As Jim noted above, the Reunion came up at the Saturday seminar and it also came up at the Sunday one.
From the answers on both days, it's clear Harbour Lights would LIKE to hold the next reunion in 2001 in Michigan - or at least on the Great Lakes.
The big problem is a venue that can seat 700-800 for dinner. On Mackinac Island, there are two larger facilities - the Grand Hotel and the Mission Point Hotel. Both can seat the requisite number, but not in the same dining room.
The Grand requires coat and tie for dinner and wouldn't bend the rule. Distinctly un-lighthousing. (BTW - you can see the Grand by renting the Christopher Reeve - Jane Seymour movie "Somewhere in Time". Good use of Round Island too.)
Getting to Mackinac Island by air wouldn't be cheap. Closest commercial service is probably Traverse City, or Pelston, but expect to pay a lot more to fly into these smaller cities that into larger ones.
Another possibility might be Grand Rapids MI. The hotel situation could be easily met there and a variety of room types and rates could be found around town. For lighthouses, you're only about an hour from Holland and Lake Michigan.
A pre- or post-Reunion coach tour could start at Michigan City and travel north along the Michigan side of Lake Michigan to the Straits of Mackinac (2-3 day trip with stops.)
Another could see some of the lights in Southern Lake Michigan and could then take the car ferry across Lake Michigan at Ludington and to Manitowac with a tour of Door County Wisconsin.
If the event could be held at Traverse or Mackinaw Cities, the hi-speed passenger ferries that ply between Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island could be chartered to take a tour of lights offshore such as White Shoal and Round Island as well as have good viewing of lights on peninsulas such as Mission Point, etc.
The idea would be to have a 2-3 day 'event' together with meals, 'seminars', auctions, etc with optional choices to see the best of the lighthouses that Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio offer.
Individuals could, of course, plan their own tours to hit the Ontario lighthouses and/or Erie lights.
Let me state these are my ideas and are offered as such only. I am not privy to the actual plans which Harbour Lights might have.
[This message has been edited by JChidester (edited 06-28-99).]
