in now going to be the largest water park into our water park in Michigan. Zender's a stalwart. I mean it's it's non-stop. It's non-stop up here. We can keep you busy. Literally. Every hour of the day. If we find ourselves going like what are we going to do? That is a question I can't stand. There's nothing to do or what are we going to do. There's so much. Or as my kids will say I'm bored. Yeah. Yes absolutely. I will tell you firsthand I skated with my kids. I have a 10 year old and 11 year old. Zender's Park ice rink last year. We did it twice and from the moment you walk into the warming tent to rent your skates or bring your own. You are greeted with warm smiles. It's affordable for the family. You walk out into the ice rink in daylight. It's beautiful but night it's lit up in such a unique magical festive way. But even for the the novice skater or the beginning skater they've got the little walkers that you can learn with. And everybody on the ice is so respectful of the skill level of the others that are on there. It's just a great experience. Yeah. Nobody's winning a gold medal when speed skates. You know what I mean? It's great. And it's not just it's not just Frankenmuth or downtown here or in Bergeron. I mean this event that you've got coming to the Midland Center for the Arts at the beginning of the year is something really really special and it's unique enough to where I mean is it fair to say that you're not going to experience something like this outside of Midland? As right now no. So the event is called the Infinite Space Exploration and it is the exhibit we're going to see and have will be the only one in the Midwest United States at that time frame. So going to Chicago going to Detroit Indianapolis Cincinnati they're not going to have that. And what I can tell you about the experience it's an immersive theatrical hands-on experience and no two people's experience will be the same. You walk in first of all tickets are on sale now. Okay. You can go get those at Midland Center for the Arts which is mfcta.com and you will be with a small group of individuals up to 30 people each of you will have a headset and it will be like you're on the International Space Station. Right. Really cool. They have had astronauts previous astronauts put these headsets on and be so overwhelmed with emotion taking them right off because it takes them right back to where they were professionally. Well and for them they really need to gear up for that right. There's a there's a process that the space that they need to be in to carry out that type of mission and for just throw it on is it's got to be wild experience. Absolutely. And you know parents you and I we all talk about the gift of experience right. Our kids have a lot of things. Our kids have a lot of tangibles and it takes up a lot of space. If you can walk away with a gift of experience and have that memory like this is to me it's ideal for the child that is 12 years of age to 17. Yeah. To really give that wow factor. How about a 36 year old. Absolutely. Very good. I'm right in that age range. Yeah. I'll be I'll be joining in February. I cannot wait. I cannot wait. And I think it just goes to show where this region is in terms of bringing this type of experience. You know bringing the memorial cup or bringing the gaming event that balloons are going to host. This is a this is a an out and out destination. Thank you for saying that. And I challenge anybody on the radio station listening or tuning in to you know maybe they're listening to it later and streaming it. Yeah. To give it a go. We are a drive market. Take the hour and a half. Two hours drive up. Spend the day. Visit go great.com. See what you can find to do. I challenge you to see that this area has a large welcome to it with memorable experiences regardless of your interest. And you know what's to say. We're not going to make that list for your next vacation spot. Yeah. Michelle Piac. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time. And I really like the hardware by the way. Really cool. Thank you. It is. Very fortunate. Yeah. No doubt. All right. All right, we'll take a break. Come back for more here on JRF. All right. Thank you.
November 12, 2024 ~ Chris talks with Kayla Pionk, Director of PR & Leisure Tourism, Go Great Lakes Bay about what there is to do in the region for the holiday season and beyond.