Plymouth Ice Festival
Page 2
working, as crowds continue to grow
and the popularity of the event just
keeps increasing. The past two years,
he said, have drawn huge crowds,
even when Mother Nature doesn't
cooperate.
“We thought nobody would come
last year after that rain, but the crowds
just took it all in stride. Attendance
was right where we had hoped, which
surprisedme,”Geitzen said.
Timing this year, which is always
impacted by the Detroit Auto Show,
puts the festival in the first weekend of
the New Year and Geitzen said rather
than looking at it as too soon, he thinks
families can make the Ice Festival an
extension of the holidays.
“This is like no other event that
happens in Plymouth. I love the events
here in general, they are all great, but
this one takes a lot more planning and
has a few more details than some of
the others. The Ice Festival, too, is the
most expensive event to produce in
Plymouth, I suspect,” he said. “It costs
about $100,000 to produce this event,
and that all comes from sponsorships
and donations. No tax money, no city
money is used. It is a real tribute, I
think, to the community that we can do
this every year.”
New this year, Geitzen said, are a
couple of attractions he thinks will
encourage crowds to attend. The festi-
val will be giving away family tickets to
the Opera House production of The
Lion King, and there will be horse-
drawn carriages throughout town and
the petting farm for little ones that is
planned for Penniman Street. Geitzen
said that the festival would be giving
away two sets of four tickets to the
Lion King through the festival
Facebook page and fivemore sets dur-
ing theweekend.
A new attraction this year is the
Winter Wonderland Made in Michigan
Market that will have vendors in tents
along Penniman Avenue selling
Michigan made products and mer-
Shine
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James Geitzen
