Wood carving demonstrations!
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and a BBQ with brats and hot dogs!
Join us for the July 8, 2014 official celebration of Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping's 50th anniversary. Book a site or cabin and enjoy a parade through the park featuring The Lutheran Van Guard Marching Band, antique vehicles, and floats.
Then see live wood-carving demonstrations, live musical performances, ribbon cutting with the Mackinaw Chamber of Commerce, and a BBQ brats, hot dogs and refreshments.
The Grand Marshals of the parade will feature the very first campers to check in when the camp opened on July 1, 1964 - Malcolm and Phyllis Smith of Livonia Michigan.
Read more about Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping's History.
Start the celebration with a parade through the park featuring The Lutheran Van Guard Marching Band, antique vehicles, and floats.
UPDATE: The Cheboygan Daily Tribune published an article covering our 50th Anniversary Celebration!
Here is the campground's first card. The name of the park was originally "Mackinaw Campground." Dad changed the name of the park to "Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping" when a park opened it town using our same name. Then the park opened down the street and called themselves Tee Pee so we had to remove the Tee Pee from all of our cards, posters and bumper stickers. Primitive camping was $1.00 a night in 1964. $1.75 for Modern camping, and $2.00 a night if you wanted newfangled electricity!
This cabin still exists, it has been remodeled and you can rent it! Our family of 5 (later to be 6) lived here for the first couple years. Two of the boys in diapers (the years before disposables) and no indoor plumbing.
Here is our very first camper Phyllis Smith. Her husband Malcolm is probably taking the photo. Both will return on July 8, 2014 to be Grand Marshals of our 50th anniversary parade. She holds her daughter Denise and her son David looks on. In later years both Denise and David worked at the campground. Lurking in the background pumping the camp's first well is 3 year old Vince Rogala, now General Manager of Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping and The Mackinaw Club Golf Course.
Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping, 9730 Us Hwy 23, Mackinaw City, MI 49701
Contact: (231) 436-5584
Michigan's Favorite - Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping Celebrates 50th Anniversary
Family owned Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping celebrates it's 50th year of operation this July with a parade through the park, and other special events.
On July 8, 2014 campers will enjoy the official celebration of Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping's 50th anniversary. The party starts off with a parade through the park featuring The Lutheran Van Guard Marching Band, antique vehicles, and floats. Other events include wood carving demonstrations, live musical performances, ribbon cutting with the Mackinaw Chamber of Commerce, and a BBQ. The Grand Marshals of the parade will feature the very first campers to check in when the camp opened on July 1, 1964 - Malcolm and Phyllis Smith of Livonia, Michigan.
"We did a lot of planning to make sure our 50th anniversary is special. We wanted to honor the memory of our parents. They dreamed of creating a campground in a beautiful natural setting where people could come to reconnect with nature and each other. The camp opened with just 17 sites renting at $2.00 a night. From the start, campers liked mom and dad's little place on the lake with a sandy beach. With a lot of work, little by little, year after year, our family has built the park into one of the largest and most popular campgrounds in the Great Lakes region," explained Vince Rogala.
Recipient of numerous awards and most recently named as The Favorite Campground in Michigan by viewers of TV 9 & 10, Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping features a mile of shoreline with campsites and cabins viewing the Mackinac Bridge, and Mackinac Island. Amenities include a heated pool, park store, arcade, modern restroom and shower facilities as well as sites for all types of campers (including the only Mackinac bridge-view campsites available anywhere). The campground operates Mackinac Lakefront Cabin Rentals, and gives guests discounts for it's 310 acre, 18 hole Mackinaw Club Golf Course.
To learn more about Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping visit www.CampMackinaw.com.
About Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping:
Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping was opened by Richard and Rose Rogala on July 1, 1964 and today is still operated by their sons, Frank, Chris, Vince and Edward Rogala. To learn more about the history of the camp visit: The History of Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping.
The Cheboygan Daily Tribune covered our 50th Anniversary celebration here at Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping. An excerpt from the article:
... The celebration kicked off with a parade featuring the Lutheran Vanguard Marching Band, antique vehicles, floats, and Grand Marshals Malcolm and Phyllis Smith of Livonia, the first campers to check in when the campground opened on July 1, 1964.
The parade made its way down to the waterfront, where campers enjoyed music by Denny Beach and Sam King, hot dogs and refreshments, log carving, and a demonstration by the Jack Pine Lumberjack Show.
Quinn Rogala, granddaughter of the campground's founders Richard and Rose Rogala, made a heartfelt speech, and the Mackinaw City Chamber of Commerce was on hand for a ribbon cutting and the presentation of a plaque commemorating 50 years of camping.
"We did a lot of planning to make sure our 50th anniversary is special. We wanted to honor the memory of our parents," said Vince Rogala, general manager of the campground. "They dreamed of creating a campground in a beautiful natural setting where people could come to reconnect with nature and each other. ...